AMA SuperStock - Holden scores first win in 07 finale

AMA SuperStock: Holden scores first career win

(AMA Pro Racing Release) Jordan Suzuki’s Jake Holden closed out the 2007 AMA Superstock season with his first career victory, which was actually confirmed minutes after it had appeared that he had thrown away a dream opportunity by crashing out of the lead.

Holden, who was desperate to score the win a day after picking up his first pole, quickly took over the lead, overtaking holeshot winner Ben Bostrom in the corkscrew on lap 2. The Jordan Suzuki rider slowly worked up an advantage while leading a five-rider pack consisting of Bostrom, teammate Yates, Yamaha Australia’s Jamie Stauffer, and Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Geoff May.

Yates slipped past Bostrom on lap 4 and set off in pursuit of his escaping teammate. Holden moved his advantage up near two seconds before the Georgian starting cutting into the gap, taking advantage of a mishap on Holden’s part to drop the difference down to just 0.602 seconds on lap 11.

Holden continued to push hard, but in his attempt to reaffirm his lead he fell out of first place when he hit oil on the course in Turn 6 while working lap 12, bringing out a red flag.

The race was ultimately called complete, and since the dropped oil was considered the determining factor in the stoppage, Holden was credited with the win when the scoring was reverted a lap.

After picking up the career milestone in most unusual circumstances, Holden said, "I had a flashback of last year’s Ohio, the last race of the year. I was leading the race and crashed out. I knew this wasn’t my fault, I thought maybe the tire failed or something went wrong with the bike. I was straight up and down coming out of Turn 6 and it spit me off. I’m not glad that they called the race because I would have liked to win with full laps, but it sure is nice to go home with a victory at the end of the season."

Yates was awarded second, handing the Jordan Suzuki outfit a stellar 1-2 in their final outing of the ’07 campaign. Laguna Seca master Ben Bostrom held on for third, finishing ahead of Aussie champ Stauffer and Georgian May, who were embroiled in an intense fight for fourth when the race was stopped.

Matsushima Performance’s Blake Young picked up sixth, followed by ESP-backed Ben Thompson, Young’s teammate, Danny Eslick, and Team Roadracingworld.com teammates Chris Ulrich and Robertino Pietri, who rounded out the top ten.

While newly-crowned 2007 AMA Superstock champion Ben Spies sat out of the contest to concentrate on his looming Superbike showdown with rival Mat Mladin, Holden’s win secured Suzuki's perfect win record in the class this season.