SPIES AND GSX-R1000 WIN DAYTONA
 Yoshimura
Suzuki's Ben Spies started the 2007 AMA Superbike year with
a bang by winning the AMA Superbike race at Daytona International
Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida today.
This victory is the defending AMA Superbike Champion's 12th
AMA Superbike career victory and Suzuki's 11th Daytona AMA
Superbike win. Team mates Tommy Hayden and Mat Mladin both
had troubles but made impressive recoveries to finish in eighth
and 10th positions respectively.
"Winning at Daytona was a great way to start out the
season," said Spies of his first-ever Daytona Superbike
victory. "It's nice to show up with the number-one plate
and get the pole position, lead the most laps and win the
race."
The Texan picked up the pole position by posting a fastest
lap time of 1:37.546. Overall, this is Spies' eighth career
pole. Mladin was hot on his heels with a lap time of 1:37.581
while Hayden followed up with a 1:38.931.
In Saturday's 15-lap AMA Superbike race, Spies got a good
start and was running up front with Mladin. The duo swapped
spots a few times and then Spies took over the lead. The 22-year-old
went on to create a gap and take the win.
"It was a good race," said Spies. "We got
off to a pretty good start and the race played out as good
as it could. Everybody knows that Daytona is a place where
you can lose a lot of points quick and you can't win the championship
here. We made good progress with the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000
here. The team did great, the bike was awesome. I had to ride
hard, but the bike's working good. We just did what we could
and tried to stay consistent."
Hayden also got a good start but had an off-road excursion
when riders in front of him crashed and forced him into the
grass. But the two-time AMA Supersport Champion remounted,
put his head down and reeled in as many competitors as possible
for an eighth-place finish.
"I was on the outside when two riders tangled up and
forced me off the track," said Hayden. "I got back
on the track in about 23rd and it was an uphill battle from
there. I tried to get as many spots as I could and salvage
as many points as possible. It was a little frustrating but
we got enough points to start the season out pretty good.
The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 felt good. I just need to work
on qualifying a little better and get on the front row and
away from that mess in the back."
Similarly, six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mladin got a good
start on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and had taken the
lead when, unfortunately, he went down. In true championship-winning
form, however, he recovered and finished in 10th position.
"We just didn't get it done today," said Mladin.
"It's a little disappointing but this is only the first
race and it's a long season. The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000
was working good and I just tried to pick up as many points
as I could."
Yoshimura Suzuki will return for round two of the AMA Superbike
Series at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama on
April 20 - 22.
AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers:
1 Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki)
2 Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
3 Jake Zemke (Honda)
4 Akira Yanagawa (Kawasaki)
5 Geoff May (M4 EMGO Suzuki)
6 Jason Disalvo (Yamaha)
7 Jake Holden (Jordan Suzuki)
8 Tommy Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki)
9 James Ellison (Honda)
10 Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki)
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