YOSHIMURA SUZUKI DOMINATES AGAIN
 Yoshimura
Suzuki dominated the AMA Superbike double-header weekend at
Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California at the weekend.
Six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin won both races
on Saturday and Sunday, with defending AMA Superbike Champion
Ben Spies bringing home second place in each event. This result
has Mladin and Spies tied for the lead in the overall championship
points standings.
Yoshimura Suzuki team mate Tommy Hayden also put in two impressive
rides, finishing in seventh on Saturday and fifth in Sunday's
event.
"I've got to thank my crew first and foremost,"
said Mladin from the podium. "They've worked very hard
to keep things tight. The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 ran beautifully
again and I was able to get a really good start."
Earlier in the weekend, Spies picked up his 11th career pole
position, posting a track record-breaking lap time of 1:34.991.
Mladin was second-fastest in qualifying with a lap time of
1:35.128, while Hayden rounded out the second row of the grid
with a 1:36.860 lap time.
The double-header weekend's second race was very similar
to the first event: Mladin got the holeshot and led all 28
laps. "It was a good weekend for us," said Mladin
of his 56th career AMA Superbike win. "We've tried very
hard to win as many races as possible. I came here ready to
ride as hard as I had to. I just want to get as much out of
me as I can and to get as much out of the Yoshimura Suzuki
GSX-R1000 as I can. I'll worry about everything else later."
Again mimicking Saturday's race, Spies got a good start and
was in second place for almost the entire race. "We just
didn't have the pace today," said Spies. "Mat was
riding a defensive race. In the end, he was just a little
faster. He stepped it up, for sure, and we just have to take
it up another notch. But we know what we have to do so we'll
put our heads down and get ready for Road America. That's
one of my favourite tracks and I'm looking forward to it."
Hayden also stepped up his performance over the weekend.
The two-time AMA Supersport Champion got a decent start but
still had to work his way up to the front of the pack. But
he did what he had to do to pick up a top-five finish.
"Today went a lot better than yesterday," said
Hayden. "My race speed was faster, my times were better
and I was a lot closer to the podium. We still have a lot
of work to do. Hopefully between now and Road America we can
make some improvements. I'd really like to get on the podium
soon."
Results:
1 Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki)
2 Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki)
3 Jake Zemke (Honda)
4 Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
5 Tommy Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki)
6 Jason Disalvo (Yamaha)
7 Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
8 James Ellison (Honda)
9 Jake Holden (Jordan Suzuki)
10 Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
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