Kentuckian Tommy Hayden rebounded after the bitter disappointment of being beaten by AMA Pro American Superbike title adversary Josh Hayes yesterday to take the measure of his rival Sunday afternoon at Mid-Ohio.

Hayden's determination has kept him in the ’10 title fight - Hayes now leads 285 to 281 – and the Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki pilot’s victory prevented Hayes from registering two connective perfect pole/double win weekends in the Buckeye State, proving that the Mississippi-based racer will not be able to dominate the second half of the season as he did last year.

The race was a close four-way battle for the majority of the contest as Hayden and Hayes only pulled away to their own private duel in the final few laps as Foremost Insurance Pegram Ducati's Larry Pegram turned his attention to fending off Pat Clark Motorsports' Ben Bostrom in the charge for the final podium placing.

Hayden maintained just enough of an edge in pace to prevent Hayes from closing to within dive-bombing distance in the end, keeping two-tenths separation over the last two laps. The Kentuckian was solid at the front, never wavering en route to his third career AMA Superbike victory by a 0.184-second margin over his nemesis.

Pegram managed to hold off Bostrom by a similarly narrow distance, crossing the line just under three seconds behind Hayden and only 0.187 seconds in front of yesterday's runner-up.

Jordan Suzuki sub Brett McCormick ran down and passed teammate Jake Zemke on the National Guard-backed GSX-R as the early-season title leader's late-race woes continue. The two finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Behind them, RidersDiscount.com's Taylor Knapp beat Monster Energy M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich to the flag as the top eight finishers raced to the line pairs.

Erik Buell Racing's Geoff May picked up ninth and former MotoGP pilot Kurtis Roberts rounded out the top ten as Cycle World Attack Performance Suzuki's Eric Bostrom and second M4 entry Jake Holden failed to finish.

Hayden and Hayes now take their developing title fight to Laguna Seca next weekend for the combined MotoGP/AMA Superbike weekend.

AMA Pro American Superbike Sunday Results

1. Tommy Hayden (Suz)

2. Josh Hayes (Yam) +0.184

3. Larry Pegram (Duc)

4. Ben Bostrom (Yam)

5. Brett McCormick (Suz)

6. Jake Zemke (Suz)

7. Taylor Knapp (Suz)

8. Chris Ulrich (Suz)

9. Geoff May (Buell)

10. Kurtis Roberts (Yam)