Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing celebrated the end of the 2008 AMA Superbike season in true championship-winning style by sweeping the AMA Superbike podium one-two-three at the final round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, on Sunday afternoon.
Six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin won the 28-lap race, which means his career wins number 72 and this is his third win at Laguna Seca. Additionally, Mladin picked up his 55th career pole position this weekend.
Newly-crowned AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies finished second in the Laguna Seca race. Overall, three-time AMA Superbike Champion Spies has 10 wins for the year and eight additional podium finishes.
Rounding out the all-Rockstar Makita Suzuki podium was Tommy Hayden in third place. This result marks Hayden’s ninth AMA Superbike podium of the year, in spite of missing six races because of injury. In the overall championship points standings, Spies finished first, Mladin finished second and Hayden finished eighth.
Mat Mladin:
“It was a good race for us overall and it was nice to get a win at this track, in particular. I got a good start on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and I just put my head down and ran some good laps. I’m excited to get another win at Laguna Seca - I guess I’ve finally got this place figured out after 13 years. It’s fantastic for Suzuki to get up here one-two-three and I’m looking forward to next year and hopefully a fair series.”
Ben Spies:
“I didn’t 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. 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 wasn’t super-human so I just decided to have some fun out there. It was a good race; I just didn’t have enough for the win today. Congratulations to my Rockstar Makita Suzuki team mates for a good race today and it’s a great way for Suzuki to finish the season. It says a lot about
Suzuki and it says a little about the three of us too.”
Tommy Hayden:
“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. Then Mat came by and I tried to latch on to him and stay with him for as long as I could, which wasn’t very long. A little bit later Ben came by and then Jordan Suzuki’s 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.”
1. Mat Mladin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
2. Ben Spies (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
3. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
4. Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki)
5. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
8. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha)
9. Jordan Szoke (Kawasaki)
10. Chris Peris (Yamaha)
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