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Ashton Hayes is returning to racing in 2016 after suffering a nasty injury in July of 2015 while testing his bikes for Loretta’s in his home state of Michigan. He had just wrapped up at the Red Bud Amateur day over 4th of July weekend and was putting in some motos at Martin MX when he cased a rhythm section and went over the bars. Hayes broke his femur and his hip in the crash which sidelined him from racing for the rest of the season,
forcing him to miss out on the 2015 Loretta Lynn’s National Championship. It was a long 6 month recovery process full of upper body workouts and physical therapy, but the time spent away from racing didn’t deter Factory Suzuki from naming Hayes to their 2016 amateur team as their premier rider. He was able to get back to racing by competing in multiple AX rounds at the beginning of the year where he scored 29 points over 5 rounds in the Lites class, and managed to finish inside the top 20 twice in the Open A class. Hayes hasn’t been able to recreate the success he had at the 2013 Loretta Lynn’s National Championship when he won a title in the Supermini 2 class. He has had a couple of top 10 finishes at The Ranch in recent years since his title, but he hasn’t managed to put his Suzuki back on the podium, although he has still managed to find success at Mini O’s and the Daytona RCSX with multiple podium finishes. He’s on a great run of form on the road to Loretta’s this year; the Michigan native hasn’t finished off the box in any of his area qualifiers and comes into High Point looking
to do damage in both Open Pro Sport and 250 A. He prepped for the upcoming regional in Mt. Morris, PA by competing in the Battle of Ohio at Malvern MX the previous weekend. He battled Dylan Walker in both Open Pro Sport and 250 A and came away with a pair of 1st place
finishes which will leave his confidence high when he lines up on the gate at High Point.
IMAGES / LAKE KILPATRICK
ASHTON HAYES
16 MPG • JUNE 2016
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