Josh Hayes Is Now The Winningest Rider In AMA Road Racing History
via www.motoamerica.com BRAINERD, MN (July 29, 2023) – When Josh Hayes shocked the AMA road racing establishment with his first career victory in the 750cc Supersport race at Daytona International Speedway in 1999, who could have known that 24 years later he would become the winningest racer in AMA road racing history.
And that he is.
Hayes made history on Saturday in Minnesota, the 48-year-old from Mississippi, who now calls Oceanside, California, home, winning the 87th AMA road race of his career when he raced off into the distance to win the Supersport race on his Squid Hunter Racing Yamaha YZF-R6, moving him out of a tie with the legendary Miguel Duhamel.
Supersport – Call Him Mr. All-Timer
History was made in Saturday’s Supersport race at Brainerd International Raceway when 48-year-old rider and four-time Superbike champion Josh Hayes got the win, which broke a tie with AMA Hall of Famer Miguel Duhamel for the most all-time wins in AMA history.
Hayes’s 87th career victory was a bit surprising given that Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati rider Xavi Forés had won all eight Supersport races thus far this season. But the technical Brainerd road course threw him a curve in more ways than one, and he only managed to finish seventh on Saturday.
Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers started from the pole, but he didn’t get the start that he hoped for, and he had to claw his way back towards the front. Landers was in second place by the time the checkered flag flew, but Hayes had a gap of more than three seconds at the finish line. Third place went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott
“Pretty good weekend so far,” Hayes said. “I was really glad the (Supersport) race was first. That’s still my primary goal is to win on that bike. I was doing like I have all year - try to be super aggressive in the first laps and get myself to the front. Fortunately, I was able to open up a little bit of a gap and I was able to manage it. The managing was coming pretty easy. I was doing low 34’s without much drama. Just really happy. The hardest part was staying focused in the last few laps, just because I was happy and super excited. Probably the hardest part was when I rolled into victory circle and Melissa was standing there with my kids. There’s a reason my helmet didn’t come up too quick. But for the Squid Hunter team and I, we’ve been working for this hard for a year. I really enjoyed every race we’ve been in this year. Been in the fight a lot. It’s more relief than anything to get that done, out of the way. We don’t have to talk about it anymore. Let’s just go have some fun and race now.”
Josh Hayes Makes AMA History at Brainerd
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