MCNEWS.COM.AU - The ultimate in motorcycle news American Superbike 2008
 
 		MCNEWS.COM.AU - The ultimate in motorcycle news
 
American Superbike 2008 - Laguna Seca
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing’s Mat Mladin celebrated his fifth AMA Superbike win of the year and his 68th such career victory at Monterey, California’s Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday afternoon. The six-time AMA Superbike Champion put in an impressive ride on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000, finishing 10 seconds in front of his teammate Ben Spies.

Defending, two time AMA Superbike Champion Spies started from pole position (his fifth of the year and 21st of his career) and got the holeshot in the 28-lap race, but – having just finished a remarkable eighth place in the day’s earlier MotoGP race – was passed by his teammate and finished in second place. Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, meanwhile, put in a great ride, moving through the pack to capture the final spot on the podium. Finally, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden returned to racing after having been out due to injury for more than two months. The former AMA Supersport Champion raced his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 to a more-than-respectable fifth-place finish.

Mat Mladin:
“It was a good race for us. We felt pretty comfortable with the limited time we’ve had on the racetrack. We felt like we had a good bike in the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-1000 and this morning we just needed to sort out exactly what tire we wanted to use. I think everybody went with something pretty similar. I think we had a good pace, and then just got in front of Ben and put my head down and tried to make a break, and that’s what happened.”

Ben Spies:
“It was a good race. We got a decent start, but Mat came by and we tried to get behind him and get into a rhythm. But he kept stretching and stretching the gap and we just didn’t have the pace today – we didn’t have the speed at all. Once we got a good gap on third place, we just hit the cruise control and brought home second place. There was no way we could run with Mat today, there was no need to do anything silly, and so it was a pretty uneventful race, really.”

Aaron Yates:
“The race was pretty good. We didn’t have the best starting position but we got off the line pretty well on the Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 and got past a few guys. I just tried to pick people off with every lap, tried to keep chopping away and take it up to a podium position.”

Tommy Hayden:
“It felt good to get out there racing again. It was all right for my first race back. I guess I have to accept that I’m a little bit rusty on my racing. I wasn’t quite aggressive enough with making the passes when I needed to. But overall, it’s good to be back and come back with a solid result that gives me something to build on for the rest of the year. Hopefully, now we can just keep improving.”
SBK RACE 1 CHAMPIONSHIP
  1. Mladin
  2. Spies 10.1 secs
  3. Yates 20.6 secs
  4. Hacking 20.7 secs
  5. T Hayden 21.2 secs
  6. R Hayden 28.4 secs
  7. Hodgson 29.7 secs
  8. DiSalvo 29.8 secs
  9. E Bostrom 30.2 secs
  10. DuHamel 31.3 secs
  1. Spies 411
  2. Mladin 375
  3. Hacking 319
  4. Hodgson 317
  5. DiSalvo 288
  6. E Bostrom 276
  7. Yates 263
  8. DuHamel 259
  9. May 218
  10. Jensen 204
SS RACE SS CHAMPIONSHIP
  1. B Bostrom
  2. Zemke 7.8 secs
  3. Rapp 16.8 secs
  4. Eslick 16.9 secs
  5. Fong 17.1 secs
  6. Hayes 21.7 secs
  7. Cardenas 25.5 secs
  8. Aquino 25.8 secs
  9. Beck 26.6 secs
  10. Herrin 31.6 secs
  11. Gobert 31.7 secs
  1. B Bostrom 229
  2. Zemke 219
  3. Hayes 177
  4. Young 175
  5. Herrin 174
  6. Davies 154
  7. Eslick 146
  8. Gobert 145
  9. West 130
  10. Beck 124

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