Ben Bostrom took his first AMA Superbike win of the 2010 season, his first win since 2004. Bostrom was able to hold off season leaders Josh Hayes and Tommy Hayden, who finished in second and third.

Hayes finished his ninth consecutive race in the top two, and makes it the fourth Yamaha 1-2 of the season. While Bostrom takes his 10th career win, five of which have come at Laguna Seca.

Hayes and Hayden are still neck and neck in the series, but will have to wait until August 13th for another chance to build a lead.

Behind Hayden, Jake Holden rode his Yamaha into fourth place ahead of Larry Pegram. Jake Zemke took sixth, while the other Bostrom on the track, Eric, finished 7th.

AMA Pro Racing - Laguna Seca - Superbike Race Resuls

1. Ben Bostrom (Yam)
2. Josh Hayes (Yam)
3. Tommy Hayden (Yam)
4. Jake Holden (Suz)
5. Larry Pegram (Duc)
6. Jake Zemke (Suz)
7. Eric Bostrom (Suz)
8. Brett McCormick (Suz)
9. Chris Peris (BMW)
10. Geoff May (Buell)

After the race at the official press conference 3^rd place Clinton Sellers on his Yamaha YZF-R6 Project 1 Atlanta team said: “I had a good weekend, my first podium. I got a decent start found a gap and moved up to 3^rd place from the start. I felt like I could stay with everyone until Martin got around me and pushed me into 4^th. Overall I am very pleased to be on the podium”

Steve Rapp on his Ducati 848 Team Latus Motor Racing in2nd place said: “I fought back up through the group from the beginning. We made some changes to the bike from yesterday and I was a little unsure about them as practice got cancelled this morning because of the weather and I could not test the changes. I like to normally run 5 or 6 laps to test which I was not able to do, so it took me that time to get up to speed at the beginning.  The bike stayed consistent but we did need to assure ourselves that the changes worked. 2^nd is a great result.”

5 First place went to Martin Cardenas on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki and he said: “Since my 07 debut I have always liked this track. Today is my first win here even though I have always been fast here. Tough race, my start was slow and this track is a hard passing circuit, but today the Suzuki was dialed in. At one point Bobby Fong had 2 seconds clear and I had to put my head down and catch him. He lost the front end in turn 1 and I was then on my own. I had a little scare with a back wheel slip coming out of 11 but overall the bike ran very well. Qualifying has not been one of my strong points lately I have only had 1 pole since this time last year but my races have always been very different results which is the main thing.”

Martin Cardenas took his 6th Daytona Sportbike win of the season today at the Laguna Seca track. Cardenas was in fifth place for most of the race, but took the win after a fantastic comeback surge.

Bobby Fong looked like he was going to be the race winner for most of the day. Fong led for the majority of the race, and by lap 12 he had a three second lead. But Cardenas turned on the speed at the midway point, and gained a second per lap until he was putting heavy pressure on Fong. Fong ended up crashing, leaving Cardenas an easy route to victory.

Title leader Josh Herrin also took a spill today, giving both Cardenas and Danny Eslick a valuable opportunity to move up on the leaderboard. Herrin still leads, but he is now only one point ahead of Eslick, and Cardenas has closed within striking distance, only 12 points back.

AMA Daytona Sportbike - Lacuna Seca - Race Results

1. Martin Cardenas (Suz)
2. Steve Rapp (Duc) +1.590
3. Clinton Seller (Yam)
4. Tommy Aquino (Yam)
5. Danny Eslick (Suz)
6. Josh Herrin (Yam)
7. Cory West (Suz)
8. Chris Fillmore (Suz)
9. Michael Beck (Duc)
10. Fernando Amantini (Kaw)

The USGP weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on California’s Monterey Peninsula is always moving at a fast pace x– everything is quick here, except the autograph and food kiosk lines. The weekend began as normal with only a few notable changes to the standard event schedule. The first major change was the running of a one-off event known as the Monterey Challenge (though, they had practice, qualifying and the race all in one morning), which contains many AMA Pro regulars – mostly privateers - who are from the local area. Next was the addition of the FIM e-Power International Championship practice, a true first at Laguna Seca. The AMA Pro SuperSport practice was held during what would normally be the lunch break, which was obviously curtailed to fit everything in today.

Starting off the practice were 32 of 33 registered riders who were all very much ready to put some rubber down for the first time this weekend. The AMA Pro SuperSport field is designed to be a step up for young (under 18 years of age) club racers who wish to jump up into the AMA Pro Racing classes. Notable entries in the 2010 season are Elena Myers, the first female to win an AMA Pro race at Infineon Raceway earlier this year. Another well-known name is that of Cameron Beaubier who was recently in the Red Bull Rookies Cup (RBRC) series held at some rounds of the MotoGP Championship series. Another name you may know from the RBRC is young Californian Joey Pascarella. But, the star of today’s practice has to be relative unknown Austin DeHaven, who took the lead early in practice and only lost out briefly at the mid-way point to Myers.

Throughout the last half of the practice, the numbers on the leader board changed only a few times. Dehaven was rock steady in first position eventually turning a 1:30.478 lap time. A mere half-second behind him for almost the entire practice was the #25 of Pascarella. Third and fourth place were occupied by Tyler O’Hara and Scott Gilbert until the final laps of practice; by the time the checkered flag was out indicating the end of the practice, it was Beaubier and Tomas Puerta, respectively, who took those slots. In the final order Myers had fallen from her one-time first place position to seventh, but she had plenty of good laps so that she averaged out at around fifth position. This is just the first practice…qualifying will likely change that order a bit.

So ended the first AMA Pro SuperSport practice of the 23 – 25 July 2010 weekend; tomorrow, look forward to more news on the series and the promising young talent vying for the Championship.

Final after first AMA Pro SuperSport Practice:

1. Austin Dehaven (Yamaha) 1:30.478
2. Joey Pascarella (Yamaha) 1:30.761
3. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:31.144
4. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha) 1:31.379
5. Huntley Nash (Yamaha) 1:31.540
6. Tyler OHara (Yamaha) 1:31.564
7. Elena Myers (Suzuki) 1:31.699
8. Scott Gilbert (Yamaha) 1:32.181
9. James Rispoli (Suzuki) 1:32.721
10. Matthew Sadowski (Suzuki) 1:32.875

Huntley Nash takes his second AMA Supersport win of the season at a crash filled race at Laguna Seca.

Pole sitter Tomas Puerta crashed out on the opening lap. Cameron Beaubier went out on lap five. Tyler O'hara touched the pavement on lap 15.

Nash was quick and clean around the Laguna Seca track, finishing ahead of Austin Dehaven and Scott Gilbert.

Elena Myers and James Rispoli battled four fourth, but Myers came out on top.

AMA Supersport - Laguna Seca - Race Results

Ben Bostrom earned the nickname Captain America after a series of phenomenal finishes at his home track at Laguna Seca. Bostrom returned to his old ways as he scorched his way around the track to beat Tommy Hayden and Josh Hayes in the final qualifying session, to earn the pole position in Sunday's race.

Bostrom earned his first AMA Superbike victory as a wild card entry at Laguna Seca in 1999, and since then, he has earned half of his world or national Superbike wins at the circuit.

Behind Bostrom was Josh Hayes, who has been consistently toward the top of the timesheets throughout the season. Hayes' biggest rivalry, Tommy Hayden, couldn't match the pace of the top two and finished fifth for the day behind Jake Holden and Larry Pegram.

But Hayden's first qualifying session was strong enough to earn him a front row spot, dropping Pegram into fifth for the AMA Superbike Race.

AMA Superbike - Final Qualifying Standings

1. Ben Bostrom (Yam) 1:24.367
2. Josh Hayes (Yam) 1:24.567
3. Jake Holden (Suz) 1:24.613
4. Tommy Hayden (Suz) 1:24.674
5. Larry Pegram (Duc) 1:24.742
6. Eric Bostrom (Suz) 1:25.078
7. Jake Zemke (Suz) 1:25.454
8. Chris Ulrich (Suz) 1:25.719
9. Geoff May (Buell) 1:26.007
10. Brett McCormick (Suz) 1:26.021

It's going to be an exciting weekend for racing as the AMA Pro Racing circuit joins the MotoGP in Monterey, California this weekend for the Red Bull USGP at the Laguna Seca track. But fans that get distracted by the influx of foreign riders at Laguna Seca will miss out on the hotly contested title fight between Josh Hayes and Tommy Hayden.

Josh Hayes currently leads the AMA Superbike, but not by much. Hayes has been switching off race wins with Hayden for the past four races, and now the two are separated by just four points. Laguna Seca will be the 7th round of the AMA Superbike, and with just four events remaining in the season, every point counts.

Jake Zemke is 40 points behind the leader, but a race win at Laguna Seca could put him right back into the title fight. Zemke has two wins so far this season, and he will be racing at his home track in Monterey, California.

The battle for the title is even tighter in the Daytona Sportbike division. Josh Herrin leads the way by only two points ahead of Danny Eslick. Martin Cardenas could also find himself at the top of the leader board at the end of the weekend. Cardenas has five race wins this season, and is just 25 points out.