American SuperBike 2001 - Round 5 - Road America

Things can’t seem to get much better for Aussie Mat Mladin. The two-time AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike champ won his third race of the year Saturday at Road America and, combined with his pole and lap-leader points, has extended his lead in the series to a 37-points after five of 14 rounds. With that size of a lead Mladin could miss a race and still hold the series lead.

After a red-flag restart, Mladin led every lap of Saturday’s race. Riding the factory Suzuki GSXR750, he pulled away from a tight second-place battle that involved as many as five riders and moved ahead to a 1.856-second margin of victory. Fellow Australian Anthony Gobert was second on a Yamaha, followed by Suzuki’s Jamie Hacking.

“When I got behind Jamie (Hacking) in the first start I saw that he was holding me up in a few places,” said Mladin, who is gunning for his third-straight Superbike title. “On the restart I knew I didn’t want to be behind anyone so I put my head down early and tried to get away as much as I could.”

The race was red flag and totally restarted after a first-lap crash involving Chuck Allen and James Doerfler. Allen was treated and released. Doerfler was transported to a Sheboygan hospital for observation.

It marked Mladin’s 13th-career AMA Superbike victory, putting him into a tie with Doug Polen for seventh on the all-time win list. It was also the first Superbike victory for Suzuki at Road America since 1988, when Polen was victorious on a GSXR. Mladin’s winning average speed of 110.078 mph was a new race record.

Another race is to be held at Road America on Sunday