Six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin recovered from a bad start and overcame problems with his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to win the 57th AMA Superbike race of his career, at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. In spite of suffering a painful crash moments before the start of the race, Mladin’s teammate and main rival Ben Spies challenged the Australian throughout most of the race but came up a little short with second place. Tommy Hayden the third Yoshimura Suzuki rider, came from behind to beat American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel in a dramatic last-lap battle for third. It was Hayden’s second-ever AMA Superbike podium and his first with Suzuki. 2007 AMA Superbike Championship Presented by Parts Unlimited Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin June 2, 2007 Provisional Race Results: 1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 16 laps 2. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -3.158 seconds 3. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -19.594 seconds 4. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, -19.622 seconds 5. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, -21.052 seconds 6. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -32.313 seconds 7. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), Dunlop, -44.755 seconds 8. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -44.795 seconds 9. Jamie Hacking (Kaw ZX-10R), Dunlop, -46.278 seconds 10. Jake Holden (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -58.267 seconds 11. Luca Scassa (MV Agusta F4-1000R 312), Dunlop, -73.526 seconds 12. Robertino Pietri (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -121.163 seconds 13. Dominic Jones (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, -134.720 seconds 14. David Weber (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -162.012 seconds 15. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -1 lap, DNF, mechanical 16. John Haner (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -1 lap, 43.590 second, DNF, mechanical 17. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -3 laps, DNF, crash 18. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -5 laps, DNF, retired 19. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -5 laps, 94.600 seconds, DNF, crash 20. Matt Lynn (MV Agusta F4-1000R 312), Dunlop, -9 laps, DNF, mechanical 21. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), -11 laps, DNF 22. James Ellison (Hon CBR1000RR), -15 laps, DNF, retired Provisional AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings (After 8 of 19 races): 1. Mladin, 276 points 2. Spies, 270 points 3. Duhamel, 224 points 4. Tommy Hayden, 209 points 5. Zemke, 207 points 6. DiSalvo, 189 points 7. Eric Bostrom, 181 points 8. Yates, 170 points 9. Hacking, 156 points 10. Roger Hayden, 144 points More, from a press release issued by American Suzuki: Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mladin, Spies & Hayden Sweep Road America Superbike Race Round 5 AMA Superbike Series Elkhart Lake, WI Road America June 1 — 3, 2007 Yoshimura Suzuki absolutely dominated the first of two AMA Superbike races in the double-header weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., on Saturday. Six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin won the 16-lap race and moved into the championship points lead, while teammates Ben Spies and Tommy Hayden finished second and third, respectively. This victory is Mladin’s sixth win of the year, his seventh Road America victory and his 57th career AMA Superbike win. “I’d like to thank my Yoshimura Suzuki crew and Suzuki for delivering such a great motorbike in the GSX-R1000,” said Mladin. “The bike allowed Yoshimura Suzuki to sweep the podium today and hopefully we’ll come back and do it again tomorrow.” With intermittent rain in the morning, the day’s earlier qualifying session was more reminiscent of Superbike practice. As a result, Mladin’s provisional lap time of 2:11.541 from Friday remained the fastest time and he picked up his 51st career pole position. This is Mladin’s first pole position of the 2007 season and his sixth pole at Road America. The 35-year-old Australian has more AMA Superbike pole positions than any other rider. “It was certainly important to get something done (on Friday),” said Mladin. “We don’t have special tires for qualifying anymore, just race tires. So we got a pretty decent lap on fresh race tires… and if you can get the bike set-up right, you can break away.” Defending AMA Superbike Champion Spies was right behind Mladin in the second spot on the grid, thanks to a lap time of 2:12.330, while Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates rounded out the front row with a best time of 2:13.166. Yoshimura Suzuki rider Hayden qualified close behind on the second row with a fast 2:13.268 lap time. With rainy weather threatening, Mladin started the race from the pole but didn’t get the perfect start. Even so, he moved quickly into the lead and held on until the race’s end. “Wet or dry, you have to stay focused and be prepared,” said Mladin of the potentially sketchy weather. “We had one bike set up for rain and one bike set up for dry. Fortunately, it was a dry race; the spectators want to see a good race and not a bunch of guys splashing around. Hopefully, we gave them a good show and they got their money’s worth.” Spies, meanwhile, got a great start and holeshot the race in spite of having taken a nasty spill on the pre-race warm-up lap. Even with the get-off, the young Texan put his head down and rode a great race leading the first few laps before bringing home second position. “It wasn’t our day to win today,” said Spies. “I did everything I could but it just wasn’t enough. We learned some things that we can use tomorrow but after the day I’ve had, I’m content with second place. (Because of the crash on the warm-up lap) my crew will have to rebuild a whole motorcycle tonight and this is two weekends in a row that I’ve done this to them. But it’s great to get one-two-three for Yoshimura Suzuki, I’m really happy for Tommy to get on the podium and congratulations to Mat on a great race.” Two-time AMA Supersport Champion Hayden celebrated his second AMA Superbike podium — and his first with the Yoshimura Suzuki team. Hayden got a decent start on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and methodically picked off the competition to move into fourth place. With a few laps to go, he took over third position only to get passed on the penultimate lap. Undaunted, Hayden fought back and made the pass for the podium spot at the start-finish line. “It feels good to finally get on the podium this year,” said Hayden. “It’s been a long season and I’d like to thank my Yoshimura Suzuki crew for being patient with me. I feel like we’ve been making good progress this season, though it’s taken a little longer than I would have liked. At a few races, I felt like I was on the pace but I just didn’t have what it took. This weekend, I felt good and I thought I had a good chance. It was a good race and the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is obviously running good to make that pass on the straight-away.” Yoshimura Suzuki will return for the second AMA Superbike race of the double-header weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., on Sunday, June 3. AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers: 1. Mat Mladin, Yoshimura Suzuki 2. Ben Spies Yoshimura Suzuki 3. Tommy Hayden, Yoshimura Suzuki 4. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 5. Jake Zemke, Honda 6. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha 7. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki 8. Jason Disalvo, Yamaha 9. Jamie Hacking, Kawasaki 10. Jake Holden, Jordan Suzuki AMA Superbike Points Standings: 1. Mat Mladin, Yoshimura Suzuki 2. Ben Spies, Yoshimura Suzuki 3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 4. Tommy Hayden, Yoshimura Suzuki 5. Jake Zemke, Honda 6. Jason Disalvo, Yamaha 7. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha 8. Aaron Yates, Jordan Suzuki 9. Jamie Hacking, Kawasaki 10. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: Yoshimura Suzuki dominated the first of two AMA Superbike races in the double-header weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Saturday. Six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin won the 16-lap race and moved into the championship points lead while team mates Ben Spies and Tommy Hayden finished second and third, respectively. This victory is Mladin’s sixth win of the year, his seventh Road America victory and his 57th career AMA Superbike win. “I’d like to thank my Yoshimura Suzuki crew and Suzuki for delivering such a great motorbike in the GSX-R1000,” said Mladin. “The bike allowed Yoshimura Suzuki to sweep the podium today and hopefully we’ll come back and do it again tomorrow.” With intermittent rain in the morning, the day’s earlier qualifying session was more reminiscent of Superbike practice. As a result, Mladin’s provisional lap time of 2:11.541 from Friday remained the fastest time and he picked up his 51st career pole position. This is Mladin’s first pole position of the 2007 season and his sixth pole at Road America. The 35-year-old Australian has more AMA Superbike pole positions than any other rider. “It was certainly important to get something done (on Friday),” said Mladin. “We don’t have special tyres for qualifying anymore, just race tyres. So we got a pretty decent lap on fresh race tyres… and if you can get the bike set-up right, you can break away.” Defending AMA Superbike Champion Spies was right behind Mladin in the second spot on the grid, thanks to a lap time of 2:12.330, while Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates rounded out the front row with a best time of 2:13.166. Yoshimura Suzuki rider Hayden qualified close behind on the second row with a fast 2:13.268 lap time. With rainy weather threatening, Mladin started the race from the pole but didn’t get the perfect start. Even so, he moved quickly into the lead and held on until the race’s end. “Wet or dry, you have to stay focused and be prepared,” said Mladin of the potentially sketchy weather. “We had one bike set up for rain and one bike set up for dry. Fortunately, it was a dry race; the spectators want to see a good race and not a bunch of guys splashing around. Hopefully, we gave them a good show and they got their money’s worth.” Spies, meanwhile, got a great start and holeshot the race in spite of having taken a nasty spill on the pre-race warm-up lap. Even with the get-off, the young Texan put his head down and rode a great race – leading the first few laps before bringing home second position. “It wasn’t our day to win today,” said Spies. “I did everything I could but it just wasn’t enough. We learned some things that we can use tomorrow but after the day I’ve had, I’m content with second place. (Because of the crash on the warm-up lap) my crew will have to rebuild a whole motorcycle tonight and this is two weekends in a row that I’ve done this to them. But it’s great to get one-two-three for Yoshimura Suzuki, I’m really happy for Tommy to get on the podium and congratulations to Mat on a great race.” Two-time AMA Supersport Champion Hayden celebrated his second AMA Superbike podium — and his first with the Yoshimura Suzuki team. Hayden got a decent start on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and methodically picked off the competition to move into fourth place. With a few laps to go, he took over third position only to get passed on the penultimate lap. Undaunted, Hayden fought back and made the pass for the podium spot at the start-finish line. “It feels good to finally get on the podium this year,” said Hayden. “It’s been a long season and I’d like to thank my Yoshimura Suzuki crew for being patient with me. I feel like we’ve been making good progress this season, though it’s taken a little longer than I would have liked. At a few races, I felt like I was on the pace but I just didn’t have what it took. This weekend, I felt good and I thought I had a good chance. It was a good race and the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is obviously running good to make that pass on the straight-away.”