Mladin Wins AMA Superbike Finale

Mladins victory was the 72nd of his career and third at the Monterey, Calif. track. Despite the 1-2-3 finish for Suzuki, Mladin was clearly the class of the field, winning by an impressive 12.582 seconds.

It was a good race for us overall and it was nice to get a win at this track, in particular, says Mladin. I got a good start on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and I just put my head down and ran some good laps. Im excited to get another win at Laguna Seca I guess Ive finally got this place figured out after 13 years. Its fantastic for Suzuki to get up here one-two-three, and Im looking forward to next year and hopefully a fair series.

Ben Spies had already clinched his third title before the finale and he finished second, ahead of teammate Tommy Hayden.

I didnt get off the start like I wanted to, but that sort of made it a fun race because I had to make a lot of passes to get up front, says Spies. By the time I got into second place, I could see the pace Mat was running and I could see the gap and I knew I wasnt super-human so I just decided to have some fun out there. It was a good race, I just didnt have enough for the win today.

Hayden ran well to finish third, but he could do little to keep up with Mladin on this day.

It was a pretty good race. I got another great start on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and I just tried to settle into a rhythm, says Hayden. Then Mat came by and I tried to latch on to him and stay with him for as long as I could, which wasnt very long. A little bit later Ben came by and then Aaron Yates. Aaron and I had a battle for a while, then I got by him and just tried put in some good laps and bring home another podium finish for Rockstar Makita Suzuki.