Mladin Nips Hayden On Final Lap To Win AMA Superbike Round 2 At Auto Club Speedway

By Michael Hannas

Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammates Mat Mladin and Tommy Hayden battled all the way to the finish Saturday in the AMA American Superbike event, with Mladin getting by Hayden on the final lap to steal the victory.  After the first start was red-flagged due to a crash involving Ducati’s Larry Pegram, Hayden and Mladin pulled away from the rest of the field in the first few laps with Aaron Yates crashing his Jordan Suzuki out of third place on lap 10.  From that point Geoff May held a comfortable third over Blake Young, with a nice scrap for fifth amongst Yamaha teammates Ben Bostrom and Josh Hayes, along with Corona Honda’s Jake Holden going all the way to the finish.  Hayden was able to lead laps eight through eighteen and took the white flag with Mladin right on his tail.  Mladin was able to make a move at the end of the back straight on Hayden to deny the eldest Hayden Brother his first Superbike victory.  May was able to hold on to third over Young, with Holden getting the better of Hayes and Bostrom for fifth.  The top ten was rounded out by David Anthony, Taylor Knapp, and Aaron Gobert.

Photo by Doug Byers

AMA Pro American Superbike

Auto Club Speedway

Round 2 of 21

Saturday Race Results

1. Mat Mladin (Suz)
2. Tommy Hayden (Suz)
3. Geoff May (Suz)
4. Blake Young (Suz)
5. Jake Holden (Hon)
6. Josh Hayes (Yam)
7. Ben Bostrom (Yam)
8. David Anthony (Suz)
9. Taylor Knapp (Suz)
10. Aaron Gobert (Hon)
11. Chris Ulrich (Suz)
12. Jeremy Toye (Hon)
13. Jeff Tigert (Hon)
14. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz)
15. Aaron Yates (Suz)
16. Scott Jensen (Suz)
17. Brad Hendry (Duc)
18. Shawn Higbee (Buell)
19. Reno Karimian (Suz)
20. Dean Mizdal (Suz)
21. Josh Graham (Buell)
22. Mark Simon (Suz)
23. Brad Puetz (Suz)
24. Eric Haugo (Suz)
25. Shane Narbonne (Yam)
26. Davie Stone (Hon)
27. Larry Pegram (Duc)