Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies won an action-packed AMA Superstock race at Road Atlanta, earning him the 2007 AMA Superstock Championship with one round still remaining. The race included Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki’s Aaron Yates hitting a lapper and crashing while running second in the closing laps, an incident that was complicated when a cornerworker threw a red flag at the site of the crash. At least two riders, Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki’s Robertino Pietri and Evan Steel Performance’s Ben Thompson, pitted after seeing the red flag, then were forced to ride through pit lane at 50 mph before rejoining the race. Other riders slowed when they saw the red flag at the corner, then got back on the gas and continued after seeing that no red flag was displayed at the next corner. Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich lost three places in the final two laps when his GSX-R1000 slowed with a suspected fuel pump problem. 2007 AMA Superstock Championship Presented by Dynojet Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia September 2, 2007 Provisional Race Results: 1. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 15 laps 2. Ben Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -3.192 seconds 3. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -5.079 seconds 4. Jake Holden (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -8.525 seconds 5. Jamie Stauffer (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -15.327 seconds 6. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -21.618 seconds 7. Gary Mason (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -30.239 seconds 8. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -38.639 seconds 9. David Weber (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -38.836 seconds 10. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -39.240 seconds 11. Andy Feuersthaler (suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -68.131 seconds 12. Robertino Pietri (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -75.337 seconds, pitted 13. Ben Thompson (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -80.252 seconds, pitted 14. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -1 lap, crash, pitted 15. Chad Lewin (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -1 lap, 6.142 seconds 16. Johnny Rock Page (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -1 lap, 16.050 seconds 17. Ivan Garza (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -1 lap, 16.489 seconds 18. Joseph Dawson (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 16.595 seconds 19. Davie Stone (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 38.436 seconds 20. Santiago Villa (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -3 laps, DNF, crash 21. Danny Eslick (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -10 laps, DNF, crash 22. John Haner (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -14 laps, DNF, mechanical 2007 AMA Superstock Championship Point Standings (after 10 of 11 events): 1. Spies, 292 points* 2. Bostrom, 235 3. Yates, 219 4. May, 203 5. Jensen, 189 6. Ulrich, 181 7. Eslick, 175 8. Young, 169 9. Holden, 145 10. Pietri, 134 11. Weber, 117 12. Page, 107 13. Garza, 105 14. Chad Rolland, 67 15. Jason Curtis, 57 16. TIE, Haner/Villa, 55 18. Corey Sarros, 50 19. TIE, Martin Cardenas/David Loikits, 46 * Clinches Championship by virtue of having a 57-point lead with only a maximum of 38 points available to any single rider at the final round. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: Yoshimura Suzuki’s Spies Wins AMA Superstock Title & Race at Road Atlanta M4 EMGO Suzuki’s May podiums at Road Atlanta Round 10 AMA Superstock Series Braselton, GA Road Atlanta Aug. 31 Sept. 2, 2007 Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies clinched the 2007 AMA Superstock Championship after winning the penultimate race of the season at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., on Sunday afternoon. With one round of AMA Superstock remaining, Spies and his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 went for the win even though he only had to finish in sixth place or better to take the title. With this win, Spies lays claim to seven of eight races so far this year. Additionally, defending AMA Superbike Champion Spies won pole position for this race, his sixth of the season. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Geoff May finished in an impressive third place in the 15-lap AMA Superstock race. This is May’s fourth podium of the season in AMA Superstock. Ben Spies: “It was a good race for us today. I wanted to win the championship but I wanted to win the race pretty bad too. So I just tried to put in consistent lap times on the Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR1000. It’s great to win the Superstock championship for Suzuki. The Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR1000 is an amazing bike and has worked great at every track we’ve raced at this year. I want to thank Suzuki and my crew for working so hard for me all season long.” Geoff May: “The whole M4 EMGO Suzuki crew was great this weekend. They gave me a good bike to race in the Suzuki GSX-R1000 and the Pirelli tires held up great in the heat. We had a good, solid race but the guys in front were a little quicker than we were. Then Aaron (Yates) had some trouble with some lappers and gave me the podium spot. I’d rather not have gotten it that way, but we’ll take it and hopefully end the season strong at Laguna Seca.” All of Suzuki’s road race teams will return for the final round of the AMA Superbike Series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, the weekend of Sept. 15 – 16, 2007. More, from a press release issued by Pirelli: Sunday’s Superstock race of the AMA Superbike series at Road Atlanta had M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Geoff May transform his fourth-place starting position into a podium finish, earning third on a set of Diablo Superbike Slicks controlling the power of his GSX-R1000. Brit racer Gary Mason rode his Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000 to a seventh-place finish, despite the race’s unusual, temporary, regional red flag. Manson’s Teammate Chris Ulrich finished tenth after battling for seventh, due to a late-race fuel delivery problem. Pink was the color of Scott Jensen’s Team HALOF Suzuki, fashioned to promote the charity, Locks of Love (www.locksoflove.org). Team owner Rodney Rayborne took the initiative to contact this charity that provides hair pieces for children under the age of 18 who have suffered long-term medical hair loss, to ask if his team could help promote their cause. Jensen did Locks of Love and his team proud with an eighth-place finish in Superstock. The Supersport race was a mighty match of machines from flag to flag with M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas battling for the win with Josh Hayes and Jamie Hacking up to the last couple laps. In a last-lap, turn-ten pass for second place, Cardenas and Hacking bumped, causing Cardenas to lose speed and be overtaken by a charging Roger Hayden at the flag, missing the podium at the last moment. Cardenas set his fastest race lap on lap 14 of the 15-lap event, showing the consistency of Pirelli’s Diablo Supercorsa Dot racing tires. His fourth-place finish was .278 seconds from second place. Other Pirelli riders in the top fifteen in Supersport include Attack Kawasaki’s Steve Rapp who finished seventh on his ZX-6R, Cory West on his Chuck Giacchetto tuned Team Hunter Yamaha in ninth, and the ever-faster Michael Beck in tenth on his M4 EMGO Suzuki. Always Front-running Ben Attard, on the other Attack Kawasaki, was run off track early in the race and came back to finish 11th, while Vesrah Suzuki’s Lee Acree took 14th. Geoff May’s Superstock podium finish at Road Atlanta is Pirelli’s record-setting 19th podium for the 2007 AMA Superbike racing season. All of these podiums were won in Supersport, Superstock and Formula Xtreme, beginning with Pirelli’s podium sweep of the Daytona 200.