Updated Post: Spies Ties Record, Wins Sixth Consecutive AMA Superbike Race At Infineon Raceway

Updated Post: Spies Ties Record, Wins Sixth Consecutive AMA Superbike Race At Infineon Raceway

© 2006, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited Infineon Raceway Sonoma, California May 21 Provisional Race Results: 1. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), 28 laps 2. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), -5.290 seconds 3. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR), -8.166 seconds 4. Neil Hodgson (Duc 999F06), -9.137 seconds 5. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), -11.233 seconds 6. Tommy Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), -16.202 seconds 7. Ben Bostrom (Duc 999F06), -16.531 seconds 8. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR1000RR), -43.782 seconds 9. Steve Rapp (Suz GSX-R1000), -48.305 seconds 10. Jake Holden (Suz GSX-R1000), -53.803 seconds 11. Jason Pridmore (Suz GSX-R1000), -71.085 seconds 12. Larry Pegram (Hon CBR1000RR), -73.391 seconds 13. Matt Lynn (Suz GSX-R1000), -83.802 seconds 14. Lee Acree (Suz GSX-R1000), -86.592 seconds 15. Eric Wood (Suz GSX-R1000), -91.410 seconds 16. Jason Curtis (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap 17. Cory West (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 12.253 seconds 18. David Bell (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 31.785 seconds 19. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 31.955 seconds 20. Akira Tamitsuji (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 49.509 seconds 21. Brad Hendry (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 56.713 seconds 22. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 56.931 seconds 23. Corey Sarros (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 58.292 seconds 24. Martin Szwarc (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 59.614 seconds 25. Corey Eaton (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 60.219 seconds 26. James Randolph (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 62.952 seconds 27. Fernando Amantini (Kaw ZX-10R), -1 lap, 99.551 seconds 28. C.R. Gittere (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 99.852 seconds 29. Andi Notman (Suz GSX-R1000), -2 laps 30. Doug Chandler (Kaw ZX-10R), -7 laps, DNF, mechanical 31. Ken Hill (Hon CBR1000RR), -14 laps, DNF 32. Leonardo Bagnis (Yam YZF-R1), -23 laps, DNF 33. Marty Craggill (Suz GSX-R1000), -28 laps 34. Michael Earnest (Suz GSX-R1000), -28 laps, DNS AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings (after 7 of 19 races): 1. Spies, 257 points 2. Mladin, 227 points 3. Duhamel, 198 points 4. Hodgson, 183 points 5. Yates, 179 points 6. Tommy Hayden, 173 points 7. Ben Bostrom, 168 points 8. Zemke, 156 points 9. TIE, Pridmore/Pegram, 133 points 11. Rapp, 122 points 12. Wood, 120 points 13. Curtis, 98 points 14. Holden, 97 points 15. Hendry, 77 points 16. Lynn, 59 points 17. TIE, West/Tamitsuji, 57 points 19. David Bell, 53 points 20. Amantini, 38 points More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Ben Spies raced his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to its sixth consecutive victory at today’s second-leg AMA Superbike Championship double-header at Infineon Raceway in California. The young Texan led from the start of the rescheduled 28-lap event avoiding forecasted and impending rain to beat team mate Mat Mladin by 5.2 seconds. Aaron Yates, fresh from his second place in the morning’s Superstock event, finished fifth on his Yoshimura GSX-R1000 after a close battle with Ducati’s Neil Hodgson. Said Spies: “If you would’ve told me that I was going to have six consecutive wins at the beginning of the year, I wouldn’t have believed it. I really have to thank my crew because they’re doing a great job. I’m riding really hard but the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is making it easy for me.” As on Saturday, Sunday’s 28-lap race commenced with Spies taking the holeshot and leading the field to what seemed like an easy victory. “It was a good race,” he summed up afterwards. “The Suzuki GSX-R is running really good right now and I’m riding pretty decent and my Yoshimura Suzuki crew is doing a great job. I was just trying to get out front, ride my own race and click off fast laps.” When Spies got out front, Mladin was right behind him and stayed put in second place to the flag. “It was a good race for us today,” said Mladin. “I tried to make it as close as I could but I couldn’t get around Ben today. We’ll go home and do some homework and see if we can catch him at Road America. I reckon he’s got a few too many wins under his belt now!” Meanwhile, Yates started out strong and went on to bring home a top-five finish. “I got a really good start and was up to third on the first lap,” said Yates. “Then some guys got by me and it was kind of tough to get around. But I did, and then charged hard on my Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. I’m happy with the changes we’ve made to the bike and I’m looking forward to testing and fine-tuning the bike for Road America.” Yoshimura Suzuki has won seven of the last eight Superbike events at Infineon Raceway, dating back to 2003. Mladin has five of the seven wins. AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers: 1. Ben Spies (Team Yoshimura Suzuki) 2. Mat Mladin (Team Yoshimura Suzuki) 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 5. Aaron Yates (Team Yoshimura Suzuki) 6 Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 7. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 9. Jake Holden (Jordan Suzuki) 10. Steve Rapp (Jordan Suzuki) More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: Duhamel double podium in California on honors weekend American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel captured a pair of podiums at Infineon Raceway on the weekend that he was honored as one of the first motorcycle racers to be inducted into the Infineon Raceway Wall of Fame. The very popular veteran rider followed his Saturday induction with a third in the Superbike race, held under cloudy skies on the undulating 12-turn race track in the heart of Sonoma’s wine country, north of San Francisco. Duhamel battled Suzuki’s Aaron Yates for the second half of the race before making the final pass on the 26th of 28 laps. Duhamel backed up that finish with a much more competitive run aboard his American Honda CBR1000RR on Sunday, this time taking third on the 13th lap and chasing the second place rider to the end. “Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise,” Duhamel said about the distinction. “It’s just – I’m very honored, obviously. I’m very pleased and honored.” The prolific Duhamel has nine wins at Infineon; five in Superbike, three in Supersport, and one in Formula Xtreme. In addition to his proficiency on the track, he was chosen for the selfless work he’s provided to the track on behalf of the safety of his fellow riders. “There’s nobody who has been more open, more helpful, more available”¦than Miguel Duhamel,” track president Steve Page said in the winner’s circle. “For all the memories and all the involvement he’s had at this track, we are very proud to have Miguel Duhamel inducted into the Infineon Raceway Wall of Fame.” Teammate Jake Zemke will have to wait for his induction into the Wall of Fame. Brake problems prevented him from finishing higher up than eighth on Saturday. On Sunday, he discovered a lack of drive grip on the warm-up lap that stymied his best efforts to ride around the problem. “We’ll just come back for the next one, definitely have to do a lot better than we did today,” he said. The podium order was identical both days, Suzuki’s Ben Spies in front of teammate Mat Mladin and Duhamel. Miguel Duhamel, 3rd Saturday, 3rd Sunday I thought about sticking it in (on Aaron Yates) a few times, but I was saving that for a little later (in Saturday’s race). But then he went extra wide. So I went inside, and I figured he’d try and come down on me anyway, but I had the right of way, basically. I don’t know where he went and I didn’t really care. I just wanted to make that pass, because I knew I was faster than him through some of the sections, and I was just holding it back a bit. When he did come by we did pick up the pace a bit, and it actually made me discover a few things for tomorrow’s race. I felt yesterday I could have been a little closer to the guys in front. And the key to that is to be closer. Tommy (Hayden) was actually doing a good job of keeping Mat (Mladin) honest and even Ben (Spies) for a while there. I was like, this is good, this is real good. Usually when you’re in third place, you only just see open track. And I was like, whoa, look at that. I was in fourth place at that moment. And (Hayden) was riding really good and then I had to ride really hard and got by him. I was really good on the brakes. Got by Tommy. He was braking good too, but not good enough. He went into the dirt, through the chicane, twice I think. That time actually I got by. Once I did that I think it looks like he couldn’t keep up the pace. By then Mat already did a little gap and I was trying to keep that gap honest and try and get a little closer and it was fluctuating depending on the lap and lapped riders. Of course I wanted to get up for the championship and get in front of Mat, but he didn’t want me to. Jake Zemke, 8th Saturday, 8th Sunday Early on we had the pace to run with the guys for third. I would like to think we would have been at least a challenge for those guys up there and would have a four-rider race for third instead of three, but that’s the way it goes. It just seems like the brakes glazed over a bit and I just didn’t have the stopping power I needed getting in the corners and couldn’t get in there like I was earlier in the race, and just kind of faded back from there. I just felt like I could get through the corners OK once I got in there, it was just I couldn’t get into the corners. I just kind of just ended up going backwards there. First lap out, warm-up lap I could tell it wasn’t quite the grip I had yesterday. Sometimes it takes a lap or two to get the tires where they’re gripping to their full potential. It just never, ever came in. It was kind of bad right from the get-go. I think it was more our setting that was bad, because we had the same tire we had yesterday and, shoot, I drove right by a couple of guys early in the race, where today that wasn’t going to happen. they were driving by me instead. We thought we had something that might be a little bit better, but ultimately it just didn’t have the grip I had yesterday. So I couldn’t get off the corners and we had changed the shock and it also affected going into the corners as well. I just couldn’t get much of anything done today. We’ll come back. Sunday Superbike: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 5. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 6. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 7. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 9. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 10. Jacob Holden (Suzuki) Saturday Superbike: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 5. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 6. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 7. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 9. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 10. Larry Pegram (Honda) Superbike Championship: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 257 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 227 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 198 4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 183 5. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 179 6. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 173 7. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 168 8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 156 9. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 148 10. Larry Pegram (Honda) 133 More, from a press release issued by Yoshimura Suzuki: Yoshimura Suzuki Dominates Sonoma Superbike Weekend –Next round, Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI, June 2 – 4, 2006– Round 4 – AMA Superbike Series Sonoma, CA Infineon Raceway May 19 – 21, 2006 Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies celebrated a perfect weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. The young Texan tied the AMA record for most consecutive AMA Superbike wins by taking his sixth straight Superbike victory on Sunday afternoon. Furthermore, he broke the track lap record when he captured his third career pole position and he broke the track race record after leading all laps of both Saturday’s and Sunday’s AMA Superbike races. Teammate and defending AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin finished a close second while Aaron Yates came in fifth place. “If you would’ve told me that I was going to have six consecutive wins at the beginning of the year, I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Spies. “I really have to thank my crew because they’re doing a great job. I’m riding really hard but the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is making it easy for me.” As on Saturday, Sunday’s 28-lap race commenced with Spies taking the holeshot and leading the field to what seemed like an easy victory. “It was a good race,” he summed up afterward. “The Suzuki GSX-R is running really good right now and I’m riding pretty decent and my Yoshimura Suzuki crew is doing a great job. I was just trying to get out front, ride my own race and click off fast laps.” When Spies got out front, Mladin was right behind him and stayed put in second place to the checkers. “It was a good race for us today,” said Mladin. “I tried to make it as close as I could but I couldn’t get around Ben today. We’ll go home and do some homework and see if we can catch him at Road America. I reckon he’s got a few too many wins under his belt now!” Meanwhile, Yates started out strong and went on to bring home a top-five finish. “I got a really good start and was up to third on the first lap,” said Yates. “Then some guys got by me and it was kind of tough to get around. But I did, and then charged hard on my Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. I’m happy with the changes we’ve made to the bike and I’m looking forward to testing and fine-tuning the bike for Road America.” Yoshimura Suzuki has won seven of the last eight Superbike events at Infineon Raceway, dating back to 2003. Mladin has five of the seven wins. Mat Mladin, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #1 2nd Place – AMA Superbike 2nd Place — Overall Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #20 5th Place – AMA Superbike 5th Place — Overall Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #11 1st Place – AMA Superbike 1st Place — Overall AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers: 1. Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 2. Mat Mladin, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 4. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 5. Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 7. Ben Bostrom, Ducati 8. Jake Zemke, Honda 9. Jake Holden, Jordan Suzuki 10. Steve Rapp, Jordan Suzuki More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati: PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI’S HODGSON BATTLES AT INFINEON RACEWAY Sonoma (California) 21 May 2006: Parts Unlimited Ducati’s Neil Hodgson improved to fourth place in Sunday’s AMA Superbike race at Infineon Raceway, applying pressure on third place in the final laps in the second contest of the weekend. Teammate Ben Bostrom finished seventh on his Ducati 999 Superbike in a race meeting with limited track time due to weather issues. Hodgson was 9.137 seconds behind the winner at the flag, less than half of Saturday’s gap. In the race, Neil made a pass of Tommy Hayden on lap 22 to take fourth place. “It was good to see the leaders,” said Hodgson, who qualified on the front row on Saturday. “We were much more competitive today. I had a good battle with Tommy Hayden and Aaron Yates out there. Tommy was braking very late into the corners and I managed to squeeze underneath him for the pass and went off to chase Miguel Duhamel. The bike felt good on the light fuel load at the end of the race. We were able to close some on Miguel but ran out of laps.” Hodgson maintains fourth place in AMA Superbike points after extending his perfect finishing record for 2006. “We have a test scheduled for this week in Utah, so it will be good to go into it having made some improvements,” said Hodgson. Bostrom was seventh on the day. “In some ways, this race was a test for us,” said Bostrom. “We have struggled some this season and needed track time. At the end of today’s race, we were able to do low 1:37s after we improved the bike from what we learned on Saturday. We were about a second a lap quicker today, though, which is promising.” The next AMA Superbike race is June 2-4, 2006 at Road America. Sunday results: 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki 2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 4. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 7. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 8. Jake Zemke, Honda 9. Steve Rapp, Suzuki 10. Jake Holden, Suzuki AMA Superbike points (after seven races): 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki 257 2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 227 3. Miguel Duhamel, 198 4. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 183 5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 179 6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 173 7. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 168 8. Jake Zemke, Honda 156 9. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki 148 10. Larry Pegram, Honda 133

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