Mladin Takes Laguna

Paul Carruthers | July 20, 2008

MONTEREY, CA, SEPT. 28 – Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin easily won today’s AMA Superbike final at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with this one basically over after the first lap. It was over early because Ben Spies got a horrible start and completed the first lap almost two seconds behind Mladin and with four riders between himself and his teammate. While Mladin was able to easily pull away to eventually win his 72nd AMA Superbike win by 12.5 seconds, Spies had to fight his way past a horde of riders to eventually get to second place. When he got there, he was 8.6 seconds behind. With his third AMA Superbike Championship in pocket, Spies was content with that and that’s where he would end up. Third place went to the third Rockstar Makita Suzuki of Tommy Hayden, the Kentuckian moving around Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates after the two battled for most of the race. Yates appeared to have a problem in the last few laps, but he held on to finish fourth. Fifth went to American Honda’s Neil Hodgson, the Brit well clear of Yamaha’s Eric Bostrom. Bostrom had passed Hodgson’s teammate Miguel Duhamel in the closing stages of the race. Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo was a lonely eighth, well clear of the battle between Kawasaki’s Jordan Szoke and Chris Peris – a battle that went to Szoke. The final point standings have Spies taking the title by 95 points over Mladin, 652-557. Third went to DiSalvo with 463 points. Bostrom ended up fourth with Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking, who sat out today’s race after injuring his hand in a crash yesterday, taking fifth in the series standings – just two points ahead of Hodgson. 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 2. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 5. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 8. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 9. Jordan Szoke (Kawasaki) 10. Chris Peris (Yamaha)