Championship leaders Mat Mladin (No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Danny Eslick (No. 9 Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing/RMR Buell 1125R) will lead a full field of AMA Pro Road Racing teams and riders to Barber Motorsports Park this weekend for the 7th annual Honda Superbike Classic.  Over 130 AMA Pro motorcycles are entered for the event that takes place at the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park circuit, May 1 - 3.

The packed weekend of AMA Pro Road Racing is headlined by AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited and AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL, which will run dual feature races on Saturday and Sunday.  Also on the card are the up-and-coming riders of the AMA Pro SuperSport presented by Shoei division and a two-hour enduro for AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT. 

The Barber Motorsports Park weekend will be the second consecutive AMA Pro Road Racing event on a permanent road course in the Southeast after the series visited Road Atlanta for the AMA Pro Suzuki Superbike Showdown earlier this month.  The 2009 series opened with a pair of races on the superspeedway road courses at Daytona International Speedway (Daytona 200 Week by Honda, March 4 - 6) and Auto Club Speedway (Suzuki AMA Pro Superbike Challenge, March 20 - 22).  

 Undefeated American Superbike championship leader Mladin has 157 points and has not lost a race at Barber since 2006.  He has been the clear class of the field this year while his Yoshimura Suzuki teammates Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Blake Young (No. 79 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) have been among the few riders able to keep pace with their Australian teammate this season.  Hayden is second in points with 112 and has finished out of the top three only once in the year's first five races.  Young, in turn, scored his first podium finish of the year with a second-place finish in Race 2 at Road Atlanta where he also led his first laps of the season.  He is fourth in the championship standings with 89 points.

Geoff May (No. 54 National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) is third in the American Superbike Championship with 92 points after finishing third in three of the last four races, including both rounds at Road Atlanta.  His Jordan Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates (No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) has yet to crack the top three this season but had a best finish of fifth one race ago at Road Atlanta.  Yates won three straight Superstock races at Barber from 2006 through last year.

Yamaha's American Superbike contenders include Ben Bostrom (No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) and Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1).  Hayes is fifth in the championship standings with 77 points and is coming off of his best weekend of 2009 at Road Atlanta where he scored fifth- and fourth-place showings.  Bostrom is sixth in the standings with 71 points and has one top-five race finish so far this season.

In addition to the top Suzuki and Yamaha contenders, several strong Honda, Ducati and Buell teams are heading to Barber.

Neil Hodgson (No. 100 Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR) will make his first start since finishing second in the Daytona opener.  He later suffered a motocross training injury that kept him on the sidelines until this weekend. Hodgson was capably replaced by Jake Holden who will return to riding his own No. 59 Holden Racing Honda CBR1000RR at Barber while another Honda rider to watch is Aaron Gobert (No. 96 Team Trifoglio Racing Honda CBR1000RR).

Ducati's Larry Pegram (No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R) has season-best showings of fourth in the Daytona opener and third in Race 2 at Auto Club Speedway one event later.  Pegram will again lead the Ducati camp at Barber where he will be joined for the second-straight race by Daytona 200 sixth-place finisher and Daytona SportBike regular Barrett Long (No. 29 Longevity Racing Ducati 1098R) who will also run in the American Superbike class. 

Buell has been a top contender in Daytona SportBike this season, but a pair of the American-built bikes is also entered in the Barber American Superbike round.  Shawn Higbee (No. 11 Higbee-Racing.com Buell 1125R) and Walt Sipp (No. 221 Walt Sipp Racing Buell 1125R) will each mount up on Buells.

Another entry of note is Celtic Racing which will make its first start since finishing ninth in the Daytona opener with Michael Laverty (No. 8 Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000).  Two more Suzuki riders, David Anthony (No. 25 Aussie Dave Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Taylor Knapp (No. 44 Taylor Knapp Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000) complete the top 10 in the championship standings.

A total of 30 entries are set for the AMA Pro American Superbike class and the weekend's first round starts at 3 p.m. local time on Saturday.  Race 2 goes down at 4 p.m. on Sunday and closes the 2009 Honda Superbike Classic weekend.  Both American Superbike races will be 21 laps for 50 miles.