AMA SBK

Josh Hayes won a shortened race 1 Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Round 12 of the AMA Superbike Championship. Joining him on the podium were Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden and Pat Clarks Motorsports Yamaha rider Ben Bostrom.

The Race was reduced one lap due to the red flag being thrown when Brett McCormick's National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 went down at turn 11. Although Rockstar Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden passed Hayes for the lead going into turn one on the final lap, AMA rules gave the win to Hayes.

When a race is red flagged on the final lap in AMA Pro Racing, the win goes to the rider who crossed the line first during the previous lap.

The Team Graves Yamaha rider Hayes had an 11-point lead heading into NJMP, but after race one he know has a total of 359 points, 16 points ahead of Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden.

Josh Hayes says: "During the last lap I was willing to push it because Tommy was coming on strong. I got a little bit of a gift with the red flag."

The points may have been Hayden's if the race wasn't red flagged, considering he's the one that passed Hayes on the final lap.

Tommy Hayden says: "The last lap came to a kind of battle, and it was far from over I'm sure. Very frustrating, but that' s racing; just the way it goes, sometimes your on the right end of it, sometimes the wrong."

Third-place finisher Bostrom had an unusual mishap before the race began. After completing his sighting lap, his team was rushing to change his back tire. Bostrom said he had a bad tire, and the team changed it quickly with under two minutes to the race start.

Ben Bostrom says: "The tire I had during warm up tire was bad, and we had little time to change it. Doesn't happen much, but the boys struggled, got it there."

Rounding out the top five were Hayden's teammate Black Young, and M4 Monster Energy Suzuki rider John Hopkins.

McCormick, the rider that went down on the final lap, causing the red flag, was Aaron Yates.

AMA New Jersey Saturday Results: