Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin won the weekend’s first of two AMA Superbike races at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday afternoon, sealing his 52nd career win and his fourth at the Barber circuit.
Mladin’s team mate and defending AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies finished in a very close second place, while new Yoshimura Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden brought home an impressive fifth-place finish.
“It’s nice to get the win, ” said Mladin of the close victory. “Anytime you have a hard race like that, it’s nice to come out on top. At the finish line there wasn’t much of a gap so we’ll go back tonight and see if we can make a few improvements to the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 for tomorrow and have another good race. “
This morning’s Superbike qualifying session saw the Yoshimura Suzuki team all gridded on the front row. Spies led the way after picking up his second pole position of the year, thanks to a track record-breaking 1:24.094 lap time. Mladin carded second position with a fastest lap of 1:24.509, while Hayden rounded out the front row in fourth position with a fastest lap of 1:25.070.
| 
|