Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin took another AMA Superbike race win, his eighth of the season and 23rd of his career, Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The race started the same way as Saturday’s race with Mladin and Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts running nose-to-tail from the start. Roberts led until lap five when Mladin took the lead with a pass into turn one to start lap six.

Roberts stayed close to Mladin for several laps before fading back slightly in the second half. Then, on lap 24 of 26, Roberts suffered a mechanical problem, slowed and retired.

Roberts’ retirement allowed Attack Suzuki’s Jason Pridmore to repeat his second place from Saturday.

American Honda’s Ben Bostrom beat Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates in a late-race fight for third.

Corona Extra Suzuki’s Jordan Szoke raced with Ducati Austin’s Giovanni Bussei flag-to-flag with Szoke fending off Bussei for fifth.

Shawn Higbee, Geoff May, Vincent Haskovec and Mike Ciccotto completed the top 10.

Roberts was credited with four points, for 27th place.

Miguel Duhamel crashed out of the race coming on to the front straightaway at the end of the first lap. Duhamel walked away from the incident.


Provisional AMA Superbike Race Results:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 26 laps
2. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, -6.668 seconds
3. Ben Bostrom, Honda, -10.071 seconds
4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -10.203 seconds
5. Jordan Szoke, Suzuki, -35.063 seconds
6. Giovanni Bussei, Ducati, -35.280 seconds
7. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, -53.803 seconds
8. Geoff May, Suzuki, -72.562 seconds
9. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -73.150 seconds
10. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, -1 lap
11. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -1 lap
12. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -1 lap
13. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -1 lap
14. Troy Green, Yamaha, -1 lap
15. John Haner, Suzuki, -1 lap
16. Chris Caylor, Suzuki
17. Chris Voelker, Ducati
18. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki
19. Tom Wertman, Suzuki
20. John Jacobi, Suzuki

27. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, DNF, mechanical



More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

DOUBLE AMERICAN SUPERBIKE WIN FOR MLADIN AT MID-OHIO

Lexington, Ohio, USA (Sunday, 27 July) – Mat Mladin emerged from this weekend’s double-header AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship round at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with maximum points after scoring his second AMA Superbike national race win in two days at the Ohio circuit.

Mladin’s double victory was his eighth for the season with fourteen races now complete, but more importantly for the Australian, who hails from Camden on the south-east outskirts of Sydney, he has increased his points advantage at the top of the championship table to 33 over Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates, who finished fourth in today’s 26-lap national.

Starting from pole position, Mladin diced closely with Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts in the first half of the race with the pair swapping the race lead on a number of occasions before Mladin got down to business and eased away from his rival in the second half of the race.

The pair were been in close company in both of the weekend’s Superbike races with Roberts crashing out of yesterday’s opening race on the final lap while dicing with Mladin for the lead and today was forced out of the race with two laps remaining. Second place in today’s race went to Jason Pridmore (Attack Suzuki), finishing 6.668 seconds adrift of Mladin. Followed by Ben Bostrom (American Honda) who claimed the final podium position.

“Everything went fine for us this weekend,” said a very satisfied Mladin. “It was a good weekend where we scored maximum points and that has given us a good points break in the championship before we head to the second last circuit of the year at Virginia.

“Kurtis (Roberts) got into the lead early, but wasn’t setting a real fast pace, so I passed him and picked it up a little, before letting him by again to see what he was able to do out front. I could sense that he wasn’t able to get away from me so I got back past him once more and put some pressure on which worked out well in the end, as I was able to pull away fairly easily in the second half of the race.

“It was quite a bit warmer out there today and it definitely took its toll, it was hard on both the riders and the tyres. It was very hot and humid which made the tyres feel very greasy early in the race, so all I did was spin them up and go for it. Even though we have had a few tyre problems this year, I didn’t worry about taking it easy on them out there and just gave it to them and hoped that they would hang on throughout the race and they did.

“Two more double header rounds remain, so I hope we can repeat these efforts at Virginia before we go to the last round at Alabama.”

Mladin’s maximum points haul at Mid-Ohio included the championship point for pole position, along with points for both Superbike race wins and for leading the most number of laps in each race. The three-times American Superbike champion now has a total of 431 points, 33 clear of Yates (398), while Ben Bostrom (376) has passed brother Eric (350) for third after Eric was forced out of the weekend’s meeting due to injuries he received at the combined AMA / World Superbike round at Laguna Seca two weeks ago.

The AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship heads to Virginia International Raceway in five weeks time for the penultimate Double-Header round of the season on the weekend of August 30 – 31, before the final round of the championship takes place at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on September 20 – 21.


Rd 14, AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
RACE RESULT, 26 Laps – Top 10

1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki), 38:29.75 mins

2. Jason Pridmore (Attack Suzuki), +6.668 seconds

3. Ben Bostrom (American Honda), +10.071

4. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki), +10.203

5. Jordan Szoke (Corona Extra Suzuki), +35.063

6. Giovanni Bussei (Ducati Austin), +35.280

7. Shawn Higbee (KWS Suzuki), +53.803

8. Geoff May Suzuki), +72.562

9. Vincent Haskovec (Hooters Suzuki), +73.150

10. Mike Ciccotto (Hooters Suzuki), -1 lap

2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship (points after 14 of 18 rounds)
1. M Mladin (431); 2. A Yates (398), 3. B Bostrom (376); 4. E Bostrom (350); 5. K Roberts (349), 6. M DuHamel (332); 7. J Pridmore (315); 8. S Higbee (299), 9. V Haskovec (221), 10. J Szoke (212).




Mat Mladin:

1992 Australian Superbike Champion

1999, 2000, 2001 American AMA Superbike Champion

2000, 2001 Daytona 200 Champion

2000 American AMA Pro Athlete of the Year

Career AMA Superbike Race Wins – 23

Career AMA Superbike Pole Positions – 30 (All time AMA record)