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  Mladin Wins Again, Takes Superbike Points Lead

BRASELTON, GA – Mat Mladin won a record-setting Rockstar Suzuki Superbike Showdown race at Road Atlanta Sunday and took over the points lead in the AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited series.

It was Mladin’s record 12th win of the season and record-tying sixth in a row, and marked the fourth time he has swept the Superbike doubleheader at Road Atlanta, where he has 11 of his career 63 AMA Superbike victories. He is a six-time AMA Superbike champion.
He led every lap aboard his #66 Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and beat teammate Ben Spies by a solid 6.7 seconds. Spies, who came to Georgia with a six-point lead in the championship standings, now trails by three points, 618-615, going into the season-finale at Laguna Seca in two weeks. Mladin also won Saturday’s race.

Nobody came close to challenging Mladin Sunday afternoon. He jumped into the lead from the standing start, and led by nearly half a second on the first lap. By lap five of the 20-lap feature, the native Australian who now lives in Nevada led by four seconds.

Jamie Hacking finished aboard a Kawasaki ZX-10R, just ahead of Aaron Yates of Milledgeville, who was riding the Michael Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000.
“My days are over of tallying up points to win a championship,”
said the 36-year-old Mladin. “I just want to go out and ride hard and win races. Now if I win Laguna Seca, I win the championship.

“Ben is a kid with a bright future,” Mladin says of the 22-year-old Spies. “It’s fun to beat him. After last year (when Spies won his first AMA Superbike title by eight points over Mladin), they thought I’d ride off in the sunset. It’s nice to come back and win more races in a single year than I ever have.”

Earlier in the day, Spies clinched the AMA Superstock championship with his seventh victory of the season. He led all 15 laps on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 and beat Ben Bostrom’s Yamaha YZF-R1 by three seconds.

Geoff May of Gainesville finished third in the AMA Superstock race, five seconds behind Spies on his M4 Suzuki GSX-R1000. He took advantage of Yates’ misfortune as Yates collided with a lapped rider while running second on the final lap. May ranks fourth in the Superstock championship standings heading into the season finale.

May was the unlucky rider in the AMA Supersport race Sunday. He had a mechanical problem late in the race and finished 28th, and dropped from fifth to seventh in the championship standings. Josh Hayes won the race on a Honda CBR600RR with Jamie Hacking second on a Kawasaki ZX-6R.

AMA Superbike Results
Rockstar Suzuki Superbike Showdown
Sunday at Road Atlanta, Braselton

1. Mathew Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 112.182 mph, 20 laps.

2. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 20.

3. Jamie Hacking, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 20.

4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 20.

5. Roger Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 20.

6. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, 20.

7. Tommy Hayden, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 20.

8. James Ellison, Honda CBR1000RR, 20.

9. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 20.

10. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha YZF-R1, 20.

11. Matt Lynn, MV Agusta F4-1000R 312, 20.

12. Luca Scassa, MV Agusta F4-1000R 312, 20.

13. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 19.

14. Ben Thompson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 19.

15. David Weber, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 19.

16. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 19.

17 Keith Marshal, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 19.

18. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 19.

19. Dominic Jones, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 19.

20. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R1, 13.

21. Manuel Garza, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 9.

22. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 3.


Race Statistics

Time of Race: 27 minutes, 10.202 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 6.794 seconds.

Laps Led: Mladin 1-20.

Point Standings (after 18 of 19 rounds): 1. Mat Mladin, 618. 2. Ben Spies, 615. 3. Jake Zemke, 441. 4. Aaron Yates, 436. 5. Tommy Hayden, 429