Image: Brian J Nelson.

Australian David Anthony has continued his recent run of form with a second place finish in the Road America round of the 2014 AMA Pro Superbike Championship at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Three-time champion Josh Hayes made it clear that he’s not ready to be put out to pasture any time soon, digging deep in difficult conditions on Sunday and claiming the 43rd victory of his superbike career.

Just keeping his R1 on two wheels over the twice-stopped race’s final two laps was a supreme test of his skills on slick tyres as the rain poured down on the Wisconsin circuit.

The Mississippian made it through despite a number of near-crashes on the tense run to the chequuered flag – which was actually shown as a final red flag, stopping the race for good when a number of last-lap incidents.

“I’m really happy for my team,” Hayes said. “Big thank you to Monster Energy Graves Yamaha for providing me with what I need to win races. It was harder than the hardest lap I’ve ridden around this racetrack just to negotiate around.”

Hayes’ Factory Yamaha teammate, Cameron Beaubier, made his first real rookie mistake with a crash during the dry portion of Sunday’s contest, prior to the race’s first red flag. The 21-year-old was the favourite coming into race two, having dominated in the lead-up to the race, reeling in the pole position and the win on Saturday.

With the race stopped and restarted later, it was Hayes who won from Anthony on his ADR Motorsports/Sic/Motul Fly Racing Suzuki and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden. The day prior, Anthony finished fifth.

Fellow Australian Trent Gibson also featured inside the top 10 at Road America, taking 12th on Saturday and ninth on Sunday.

Despite being a lap down when the first red flag was shown, Beaubier reentered the fray from the pits at the restart. The rookie ran off track once and later crashed a second time. However, despite his difficult day, he picked up 13th place points for his title campaign.

As a result, Beaubier and Hayden are now tied atop the order with 90 points apiece. Hayes is right there as well, sitting third with 85 points.

2014 American Pro Superbike Championship
Round two – Road America, WI

Superbike race one results:
1. Cameron Beaubier
2. Josh Hayes
3. Martin Cardenas
4. Roger Hayden
5. David Anthony (AUS)
6. Chris Clark
7. Chris Fillmore
8. Chris Ulrich
9. Cory West
10. Jason Farrell
12. Trent Gibson (AUS)

Superbike race two results:
1. Josh Hayes
2. David Anthony (AUS)
3. Roger Hayden
4. Chris Clark
5. Chris Fillmore
6. Larry Pegram
7. Martin Cardenas
8. Bernat Martinez
9. Trent Gibson (AUS)
10. Francois Dumas

Click here for detailed results