Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies, 20, took the first AMA Superbike race win of his career Saturday under an unusual set of circumstances at California Speedway. Due to red flags, Saturday’s Superbike was started three different times, and each time Mat Mladin took charge on his GSX-R1000 and started building a lead. On race lap 21, however, Mladin, who had a seven-second advantage, suddenly slowed and stopped with mechanical problems. Neil Hodgson inherited the lead on his Ducati Austin 999 — a small lead over Spies and his teammate Aaron Yates. Hodgson, who has been suffering flu symptoms all weekend, led to the last lap with Spies furiously looking for a way past the whole time. As the last-lap battle was shaping up, Hodgson made a mistake and ran wide, opening the door for Spies, who had to ride around machine problems of his own during the final segment of the race. Yates also came past Hodgson to take a close second behind his teammate. Hodgson recovered in time to salvage third. With the victory, Spies takes over the AMA Superbike Championship lead, but Mladin remains in contention thanks to the point advantage he built during the first three races of the season and the bonus points for earning pole position at California Speedway and leading the most laps in Saturday’s race. Saturday’s AMA Superbike Race Results: 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 28 laps 2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -0.665 second 3. Neil Hodgson, Ducati, -2.977 seconds 4. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -13.137 seconds 5. Eric Bostrom, Ducati, -15.968 seconds 6. Jake Zemke, Honda, -30.562 seconds 7. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki, -31.772 seconds 8. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, -39.183 seconds 9. Marty Craggill, Suzuki, -39.217 seconds 10. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -55.455 seconds 11. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -56.485 seconds 12. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, -65.141 seconds 13. Geoff May, Suzuki, -65.530 seconds 14. Lee Acree, Suzuki, -70.059 seconds 15. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -79.963 seconds 16. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -80.671 seconds 17. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, -86.646 seconds 18. Clint McBain, Suzuki, -1 lap, -26.723 seconds 19. Tony Meiring, Suzuki, -1 lap, -28.036 seconds 20. Brent George, Suzuki, -1 lap, -32.173 seconds 21. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -1 lap, -32.172 seconds 22. Mark Ledesma, Honda, -1 lap, -34.163 seconds 23. Matt Lynn, Suzuki, -1 lap, -49.587 seconds 24. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -1 lap, -78.149 seconds 25. David Bell, Suzuki, -1 lap, -78.576 seconds 26. David Sanders, Suzuki, -1 lap, -78.639 seconds 27. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha, -1 lap, -90.765 seconds 28. Peter Holzinger, Suzuki, -2 laps 29. John Haner, Suzuki, -2 laps, -5.406 seconds 30. Cory West, Suzuki, -6 laps 31. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, -7 laps, DNF, mechanical 32. Jeremy Toye, Honda, -23 laps, DNF 33. Heath Small, Yamaha, -23 laps, DNF, crash 34. Larry Pegram, Honda, -28 laps, DNF 35. Jeff Tigert, Honda, -28 laps, DNF, crash 36. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -28 laps, DNF, crash 37. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, DNS 38. Jason Curtis, Suzuki, DNS AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings (after 4 of 17 races): 1. Spies, 123 points 2. Hodgson, 120 points 3. Mladin, 115 points 4. Yates, 114 points 5. Duhamel, 105 points 6. Eric Bostrom, 95 points 7. Craggill, 82 points 8. Acree, 70 points 9. Rapp, 68 points 10. Haskovec, 67 points More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin: HODGSON WITHIN THREE POINTS OF CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD AFTER FONTANA PODIUM (FONTANA, CA, April 30) Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Neil Hodgson came very close to his first ever AMA Superbike win on Saturday at California Speedway, finishing a close third after leading the race on the final lap. Hodgson, despite an illness, fought for the win before running his Ducati 999 wide in turn three. The 2003 World Champion regrouped to take third position, 2.977 seconds behind the winner. Eric Bostrom showed his return to form and finished fifth on his 999 after leading the race in the early stages. Hodgson, who still maintains second in the series standings after four races and has been on the podium for three of them, explained what happened on the last lap after the exciting but chaotic race. “Honestly, I went through the chicane at the start of the last lap a gear too high. I couldn’t do anything about it but it catapulted me into the next turn. I braked where I had been for every lap, but I was going maybe five miles an hour faster and I couldn’t get it stopped. The tires were shot at that stage, on the last lap of a hard race. You just try to drift it into the corner; I was just a passenger and the race was over. I couldn’t believe what happened and I was devastated. That’s racing and I’ve done it before and I’ll probably do it again one day. We’ve all done it, we all push hard and it’s not easy.” While Hodsgon was disappointed in missing an opportunity to share a victory with the Ducati faithful, his effort in the 28-lap race stopped twice for red flags is to be commended. “I was actually sick in my helmet about race distance,” said Hodgson. “Yesterday I felt like death. Today I felt a hundred times better but I don’t feel good. I’m hoping to get a good night’s sleep and feel better tomorrow.” For the team, the long-term goal of the AMA championship remains in sight, even if an opportunity for a win eluded them today. “It was very exciting at the end. Neil was doing a tremendous job of riding his heart out. He tried to do his best to keep the other riders behind him, he just went in a little too hot and missed the turn,” said team manager Tom Bodenbach. “We’ve had faith we could do it, but maybe this is a little proof.” Eric Bostrom took the lead at the start and diced with the frontrunners. “All weekend long, we’ve gone quicker with less effort but in the race I didn’t have quite the speed everyone else had. We had a great start in the first part of the race before the red flags. I went into the lead for a little while. I just wish we could maintain that speed. We’ll definitely try something tomorrow to get some more grip.” Tomorrow’s Superbike race begins at 3:00PM local time. Fontana Race Results — 1. Spies (Suzuki) 2. Yates, (Suzuki) 3. NEIL HODGSON (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999) 4. DuHamel (Honda) 5. ERIC BOSTROM (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999) AMA Superbike Points (After 4 of 17 races) 1. Spies (Suzuki) 123, 2. NEIL HODGSON (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999) 120 3. Mladin (Suzuki) 115, 4. Yates (Suzuki) 114, 5. DuHamel (Honda) 105, 6. ERIC BOSTROM (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999) 95 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies won the first AMA Superbike race of his career and Team Suzuki’s 70th AMA Superbike victory at the California Speedway circuit in Houston – the young Texan taking advantage of a mechanical failure by his team mate Mat Mladin and a last-lap miscue by Ducati’s Neil Hodgson. Mladin, the winner of the opening three rounds, looked to have the race in the bag as he led by 7.1 seconds with eight laps to go. But things went wrong and the Australian appeared to have clutch troubles that put him out of the race. That left a great battle to the finish with Hodgson, Spies and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates going to the bitter end. With one lap to go, Hodgson led by a fraction, but it all went wrong on the entrance to turn three, the Brit running wide and allowing both Suzukis to go underneath him and Spies won by just .666 of a second. The win puts Spies into the championship points lead with 123 points to Hodgson’s 120. Mladin is third with 115 points, one clear of Yates. Spies said, “This is one of my stronger tracks and I knew my first shot at a win would be here. I also know I’m going to get better as the season goes on, so hopefully I can keep getting better at every track we go to. Just the way things worked out, it was kind of a weird win, but it was still a win and I’ll take it. I’m really happy.” Spies was followed to the chequered flag by his Suzuki team mate Aaron Yates, who picked up his second Superbike podium finish of ’05. Five-time Superbike champ Mladin looked like a good bet to pick up his fourth consecutive win, but the determined rider was forced to drop out of the lead deep into the race after encountering mechanical problems. Despite the Australian’s misfortune, his team mates proved they were more than capable of picking up the slack. Second-placed Yates said: “We were pushing hard and we had a good race going — I’m sure everybody enjoyed it. It’s great for Suzuki to be one-two.” Suzuki-mounted riders filled out half of the top ten: In addition to winner Spies and runner-up Yates, Jordan Motorsports’ Steve Rapp, Mat Mladin Motorsports’ Marty Craggill, and Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec finished eighth, ninth, and tenth, respectively. Haskovec also earned a trophy for Suzuki on the day by finishing third in the 60k Formula Xtreme final aboard his powerful GSX-R600. It was the Czech Republic native’s second straight podium finish in the class. MPT Racing’s Danny Eslick and EMGO-backed Chris “Opie” Caylor joined Haskovec near the top of the results sheet. Eslick finished fourth, while Caylor came home sixth.