It was a pretty good weekend for Suzuki at the 6th round of the 2011 AMA Pro Racing season at Mid-Ohio. Suzuki took more than half of the podiums up for grabs at the Ohio circuit, and four out of six race wins.
James Rispoli gave Suzuki two second place finishes in the AMA Supersport class, and Dane Westby and Danny Eslick notched victories for Suzuki in the Daytona Sportbike class. But the Suzuki's really stood out in the premier AMA Superbike races.
Which shouldn't be much of a surprise. When you have Blake Young, Tommy Hayden, and Roger Hayden on the Suzuki GSX-R1000, you're going to find a few podium finishes.
Blake Young took the victory in the first AMA Superbike race on Saturday.
It was a tough race," Young said. "Suzuki has been behind me my whole career. I just really want to thank them, Rockstar Makita Yoshimura, those guys have given me a great bike every weekend so that I've been able to go out and really shine. I just really want to thank them."On Sunday, it was Tommy Hayden's turn to take victory. Hayden was joined on the podium by his teammate Blake Young and brother Roger Hayden, making it an all Suzuki podium.
"We were struggling a bit on Friday," Hayden said. "But my Rockstar Makita Suzuki team kept working hard and making improvements and I was able to put up a good fight for the win on Saturday. I ended up on the podium for a good, solid result.
"We made a few changes today that helped us be a little stronger and I was able to make passes a little easier. I got a good start on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000, was able to pick some guys off early and get in a good position with the leaders. It was a battle all the way to end and it came down to the last lap with my team mate and, fortunately, I came out on top today."
