Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin re-established his control of the AMA Superbike Championship Saturday at Infineon Raceway. The five-time and defending Champion took a commanding victory in the 28-lap event, building a large early lead before winning by 9.968 seconds. The victory, the fifth in six races for Mladin in 2005 and the 37th AMA Superbike race win of his career, puts Mladin back into the Championship points lead. He fell out of the points lead when he did not finish race one at California Speedway due to mechanical problems. Second place went to Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates, who suffered a bad launch and first lap on the restart but worked his way forward to score runner-up points. Yates got second by passing and holding off Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Neil Hodgson late in the race. Yates and Hodgson are now tied for third in the Championship. Ben Spies slipped to second in the Championship standings after taking fourth Saturday, well clear of Attack Kawasaki’s Josh Hayes. American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke both suffered rear tire problems and pitted during the race. Duhamel ended up 25th, while Zemke finished 20th. Provisional AMA Superbike Race One Results: 1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 28 laps 2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -9.968 seconds 3. Neil Hodgson, Ducati, -10.687 seconds 4. Ben Spies, Suzuki, -43.537 seconds 5. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki, -51.307 seconds 6. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, -57.422 seconds 7. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -62.496 seconds 8. Larry Pegram, Honda, -72.801 seconds 9. Marty Craggill, Suzuki, -87.038 seconds 10. Eric Bostrom, Ducati, -88.508 seconds 11. Clint McBain, Suzuki, -89.893 seconds 12. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, -96.136 seconds 13. Lee Acree, Suzuki, -98.630 seconds 14. Cory West, Suzuki, -1 lap 15. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -1 lap 16. Jeremy Toye, Honda, -1 lap 17. Jeff Tigert, Honda, -1 lap 18. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -1 lap 19. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, -1 lap 20. Jake Zemke, Honda, -1 lap, pit 21. Michael Earnest, Suzuki, -1 lap 22. Cory Call, Kawasaki, -1 lap 23. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -1 lap 24. Alan Schmidt, Suzuki, -1 lap 25. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, pit, -1 lap 26. Mike Sullivan, Suzuki, -1 lap 27. Mark Miller, Suzuki, -1 lap 28. Akira Tamitsuji, Suzuki, -1 lap 29. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -1 lap 30. James Kerker, Honda, -2 laps 31. James King, Suzuki, -2 laps 32. Harley Barnes, Suzuki, -3 laps 33. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -7 laps, DNF, crash 34. Kevin Lacombe, Suzuki, -9 laps, DNF 35. Brent George, Suzuki, -16 laps, DNF 36. Eric Gulbransen, Ducati, -25 laps, DNF, mechanical 37. Reno Karimian, Suzuki, -25 laps, DNF 38. John Haner, Suzuki, DNF, mechanical (clutch) 39. Dave Stanton, Suzuki, DNF 40. David Bell, Suzuki, -28 laps, DNF, crash Provisional AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings (after 6 of 17 races): 1. Mladin, 190 points 2. Spies, 182 points 3. Tie, Yates/Hodgson, 175 points 5. Bostrom, 143 points 6. Craggill, 127 points 7. Duhamel, 124 points 8. Rapp, 117 points 9. Acree, 107 points 10. Pegram, 95 points 11. Wood, 94 points 12. Zemke, 87 points 13. Holden, 83 points 14. Hayes, 75 points 15. Jensen, 74 points 16. Moore, 73 points 17. Vincent Haskovec, 67 points 18. George, 65 points 19. West, 64 points 20. Roberts, 60 points More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Mat Mladin took a start-to-finish win in the first leg of this weekend’s Sonoma double-header at Infineon Raceway in California to lead a Suzuki GSX-R1000 one-two. The Australian dominated from the start and had a five-second lead by the second lap when the race was stopped for an accident. Then, on the re-start, he built up a 13-second lead before he backed off, but still won by almost 10 seconds from Yoshimura team mate Aaron Yates. And he lapped up to 14th place as Suzuki Superbike team newcomer Ben Spies raced to fourth behind Briton Neil Hodgson (Ducati). More, from a press release issued by Infineon Raceway: Suzuki’s Mladin Takes Wire-to-Wire Win at Infineon Raceway SONOMA, Calif. (IMMEDIATE RELEASE) Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin continued his mastery of Infineon Raceway on Saturday with a wire-to-wire victory in the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown, presented by Supercuts. Mladin started on the pole, took the lead at the drop of the green flag and never looked back, taking the victory by 9.97 seconds over second-place Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki). Neil Hodgson (Ducati Austin) was third in the 28-lap feature. It was Mladin’s fifth career Superbike victory at Infineon Raceway, tying him for the all-time track record with Honda’s Miguel Duhamel. It was also Mladin’s fifth victory in six Superbike features this year as he reclaimed the season points lead from teammate Ben Spies (190-182). Spies placed fourth. Mladin will hope to make it a sweep of the doubleheader on Sunday in the second 28-lap Superbike feature of the weekend. The green flag will drop on Sunday’s Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown at 3 p.m. “The bike felt pretty good most of the race,” said Mladin. “The GSX-R performed unbelievably great again, which is making our life much easier. It’s good to get the points lead again, and hopefully we can improve on that tomorrow.” “I got a pretty lousy start,” said Yates. “I was way back and I did what I could to get by folks. I just chased him (Hodgson) down; I was a rabbit chasing him. I did what I could.” Mladin started on the pole thanks to Friday’s track-record provisional qualifying time of 1:36.019. Jake Zemke (Honda) held off teammate Duhamel for the victory in the Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme main event. It was Zemke’s third consecutive victory in the class as he upped his lead in the points standings to seven points over Duhamel (142-135). “Me and Miguel have gotten to race quite a bit the last couple years now, and I have a ton of respect for him,” Zemke said. “It’s always a good race with him and it’s always clean. We have these great battles and it’s always safe. It’s fun racing with Miguel, it really is. I really trust him, and hopefully he feels the same way about me.” Earlier in the day, Jason Disalvo (Yamaha) grabbed the pole for Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants feature with a fast-lap of 1:36.912 (track record), while Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) took the pole for Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport feature (1:37.877, track record). In addition to the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown on Sunday, there will also be feature events for Pro Honda Oils Supersport (1 p.m.) and Repsol Lubricants Superstock (2 p.m.). Gates open at 7 a.m. (for more information visit www.infineonraceway.com). More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin: HODGSON CONTINUES CONSISTENT RESULTS WITH FOURTH PODIUM OF THE YEAR Sonoma, CA (May 14) Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Neil Hodgson finished third in the Saturday Infineon Raceway Superbike race, taking his fourth podium of the season in a hard-fought 28-lap event on his Ducati 999. Neil, currently third in the season’s points race, had a good battle for second with Aaron Yates but was unable to take the position in the closing laps. Eric Bostrom ended the race in tenth, although he ran as high as second in the early portions of the event once restarted due to a red flag. “I was out riding on my own and Aaron closed in. That was with about five laps to go. After that, it was a good last five laps of me trying to hang on, trying to see if there was anyway I could do anything,” said Hodgson, who finished in the top five at every AMA Superbike race this year and on the podium four times. “There wasn’t and that was that.” Neil stayed close to second place but wasn’t able to re-take the slot as the grip began to fade late in the 28-lap race. “I think we were all in the same boat. No excuses,” said Hodgson. “I’m just trying to keep pushing as hard as I can.” Still, it was a solid result for the 2003 World Superbike champion. Hodgson remains third in AMA Superbike points after six races, a strong debut to his rookie year in the United States. Teammate Eric Bostrom ran as high as second, but a tire issue caused him to fade to tenth. “Unfortunately, we had a tire problem in the race,” said Bostrom. “We had a good start to things and I got in the 1:37s, something I hadn’t been able to do all weekend. But then we had a grip problem that made it impossible for me to keep up that pace. I don’t want to dwell on the negative about today because we’ve continually made progress over the last few races.” “Neil rode hard and did his best. Today, that meant third place. It’s good to see Neil earn another podium, even if we did come up short when it came to fighting for the win,” said team manager Tom Bodenbach. “With Eric’s race, sometimes things just don’t go your way and that was the case today.” Tomorrow’s race begins at 3PM. More, from a press release issued by Hot Bodies Racing Triangle Cycles Honda: HotBodies Racing/Triangle Cycles/Pro Honda Oils rider Larry Pegram took 8th in race one at Infineon Raceway in the 2005 AMA Superbike Championship. It was his best finish so far this season on the still developing Michelin shod, factory kitted Honda CBR1000RR. “We had a few problems today, I tried some new brake pads, however I glazed them over before they were bedded in properly. The problem cost me a couple of positions.” Said #72. Pegram took over top Honda honors after factory riders Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke suffered from tire problems on their still developing CBR1000RRs. Pegram concluded by saying, “I am pretty happy with being the top Honda in race one and I look forward to continuing to move up the finish order in the coming rounds.”