Spies 2007 AMA SuperBike Champion

AMA SuperBikes: Spies wins 2007 Championship

(AMA Pro Racing Release) Following the 19 races that made up the most anticipated showdown in AMA Superbike Championship history, the title was decided by just a single point. Superstar Ben Spies came up huge when it mattered the most, delivering a masterful performance on Sunday afternoon at Laguna Seca to secure a repeat crown.

Six-time AMA Superbike king Mat Mladin controlled the race over its opening half, leaping out into the lead at the start and holding down the top position for 15 of the race’s 28 laps. The Aussie held strong under intense pressure from Spies early and then started to eke out an advantage around lap 10, pushing his works GSX-R1000 to just over a second in front of Spies’ identical machine.

However, any thoughts at that point that Spies may not have the sufficient fight in him today were erased when he stole big chunks out of that lead and closed right back onto his rival’s rear wheel to open lap 16.

Spies then set up the move of the season in the series’ most renowned corner. The 23-year-old Texan pulled alongside the 35-year-old Australian as they quickly closed on a lapper and entered the Corkscrew. Spies nudged ahead for a moment but Mladin reclaimed the lead briefly as the dove down the hill. His momentum forced him a touch wide and Spies took full advantage of the small opening, slicing back into first as they exited the corkscrew. The Texan immediately capitalized on the maneuver, pulling more than a half second by the time they next crossed the stripe.

Finally out in front, Spies put his head down and gapped Mladin by another full second on the following circulation and continued on to open up more than five seconds of padding as he completed the most pressure-filled, antagonizing 12 laps of his career.

Spies’ seven-win season, which included no finish worse than second place and resulted in a repeat championship, confirmed his standing as one of the series’ all-time greats just three years into his Superbike career.

After scoring the most important of his 18 career AMA Superbike wins, Spies said, “I didn’t want it to be that close, I’ll tell you that much. I was going to say this if we won the title or not: when it comes down to riding, I think Mat he rode the best he’s ever ridden this year. Yeah, he gave some points away but he kept coming back and coming back. We know speed-wise we’ve got to get it together and get a little bit more for next year. But our goal was to win the championship this year and we did that.

“It was one of those deals, coming into here I was trying not to deal with all the pressure and just get going with it. The race went just liked I hoped it would… Once the pass happened, when I got in front I knew I had some strong sections and he had some strong sections too. I just thought if I could string together some laps it’d be pretty good at the end and we did. We came out on top and we did our job this weekend.”

While he came up a point shy in the title race (652-651), it’s impossible to argue that Mladin’s record-breaking 12-win season was anything but one of the most impressive the series has ever seen. The Aussie stayed true to his repeated claims that his primary goal this year was to win races and deemed ’07 a success despite falling just short of his seventh career AMA Superbike title.

Mladin remarked, “If we were thinking about championships, we’ve given up some points in a couple of races, just through riding hard and trying to get race wins. That was the plan at the start of the year, so to be disappointed now would be somewhat hypocritical because we did what we wanted to do, and that was try and win as many races as possible.

“We came up a point short in the end and that’s the way it goes. I’m happy, honestly. It was a great season and I thanks Ben on the podium for helping me become the racer that I am. I had to pick up my pace and pick up my game to get up to his level and it’s been a really good year. I’m looking forward to the offseason; go home and start working and do a few things different and see if we can’t come back for another shot at it next year.”

While all the focus was on the epic Spies/Mladin duel, there was still another podium placing to be decided. Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates tracked down and ultimately overtook the fast-starting American Honda’s Jake Zemke with a nifty corkscrew pass of his own to secure third.

Yates’ completion of the Suzuki-podium sweep was an apt way to conclude a season thoroughly dominated by the ’07 GSX-R1000, which won every single Superbike and Superstock race this season.

Despite losing out in the race to Yates, fourth-place finisher Zemke narrowly held onto third in the final points standings over the Georgian, 468-465.Yamaha USA’s Eric Bostrom finished his return year in the premier Superbike class with a fifth-place run, followed by third Yosh man Tommy Hayden and teammate Jason DiSalvo. Corona Extra Honda’s James Ellison finished in eighth, with Superstock race winner Jake Holden and FBF MV Agusta’s Matt Lynn rounding out the top ten.

The 2007 AMA Superbike Championship battle fully lived up to its expectations as one of the most intense of all time. Neither Spies and Mladin show any sign of backing down now -- the ’07 campaign closes with promises of an equally memorable duel brewing on the horizon.