Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing celebrated its 40th AMA Superbike win in a row at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on Saturday as six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin took the win.
Mladin overcame a get-off and three red flags to take this victory, which marks the Australian's 69th career AMA Superbike victory and his sixth win of the season.
Defending and two-time AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies was recovering from a recent appendectomy but still started from pole position and followed Mladin home in second place as Tommy Hayden brought home an impressive fifth-place result.
The Mid-Ohio race was originally slated to be a 26-lap event, but the multiple red flags resulted in the race being abbreviated to 19 laps.
Mat Mladin:
"It was a long day for everyone, with three red flags… but that's the way it goes sometimes. It was good to get the win today for the Rockstar Makita Suzuki crew. I would have preferred to have gotten a full 26- lap race in because we don't seem to do it very much here at Mid-Ohio. But I'm happy to get the win, and it was a good day for us."
Ben Spies:
"The first section of the race was good, I got locked into third place and was pretty comfortable there… then the first red flag came out. In the re-start, everything worked out and then there was another red flag and another re-start. In the final bit of the race, I was comfortable on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSXR1000 and I was able to make a pass and get second, so I was pretty happy with that."
Tommy Hayden:
"It was definitely a long day. I was getting great starts on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000, which was helping me some. I've been slowly making progress all weekend and each re-start was a little better for me. Hopefully we can make a few changes for tomorrow and be better yet."
AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers:
1. Mat Mladin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)2. Ben Spies (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)3. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)4. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 5. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)6. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki)7. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 8. Geoff May (Jordan Suzuki)9. Chris Peris (Suzuki)
