Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young celebrated his fourth AMA Superbike podium finish of the season after capturing third place in Saturday afternoon’s race at the series’ return to Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kansas.
It was a return to the Kansas track after an almost 20-year absence and Young made the most of the first race of the double-header weekend. The rookie Superbike rider got a good start on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 ran in second place for several laps before settling into third.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki team mate Tommy Hayden followed his team mate home in a very close fourth place: The Kentucky rider got off the line in eighth place and charged hard on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and moved up into fourth. He proceeded to battle with his team mate for the final podium spot for the last several laps of the 20-lap race. In the end, though, it was Young in third and Hayden in fourth.
Finally, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin opted to sit out the Kansas race. In spite of this, the six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mladin still leads the overall championship points standings in the premier class.
Blake Young:
“I think we just ran out of time this weekend. We didn’t take advantage of the practice sessions on Thursday and I think we missed the set-up a little bit today. But I think today was a really good day because we got in behind second place and learned what he was doing, made some improvements and I switched up my riding style a bit. Overall I’m happy with the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and how the race went. I learned a lot about our set-up and what we want to try and do tomorrow. So I’ll chalk this one up to that, and try to go after it tomorrow.”
Tommy Hayden:
“I felt pretty good throughout the whole race, but I just got a terrible start. Back three-deep, but I tried to pick my way through - slowly. This track isn’t the best place to pass but I was able to slowly work my way through. Every time I got ahead of a guy, I was able to close up on the next one. So my speed was good on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 today, like it has been in the last several races, but I’m just frustrated with the results. So we’ll see tomorrow if we can get a better start and I think we’ll see that the end result will be a lot better.”
AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers:
1. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
2. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
3. Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
4. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
5. Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki)
6. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
7. Jake Holden (Honda)
8. Geoff May (National Guard Jordan Suzuki)
9. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
10. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
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