Josh Hayes Looking To Set an All-Time Record at Road America
The possibility of setting an all-time record isn’t the only reason Josh Hayes is back riding in the MotoAmerica Series.
But for the 4-time Superbike champion, and his new team, it’s as good a reason s any other.
When the MotoAmerica Series rolls into Elkhart Lake’s Road America this weekend, Josh Hayes will have two opportunities to break a tie with the AMA Hall of Fame member Miguel Duhamel for the most all-time AMA race wins in any class. The two are currently tied with 86 wins apiece.
Now riding a Yamaha YZF-R6 for Squid Hunter Racing in the Supersport class, Hayes maintains the record is not the sole reason he’s back racing motorcycles full-time.
“I would say no. We have a common friend with the Squid Hunter team who got us together just simply to do the Daytona 200. (Wife) Melissa (Paris) and I had done it in ’19 and ’20, when Covid shut it down and they had done it also on their own. It just looked like it would potentially be a good, collaborative effort. So for 2022, Melissa had other plans, it was looking like we weren’t going to be able to do it. Those guys actually called at the right time and we were able to form a partnership.
“For them, they had not been involved in pro racing at all, it was the first year that their bike would be legal to run in pro racing. Kind of as a little bit of a piece of bait I kind of threw out there to the team, that I thought we had a good bike and a good team, and that I was close to that win record and it more got them motivated than anything, quite honestly, to take part in more races.
“So, we ended up doing two of the nationals in 2022 and we managed to win three out of the four races that we entered, which was pretty awesome for us as a team. So we decided we were going to do Daytona again this year, and it kind of grew onto the next weekend to do Road Atlanta. And, quite honestly, I think the team owner (Peter Strack), he’s excited about getting that all-time win record on a Squid Hunter motorcycle for me, but they were also just like, the public was enjoying seeing me competing in Supersport again and being in the fight and they just pushed enough buttons on him that he just said to me, ‘hey, do you want to do the whole season?’
“For me, it’s easy. I love the racing part, right? So, I’m at the race track anyway, my wife runs a team, I’m coaching most of the guys, so for me it’s a pretty simple answer, ‘yeah, I can make this happen.’ So, he made the commitment to fill the whole season, which was decided before Barber (Motorsports Park), which was only a couple weeks ago, so, here we find ourselves fully involved.
“For me, I would say the all-time win record is not the ultimate goal, that I still just enjoy each individual battle. I’ve been away for a few years and to be able to come back and be competitive at 48-years-old, I’m just enjoying being on a motorcycle again and feeling all those feelings of nerves and everything else to go get in the fight, ride my best and still feel like I’m proficient at it.”
Third in the Supersport standings headed into the weekend at Road America, does Hayes have championship aspirations, or is he just hunting for race wins? The Mississippi native says it’s not an either or situation.
“Well, there’s a couple ways to look at it, I guess. The championship is an added bonus, but it’s a new stress that we didn’t have last year when we were just looking for race wins. But I feel like in my career, even with the championships I won, I was not one to ride particularly safe.
“I’m the believer that if you cannot win races, it’s hard to win the championship. Right now, my only option is safe is gonna get me nowhere. I’m third, but pretty far points-wise out of the championship, so unless I figure out, take risks to win races, I can’t get myself back into this championship anyway. I can’t rely on what I think is world-class competition to make mistakes and get it back to me, so I’m gonna go out and ride like I have to take it from them.”
At age 48, Hayes is racing against some riders who are a third of age. While he uses his vast experience to his advantage, Hayes says the young riders are fast learners.
“You know, there are moments where my experience over race distance definitely plays a role. I’ve been through a lot of things and know how to manage things when they’re difficult. But these young riders are pretty hardy and learn really quickly at this level.
“One thing, is for me, that I’m able to show them by example being out there. When I came to Supersport, we talk about it not being the premier class right now. I’m racing in a lower level, support class, we’ll call it.
“But when I came to pro racing, Supersport was the hotbed. That is where the rookies went right up against the top level Superbike riders, because in my time, everyone rode two classes a weekend. I lined up against every single professional Superbike racer as a rookie in the class in pro racing and I got to see things first hand and learn from them first hand and I think that those lessons were invaluable.
“I still look at them as peers whenever I’m on track with them. Riding a motorcycle, there’s physically nothing that I can do that they can’t do. It’s just about what happens over the course of a race and the decisions you make in split second time.
“I feel lucky to be out there and get to still do this and race against these young guys. Yeah, it’s funny, now the next competition (age-wise) is now, at least, in his late thirties with Xavi Fores. Then you got Tyler Scott who’s 16 or 17 years old and last year we had Rocco Landers at 16 years old.
“Yeah, you get to see these amazing things from these young talents and how the talent pool has kind of changed over the years, but they still get a chance to race one of the old school guys like myself and learn from my experience of being on track and seeing it first-hand.”
One area where Hayes’ s experience will come in handy this weekend is dealing with a newly repaved race track at Road America.
“Typically for our series, motorcycle racing in general, new pavement has proved to be a very big challenge for us with tire life. We’re not quite sure what to expect. I know there was a test earlier this year but it was quite cold temperatures and the heat we believe will help us to be able to manage this better. But at some of the other race tracks we’ve been to over the previous years, like Barber Motorsports Park, when there’s been a repave, it’s been very difficult for us to manage race distance on the tires.
“I am kind of coming into the weekend somewhat expecting the worst, that this is going to play a role in the race weekend. Hopefully, it does not and we just get to go right to work, but I think we would all start with a set-up that we are accustomed to and go and see how the track feels.
“This wasn’t a place we typically tuned for bumps. Bumps were not too bad around this race track, so it was just a matter of having a bike that works beneath you well and you’re confident in. You know, sometimes what happens with these brand new race tracks if they’re completely seamless and smooth, that they lose feel. They have a feeling like felt, which is very numb feeling and you’re unsure where the edge is. It tends to play havoc on the riders, of us stepping over those boundaries trying to figure it out. We won’t know more of that until we get through the first sessions.”
Knowing how to avoid stepping over those boundaries is something Hayes hopes works to his advantage this weekend.
“Yeah, I have been through it a few times before. We are probably going to be on harder rubber, I would expect this weekend, which can be difficult to ride on. The softer rubber kind of allows you, I’m gonna say, to cheat a little bit, having the excess grip in the beginning. But as the tire goes off, it definitely takes a change in style to be able to maintain lap time. It’s something, even at the previous round at Barber, I worked at very hard.”
At an age when most riders are now former riders, how much does Hayes still have in the tank?
“That is the question of the week right there. I do not know the answer to that. Quite honestly, this is kind of a day-to-day endeavor for me. I got to be a professional athlete for a long time and now I have several other job titles where I am a husband, a father, a coach, a truck driver and of lot of different things. And now they let me ride motorcycles from time to time.
“I had a pretty big off and injury last year and it still has not thwarted my desire to want to go out and race at a high level. I just take it day by day and I’m gonna go out and ride my best and as long as I feel I have something to offer and I’m getting better and competitive, still contributing, I will keep doing it until I decide I feel differently.”
“I just take it day by day and I’m gonna go out and ride my best and as long as I feel I have something to offer and I’m getting better and competitive, still contributing, I will keep doing it until I decide I feel differently”
For Hayes, the passion for riding still burns intensely.
“I think I just have a strong passion for it. I started very late in life. I was a kid when I graduated high school and had never raced a motorcycle in my life. I didn’t even know that amateur racing even existed in the country from where I grew up. So, to come into in in my late teens and early 20s, and to sacrifice the time to go try to become proficient at it, when I got there I realized what my life would be without it and it wasn’t going to be a glamorous thing. I was going to be a very working class man, probably a civil servant locally, so I was very motivated to try to make sure I took advantage of the sacrifice and work really hard at it.
“The lessons, the skill, the thing that you learn, not talent, the skill, the parts that you learn, I went to school really well and I’ve become pretty darn steady at it. So, I keep working, plugging away at it in that manner and I kind of go through a routine and I just find that I still love all of the aspects of it. Who can’t say in this position, a racer like this, we tend to be glory hounds on top of everything else, so, I enjoy the attention” he said, breaking into a laugh
Should Hayes break the record this weekend at Road America, don’t expect him to jump from his bike and wade into where the fans are to celebrate as Josef Newgarden did at the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Ryan Blaney did after winning the Coke 600 at Charlotte.
“I don’t know, I’m a little more subtle, I think. Of course I’m excited that fans would be there to see it, but I’m more excited to celebrate with my team and my family. What a great race track. The fans are always lining the fences, camping around this place. I haven’t put too much thought into what I’d do if something special (happened). The podium’s in a different spot since I last raced here. Now it’s in the infield where it used to be across the front straightaway. So, it’s a little different.
“I’ve been away for a little while, but, no, I haven’t put too much thought into it other than to celebrate with the boys.”
While Hayes may think a potential victory celebration would be more subtle, there’s nothing subtle about becoming the new AMA all-time race winner in any class.
Photos by Brian J. Nelson