Sunday’s AMA Superbike Race Results: 1. Eric Bostrom, Ducati, 26 laps 2. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -3.085 seconds 3. Ben Spies, Suzuki, -12.700 seconds 4. Neil Hodgson, Ducati, -19.714 seconds 5. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, -28.776 seconds 6. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, -45.515 seconds 7. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, -50.264 seconds 8. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -56.547 seconds 9. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -61.311 seconds, crash 10. Larry Pegram, Honda, -62.125 seconds 11. Marty Craggill, Suzuki, -71.125 seconds 12. Jeremy Toye, Honda, -80.682 seconds 13. Cory West, Suzuki, -81.077 seconds 14. Lee Acree, Suzuki, -81.411 seconds 15. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -81.717 seconds 16. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -85.271 seconds 17. David Weber, Suzuki, -1 lap 18. Tony Meiring, Suzuki, -1 lap 19. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, -1 lap 20. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -1 lap 21. Jason Perez, Yamaha, -1 lap 22. Jason Curtis, Suzuki, -1 lap 23. Doug Duane, Suzuki, -1 lap 24. Brian Stokes, Yamaha, -1 lap 25. James Kerker, Honda, -1 lap 26. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -1 lap 27. David Bell, Suzuki, -1 lap 28. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki, -1 lap 29. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -1 lap 30. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, -1 lap, crash 31. Anthony Fania, Suzuki, -1 lap 32. Steve Scott, Yamaha, -2 laps 33. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki, -6 laps, DNF, mechanical 34. Heath Small, Yamaha, -8 laps, DNF, mechanical 35. John Haner, Suzuki, -12 laps, DNF, mechanical 36. Jake Zemke, Honda, -17 laps, DNF, mechanical 37. Brent George, Suzuki, -18 laps, DNF, crash AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings (after 13 of 17 races): 1. Mladin, 397 points 2. Spies, 388 points 3. Bostrom, 334 points 4. Yates, 316 points 5. Hodgson, 302 points 6. Duhamel, 288 points 7. Craggill, 247 points 8. TIE, Rapp/Acree, 226 points 10. Pegram, 219 points 11. Zemke, 212 points 12. Hayes, 203 points 13. Eric Wood, 185 points 14. Scottt Jensen, 175 points 15. Roberts, 173 points 16. Holden, 168 points 17. Jimmy Moore, 162 points 18. West, 161 points 19. Toye, 130 points 20. Clint McBain, 127 points More, from a press release issued by Vreeke & Associates, on behalf of Dunlop: Dunlop race report: Round 8 of the AMA Superbike series at Mid-Ohio Lexington, OH Mat Mladin’s steady march to an unprecedented sixth AMA Superbike title with Yoshimura Suzuki was slowed considerably at round eight of the 2005 AMA Superbike series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, July 22-24. Mladin was convincing in his win of the first race of the Superbike doubleheader but a fall in the second race and an equally-impressive performance by Austin Ducati’s Eric Bostrom put the championship in question with four races to go. Victories by Honda Racing’s Jake Zemke in Formula Xtreme, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates in Superstock, and Kawasaki Road Racing’s Roger Lee Hayden in Supersport highlighted dominant performances by Dunlop-shod riders, who amassed 37 of the 50 top-ten winning positions. In a weekend marked by hot, humid and stormy weather, the track surface at Mid-Ohio presented the riders with many challenges. Mid-Ohio is noted for its bumps and concrete patches in the corners, which greatly affect traction in the transitions between the asphalt and the concrete. The concrete patches have been ground down to smooth the abrupt transitions to and from the asphalt, but this has created grooves in the concrete, which greatly affect steering control. Wet conditions elevate the risk, as water pumps through the seams and the riders struggle to predict and manage the available traction. Dunlop brought nearly 1800 tires to Mid-Ohio to support the factory teams and support riders in the Superbike, Superstock, Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes, including rain tires. The factory Superbike teams had five front and four rear tire options, including many multi-compound rear tires utilizing Dunlop’s NT (New Technology) construction that improves tire compound performance across a broad range of racing conditions. The factory Superstock riders had six front and six rear tire compound choices. In Saturday’s Superbike qualifying, Mladin rode his Suzuki GSX-R1000 to a new track record of 1:26.058.The veteran rider then collected his eighth victory of the season and the 40th AMA Superbike win of his career with a decisive wire-to-wire performance that saw him finish nearly 12-seconds ahead of teammate Ben Spies. Bostrom finished third. “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 felt amazing,” said Mladin. “I knew we had a good bike and, as I said earlier, this is the best this bike has ever felt on this track.” Superbike race two on Sunday provided much more drama. Bostrom took the lead from the start aboard his Ducati 999R; he never trailed as he collected his third win of the season, and it’s a good thing. Pursuing Bostrom were Suzuki’s Yates and Mladin, in second and third respectively, when they both fell on lap 11 as Yates low-sided and Mladin ran off the track avoiding him. Though they later returned to the race, the finishing order behind Bostrom was Honda Racing’s Miguel Duhamel in second and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies in third. “It’s so good to be up here, that was a long race,” said Bostrom. “I couldn’t be more happy to get the Ducati Austin Parts Unlimited bike up here. Obviously, a huge thanks to Dunlop Tires for getting us back up here.” With four races remaining in the series, Spies’ third-place finish earned him 29 points and closed him to within nine points of Mladin in the championship hunt (397 to 388). Bostrom is in third with 334 points. The first support race of the weekend took place on Saturday as Honda teammates Jake Zemke and Duhamel wage a fierce battle on their CBR600RRs in the Formula Xtreme event. Zemke””who grabbed the pole with a 1:28.628″”took his fifth win of the season by just .373 seconds over Duhamel, while Erion Racing’s Kurtis Roberts took third to make it a Honda podium sweep. “It was a really tough race,” said Zemke. “Anytime you’re racing with Miguel its tough. I knew it was going to come down to the last lap and I made the pass going into turn one. We were riding about as hard as we could.” With two rounds to go, Zemke leads Duhamel by nine points (249 vs 238) in the championship, followed by MPT Racing’s Danny Eslick with 171. Sunday’s first support race featured the highly-competitive 1000cc Superstock machines. Yates led briefly at the start and then took his GSX-R1000 to the lead for good on lap four, holding off a charge by Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Jason Disalvo to take his fourth Superstock victory of the season. Jordon Motorsports’ Steve Rapp was third. “My GSXR was going good, I had a really good pace, steady, consistent,” said Yates. “We made a real good choice on our rear tire selection and it really worked out.” In the points chase, Yates leads Disalvo 265-250, with Rapp in third with 206. Following a rain delay and the second Superbike race, Kawasaki secured the second manufacturer’s podium sweep of the weekend as Kawasaki Road Racing’s Roger Lee Hayden and Tommy Hayden and Attack Kawasaki’s Ben Attard finished 1-2-3, respectively, on their ZX-6RRs. It was a stellar performance for Roger Lee, who led all but the first lap and won his second race of the year. “It was a tough race, my pit board said plus-zero the whole time,” said Hayden. “It feels good to win, everybody’s done a good job, Dunlop tires made my job easier.” Tommy Hayden’s finish was impressive, considering he is riding with an injured hand that was operated on two weeks ago. He remains on top of the championship board with 269 points and two rounds to go, followed by Roger Lee with 233 and Disalvo with 210. The next stop for Dunlop and the AMA road racing tour will be Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, August 26-28, featuring a doubleheader round of Superbike action. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin and Aaron Yates both crashed out of today’s second-leg AMA Superbike double-header at Mid-Ohio. Yates and Mladin were holding strong second and third places behind leader Eric Bostrom (Ducati) when on the 12th lap, Yates crashed and Mladin went down trying to avoid him. Both remounted, Yates finishing ninth but Mladin had to pit to repair his damaged GSX-R1000 and finished out of the points in 30th. The five-time AMA Superbike Champion still heads the series after 13 of 17 races but his lead has now been cut to just nine points over team mate Ben Spies, who finished third today. Steve Rapp raced to sixth place with Jason Pridmore and Jacob Holden seventh and eighth on their GSX-R1000s, putting five of the top-10 finishers on Suzukis. Final Results: 1. Eric Bostrom (Ducati), 2. Miguel Duhamel (Honda), 3. Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki), 4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati), 5. Kurtis Roberts (Honda), 6. Steve Rapp (Suzuki), 7. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki), 8. Jacob Holden (Suzuki), 9. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki), 10. Larry Pegram (Honda). Full series standings can be found on: www.suzuki-racing.com under AMA/ AMA Superbike/ Championship Points. YATES WINS SUPERSTOCK: Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates extended his points lead in the AMA Repsol Superstock Series title chase by taking his fourth Superstock win of the 2005 season at Mid-Ohio today. “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is going good and I was happy with the pace,” said Yates from the podium. “I was relaxed enough to think about where I could go faster if I needed to and I was happy with our choice for a rear tyre. I wanted to be in the lead so I wouldn’t have to worry about running into anybody and just keep the GSX-R on the podium.” For Superstock, Yates qualified just a few hours prior to the first Superbike race of the weekend the previous day. Not feeling any undue pressure, however, Yates posted an impressive 1:27.663 lap time and was gridded on the front row. “Qualifying was good,” he said afterwards. “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 got us on the front row. But the times were really close, really competitive. But we’re here to race, not qualify, and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.” In the race, Yates got the holeshot and was out front immediately. Although he moved back into second briefly, he quickly regained the lead and held it until the 16-lap race’s end. “It feels good to come out of here with a win,” added Yates. “It’s good to have a points cushion but it’s still a little close for comfort. In the race, everything was just working really well and I tried to keep a good pace. I was just really comfortable and trying to run a good race.” Superstock Results: 1. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki), 2. Jason Disalvo (Yamaha), 3. Steve Rapp (Jordan Suzuki), 4. Jacob Holden (Suzuki), 5. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki), 6. Jason Pridmore (Jordan Suzuki), 7. Michael Barnes (M4 EMGO Suzuki), 8. Damon Buckmaster (Yamaha), 9. John Haner (Suzuki), 10. Geoff May (M4 EMGO Suzuki). SPIES FIFTH IN SUPERSPORT: Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies carded a fifth-place finish in the AMA Supersport race at Mid-Ohio today. The young Texan managed the impressive finish in spite of just having taken a podium spot in the AMA Superbike race that was held immediately prior to the Supersport event. “It was a pretty good race,” said tired Spies after campaigning back-to-back races in the hot Ohio sun. “It was tough coming off the Superbike race, but that’s how it goes. I was just glad to get theYoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 up in the top five.” Spies qualified strongly with a 1:29.947 lap time, putting him firmly on the front row of the grid. Even so, Spies would have preferred taking the pole position. He said: “We’re struggling a bit with this track. I don’t really feel comfortable on the bike right now. I’m not sure what the problem is but we’re working on it. But I have faith in my Yoshimura Suzuki crew and the GSX-R600.” Spies is just six points behind third-place overall in the Supersport title chase. Supersport Results: 1. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki), 2. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki), 3. Ben Attard (Kawasaki), 4. Jason Disalvo (Yamaha), 5. Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki), 6. Robert Jensen (Yamaha), 7. Chris Peris (Yamaha), 8. Damon Buckmaster (Yamaha), 9. Aaron Gobert (Yamaha), 10. Danny Eslick (Suzuki).