Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin won his 19th career AMA Superbike race Sunday at Road Atlanta over Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom and Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts.
After surviving an incredible rear tire failure at over 170 mph in Saturday’s race, Mladin came back Sunday to steadily work his way into the lead and away from the field to take the win.
Eric Bostrom, Roberts, Ben Bostrom and Aaron Yates fought for second for nearly all 20 laps. Eric Bostrom gained a small advantage through traffic late in the race over Roberts, while Yates struggled with a well-worn rear tire to stay ahead of Ben Bostrom.
As the battles for second and fourth neared their conclusions, the race was stopped on lap 21 of 25 when two crashes occurred in the first section of the track. Scott Jensen laid his Suzuki down at the top of the hill in turn two; both Jensen and his Suzuki slid to a stop safely. Andy Deatherage crashed at the bottom of the Esses section. Deatherage needed medical attention near a wall on rider’s right, and his Suzuki GSX-R1000 lying on its side on the racing surface.
AMA Pro Racing officials reverted scoring back to the last lap complete, lap 20, which meant 80 percent of the race had been completed and the race could be called complete.
Mladin was declared the winner over Eric Bostrom, Roberts, Yates, Ben Bostrom, Attack Suzuki’s Jason Pridmore, Dream Team Ducati’s Larry Pegram, Ducati Austin’s Anthony Gobert, American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel and HSA Racing/Kaufman Trailers’ Shawn Higbee.
Provisional AMA Superbike Race Two Results:
1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 20 laps
2. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, -5.685 seconds
3. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, -6.579 seconds
4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -7.584 seconds
5. Ben Bostrom, Honda, -7.673 seconds
6. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, -41.646 seconds
7. Larry Pegram, Ducati, -43.069 seconds
8. Anthony Gobert, Ducati, -51.934 seconds
9. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -57.056 seconds
10. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, -62.513 seconds
11. Michael Barnes, Suzuki, -62.748 seconds
12. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -75.592 seconds
13. Jack Pfeifer, Suzuki, -78.933 seconds
14. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, -79.251 seconds
15. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -81.971 seconds
16. John Dugan, Suzuki
17. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki, -83.622 seconds
18. John Haner, Suzuki, -1 lap
19. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -1 lap
20. Rich Conicelli, Suzuki, -1 lap
21. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -1 lap
22. Scott Harwell, Suzuki, -1 lap
23. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -1 lap
24. Marco Martinez, Suzuki, -1 lap
25. Tom Wertman, Suzuki, -1 lap
26. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki, -1 lap
27. Anthony Fania, Suzuki, -2 laps
28. Brian Stokes, Suzuki, -7 laps, DNF, crash
29. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki, -10 laps, DNF, mechanical
30. Geoff May, Suzuki, -15 laps, DNF
31. Greg Moore, Suzuki, -17 laps, DNF
Provisional AMA Superbike Points Standings:
1. Yates, 214 points
2. Mladin, 212 points
3. Eric Bostrom, 202 points
4. Ben Bostrom, 194 points
5. Kurtis Roberts, 189 points
6. Duhamel, 163 points
7. Pegram, 148 points
8. Higbee, 141 points
9. Haskovec, 127 points
10. Pridmore, 125 points
11. Barnes, 106 points
12. Szoke, 93 points
13. Ciccotto, 86 points
14. May, 83 points
15. Deatherage/Dugan, TIE, 82 points
17. Steve Crevier, 81 points
18. Pfeifer, 77 points
19. Anthony Gobert, 74 points
20. Scott Jensen, 69 points