AMA: Mladin Finds Number 9 - Pegram Steals Second Victory Ever

Olaf Wolff
AllAboutBikes.com Sr. Staff Writer

Elkhart Lake, WI. – In the land of beer and bratwurst, and home to the cheese-heads, on a rainy and chilly day ideally suited for the blues Mat Mladin (Suzuki) kept on rocking – making it nine straight in the AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike series presented by Parts Unlimited, notching another victory in the first day of the Suzuki Superbike Doubleheader at Road America.

Winning yet another pole position proved to be of no advantage to Mladin Saturday in race one, a minor clutch snafu preventing him from heating up his tires and his focus in the 10-minute warm-up before the race. With track conditions less than ideal, the veteran Mladin opted wisely to surrender a few positions at the start until the race came back to him.

It didn’t take long for Mladin to refocus his chi though; he worked his way back towards the front of the field in a mere lap, taking the lead away from Larry Pegram (Ducati) heading into turn 3 on the second pass around. Mladin would not be challenged from that point on and he went on to score his ninth win in 10 tries this season, and the 81st of his career.

Earning an impressive second-tier podium position was Michael Laverty (Suzuki). The ‘07 British Supersport champion matched up well with the fiddly conditions, systematically picking through riders from an 11th place start, to score his best American Superbike result to date. He also recorded the fastest lap in the race at 2:30.803.  It was only Laverty's fourth start of the season.

Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) filled in the third-place podium slot. This was Bostrom's fourth podium finish in the past five American Superbike starts. He also won the Daytona 200 to open the year.

Race 2 (6.7.’09) – Just when it looked like everyone else was being punished by running some sort of motorcycle equivalent to a restrictor-plate and only Mladin was destined to win, Larry Pegram and Ducati steals the win! Today’s victory is only Pegram’s second career win and his first in nearly a decade.

Mladin grabbed the hole-shot into the first turn, but Pegram, Geoff May (Suzuki) and Blake Young (Suzuki) were in hot pursuit. It was obvious from the get-go that Pegram’s Ducati had a power advantage as he flew past Mladin on the first straightaway, taking the lead going into the downhill and turn 5 on the first lap.
 
However, Pegram wasn’t able to shake Mladin, as he would routinely run up the inside of him, snatching back the lead in the turns. Pegram would then immediately counter on the next straightaway, again blowing by Mladin. The two riders continued to swap the lead in that manner for much of the race.
 
A bit further back, Yamaha’s Josh Hayes attempted to make a similar inside pass maneuver over Race 1’s second place finisher Mike Laverty, but ended up making contact and sending both riders crashing into the gravel outside of Canada Corner. Hayes’ day ended there, but Laverty remounted and finished the race in last place.
 
With the race winding down into the final laps, Pegram passed Mladin for the final time, managing this time to open up a small gap between the two of them. Drama unfolded one last time on the final lap when Aaron Yates (Suzuki) squeezed his GSX-R1000 in front of Young’s. Yates hit the anchors hard, leaving Young with only enough room to crash. Mladin finished the race in the runner-up spot and Yates ended up taking the bronze.

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