As Road Atlanta prepares to host the penultimate rounds of the AMA Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship this Sunday, the only sure thing is that this year's champion will most likely have a last name that begins with an H.
Monster Energy Kawasaki's Roger Hayden and Jamie Hacking lead the series, with the youngest of the racing Hayden brothers holding an eleven-point margin over the defending champ. However, victory for Erion Honda's Josh Hayes in the most recent round, at Virginia International Raceway, has moved him back into contention for the title, with just seven points splitting Hayes from Hacking.
It is Hacking, however, who comes into Road Atlanta with a slight edge. He's the defending and two-time race winner and is extremely motivated to come back and defend his Supersport crown.
“Road Atlanta has been a good track for me over the years,” he said, “Being second in the championship actually makes it a little easier in terms of what you've got to do. I've got to win there, or at least finish in front of my team-mate, to have a real shot of winning this championship. We've got two races to go and it's not going to get any easier that's for sure.”
Hayden, however, feels like winning the Supersport title is something of unfinished business for him.
“I've been so close so many times,” he said, having finished a close runner-up on two occasions, “I really want to win this championship for myself, but even more for my team, who've done so much to put me in the position to finally get a championship. I know it's going to be a fight to the final race. The main thing I have to focus on is not making any major mistakes in these final two rounds.”
Hayes, meanwhile, appeared out of contention after a mishap removed him from the series lead at Laguna Seca in July, but he bounced back with a victory in Virginia two weeks ago and wants to go out winning, regardless of how the title chase turns out.
“Honda has given me a great bike this year, a championship bike,” he said, having racked up a series-leading three race victories so far this year.
