Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki celebrated a tremendous AMA Superbike opening-round weekend at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida at the weekend, with Blake Young winning both races and team mate Tommy Hayden joining him on the podium in both events.
The Rockstar Makita Suzuki riders raced their Yoshimura-prepared Suzuki GSX-R1000s flawlessly, with Young celebrating the double victories in style and Hayden bringing home impressive second and third-placed finishes.
The weekend's first AMA Superbike race saw Young in a multi-rider battle for almost all 15 laps on the famed Daytona racecourse. When the dust had settled, however, Young took the win over his team mate by just .026 of a second. In the second race, Young was biding his time until the final lap when he stormed the front-runner and took the lead along with his second victory of the weekend.
"Today was great," enthused Young. "The only thing we could have done better was to lead more laps and get that pole position. Coming out of here with two wins, I'm ecstatic. I haven't had the best of luck at Daytona before: Last year we had a fifth and a seventh, so this year is definitely a positive. But it's a long season, and Daytona is just one of the races. We just need to chalk this one up and work hard in the seven weeks we have off. I'm happy for my guys; they worked really, really hard for me in the off-season to get me and my Suzuki on top of the box both days."
Meanwhile, Hayden was right there with his head down for both races. Although Hayden was leading on the last lap of the first race, the chequered flag saw him finish in second place. In the second race, Hayden again was right there with his team mate and battled competitors as well as the famous Daytona draft before settling into third position.
"Today's race was about what I expected," said Hayden. "Blake and Josh Hayes were riding really well, so it was a tough race for me and my Suzuki. I was third today and I thought it was an all-right position. I was second yesterday; and Blake won from third yesterday, you know, so I figured I'd try it from that way. But I didn't get a very good run on the straight. That's the way this place goes. Yesterday, I got too-good-of-a-run. Today not good enough."
The 2011 Rockstar Makita Suzuki team's next event of the 2011 AMA American Superbike Championship series is at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, on May 13-15th.
Daytona Superbike Race 1:
1. Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki)
2. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki)
3. Josh Hayes
4. Ben Bostrom
5. Roger Hayden
6. Martin Cardenas
7. Larry Pegram
8. Jeremy Toye
9. Chris Ulrich
10. David Anthony
Daytona Superbike Race 2:
1. Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki)
2. Josh Hayes
3. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki)
4. Martin Cardenas
5. Ben Bostrom
6. Larry Pegram
7. Chris Clark
8. Eric Bostrom
9. David Anthony
10. Chris Peris
2011 Superbike Standings:
1. Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki) - 60
2. Josh Hayes - 49
3. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki) - 46
4. Ben Bostrom - 34
5. Martin Cardenas - 33
6. Larry Pegram - 29
7. Chris Clark - 24
8. David Anthony - 23
9. Roger Hayden - 22
10. Chris Ulrich - 22