Round 11: Mat Mladin has his final race weekend, winning a seventh AMA Superbike title; Josh Hayes dominates at New Jersey Motorsports Park
Ron Lieback
AllAboutBikes.com Content Editor/Staff Writer
Mat Mladin said farewell to AMA American Superbike racing at New Jersey Motorsports Park Labor Day weekend, wrapping up his final races with a DNF-heartache in race one and a podium finish in race two.
Although he sustained a DNF at the commencement of his career, the Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki rider dominated in 2009, clenching his seventh AMA Superbike title at the penultimate round at Virginia International Raceway.
The Australian was the most successful racer in the 34-year history of AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited competition, with a record 82 victories. So far he has no other plans for racing. He said him, his wife Janine and their two children are looking forward to “getting home with our family.”
“We had a good race,” Mladin said, who raced with a No. 1 plate symbolic of his 2009 championship. “In the end, we just couldn’t keep up. I’m looking forward to hanging them up and moving on. When it's all said and done, I've had a fantastic career. At 37 years of age, I'm happy to walk away pretty much in one piece. There's a whole life ahead for me and my family.”
As Mladin is saying goodbye, Josh Hayes on the No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1 is saying hello to success after winning both races and finishing second in the championship. Hayes, who won his fourth consecutive race and seventh overall after this week at Thunderbolt Raceway, had some good words for his former rival.
“Mat was riding great,” Hayes said. “I'm really proud of how the end of the season has come around…congratulations to Mat on his career. I only hope that I can achieve half of what he has.”
Race 1
Saturday brought some intense action to the many spectators at the commencement of the season during race 1 at NJMP. Mladin, who had the pole, led the first seven laps until Hayes grabbed first during lap 8. The Australian then took back the lead on lap 12.
Hayes stayed close, putting much pressure on Mladin. When he regained the lead, Mladin tucked in the front, lowsiding the GSX-R1000 in turn 1. Mladin walked away, but had a DNF. Hayes remained unchallenged for the rest of the race, finishing 1.419 seconds ahead of Tommy Hayden on the No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000R.
Hayden fought hard for his second-place finish, though, battling with Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates until the 23-lap race’s end. Yates finished 1.613 seconds behind Hayes.
“The race went all right, Hayden said. “The guys shot out of there pretty fast, especially Mat. I was having a little bit of trouble getting going and got shuffled back to fifth or sixth. I was able to fight back there at the end. It seemed like I felt all right, those guys just stretched it out too much... It’s all right, second again. It’s not super-exciting for me but I feel like I rode pretty good. The Rockstar/Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was good and hopefully tomorrow we’ll have one more chance to make something happen.”
Hayden had 10 top-three finishes this year, and it was Yates’ fifth podium this season.
“I was definitely trying,” Yates said. “When Mat went down, I was a little surprised but it was nice, like ‘okay now we’re second and we’re going to have to dice it out here, looks like these guys are hanging on.’ Then Tommy got by me and we raced it to the end. I thought there were a couple of spots I could try to get under him but it was really tough, really hard. I couldn’t quite get in there. Our gearing is a little bit different on our bikes, I could tell. He was getting off a few turns a bit better than me.”
The No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1 ridden by Ben Bostrom took fourth, with him also moving up in the championship. Larry Pegram finished fifth on the No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R.
After race 1, Pegram and Johnny Rock Page were openly arguing before spectators on the way back to their trailers. Pegram called Page “unprofessional” and told him he “shouldn’t be in professional racing” due to some sort of “dirty” racing.
On Sunday, AMA Pro Racing officials indefinitely suspended Rock Page. According to an AMA Pro Racing press release, Rock Page had been suspended for violating rule A2.3 i. of the AMA Pro Road Racing Rule Book, which addresses “Engaging in any unfair practice, misbehavior or action detrimental to the sport of motorcycling in general, whether or not related to a specific competition.”
Due to the suspension, Page was not able to participate in race 2.
Race 2
Another great battle occurred between Hayes, Mladin and Tommy Hayden during race 2. Each rider switched the lead until Hayes made a draft pass on Mladin and remained the leader for the rest of the 23-lap race.
AMA Pro Racing officially reported that there were seven at-the-line lead changes between the three, with that number more than doubling when multiple lead swaps within a lap were taken into account.
“It was one of those deals where I just tried to keep myself close to the front,” Hayes said. “I rode as hard as I could the whole race. I had to keep putting together good laps to see if I could keep the pressure on. The Yamaha was great. It was a great bike to ride this weekend.”
During his final race, Mladin gave it all he had before he had some gearbox troubles later in the race.
“Today was a really good race,” Mladin said. “I felt pretty good for most of it. I really didn’t want to be in second place and I was trying to lead and was doing as much as I could from the front. We put it in as much as we could. About 10 laps to go, I couldn't get the thing in fifth gear. I had to go straight through to sixth and in the end we just couldn't keep up.”
Mladin finished 2.254 seconds behind Hayes, with Yates in tow for his second consecutive third-place finish. Mladin grabbed second on the last lap after some serious racing with Yates.
“It feels really good to be up here and finish the year out with a few decent finishes,” said Yates, who posted his sixth podium finish of the season. “Racing with Josh and Mat, it feels good to be up here and running with them. Mat definitely wasn't joking about it not getting into fifth gear back there. It was twice running up through the bridge there that we got pretty close. I thought I was going to run right over him or into him. I got by Mat on the front straight and he came by me on that last lap, came up beside me, got on the brakes and I thought he was done, then he just slipped off to the inside.”
Pegram took fourth to improve on Saturday’s fifth-place finish; this jumped Pegram to fourth in the Championship with 347 points. Neil Hodgson on the No. 100 Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR finished fifth, which was his best result since finishing second at Daytona; there are also rumors that Hodgson may not be racing in America anymore after this season.
With three laps to go, Hayden, who finished third in the championship with 373 points, passed Hayes before tucking in the front and lowsiding.
“I really wanted to win a race before the year was over and I wanted to try and get second in the championship, and I knew that one would take care of the other,” Hayden said. “I just made a little mistake, went in a corner a little too hot and lost the front. It’s a shame. On the one hand, I’m bummed and on the other hand, I left it all out there and that was one thing I wanted to make sure and do today. We learned a lot and we’re looking forward to next year.”
Bostrom also smashed up during the race, but the uninjured Yamaha rider still finished fifth in the championship with 333 points.
Race 1 Top 10 results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
3. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
4. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
5. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
6. Taylor Knapp (Buell)
7. Blake Young (Suzuki)
8. Cory West (Buell)
9. Damian Cudlin (Suzuki)
10. Geoff May (Suzuki)
Race 2 Top 10 Results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
3. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
4. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
5. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
6. Jake Holden (Honda)
7. Cory West (Buell)
8. Damian Cudlin (Suzuki)
9. Blake Young (Suzuki)
10. Geoff May (Suzuki)
Final AMA American Superbike Standings:
1. Mat Mladin 453
2. Josh Hayes 406
3. Tommy Hayden 373
4. Larry Pegram 347
5. Ben Bostrom 333
6. Blake Young 290
7. Aaron Yates 290
8. Geoff May 234
9. Taylor Knapp 207
10. Jake Holden 195
11. Neil Hodgson 167
12. Chris Ulrich 156
13. David Anthony 120
14. Scott Jensen 105
15. Michael Laverty 98
16. Aaron Gobert 87
17. Hawk Mazzotta 69
18. Shawn Higbee 61
19. Shane Narbonne 60
20. Mark Crozier 58
