Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t exciting, the outcome was never in doubt except for when it started raining lightly in the middle of the race, but when the checkered flag waved after 28 laps of California Speedway’s 2.36-mile infield road course, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin was the winner of the second AMA Superbike race of the 2004 season.

Mladin took control of the race early, built a three-second lead by lap six and eventually won by nine seconds despite a light rain falling during the second half of the slick-tire race.

The win was the 26th of Mladin’s impressive career, tying him for first all-time with Miguel Duhamel.

With the win, Mladin also takes a 16-point lead in the 2004 Championship.

Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom finished second, where he raced alone for most of the event.

Eric’s brother Ben Bostrom was close behind him in third early in the event but clipped a curb in the turn three/four chicane and crashed out of the race on lap 10.

Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke was in control of third for much of the race, but American Honda’s Duhamel ran Zemke down and passed him to take the final podium position late.

Prieto Racing Geoff May came home fifth, the first privateer, on his Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-R1000 after a race-long battle with Diablo Suzuki’s Steve Crevier (sixth), Triangle Cycle Yamaha’s Larry Pegram (seventh) and Corona Extra Suzuki’s Marty Craggill, eighth in his first race of the season.

Hooters Suzuki’s John Haner and Empire Racing Suzuki’s Chris “Opie” Caylor rounded out the top 10.


Provisional AMA Superbike Race One Results:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28 laps
2. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 999F04, -9.054 seconds
3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, -25.873 seconds
4. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, -26.172 seconds
5. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -69.521 seconds
6. Steve Crevier, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -70.973 seconds
7. Larry Pegram, Yamaha YZF-R1, -73.712 seconds
8. Marty Craggill, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -81.150 seconds
9. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -84.630 seconds
10. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
11. Clint McBain, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
12. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
13. Jeremy Toye, Yamaha YZF-R1, -1 lap
14. Cory West, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
15. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
16. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
17. Chris Siglin, Yamaha YZF-R1, -1 lap
18. Robert Christman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
19. Jason Curtis, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
20. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
21. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, -1 lap
22. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
23. Mark Ledesma, Honda CBR1000RR, -1 lap
24. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
25. Garry Combs, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -2 laps
26. Jack Pfeifer, Honda CBR1000RR, -2 laps
27. Kim Nakashima, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -2 laps
28. Corey Sarros, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -2 laps
29. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -2 laps
30. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -3 laps
31. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, -16 laps, DNF, crash
32. Jeff Williams, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -21 laps, DNF
33. Rob Mesa, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -22 laps, DNF, mechanical
34. Craig Connell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -23 laps, DNF
35. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, DNF, crash
36. A.J. Ammann, Suzuki GSX-R1000, DNS


Provisional AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings:

1. Mladin, 75 points
2. Zemke, 59 points
3. Duhamel, 58 points
4. Acree, 45 points
5. Caylor, 44 points
6. May, 40 points
7. TIE, Eric Bostrom/Haner/Jensen, 38 points
10. Eric Wood, 36 points


More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

FONTANA SUPERBIKE VICTORY SEES MLADIN EQUAL AMA WIN RECORD AFTER SMASHING LAP RECORD IN QUALIFYING

Fontana, California, USA (Saturday, 3 April) – A dominating victory in today’s second round of the American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at California Speedway sees defending and four American Superbike champion Mat Mladin equal the long standing AMA Superbike race win record with his second race win of the season increasing his personal win tally to 26.

The weekend’s double-header Superbike round at Fontana has seen Mladin and his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 in command from the start of proceedings on Friday morning and lies in a very strong position with one more 28-lap Superbike national remaining to be run tomorrow.

The day started off strongly as he converted his fastest time from the opening qualifying session yesterday to a pole position winning time this morning as he blasted a staggering four tenths of a second off his own lap record, setting a new mark of 1:24.759 for the 3.70km / 2.36-mile, 17-turn infield road course. In taking pole for the weekend’s round, Mladin has stretched his own AMA All-time pole tally to 32.

Starting from pole, Mladin gained the holeshot and immediately went about working on an early race lead over his rivals. His frantic pace in the opening sector of the race saw him set the fastest lap on the race on lap 2 of the scheduled 28 laps, with a sizzling 1:25.750.

By mid-race distance he had worked a gap of over five seconds to his nearest rival and eventual second place getter Eric Bostrom (Ducati) and by the conclusion of the race held a margin of 9.054 seconds. A race long battle for third saw Miguel DuHamel grab the final podium position from fellow Honda rider Jake Zemke.

As the remaining laps wound down, the weather began to close in and with five laps to run, light rain began to fall, but fortunately for all concerned the heavier rain held off until after the race was run over its full distance.

“We scored maximum points out there again today which is the main thing at this early stage of the championship, especially over some of our key rivals,” said Mladin.

“I think the way that qualifying went this morning will set some sort of trend for the year, where now as we have the softer qualifying tyre available, a lot of lap records will be broken before the year is out. Our bike is down on speed from last year, but the tyres have made up for some of that, especially in qualifying.”

“Our race went to plan, even though it wasn’t as fast as last year. The weather cooled off a lot today and with the slight rain drops that were falling near the end of the race meant that we just shut the pace down a little to ensure the win.”

“You come in contact with lapped traffic around here pretty quickly and generally lose a bit of time, so they key is to make the pass as clean and as quick as possible, so that you don’t lose time to the guy that is chasing you. We did a pretty good job getting through the lapped traffic today and that allowed us to stretch it out in the end.”

With two rounds of the championship complete, Mladin heads into tomorrows third round Superbike national holding a slender 16-point break over Zemke at the top of the table, with DuHamel another point away in third.


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

BOSTROM TAKES HIS FIRST DUCATI 999 PODIUM

Fontana (California) – April 3, 2004: Eric Bostrom shook off the disappointment of Daytona by convincingly clinching second place and his first podium aboard his Ducati 999 at California Speedway in a race which saw the checkered flag come out just as a steady rain began to fall.

Starting from the second row of the grid, the Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin rider charged hard from the start, sliding in behind series leader Mat Mladin (Suzuki) and maintaining second position throughout the race, ultimately finishing almost 25 seconds ahead of Miguel Duhamel (Honda) in third.

“The bike’s running great and we’ve got awesome top speed; now I just need to hustle through the turns a little faster,” explained Bostrom. “This morning we made some changes to the chassis and it responded really well. I think if we find a gear choice that works well everywhere, it’ll be a much closer race tomorrow.

“There were drops of rain early on in the race, but it was near the end when it started coming down. By then I didn’t have a chance of catching Mat, but I still wanted to push the bike within reason. I want to thank Michelin – we picked the right tire and it totally held to the end. And I also want to give a huge thanks to all the fans for sticking through the bad weather! I know the riders really appreciate the support.”

“It was a good race, especially considering how far we’ve come from practice when we had a few set-up problems,” said Ducati Corse’s Paolo Ciabatti. “Second place after the disappointment from Daytona is a good way to move ahead in the season. Tomorrow we’ll try to do a little more to get the bike in front.”

Team owner Terry Gregoricka commented, “I’m happy, particularly since the team has struggled all weekend. The guys found a suspension package that worked and Eric turned it up in the race and we were rewarded with our first podium together as a team. There’s no reason why we can’t come back tomorrow as strong or stronger.”

Race 2 of the second round of the AMA Superbike series at the Southern California venue takes place tomorrow afternoon.


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

EMPIRE RACING SUZUKI RIDERS FOURTH AND FIFTH IN AMA SUPERBIKE POINTS AFTER FIRST ROUND AT FONTANA

Empire Racing Suzuki riders Opie Caylor and Lee Acree finished 10th and 12th, respectively, in today’s AMA Chevrolet Superbike race at California Speedway. The strong finishes move Lee and Opie into fourth and fifth in Superbike series points after two rounds. Both riders rode their Superstock-spec GSX-R1000s in the race. Opie crashed on the last lap of the race, just as a steady rain began to fall, but was still credited with tenth place.

“At the start, it got real tight down in turn three, which is par for the course for this place” said Opie. “I lost a few positions because a bunch of guys went bonzaing in there. I almost ran Shawn (Higbee) over when he crashed, I really had to check up. I really started to go after that, turning low 29s, then I thought ‘it’s a 28 lap race, and obviously I’m not gonna win the thing’. Haner started to come back to us pretty quick, then Clint got around Haner, and I didn’t get around him so quick because Haner is really good on the brakes. I finally got around Haner, then I was able to pass Clint. I tried to slow the pace down because I was actually starting to spin quite a bit, I think catching those guys took a toll on the tire. At the end, they had readied the checkered flag for Mladin, and they showed it to me. But I assumed I had another lap, and I said ‘Hey, I gotta keep going, because Haner and McBain are still behind me’. Just to make sure, I was gonna put in one last decent lap. I just rolled through (turn) nine, and just started to get on the gas, and it slid and I caught it and I got up on top of the bike, and I was like ‘I got it, I got it’, but I was too far over the front tire and it just kind of rolled over and slid. I jumped up to get going again, but obviously that didn’t happen.”

“I was a little concerned about getting tired,” said Lee, who went from Superstock qualifying straight to Supersport qualifying straight to the Superbike race. “I got a fairly decent start, then it was (Clint) McBain and Opie (Caylor) had a bit of a gap on me and Jeremy Toye. It was sprinkling from fairly early in the race, it would be a patch here, and then the patch would move. I didn’t have any moments or anything, but after already falling once (in Superbike qualifying) and knowing it wasn’t a matter of getting around Jeremy and going after the next guy, I just got into a steady pace. I played Jeremy, I had more power and I set him up for the last corner and passed him on the run to the line. With the limitations we have here at the track this weekend, it’s just a matter of keeping my nose clean and scoring points.”

Both Opie and Lee will race in Sunday’s Repsol Superstock final and the second Superbike race of this doubleheader weekend. In addition, Lee will also ride in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race, which will make for three back-to-back races in what will prove to be a long day of racing for the team.