Updated Post: Mladin Wins With Last-lap Pass In Barber Superbike Race One

Updated Post: Mladin Wins With Last-lap Pass In Barber Superbike Race One

© 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin took the 29th career AMA Superbike race win of his career Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park with a last-lap pass on Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke.

Zemke controlled most of race, leading by 2.1 seconds on lap 22 of 28. Mladin, however, pushed forward in the late stages, turning lap times close to the fastest of the race, and closed the gap to Zemke.

Mladin made his move on the final lap, sliding his GSX-R1000 inside Zemke’s CBR1000RR under braking for tight turn four, and held on to win by 0.011 second at the line.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel ran a lonely race to finish third, 35 seconds behind Mladin and Zemke. Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom got the holeshot at the start but dropped backward to finish fourth. Riding his Attack Kawasaki ZX-10R, Josh Hayes led Eric Bostrom for several laps before being demoted to fifth.

Hooters Suzuki’s John Haner ran with Eric Bostrom and Hayes through the first half of the race before slipping to a lonely sixth. Prieto Racing’s Geoff May collected valuable Championship points with seventh on his Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-R1000. Roadracingworld.com’s Jeremy Toye came out on top of Haner’s teammate Eric Wood in a battle for eighth. KWS Millennium Suzuki’s Shawn Higbee finished tenth, one lap down at the finish.

Ben Bostrom lowsided out of the lead in turn two on lap four. He was seen walking away from the incident.

Aaron Yates crashed in turn two on the opening lap, re-mounted, continued, worked his way from dead-last up to 10th but crashed a second time on lap 15.

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki
2. Jake Zemke, Honda, -0.011 second
3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -35.150 seconds
4. Eric Bostrom, Ducati, -41.463
5. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki, -60.285
6. John Haner, Suzuki, -72.679
7. Geoff May, Suzuki, -74.545
8. Jeremy Toye, Roadracingworld.com Yam, -85.959
9. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -86.832
10. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki, -1 lap
11. Larry Pegram, Yamaha, -1 lap, -7.888
12. Byron Barbour, Suzuki, -1 lap, -10.067
13. Mike Sanchez, Yamaha, -1 lap, -15.205
14. Cory West, Suzuki, -1 lap, -19.251
15. David Bell, Suzuki, -1 lap, -27.188
16. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -1 lap, -30.283
17. Lee Acree, Suzuki, -1 lap, -33.795
18. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha, -1 lap, -33.887
19. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -1 lap, -33.935
20. Jack Pfeifer, Honda, -1 lap, -35.579
21. John Jacobi, Suzuki, -1 lap, -40.507
22. Jason Curtis, Suzuki, -1 lap, -40.698
23. Opei Caylor, Suzuki, -1 lap, -44.424
24. Marco Martinez, Suzuki, -1 lap, -47.382
25. Mark Ledesma, Honda, -1 lap, -47.656
26. Scott Jensen, Honda, -1 lap, -61.289
27. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki, -1 lap, -79.591
28. Lenny Beckman, Suzuki, -1 lap, -79.968
29. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -1 lap, -102.657
30. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki, -2 laps
31. Rick Narup, Suzuki, -5 laps
32. Mike Smith, Suzuki, -9 laps
33. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -14 laps, DNF, crash
34. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki, -23 laps
35. Ben Bostrom, Honda, -25 laps, DNF, crash
36. Christian Pistoni, Suzuki, DNS


Provisional AMA Superbike Point Standings (after 6 of 18 races):

1. Mladin, 214 points
2. Zemke, 183 points
3. Duhamel, 182 points
4. May, 132 points
5. Eric Bostrom, 123 points
6. Acree, 119 points
7. Pegram, 117 points
8. Haner, 109 points
9. Wood, 96 points
10. West, 96 points
11. Hayes, 87 points
12. Ben Bostrom, 79 points
13. Clint McBain, 76 points
14. Steve Crevier, 75 points
15. Pfeifer, 70 points


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

MLADIN TAKES AMERICAN SUPERBIKE RACE WIN AT ALABAMA

Birmingham, Alabama, USA (Saturday, May 16) – Australian Mat Mladin scored his twenty ninth career AMA Superbike race victory after a stunning charge in the final few laps saw him take the race lead and the resulting win on the final lap of today’s sixth round of the American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship being held at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

Today’s victory was Mladin’s fifth for the season and sees the defending series champion extend his overall points lead to 31 over Honda’s Jake Zemke (214 – 183), who after leading the majority of the race, was unable to fend off Mladin on the 28th and final lap. Mladin’s winning margin was just 0.010 of a second, with the pair having worked out to a healthy 35-second advantage over third placed Miguel DuHamel (Honda), who sits third in the championship, one point adrift of Zemke.

The opening laps of the race proved to be as frantic as usual with firstly Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) and then Ben Bostrom (Honda) crashing out of contention early, leaving Mladin to battle with Zemke and DuHamel. Zemke was able to stretch his lead over Mladin out to over two seconds, but with six laps to run Mladin gained a clear track and was able to record his fastest laps of the race as he chased down the race leader. As they commenced their penultimate lap, Mladin was just 0.367 of a second adrift of Zemke, but made up the ground mid-way through the final lap, taking the lead at the tight first gear hairpin and holding the front running position to the flag.

“No one really knew how the front tyres`were going to cope with the conditions out there today and fortunately for us, we were able to manage our race well, setting my fastest laps of the race at the end when I needed to,” said Mladin. “Jake (Zemke) was able to get a break on me when we caught up to the lapped traffic and work the lead out a bit, but then I was able to get a clear run and that allowed me to close the gap right down on him.”

Earlier today, Mladin added to his record of AMA Superbike pole positions after scoring his thirty sixth-career pole and third for the season.

His fast time from yesterday’s opening session was bettered, initially by Zemke and then by Ben Bostrom. With the session nearing its completion, Mladin fitted a soft qualifying rear Dunlop to his Suzuki GSX-R1000 and reeled off a 1:25.251 on the final lap of the session to move back to the top of the time sheets and pole position for the weekend’s two Superbike Nationals. Bostrom hung on to record the second fastest time (1:25.445), ahead of Zemke (1:25.519) and DuHamel (1:25.760).

“It worked out well for us in the end out there and we were able to grab that extra championship point for pole when it counted,” added Mladin. “We were concentrating a lot on our race set up throughout the session and decided to keep our soft tyre for the very end.”

“Front tyre wear has been the most crucial factor for everyone so far this weekend. Dunlop have brought along a whole bunch of their best tyres, but the track surface is so abrasive after the recent resurfacing that it’s just shredding the tyres. We’ve just had to work out a chassis set up that best suits those conditions and gets us through the race.”

The Superbike competitors will return to the Barber Motorsports Park circuit tomorrow afternoon for the second of the double-header races scheduled for the weekend.


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

ACREE AND CAYLOR GO BACKWARDS IN SUPERBIKE FINAL AT BARBER

Lee Acree and Opie Caylor both suffered severe front tire abrasion and wear during today’s AMA Chevrolet Superbike final at Barber Motorsports Park. Both riders ran strong early on after good starts, but lost several positions as the race wore on.

Lee Acree
Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 17th Place
Lee finished a disappointing 17th place after three different problems in the 28-lap race, running as high as ninth place for several laps. The first and biggest problem came from his front tire, which went off early and got worse as the race wore on. On lap ten, Lee hit a flase neutral and lost two positions. Four laps later, he got a foreign object in his left eye, forcing him to pull over long enough to get it out of his eye. “Both eyes were watering, I couldn’t see at all,” Acree said. “I had to pull off line over there, open my visor and get it out of my eye. Even before that, the front tire was already giving. I got behind Eric (Wood), went through that left, then the fast right where it Gs out and the front end just tucked for the longest time. I also hit a false neutral and lost a couple of positions there, but I could have closed up and in the end maybe lost three positions. I ended up losing more like 10 positions by the end of the race, losing three to four seconds a lap to guys that I qualified four seconds in front of.”

Opie Caylor
Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 23rd Place
“I just had to ride slower than I wanted to,” said Opie. “I’ve never tucked the front that many times in one race! Every right hander, when the suspension would G out, the front would tuck. I started out with a new slider at the start of the race and it’s gone in one race! We came up short on set-up, we just did the best we could, but it’s definitely disappointing.”


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

GEOFF MAY FINISHES LONELY SEVENTH IN SUPERBIKE AT BARBER AMA NATIONAL

Geoff May finished a lonely seventh place today on his Prieto Racing-sponsored, Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the AMA Chevrolet Superbike final. May retains fourth place in season point standings for the class.

Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 7th Place
“It was very uneventful,” said May, who slotted into eight place on the first lap, and was elevated to seventh when race leader Ben Bostrom crashed out of the race on the fourth lap. “It was a good race, I didn’t get tired and I figured out a lot for tomorrow. I thought I was having tire issues, so I slowed down in the middle, but then I started my charge too late. I thought I could catch (John) Haner by the end. I figured the Pirellis would be a lot better here in the long run, and they were.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

BOSTROM SCORES A SOLID 4TH PLACE FINISH

Birmingham (Alabama) – May 15, 2004: Eric Bostrom finished just off the podium with a solid fourth place in today’s race, an event which saw the determined Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin rider briefly leading the AMA Superbike event. The 27-year-old turned his best lap times late in the 28-lap, 100 kilometer race made even more physically challenging by the hot and humid conditions.

Bostrom and the Michelin-shod Ducati 999 looked to make their mark on the race by getting a good start. “I really wanted to stay with the pack and I got a great jump,” said the Californian. Although Eric dropped back into the pack by the middle stages, he then changed his tactics and started to lap quicker towards the final part of the race.

“In the previous race I had been pushing harder and harder and, by my philosophy, that should have rewarded me,” Eric explained. “I’d been giving it all I had and taking chances, but in today’s race, I decided to slow down a little going into the turns and then get on the throttle sooner – and the bike responded incredibly!”

Bostrom rose from fifth place to fourth and was even closing the gap to third when the race ended. “I continued to pick up the pace during the race and the Michelins we chose were holding up great so I was feeling totally confident.”

The Barber circuit is probably harder on front tires than any other in the U.S.; with no real straightaways and numerous sustained curves, the front tire is constantly being pushed.

“Eric really improved throughout the race. I think he really showed a lot by digging deep and working hard to go faster,” said Racing Manager Tom Bodenbach. “It was a long, hot race but the important thing is that we’ve learned a few things that will help us for tomorrow. It was good to see Eric persevere and make up ground on the riders in front of him.”

Race 2 of the fourth round of the AMA Superbike series is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.


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