Mladin Takes The Win Again Over Hayden And Pegram
By Michael Hannas
Photos by Doug Byers
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin showed the rest of the American Superbike field that no matter what the rules are, he is still the one to beat with a dominating victory over his teammate Tommy Hayden. After the first start was red flagged and the race reduced to nineteen laps, Hayden took the holeshot over Mladin and Yates. Mladin wasted no time going to the lead with an aggressive move into turn five and tried to put his head down and run away in the lead. He was unable to shake Hayden as the two began to pull away from Yates, who had a comfortable gap over the battle for fourth amongst Geoff May, Ben Bostrom, Jake Holden, and Larry Pegram. On lap seven Hayden was able to draft past Mladin on the front straight to take the lead, which he held for two laps until Mladin was able to get back by. Meanwhile, Holden slowed with a mechanical problem and Blake Young was forced in for a stop and go penalty, which dropped him out of the top ten. Once back into the lead, Mladin began to inch away from Hayden as Yates closed up on Tommy, and by lap fourteen Yates was on Hayden’s back wheel as the pair entered the front straight. Hayden missed a shift while Yates was in the draft and was hit from behind by the Jordan Suzuki as the two were making their way around some lapped riders. Neither rider went down but both bikes suffered damage, with Hayden able to hold on for second with a broken footpeg, but Yates dropping down to tenth at the finish with a broken shift lever. With Yates dropping back, the battle for the final podium spot came down to Pegram and May, with Bostrom falling off the pace. May was able to close on the sore from yesterday Pegram in the final lap but was unable to make a move, with Pegram taking the final podium spot on his Foremost Insurance Ducati. May Seetled for fourth, with Bostrom fifth. The battle for sixth went to Josh Hayes over Taylor Knapp and David Anthony, with Blake Young and Yates rounding out the top ten.
AMA Pro American Superbike
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Sunday Race Results
- Mat Mladin (Suz)
- Tommy Hayden (Suz)
- Larry Pegram (Duc)
- Geoff May (Suz)
- Ben Bostrom (Yam)
- Josh Hayes (Yam)
- Taylor Knapp (Suz)
- David Anthony (Suz)
- Blake Young (Suz)
- Aaron Yates (Suz)
