SPIES WINS AT ELKHART LAKE
 Despite
inclement weather, Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies won his first-ever
Road America AMA Superbike race in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
on Sunday afternoon.
This victory is Spies' third win of the season and moves
the defending AMA Superbike Champion into the lead in the
AMA Superbike Championship points chase. Team mate Mat Mladin
finished an impressive third in the wet race, while Tommy
Hayden, unfortunately, crashed and was unable to finish.
"I have to thank my Yoshimura Suzuki team for doing
such a great job, staying up until 1:00 in the morning to
rebuild the bike I crashed in practice yesterday," said
Spies. "My Suzuki GSX-R1000 was so good in the rain today.
I was afraid the track was going to dry out. We needed this
win, for sure."
The 16-lap race went off as scheduled in spite of the rain
and Spies got the holeshot. By lap two, Hayden was running
in third and Mladin was in seventh. As the storm grew worse,
however, the race was red flagged because of conditions. When
the storm subsided into merely rain, the complete restart
saw Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates get the holeshot but he was
overtaken by Mladin and Spies on the first lap. Mladin, who
started from pole position, led briefly before being passed
by Spies. Spies took over the lead and created a gap and took
the win.
"In the first start, I got a pretty good holeshot but
I was still feeling it out and not going all out," said
Spies. "Then we had the red flag and in the second start
I followed Mat and then got around him. I just tried to put
some decent laps together and get as big a gap as I could.
Then, I just put it on cruise control…
I've been riding hard all year and trying to not make mistakes.
We know we have to win races to win the championship. Now,
we just need to take it to a new level and not ride so conservatively."
Mladin, meanwhile, settled into second position before being
passed midway through the race. The six-time AMA Superbike
Champion played it safe, however, and rode his Yoshimura Suzuki
GSX-R1000 to the third podium spot.
"I didn't get a good start in the first start,"
said Mladin. "There was so much water that I couldn't
see where I was going. I'd already made the decision to not
do anything crazy. The conditions in the second start were
more sane. It was slippery, but visibility was ok. (As for
Jamie and Ben), they just rode better than me. In the race,
I saw some things I could improve on. I am lacking in the
rain in some areas. But some of the things that hurt me in
the rain help me in the dry. And fortunately, most races are
on sunny days."
Former AMA Supersport Champion Hayden got off the line and
was in third place in the first start. In the second start,
he'd moved into position to battle for a podium spot when
he went down and was unable to finish.
"I made a mistake in Turn One," said Hayden, who
wasn't injured in the get-off. "Up until then, the race
was going good and I felt really comfortable on the Yoshimura
Suzuki GSX-R1000. I'd caught the battle for second place and
then I locked up the front brake. I was down on the ground
before I could do anything about it."
AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers:
1 Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki)
2 Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
3 Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki)
4 Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki)
5 James Ellison (Honda)
6 Jake Zemke, Honda
7 Jake Holden (Jordan Suzuki)
8 John Haner (Suzuki)
9 Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
10 Dominic Jones (Honda)
|
