AMA SuperBikes: Road America

Spies claims 7th consecutive race wins

(AMA Pro Racing Release) Ben Spies notched up another historic achievement in his brief yet remarkable AMA Superbike career, establishing a new all-time record with a seventh consecutive race win this afternoon at Road America.

Riding under threatening conditions as the skies darkened and winds picked up while the Superbike stars lined the grid, the Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki superstar stormed to the holeshot from pole with his rival/teammate Mat Mladin right in tow.

Mladin looked very racy over the race's opening four laps, regularly showing Spies a wheel and looking for a way into the lead on numerous occasions. The Texan held strong at the front, however, and finally broke Mladin's challenge by slicing under his pole time with a 2:12.133 lap on lap 5 of 16.

From there Spies steadily worked his advantage up to 8.786 seconds, claiming his seventh straight AMA Superbike race win from pole. Mladin was a solid second, some 10.5 seconds clear of third-ranked Jamie Hacking, who scored his fifth podium in succession.

American Honda's Neil Hodgson provided Hacking with a stiff challenge over the race's opening half before settling into fourth.

The fight for fifth was a spirited affair involving Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates, American Honda's Miguel DuHamel, and Yamaha USA teammates Jason DiSalvo and Eric Bostrom.

Yates, who at one point survived a high-speed, both-legs-off the-pegs, tank slapper charging up the hill towards the stripe, was beaten to the stripe by DuHamel, and the two were followed DiSalvo and Bostrom.

Superstock polesitter Geoff May took ninth, with Celtic Racing's Alastair Seeley coming through on the last lap to overcome Scott Jensen, Chris Peris, and Robertino Pietri for the final spot in the top ten.

On Sunday, Spies will look to his extend his new record to eight as he now turns his attention to Mladin's all-time record of 12 wins in a single season.