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MLADIN WINS 6TH AMA SUPERBIKE TITLE
In a stunning end to the Suzuki weekend at Road Atlanta on Sunday, Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin clinched his third record-breaking AMA Superbike Championship by taking an unprecedented sixth title.
And teammate Aaron Yates carded his first Superbike win of the season while Ben Spies came in a close second to Yates. “It was a good year for us,” said Mladin. “And Suzuki delivered a motorcycle that made life a lot easier than last year. As I’ve said all along, the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is an amazing motorcycle.”
Mladin had a record-breaking qualifying session in that he not only broke the track record with a time of 1:21.685, but he is also the first AMA Superbike rider to capture every pole position in a single season -- that’s 10 for the season and 47 for his career total.
His Yoshimura Suzuki team mates qualified closely behind him on the front row, with Spies in the second spot with a 1:23.161 and Yates in third with a 1:23.242.
The 25-lap race started late on Sunday afternoon and was almost immediately red-flagged after a rider crashed. The riders were re-gridded for a full re-start and although Spies got the holeshot, Yates took over the lead almost immediately. The duo led the race entirely.
“What can I say? Let’s give it up for the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000,” announced Yates from the podium. “It was a good day and a good race. We got a good start out there and I think I was a little stronger in a couple of spots and I just tried to take advantage of the opportunities -- then I sort of got into cruisin’ mode. It’s just really great to get the race win for Suzuki.”
Spies rode hard and consistently and made a few runs at Yates. But after 25 laps, he maintained a strong second. “I wish there had been no red flag,” said Spies. “But I just did the best that I could and tried to be conservative and get on the podium.”
Mladin got a bad start and worked his way through traffic. With his sixth championship in mind, he rode a conservative race and finished fourth.
Mladin’s five previous AMA Superbike titles came aboard the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 in 2004 and 2003 and aboard the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 in 2001, 2000 and 1999.
