RECORD-BREAKER MLADIN TOPS BRASELTON
04 September 2005 - Suzuki Racing

In a post-red flag dash to the finish, Yoshimura Suzuki''s Mat Mladin won the first of the weekend''s two AMA Superbike races at Road Atlanta, Braselton on Saturday which means he now owns the record for most AMA Superbike wins in a single season with 11 victories.

Team mate Ben Spies came in a close second, while Aaron Yates crashed out while running in third.

''It''s been a great year for Suzuki all around and hopefully we can come back out tomorrow and win the championship,'' said Mladin, who only needs to finish in 21st place in Sunday''s finale to win the 2005 AMA Superbike Championship.

''Thanks to Suzuki for sponsoring this event and to my guys and to the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000.''

Mladin had a record-breaking qualifying session in that he not only broke the track record with a time of 1:21.685, but he is also the first AMA Superbike rider to capture every pole position in a single season: 10 this year and 47 for his career total.

Mladin''s Yoshimura Suzuki team mates qualified closely behind him on the front row with Spies in the second spot with a time of 1:23.161 and Yates in third with a 1:23.242.

With the start of the 25-lap race, Spies got off the line first with Mladin close behind. Yates brought up the rear in fourth, but Mladin quickly moved into first place then began creating a gap as Spies and Yates swapped positions.

But with fewer than 10 laps to go, a red flag was thrown and the riders were re-gridded in running order - Mladin, Yates, Spies. In the re-start, Yates, Spies and Mladin were all challenging for the lead on the first lap but it was Mladin who took it and ran with it. Spies stayed close and gave Mladin a run for his money, as did Yates until his get-off.

Said Mladin: ''It was nice to get the win. In that little sprint race at the end, I lost one of my knee pucks so I couldn''t put one of my knees down and that made it an interesting race.''

Second-place finisher Spies was already looking toward Sunday''s race. ''The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R is good, but we know what we need to do to make it better,'' he said. ''My guys are going to be working their butts off tonight to get the win tomorrow. But I''m happy for Suzuki that we got one-two - it was almost one-two-three and hopefully, we''ll get that tomorrow.''

Speaking of getting a Suzuki one-two-three on the podium, Yates was definitely disappointed in his finish. ''I was just pushing too hard, I guess,'' he said. ''I was trying to make up too much ground in too little ground.''

AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers:

1 Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki).
2 Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki).
3 Miguel Duhamel (Honda).
4 Neil Hodgson (Ducati).
5 Eric Bostrom (Ducati).
6 Josh Hayes (Kawasaki).
7 Jason Pridmore (Jordan Suzuki).
8 Kurtis Roberts (Honda).
9 Marty Craggill (Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki). 10 Lee Acree (Suzuki).

www.suzuki-racing.com

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