Double Delight as Yamaha Take 2014 Championship Honours in A

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Double Delight as #Yamaha Take 2014 Championship Honours in #AMA


Yamaha has proved its dominance yet again with the YZF-R1 and YZF-R6 in the AMA Pro SuperBike and AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike classes. The last round of the season at the New Jersey Motorsports Park saw not only Jake Gagne clinch the 2014 DSB Championship, but also Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes end the 2014 AMA Pro SuperBike season in a spectacular fashion. The results mark Yamaha’s fifth consecutive Superbike title. Both Yamaha riders managed to get the job done with one race remaining.



Josh Hayes knew exactly what he had to do when he started the last race with a 40-point lead over teammate Cameron Beaubier. The vastly experienced rider secured pole and rode one of the strongest races of his career on the Saturday, fighting off his rival to the very end to cross the line in first place. The Yamaha rider was euphoric, but his happiness was closely followed by a moment of uncertainty. AMA Pro Racing deemed that one of his multiple passes on Roger Hayden was made under a yellow flag, meaning that Hayes wouldn’t be credited with the win. Ultimately, the AMA Pro decided imposed Hayes with a 20-second time penalty, moving him back just one position in the official race results to second place. With Beaubier finishing in fifth place, 20 points were enough for Hayes to claim the Championship title.




With his fourth AMA Pro SuperBike in the bag and less pressure on his shoulders, Hayes was able to ride a solid second race on Sunday, riding the R1 to victory, his seventh of the season. His seven wins put him on 285 points in the final standings and added to a total of 48 wins in Hayes amazingly successful AMA ProSuperBike career. All of these wins were achieved onboard a Yamaha.




RoadRace Factory Yamaha’s Jake Gagne sealed his first AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike title in a similar fashion to Hayes. Gagne led MotoSport.com Meen Yamaha’s Jake Lewis by just seven points, before kicking off at the Devil’s Showdown. Gagne rode a strong race on Saturday, finishing in second place, while Lewis was not able to score higher than a 17th place. Like Hayes, Gagne also finished the season on a high, climbing on to the top step of the podium after winning Sunday’s race. The victory was his third of this season. Where Yamaha YZF-R6s made up the top five finishers.




Josh Hayes
“I wanted to win the first race, and I gave it everything I had. I didn’t want to come here and have anyone feel that I was riding around for the Championship. In fact, I wasn’t even really thinking about the Championship too much. I was confident out there despite the rainy conditions. I knew that I just had to ride my race and I’d be OK. I had fun today. The second race was definitely not as smooth as it looked, and with Cameron leading, I felt like I was losing ground, but I relaxed and just ran my race. I was running some pretty good lap times, and things were starting to come around. I’m gutted for Cam because I wasn’t sure that I could catch him, and I really wanted a Yamaha one-two. I’m glad to win this last race of the season, though, especially after winning the Championship yesterday. It’s been an awesome season, and I’m so lucky to be racing for Monster Energy Graves Yamaha. Five straight Championships for Yamaha and the R1 is just amazing.”



Jake Gagne
“It’s incredible. This class is stacked with so many fast riders, and a lot of the guys are on Yamaha R6’s like me. The last thing I thought about today (Saturday) was to have this wrapped up. I’m stoked for the Yamaha and the whole RoadRace Factory crew. To do it for those guys and to pay off all their hard work is incredible. Ending the season with a win is amazing. Dane and Garrett and those guys were really haulin’, and I could see on my pit board that I needed to turn it up a little bit. So that’s what I did, and I was able to build up a little bit of lead. I’m glad it worked out for me and my team, not only today, but all season long.”