Spies Over Mladin at Road Atlanta

Henny Ray Abrams | August 31, 2008

BRASELTON, GA, AUG 31: The Rockstar Makita Suzuki team swept the podium for the second day in a row in the Suzuki Superbike Showdown at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, but not in the same order as yesterday. Instead, Ben Spies came from behind to pass Mat Mladin on the 19th of 25 laps. From there he motored to victory by 7.106 secs. It was the first time since Sept. 4, 2005 that anyone other than Mladin had won a Superbike race at Road Atlanta. And it was Spies’ first win on the track since Road America in early June. Mladin had won every race since then, though he was disqualified from both victories at Virginia International Raceway two weeks ago for having an illegal crankshaft. The team has until Friday to file an appeal. If the appeal is accepted, AMA Pro Racing will convene an appeal panel. Which means Spies could be notified that he’s the 2008 AMA Superbike Champion in a phone call prior to the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sept. 28. Today was less dramatic than Friday when the crankshafts in Hayden’s and Mladin’s machines were found to be out of compliance by AMA Pro Racing officials. And there was less drama than on Saturday, when Spies was called for a stop-and-go penalty for creeping at the start. In fact, Spies was trying to delay the start-both he and an AMA grid official had their hands in the air-and rolled out of the box. Spies was 12th after the penalty and worked his way to second. Tommy Hayden again led off the start with Spies an early second and Mladin third. On the second lap Mladin ran up the inside of Spies at the top of the hill to take second, and passed Hayden for the lead in turn six. Mladin built up a 3.5 second lead on the 12th of 25 laps before Spies began to cut the lead. The gap came down by about half a second a lap until, on lap 19, Spies was ready to make his move. It came as they exited turn seven. Mladin looked back, only to see Spies right there. As the pair accelerated, they went into synchronized speed wobbles, but Spies was able to motor past. His gap at the front didn’t grow quickly, but it did grow and he was able to hold him off by 7.106 secs. for his first win, on the track, since the first race at Road America in early June. Spies needs only the 12 points that come with a 19th place finish, regardless of Mladin’s appeal, to clinch at Laguna. Yamaha’s Eric Bostrom was an early fourth before being passed by American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel on the third lap. Bostrom hounded Duhamel until he ran wide in the final turn on the 14th lap and had to ride down the upper paddock pit lane, which is now an escape road. Duhamel equaled his best finish of the year with a fourth, two seconds in front Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo. Bostrom recovered to pass American Honda’s Neil Hodgson for seventh, with Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates taking eighth from Corona Honda’s Matt Lynn at the end of the race. Yates’ teammate Geoff May was tenth. Superbike: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 4. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 5. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 7. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 8. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 9. Matt Lynn (Honda) 10. Geoff May (Suzuki)