Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Provisional AMA superbike Race Results:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 26 laps
2. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -0.337 second
3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -5.811 seconds
4. Ben Bostrom, Honda, -8.097 seconds
5. Jake Zemke, Honda, -9.925 seconds
6. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki, -29.224 seconds
7. Eric Bostrom, Ducati, -44.141 seconds
8. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -62.663 seconds
9. John Haner, Suzuki, -86.148 second
10. Larry Pegram, Yamaha, -86.621 seconds
11. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, -89.038 seconds
12. Geoff May, Suzuki, -1 lap
13. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -1 lap
14. Marty Craggill, Suzuki, -1 lap
15. Cory West, Suzuki, -1 lap
16. Lee Acree, Suzuki, -1 lap
17. Chris Caylor, Suzuki, -1 lap
18. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -1 lap
19. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki, -1 lap
20. Jason Curtis, Suzuki, -1 lap
21. Scott Jensen, Honda, -1 lap
22. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -1 lap
23. Fritz Kling, Yamaha, -1 lap
24. Paul Ducato, Yamaha, -1 lap
25. Byron Barbour, Suzuki, -2 laps
26. Jack Pfeifer, Honda, -2 laps
27. Jeff Muskopf, Suzuki, -2 laps
28. Kevin Pate, Yamaha, -2 laps
29. Roger Bell, Suzuki, -2 laps
30. Chuck Allen, Suzuki, -2 laps
31. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -2 laps
32. Chuck Sorensen, Yamaha, -3 laps, DNF, mechanical
33. David Weber, Suzuki, -3 laps, DNF, crash
34. James Kerker, Honda, -15 laps, DNF, crash
35. Jesse Janisch, Suzuki, -18 laps, DNF
36. John Jacobi, Suzuki, -21 laps, DNF
37. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, DNS


Provisional AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings (after 13 of 18 races):

1. Mladin 428
2. Duhamel, 413
3. Zemke, 399
4. Eric Bostrom, 312
5. May, 281
6. Ben Bostrom, 274
7. Yates, 245
8. Haner, 241
9. Wood, 217
10. Hayes, 211


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

MLADIN EXTENDS SERIES LEAD WITH VICTORY IN OPENING AMERICAN SUPERBIKE RACE AT MID-OHIO

Lexington, Ohio, USA (Saturday, July 24) – Australian Mat Mladin has taken victory in the first of this weekend’s two American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship races, extending his points advantage to fifteen in the series over Miguel DuHamel who chased Mladin across the line to finish second.

The win, Mladin’s sixth of the season and the 30th in his AMA career, saw the four-times American Superbike champion lead all bar five of the 26-lap race duration, crossing the line just 0.337 of a second clear of DuHamel. Third home was Aaron Yates, crossing the line 5.81 seconds adrift of his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Mladin.

Starting from the front row of the grid after setting the third fastest time during qualifying, Mladin quickly moved to the front of the field and took control of the race. Ben Bostrom (Honda) took the race lead from Mladin for five laps, eight through twelve, before Mladin regained the top spot, which he held to the flag.

“It was good for us out there today, we got the job done, so I’m happy with how things went today and just need to do that all again tomorrow,” said Mladin. “I’ve got my lead out to fifteen points which is really good. It was starting to get close again, but we’re starting to stretch it out again.”

“I knew that Miguel (DuHamel) was behind me and I guess he was closing in on me with around ten laps to run, but there was a lot of traffic out there for us to work through and that seemed to work both ways as to who was being held up.”

“The race started well for us, I was able to get to the lead, but then Ben (Bostrom) got by me which wasn’t a big problem for me championship-wise at least, but I managed to get by him again and started working on getting a lead over the field. It is a lot harder to lead and do the lap times, than follow and catch up. We dictated the race from the front, but got caught with a few laps to go but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy to get passed. There was a bit of lapped traffic to get through towards the end, but the bottom line was that we got the job done and that’s what matters.”

“We’ll look at a few different things on the bike tonight and try them in the warm up session in the morning before making a final decision as to what our race set up will be for the second race.”

With 13 of this championship’s 18-races now complete, Mladin heads into tomorrow’s fourteenth round, holding a 15-point advantage over DuHamel (428 – 413). Jake Zemke (Honda) continues to hold third in the championship with a total of 399 points after finishing fifth today.

Qualifying for the weekend’s round concluded earlier in the day with Zemke eclipsing Mladin’s three year old lap record to claim pole position for the weekend with a time of 1-min 26.376-secs. DuHamel held on to second by virtue of his Friday time of 1:26.515, while Mladin improved his time on Saturday, finishing with the third quickest time of the combined sessions, with a 1:26.558.

“I think qualifying wasn’t too bad for us in the end. It has been hard to get a clear lap out there all weekend, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. In the end we got an okay lap in which gave us the third fastest time and a start from the front row of the grid which is important.”


More, from several press releases issued Proforma:

SHAWN HIGBEE FINISHES 11th IN SATURDAY SUPERBIKE AT MID-OHIO

Shawn Higbee of the Millennium Technologies Suzuki team had another good result in the Superbike race at round nine of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Shawn spent the entire race chasing John Haner and Larry Pegram, and almost passed Pegram on the last lap.

Shawn Higbee
Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 11th Place
“I wish we could have got by (Larry) Pegram at the end there, I didn’t anticipate running up on so many lappers. I got it pretty bad one lap. Passing a lapper, he pulled off to the right down the back straight and slowed down. I couldn’t tell how slow he was going. I’d already committed to go to the inside, so I had to really get out of it and pass him way off line. I had to slow down so much, the lappers I passed ended up passing me back. So I had to go do that work all over again. The 640 tire ended up working pretty well. We’ve been struggling all weekend to get consistent traction out of the shock. It’s hurting us off the exit of the corner.”


HANER FINISHES NINTH IN SUPERBIKE #1 AT MID-OHIO

John Haner of Hooters Suzuki kept up a strong, consistent pace to finish ninth in Saturday’s Superbike race at round nine of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. John had a race-long battle with Larry Pegram, first chasing him for several laps, then passing and eventually pulling away from him.

Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 9th Place
“I kept hitting my kill switch, I just felt like I needed a little break every now and then,” joked John. “Actually, other than that, it was a good consistent race. Pegram’s bike was a little faster than mine down the back straightaway, but he was riding well. Everybody’s riding well this weekend. The bike was very consistent and the lap times showed it. Within three laps of passing Pegram, I’d put about three and a half seconds on him. My endurance racing (experience) paid off. The last three laps, my body started to hurt. My knee (injured two weeks ago at Laguna Seca) started to give me a little bit of a problem here and there. It was a good race, we’ll do it again tomorrow.”


THE STREAK ENDS FOR GEOFF MAY

Geoff May’s run of top-ten finishes in the 2004 Superbike races came to an end today at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, site of round nine of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship. Geoff’s clutch gave out at the start, making for a long, frustrating race for the Suzuki rider.

Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 12th Place
“It sucks, and you can quote me,” said a disappointed May following Saturday’s race. “The clutch went on me, right off the bat. It’s been in there since Sonoma (Infineon Raceway). On about the third lap, I noticed I’m not shifting at the same points, and it’s not pulling the same rpm down the back straight. I was behind (Eric) Wood for a while and started really going and then it went, and I got by him luckily. It went so bad, I had to start riding half-throttle. We got in those lappers and I couldn’t get through the lappers. I couldn’t out-drive them off the corners. I’m just mad because I got lapped, first time this year.”


ACREE AND CAYLOR HAVE MIXED SATURDAY AT MID-OHIO

Suzuki riders Lee Acree and Opie Caylor had some good, and some not so good results on Saturday at round nine of the Chevrolet Superbike Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Opie was pleasantly surprised to finish ninth in his first Formula Xtreme event, then Lee and Opie raced around with each other to disappointing 16th and 17th place finishes, respectively, in the first of two Superbike races during the weekend.

Lee Acree
Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 16th Place
“I believe, that with a full tank of gas, that might be the worst motorcycle I’ve ever ridden,” joked Lee. “The power was great, I think that might be the only thing that saved my hide. Once I could get it up and down on a straightaway, it would go. It just wouldn’t do anything between the straightaways that’s worth repeating. Actually, I got a pretty good start, then Opie tried to punt me in turn one. I was on the outside of him, and when he did gas it up he started to come out and his knee hit my elbow and pushed my handlebar in. It tucked the front end and I saved it. I was like in the middle of everybody, it would have been ugly. Once the fuel load came down, the bike was tolerable. I had to alter my riding style at the beginning of the race, because you’d turn it in and it simply wouldn’t turn, it just went straight. Also, it had some kind of weird chatter while it was heavy, it felt like there was a basketball stuck to the axle, it was just hopping.”

Opie Caylor
Saturday’s Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Final – 9th Place
Today was Opie’s first Formula Xtreme race of the year, with crew chief Grant Matsushima building the bike with an eye towards running the class full-time in 2005. “Unfortunately, I got a horrible start on the bike,” said Opie. “A better start would have put us a lot higher up. It’s the first weekend on a new bike, and our goal was to finish in the top-ten, and we pulled that off. The tire went off a little bit towards the end. The bike accelerates really well, I think it might be missing a little bit on top end, compared to the other bikes. I think if we get it sorted out, we’ll have a good bike on our hands.”

Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 17th Place
“It’s funny, because I’ve had so many people ask me why Lee and I end up riding together all the time,” said Opie. “I guess we’re so close and on identically-prepared bikes. Man, it got fun there at the end. I hated gettin’ in the way of the factory guys, but they got through us pretty clean. We had our own little battle, Lee, myself, JJ Roetlin and Cory West. We were just all over the place. At the finish, it was three of us wheelying across the line. It was just a fun race.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

BOSTROM SEVENTH IN RACE 1 AT MID-OHIO

Lexington (Ohio) – Saturday July 24, 2004: Eric Bostrom finished seventh in today’s AMA Superbike race at Mid-Ohio after a crash earlier in the day during final qualifying forced the Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin rider to race his back-up Ducati 999R. Under clear skies and cool temps, Eric took the lead at the start of the 26-lap race, but slipped back into the pack as the race progressed.

“It was a struggle from the start. I crashed the bike I was going to race, and although the settings the crew worked so hard to put on the back-up bike were the same, the one I raced was a little softer in the front,” explained the 27-year-old from Las Vegas, Nevada. “But the bottom line is we weren’t fast enough in the corners; it’s an issue we’ve been working on all season. We had a problem holding the line and here, when you run wide in each turn, it kills your drive in the next turn.”

Bostrom’s great start pleased the many Ducati fans in attendance at the race, but the former AMA Supersport champion dropped back through the field as the race continued. “We got a good start again, but we have to make it last longer,” Eric said.

“We’re all disappointed to finish seventh, but we’ll keep working hard to try to get on the pace and finish up strong,” said Racing Manager Tom Bodenbach. “Eric had turned some better times in the morning qualifying session, but he ended up crashing his primary bike. Hopefully we’ll be able to move forward in the warm-up and be more competitive in the race.”

Race two of the doubleheader at Mid-Ohio is scheduled for tomorrow at 3:00 Eastern Time.