ASB 09 R3 Race 2 Results

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Mladin Dominates Again Over Young And May In Atlanta

By Michael Hannas

Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Mat Mladin showed that no matter what the rules are, he simply owns Road Atlanta with another dominating win in the AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike race on Sunday over teammate Blake Young and a charging local boy Geoff May on the National Guard Suzuki. Mladin simply took off on the first lap and set the fastest lap of the race, a blistering 1:25.672 on the second lap to establish a two-and-a-half-second gap that eventually grew by around a second per lap to eleven seconds before lappers slowed his pace. No one else could lap under the 1:26-mark, but the battle for second was intense in the early laps between Josh Hayes, Larry Pegram, Ben Bostrom, Tommy Hayden, Aaron Yates, Taylor Knapp, Jake Holden, May and Young as the group of nine circulated nose-to-tail for at least the first seven laps battling back and forth. It was just too bad Mladin was way out front and it wasn't a battle for the lead.

Hayes, Young, Yates, May, and Hayden established themselves as the ones to beat for the runner-up spot as Bostrom, Knapp, Pegram, and Holden slowly lost touch. May worked his way to the front of the battle on lap 13 as he looked to be coming into his own while the others were fading. Young was able to latch on to May through the traffic as Hayes, Yates, and Hayden fell back into their own scrap for fourth spot. Young took second from May on lap 15 as the two actually closed on Mladin through the lappers, but May got back around on lap 17. Young was able to fight back on the final lap to take second from May as Mladin took his second win of the weekend and Suzuki dominated the podium again. Hayes held on over Yates for fourth with Hayden sixth, while Taylor Knapp put in a solid ride to get the better of Bostrom for seventh, with Holden holding on for ninth over a fading Pegram.

AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike

2009 Round 3 Road Atlanta Race 2 Results

1. Mat Mladin (Suz), 20 Laps

2. Blake Young (Suz), -4.199 sec.

3. Geoff May (Suz), -4.376 sec.

4. Josh Hayes (Yam), -6.894 sec.

5. Aaron Yates (Suz), -7.338 sec.

6. Tommy Hayden (Suz), -7.748 sec.

7. Taylor Knapp (Suz), -16.459 sec.

8. Ben Bostrom (Yam), -19.974 sec.

9. Jake Holden (Hon), -23.784 sec.

10. Larry Pegram (Duc), -31.370 sec.

11. David Anthony (Suz), -39.030 sec.

12. Chris Ulrich (Suz), -43.906 sec.

13. Aaron Gobert (Hon), -58.380 sec.

14. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz), -1:07.804 sec.

15. Scott Jensen (Suz), -1:07.911 sec.

16. Ryan Elleby (Suz), -1:08.367 sec.

17. Mark Crozier (Suz), -1 lap

18. Barrett Long (Duc), -1 lap

19. Skip Salenius (Suz), -1 lap

20. Shane Narbonne )Suz), -1 lap

21. Josh Graham (Yam), -1 lap

22. Eric Haugo (Suz), -1 lap

Rider Championship Point Standings (after 5 of 21 races):

1. Mladin, 157 points
2. Tommy Hayden, 112
3. May, 92
4. Young, 89
5. Hayes, 77
6. Bostrom, 71
7. Pegram, 64
8. Yates, 62
9. Anthony, 48
10. Knapp, 44
11. Gobert, 43
12. Holden, 39
13. Mazzotta, 37
14. Ulrich, 36
15. Jensen, 31
16. Neil Hodgson, 25
17. Long, 16
18. Jeff Tigert, 14
19. Elleby, 13
20. Michael Laverty, 12

Mladin and Rockstar/Makita Cap Dominant Weekend Sweep of Suzuki Superbike Showdown
Team Rallies After Morning Practice Spill to Keep Mladin in Dominant Form in Sunday Final

BRASELTON, Georgia (April 5, 2009) - Mat Mladin and Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki capped a dominant weekend at the AMA Pro Suzuki Superbike Showdown with another flag-to-flag AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited race win Sunday at Road Atlanta.

Mladin is undefeated in 2009 AMA Pro American Superbike competition after the year's first five races but his performance at Road Atlanta this weekend was by far his most impressive of the year. After winning the pole in Friday's single-bike Superpole qualifying, Mladin led every lap in Saturday's 20-lap race and did the same thing again today to score a perfect clean sweep of the Road Atlanta weekend. His Sunday ride was even more impressive considering the championship Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura team repaired Mladin's No. 7 Suzuki GSX-R1000 after a lowside incident in Sunday morning practice.

"I had a bit of a tumble this morning and the guys got the bike back together," Mladin said. "I just pushed too hard. It was at the end of the back straight. Everything felt as usual and normal for the race. It was a good race for us. We had a bit of a crack for 10 or 12 laps. I was trying to figure out around Lap 10 or 11 whether I should keep pushing and the boys get a bit nervous when I do that. I pushed my luck one too many times today already, so I decided to have a bit of fun at the end."

While Mladin was cruising up front near the end, some of the best racing of the weekend took place for second place between Mladin's teammate Blake Young (No. 79 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) and local rider Geoff May (No. 54 National Guard/Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000). The pair swapped second several times before Young took the spot for good on the last lap.

"Geoff came on strong," Young said. "It seemed like I was being held up in a couple spots by some of the riders in the beginning of the field there. Once I got clear and got sorted out, Geoff came by with some pace and I definitely jumped in and learned where he was a little bit better than me. It was good, a good last lap, and I just kind of set it up for a last-lap pass. I was coming out of (Turn) 7 and actually going over (Turn) 8, over the hill. I just got into his draft and broke off and tried to get away from him so he couldn't get back in behind me."

May joined Mladin in hitting the podium in both weekend races and recovered from a poor start to finish third for the second-straight day.

"I was afraid I was going to get run over there at the start," said May, who was 10th at the end of Lap 1 after starting on the front row. "I just put my head down again and we really had the bike set up good for the end of the race. I've been trying to really work hard on the end of the race, on the last half, on worn-out tires. We usually do that, set the thing up for when it's sliding. It just seems like the other guys, they start sliding around and stuff, and they have a hard time with it. I start getting faster and faster and faster and put in my fastest laps, usually, in the last couple laps."

Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) finished fourth after placing fifth Saturday to cap his best weekend so far in the 2009 American Superbike season. May's teammate Aaron Yates (No. 23 Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) finished fifth for his best result of the year.

Mladin, who scored the 51st consecutive American Superbike win today for Suzuki and the Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura team, now leads the championship standings with 157 points. His other teammate Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) is second with 112 points while May is third with 92 points.

Next up for AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited is the Honda Superbike Classic at Barber Motorsports Park, May 1 - 3.

All of the races from the Road Atlanta AMA Pro Suzuki Superbike Showdown will be featured on AMA Pro Prime Time on SPEED over the course of the next four episodes. AMA Pro Prime Time airs every Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. ET) with the next scheduled show set for next Saturday, April 11.

AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. From its Daytona Beach headquarters, the organization operates and manages AMA Pro Road Racing, which includes AMA Pro American Superbike, AMA Pro Daytona SportBike, AMA Pro SuperSport and AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT. AMA Pro Racing also manages and works closely with the day-to-day operational organizations of the AMA Pro Flat Track Championship and the AMA Pro Supermoto Championship Series in addition to other two-wheel and ATV series. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.