© 2014, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
by David Swarts
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Like most racers, Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes is
optimistic for the 2014 AMA Pro Road Racing season, which starts Thursday at
Daytona International Speedway, but Hayes’ aspirations go beyond simply wanting
to win on the track.
“We have 10 races,” the three-time AMA Pro Superbike
Champion told Roadracingworld.com Wednesday. “I said years ago I wanted to win
10 races. I still want to win 10 races. I won eight last year. I won 16 out of
20 another year. I think to set a goal I want to try to win every race. There’s
probably less emphasis on pole position and laps led now that there’s no bonus
points, but I don’t think it will change my approach to the race weekends. I
definitely want to get that number one plate back.”
The veteran racer also hopes that the struggling AMA Pro
Road Racing series can be turned around and begin to grow again. The only
problem is Hayes doesn’t know how to accomplish that.
“I don’t have too many answers about our series right now,”
said the 38-year-old Mississippi native. “I don’t understand why it is where it
is or how it got to where it is. As much as I think I do, every time I think I
do I find out there’s more to it than I think there is.
“It’s difficult when my friends who want to follow my racing
at home ask me how and I don’t know how to tell them to follow my racing. I don’t
know if it’s on television. I don’t know if there’s live streaming [on the
Internet], and if it is I don’t know what kind of live streaming it is. I don’t
know if it’s a GoPro [video camera] sitting in a corner or if there’s actually
a cameraman out there with a good camera angle watching us go around the
racetrack. In an age of information it’s amazing at how little we have in the
AMA paddock. So I’m hopeful we can solve some of these issues and get people
excited about our racing again.”
