Four in a row for storming Spies

Four in a row for storming Spies

(AMA Pro Racing Release) Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies scored his fourth consecutive AMA Superbike victory today at Laguna Seca in yet another one-sided showcase at the front, breaking free almost as early as the green light was shown.

The Texan took full advantage of a less-than-ideal start on the part of his biggest threat, teammate Mat Mladin, storming to an early multi-second advantage as the Aussie took just under three laps to make his way up from sixth and into second. By the time the six-time champion had a clear track in front of him, he was nearly four seconds down and that’s more or less where the margin would stay for the remainder of the 100k affair.

This particular type of race is proving to be a familiar theme in ‘07 as the two rivals are so evenly matched in terms of speed, if one manages to eek out an early advantage with a superior start, the other has little chance of making the time back up.

The victory was the 17th of Spies’ young Superbike career, tying him with MotoGP champ Nicky Hayden for fourth on the all-time wins list.

Afterwards, Spies spoke of the crucial opening laps that paved the way for his sixth win of ’07. “We got off the line good and that kind of looks like the key right now. With me and Mat running pretty much the same pace, when you get two seconds on the first couple laps, that helps you out quite a bit…

“If (Mat) would have got off the line, for sure, I don’t think anybody would have pulled away -- it would have been a real good race. Luckily we got a really good start and brought it back.”

Asked if it was any more special to win with the world watching, Spies said, “I think you ride 100% every weekend but when you get this atmosphere, it’s more of just adrenaline or a nervous feeling. Yeah, you want to do good, but I don’t think you ride any harder or you can. This year I’ve been 100% the whole time and that’s what it’s taken to this point. It’s good to win in front of the world stage, obviously, but I guess it’s just the pre-race jitters and the fans that definitely amp you up, that’s for sure.”

A frustrated Mladin said, “What can I say? I was four or five seconds behind Ben when I got into second place and that was it. The race was over unless I could do some phenomenal laps. We did some low ‘4s and started pulling Ben back a little bit; we got it to just under three seconds and then we got into a few lappers and ran some mid-‘5s and it went right back out to five seconds. That was it, there was nothing else I could do.”

Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, the Australian said, “I just have hopes I can get off the start and make a race of it. I think today if I could have got off the start we could have made a race of it. Nobody was going to get away, but we could have made a race of it. At the moment I can’t get off the start; I’m begging Suzuki to try and help me out in the clutch department -- try and do something different, but parts are far and few in between in that department. That’s it. That’s the best I could do today.”

While the race for first and second was thoroughly processional, the dogfight for the final spot on the podium kept the massive crowd on the their feet.

Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, American Honda’s Miguel DuHamel, and Corona Xtreme Honda’s Neil Hodgson were embroiled in a race-long clash for the position, each man uniquely motivated this weekend. Yates was in search of that elusive first Superbike podium for Jordan Suzuki, Hodgson was here to prove that he belonged back in the paddock and was fully deserving of a top-flight full-time gig, and DuHamel was determined to not let the Briton just turn up and beat him on the wild card Honda entry.

Hodgson held third from lap 8 until 18 of 28 despite the intense pressure being applied by DuHamel and Yates. However, one minor miscalculation through traffic instantly relegated him to fifth, where he would remain to the end. Still, it was an impressive effort for the returning former World Superbike king.

Yates charged up from fifth to third with ten to go and managed to hold off the crafty Canadian at the flag to the delight of Michael Jordan, who was in attendance to witness the historic first for his racing team.

“It definitely feels great,” the Georgian commented. “The team has been working really hard and our bike has been getting better every weekend. We’ve got a couple new pieces, little suspension parts, and it helped the thing get around. The bike is running good and having such a good group of guys who are working so hard behind me, really motivates me to go out there and do the best I can for them. Having Michael Jordan out there and all his buddies, I just really wanted to do it for them, get on the podium at least. We managed to pull through this weekend.”

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking might have been in line for a podium finish himself if not for7 a first lap mistake. He overshot Turn 11 badly while moving briefly into second place and spent the remainder of the race making up for it. The reigning Superstock/Supersport champ proved to be the third fastest man on the track and ultimately climbed all the way back up to sixth from well down the order.

Yamaha USA’s Jason DiSalvo picked up seventh with Jordan Suzuki’s Jake Holden getting between him and his teammate, Eric Bostrom, late for eighth. Hodgson’s teammate, James Ellison, put on a late push of his own to round out the top ten, finishing ahead of Superstock regulars Ben Bostrom and Geoff May.

Following 12 of 19 races, Spies has stretched out his title advantage to 24 points, leading Mladin 420-396. The epic championship class will pick back up again in two weeks time as the series heads to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 3-5.