TITLE IN SIGHT FOR TEAM SUZUKI
05 September 2006 - Suzuki Racing

Team Yoshimura Suzuki dominated today’s AMA Superbike Championship penultimate round at Road Atlanta and are now assured of the 2006 title

– but it all comes down to the final round next month between Mat Mladin and team mate and series leader Ben Spies.

Mladin won his fourth Superbike race in a row from Spies with Aaron Yates third but with just 20 points between first and second, the final round at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on October 1st will be an exciting showdown for the GSX-R1000-mounted team.

Spies, who needs to finish 13th or better, has been riding with a broken hand - incurred two weeks ago at Virginia International Raceway - and should be at nearly full strength.

This was Mladin''s 50th Superbike win and the third time he''s swept both races at Road Atlanta: He has won five of Road Atlanta''s last six races.

The final podium spot was determined in the final corner: After stalking Ducati’s Neil Hodgson for the final several laps, Yates made a daring inside pass in the final downhill run to the finish line.

Spies nailed the start and took the lead immediately. In spite of his injured hand, the young Texan began gapping the field. Mladin got off the line a little further back, but worked his way up to Spies quickly. The team mates swapped spots and Mladin took over the lead and both held their respective positions until the race’s end.

“I have to thank my Yoshimura Suzuki guys because we got some things sorted out with the GSX-R1000 a few weeks ago,” said six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mladin. “We came on strong at the end of the year and now I’m looking forward to next year. Getting a kick in the pants from Ben has lit a fire under me and I won’t make it so easy for him next year.”

Said Spies: “We definitely weren’t going to try to run Mat’s pace today, but we did what we had to do. I ran at my pace and when he came up behind me, I let him go by and kept a decent gap on third place. The weekend went exactly the way I’d hoped and now we just need to go to Mid-Ohio and ride around and hopefully seal this thing.”

Meanwhile, Yates got away in sixth place and used almost all 25 laps to work his way up into a podium spot; a daring last-lap pass gave Yates his third-place finish and Yoshimura Suzuki its second Superbike sweep of the weekend.

“I didn’t think I was going to be able to make the pass for third place,” said Yates. “But I just kept my head down and kept pushing. Being from Georgia, I wanted to represent all the Georgia folks at a Georgia track…nothing is better than having three Suzukis on the podium on a Suzuki weekend.”

Superbike Results:

1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki)
2. Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki)
3. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki)
4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati)
5. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
6. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki)
7. Ben Bostrom (Ducati)
8. Jake Zemke (Honda)
9. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki)
10. Jake Holden (Suzuki)

www.suzuki-racing.com

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