Mladin wins race 2 at Barber

Mladin is back! Doubles at Barber

(AMA Pro Racing Release) The 30,000 spectators that packed into Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday were witness to a vintage Mat Mladin performance, as the six-time AMA Superbike king looked to be in his prime while locking down the weekend double.

While the 35-year-old’s 52nd career AMA Superbike win on Saturday was a clear indication of the seriousness of his attempt to reclaim the crown taken away from him last season by his young Yoshimura Suzuki teammate, Ben Spies, #53 was even more impressive.

Even though Spies closed up considerably in traffic late, this one wasn’t a nail biter. In classic Mladin fashion, he escaped the hectic opening laps to emerge solidly in control of the race and then steadily went about building up a multi-second advantage.

Rival Spies, meanwhile, struggled a great deal more working his way free, contending first with the fast-starting Eric Bostrom and Tommy Hayden, who each took a turn leading the opening two laps, and then American Honda’s Miguel DuHamel, who closed on the Texan and appeared capable of knocking him down to third in the middle portions of the race.

Late in the race Spies finally found the form he was looking for and left DuHamel behind while cutting the gap to Mladin, who wasn’t as fortunate working through the lappers. But while the final margin of victory was rather slim, (0.992 seconds), the race’s outcome was never really in doubt.
Mladin’s BMP double victory narrows the championship chase considerably, as Spies’ led is now just eight points, 109 to Mat’s 95.

“It was a good weekend for us,” Mladin said in an understated way. “We came here a month ago and tested. And we had a good test and we felt we had a good motorbike and a good pace. And you know the pace of the race today with the track temperature similar to what we had at the test, was very similar to what we did here.

“We sort of knew what we had and it was just a matter of trying to keep it clean and try and do a good job for the whole 28 laps. Around here, things get a little bit greasy. The bike really worked well throughout the whole race, and I just did what we had to do at the end to bring it home and not take too many risks going through a couple of bunches of lapped traffic there.”

Asked if this weekend’s result was especially rewarding for the motivated Mladin, he said, “Of course Daytona was a little bit disappointing. But, you know, those things happen. It certainly didn’t put a damper on what I felt I could achieve this year. I certainly wasn’t pleased about losing the championship last year, but as I said a number of times, I don't think I deserved to win the championship. My head and my heart weren’t in it. And as I said earlier in the year, the best rider’s going to win this year and we'll see who that ends up being because I'm not going to leave anything out there. I'll give it everything I've got. If I come out on top, good. If Ben does, he deserves it fully.”

Spies placed the blame for today’s second-place finish squarely on himself. “Today, (Mat) did exactly what he had to do and I couldn’t get my rhythm the first few laps. I had a lot of openings to get around the first two guys and I just sat around and couldn’t do it. It hurt me in the end.

“Once I got around, it was all me. I couldn’t get in a rhythm and get going until halfway in. He already had a lead too so he probably just slowed down. The bike to me, it was working a lot better at the end and the times showed it. We just kept going faster and the lapped traffic hurt him in the end and we closed that up, but I could see what was going on there.

“If it would have been perfect, I would have got through lappers and everything good and he would have got screwed up and we could have fought for the win but it didn’t happen. It’s unfortunate it took so long, but like I said it was my fault. He rode a good race. Hopefully we can rebound and come back at Fontana strong.”

Taking away the positive from this potentially momentum-shifting weekend, Spies, remarked, “The only good thing is, even though we didn’t win we had the pace. Just couldn’t be there today, but once we got rolling it was fine and yesterday it was fine. Yeah, he got all the points and won but we didn’t get outright smoked like we did in ’05. I’m happy with that. We’re going to some good tracks that I like and tracks that he likes too. I’m sure it’s going to be like this all year.”

DuHamel completed the repeat of Saturday’s podium by claiming another third. The American Honda star was excited to have actually pushed Spies for a time during the race and predicted more of that to come.

“I think we’ve made big progress in trying to prevent (the Suzukis running away) already today,” He commented. “Sure, you can easily look at yesterday or last year and say it looks the same but it ain’t. The bike is better -- I’ve been saying that all year and it’s kind of nice to prove it. I got a good start today and we were able to keep Mat and Ben in sight until about eight to go. We’ve just got to make the bike a little bit better. It’s kind of refreshing to be able to look at this and say we can actually be up there mixing it up with them.”

While the Suzukis have traditionally dominated California Speedway, the scene of next weekend’s AMA Superbike round, DuHamel is hoping to battle them for victory.

Looking ahead he said, “You feel you’re going into a bit of a pit of hell because Mat and Ben go so great over there. No disillusionment with that but my bike being as good as it is now, the CBR1000RR, I’m feeling pretty good. I think Fontana is a place where we can definitely do pretty good.

"I’m not going there to get third. I want to get first… As you mentioned, if we’re going to win the championship, we’ve got to make some points on these guys. It’s going to be tough. Ben’s riding great and Mat’s riding great. I think we’re going to start seeing a three-rider tussle and it will be great for the fans and I’m looking forward to it as well.”

Hayden picked up an impressive fourth, giving the factory Suzuki squad three of the race’s top four finishers. He was followed to the flag by Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, who dueled with the Kentuckian throughout much of the race.

Yamaha USA teammates Eric Bostrom and Jason DiSalvo finished sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking and Roger Hayden.

Second American Honda runner Jake Zemke faded to tenth after dicing with Hayden, Yates, and Bostrom for fourth earlier in the contest.