Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin extended his AMA Superbike Championship lead to 31 points by carding an impressive second-place finish in the AMA Superbike race at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif., on Saturday afternoon. Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki rider Marty Craggill, meanwhile, returned to the track after a month off and qualified strongly and finished in a notable 11th place.

Mat Mladin, Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mladin continued to rack up the pole positions at Laguna Seca. Carding the 44th of his career and the seventh out of a potential seven for this season, Mladin also broke the Laguna Seca lap record for AMA Superbikes with an ultra-fast lap time of 1:24.886.

This feat is more impressive, considering this race weekend is the first time Mladin has ridden the new Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 at this very technical track. “We decided to test another day in Fontana instead of coming to Laguna because of the weather,” said Mladin. “You elect to do what you need to do to win the most races.”

In the race itself, Mladin was out front but did not capture the lead. With a care in mind about winning the AMA Superbike Championship at the end of the season, Mladin remained in the second spot until the finish.

“This is the hardest track on the circuit for me,” admitted Mladin after the race. “I can go fast here, but it’s not easy. I’ve struggled here for 10 years. But it was a good race today and congratulations to Eric (Bostrom) for the win. We just couldn’t get it done today.”

Mat Mladin, Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #1
2nd Place - AMA Superbike
1st Place - Overall

Marty Craggill, Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki rider Craggill started out the weekend strong and by the end of Saturday morning’s qualifying, Craggill was slated in the 11th spot on the third row of the grid. After posting a 1:27.406 lap time, Craggill was pleased.

“It was good,” said Craggill, who’s only ridden at Laguna Seca three times. “We made some improvements to the bike, and the Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000 is getting better. I rode a lot better today than yesterday in practice, and I haven’t actually ridden in a month so I’m happy about that.”

In the 28-lap Superbike race, Craggill was out in 11th place and had begun to work his way forward. He’d gotten up to ninth place when a run-in with a lapped rider caused him to run off the track and lose a few positions. With only a few laps left, Craggill couldn’t catch up and he finished in 11th.

“I had a good race,” said Craggill. “I was struggling over the start/finish hill and so I tried to be aggressive and I hit a lapper with about five laps to go and I ran off the track.”

Added Team Owner Mladin,” I was really happy with his qualifying this weekend and I think that they’re doing a great job. I think they’re gong in the right direction.”

Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki will next campaign the AMA Superbike race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, the weekend of July 22-24.

HRC Report

On the same track where former American Honda rider Nicky Hayden earned the first pole position of his young MotoGP career only hours earlier, American Honda teammates Jake Zemke and Miguel Duhamel battled almost to the finish.

The pair fought for nearly entire duration of the AMA Superbike race, round
11 of the championship, held in support of the Red Bull U.S. GP at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Zemke was balked on the first lap by an incident in the Corkscrew, the track's signature corner, which caused him to lose touch with the leaders and caused him to play catch up to his teammate.

The delay motivated the Californian to fight back and he stalked Duhamel for much of the race before making the decisive pass on the 24th of 28 laps. Duhamel wanted to retaliate, but his aggression caused him to run off the track, allowing Zemke to pull away to a secure fifth place. Duhamel came sixth.

The race was won by Eric Bostrom (Ducati) from Mat Mladin (Suzuki). Aaron Yates came third on the second Yoshimura Suzuki.

Jake Zemke, 5th
Basically when the crash in the Corkscrew happened, I had to almost stop up there. And Miguel (Duhamel) went by. Shoot, the whole rest of the front pack was gone. And times being fairly close, with all the short practice and everything, everyone seemed to be about the same time on a race tire or generally close. We didn't have anything to catch them. I was just kind of riding around there and hanging out and waiting to the end. But we had a little bit of a problem with our bike and then with grip. We did the best we could with what we had.

Miguel Duhamel, 6th
Everybody rode a really solid pace. Nobody made any mistakes. My only problem was after Jake (Zemke) passed me, going into turn ten, the rear end just came around on me. I had to get out of it to save it. I was able to save it, but I wasn't able to stay on the track. I went off in the dirt and came back onto the race track. With two laps to go and I tried to get back into the 27's, but there was nothing I could do. Jake was riding good. I think if that wouldn't have happened it would have been a hell of a battle for me and Jake for fifth place. It would have been hard fought.

 

Superbike Race

1. E Bostrom
2. M Mladin 6secs
3. A Yates 7.7secs
4. B Spies 9.3secs
5. J Zemke 14.5secs
6. M Duhamel 18.4secs
7. Ku Roberts
8. Rapp
9. Holden
10. Pridmore

Superbike Points

1. Mladin 358
2. Spies 327
3. Yates 294
4. E Bostrom 268
5. Hodgson 249
6. Duhamel 229
7. Zemke 212
8. Craggill 206
9. Acree 192
10. Rapp 188