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American Superbike 2006 -
Round Nine - VIR - Superbike Race One August 19th, 2006 |
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American Superbike 2006 -
Round Nine - VIR - Superbike Race One August 19th, 2006 |
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Round 9 – AMA
Superbike Series Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin won his fourth AMA Superbike race of the 2006 season in Saturday afternoon’s race at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Va. Teammate and current AMA Superbike points leader Ben Spies followed Mladin home in second place, while Yoshimura Suzuki rider Aaron Yates finished in fifth position. “I got a pretty good start and just kept my head down,” said six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mladin of his fourth VIR Superbike victory and his 47th career Superbike win. “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 felt really good -- we found a few things at our test last week at Road Atlanta that made the bike feel more comfortable.” Yoshimura Suzuki had one of its strongest qualifying sessions all season at VIR, with Mladin taking his third pole position of the season, Spies qualifying in second and Yates in third. Mladin’s fastest lap was a 1:24.226, Spies’ was 1:24.363 and Yates’ was 1:25.208. “It was a good session for us,” said Mladin after picking up his 50th career pole position and his third at VIR. “We did some pretty good laps out there and it’s good to see Yoshimura Suzuki in the top three.” In the 28-lap race, Spies was out front immediately and led the first few laps. Defending AMA Superbike Champion Mladin, however, was right behind him and quickly took over the lead. “I wasn’t sure how Ben was feeling after crashing yesterday so I knew I had to put my head down,” said Mladin. “Now we just need to keep the momentum for tomorrow’s race.” Although Spies rode a strong race, the young Texan suffered from a fractured right hand following a crash the day before in qualifying. Determined to hold onto his overall points lead, however, Spies persevered in spite of the injury and finished in an impressive second place. “I tried to get out front on the first lap but I knew Mat was behind me,” said Spies, who’s points spread is 39 points over second-place Mladin. “I just tried to keep my head down and I knew Mat was going to get around me. I tried to hang with him as long as I could and create a gap on everybody else. I’m really happy with this finish, considering the circumstances. I’m just going to go back, take care of my hand and try to be better for tomorrow.” Teammate Yates also got a pretty good start but wound up back in seventh position. He put up a good fight and was rewarded with a top-five finish. “I got a really good launch off the line,” said Yates. “I was right behind Mat in Turn One and he let off, then I let off and a bunch of guys got past me. I got stuck behind those guys for the first half of the race and I was having a tough time making passes. We’re going to make a few changes to the bike and give me a little more confidence in the front end and hopefully go a little faster tomorrow.” Saturday’s race was the first of two Superbike races in the VIR double-header weekend, with the second race slated for Sunday afternoon.
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American Superbike 2006
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MCNEWS.COM.AU