Round 10: Hayes sweeps both races at VIR; Mladin wins his seventh AMA Superbike title

Ron Lieback
AllAboutBikes.com Content Editor/Staff Writer

All Mat Mladin needed was two points to clinch the title coming into race 2 at Virginia International Raceway. Although he only placed ninth, the No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 rider grabbed the points needed to secure his seventh AMA Superbike title.

Josh Hayes on the No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1 dominated in AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited, sweeping both races at the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals. Combined with dominating performance at Mid-Ohio, where he also swept both races, Hayes has now won five Superbike races in his first year R1.

Mladin, who announced his retirement after this season, had an unprecedented career in Superbike racing. Mladin grabbed his first six titles from 1999 through 2005, with only 2002 being interrupted by Nicky Hayden. From 2005 through 2008, Mladin chased his former teammate Ben Spies, but would not be successful until this year. Mladin has 82 wins, 78 of which came with the Suzuki, the other four on the Fast by Ferracci Ducati that he rode in 1997.

According to AMA Pro Racing:

Race 1

After winning his second Superpole of the season Friday in qualifying, Hayes took the lead at the start and never looked back. He led all 23 race laps and crossed the finish line a comfortable 10.062 seconds ahead of Mladin. Hayes’ teammate Ben Bostrom (No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) prevailed in a thrilling race-long duel with Aaron Yates (No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) to finish third.

“I think these types of wins are rare to come by, few and far between, except for what Mat’s done the last several years,” Hayes said.  “I was fortunate.  We worked really hard; we have a really good motorcycle.  It was the right bike to be on and we made the right tire choice.  We were able to put together good laps from the beginning and I feel real fortunate to be here.  I’m sure that these guys are going to up their game tomorrow.”

Hayes won his first race of the season in May at Infineon Raceway where he broke a season-opening streak of seven straight wins by Mladin.

“Josh has been fast all weekend,” said Mladin. “He did a great job today.  We got out to a bit of a gap so on the podium the boys have sort of quietly been trying to tell me to think about the championship in their passing comments.  Sometimes you have to just do what you have to do, but today it wouldn’t have mattered really what I did.  Even if I pushed as hard as I could, I don’t think I had anything for Josh. He was just too fast today.  We’ll try and get through tomorrow and New Jersey and that’s it.  VIR’s always a fantastic race.  I enjoy coming here and I enjoy the race track.  It’s nice to put on a good show in front of a good crowd.”

Bostrom rebounded from starting 12th after missing Friday’s Superpole to take the final podium spot. The third-place showing was his seventh podium of the year.

“Honestly, Aaron was doing a fantastic job and once we got up into third he actually got me back,” Bostrom said.  “Fun racing today. It’s not fun from the third row, it’s hard.  I saw Holden and Hayden, and a bunch of good riders there as well, so it was pretty cool to look forward and see Mat, Josh and everybody come back and see three rows of great riders there. I just have to step up tomorrow, obviously the boys here are out riding us and it’s time to get a little nastier off the starting line and get it up there and hold on.”

Yates swapped third place with Bostrom several times in the race and ended up finishing fourth after a great battle. The final position in the top five also came down to a thrilling conclusion with Hayden nipping his other teammate Blake Young (No. 79 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) at the line.

Race 1 Results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
3. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
5. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
6. Blake Young (Suzuki)
7. Jake Holden (Honda)
8. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
9. Michael Laverty (Suzuki)
10. Jeff Wood (Suzuki)

Race 2

Hayes led every lap from the Superpole in race 1, and repeated this performance in race 2. Hayes raced after his wife and fellow competitor Melissa Paris (No. 13 MarkBilt Yamaha YZF-R6) suffered a tibia/fibula fracture of her right leg in a multi-rider incident at the start of the Daytona SportBike race two hours before the American Superbike final. Paris was transported to Danville Regional Medical Center for treatment while Hayes prepared to race.

“That's never easy and no one likes seeing someone they love get hurt,” said Hayes, who met with his wife right after the incident at the VIR Medical Center. “Melissa's a racer and she's tough too. When I saw her in the medical center she hadn't shed a tear yet. She's tough, you know. When I got into this I knew part of being a motorcycle racer is sometimes you fall down, you break bones, things like that happen. Had she hit her head, something like that, it might have been a tougher story today. A broken leg is terrible, but it's part of this sport. As soon as we're done here I'm going to go check on my wife and see what we've got to do to make her comfortable. Had I not won today, it would have been really tough to show my face to her again after yesterday and I'm really glad I could do this, and do it for her.”

Mladin beat Hayes into Turn 1 at the race start, but the Yamaha rider retook the lead in the same turn one lap later and steadily pulled away from the field. Hayes crossed the finish line 6.830 seconds ahead of Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000), who was the only rider on the grid with a potential to keep teammate Mladin from clinching the title. Hayes' teammate Bostrom charged through the field from 12th on the starting grid to take the final podium spot for the second consecutive day.

Hayes now has five American Superbike wins this season, second only to 10 victories by Mladin, who sealed the championship with a steady run to ninth place on Sunday.

“It's nice to get it done and tie it up,” said Mladin. “That's about it really, we've done a lot of hard work at the start of the year and then, the last couple of months, been going through the motions. These guys will battle it out from now on and into the future. It's been a great career and I'm really looking forward to being able to go for a run every day because I want to, not because I have to.”

Mladin's No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 team also clinched the 2009 American Superbike Team Championship.

“These guys are fantastic,” Mladin said. “It's been a pretty amazing run. We've obviously won a lot of championships as a team over the last 10 years. It's been pretty amazing from the first one in 1999 all the way through to this year, with Ben (Spies) winning a few, three in the last few years. It's hard to believe that that many will ever be won in 10 years again by one manufacturer. It's been nice to be part of it and part of building it. It's been good fun.”

Hayden, the only rider still alive in the championship heading into race 2, had a great battle with Bostrom for second place. Bostrom's third-place showing was his eighth top-three finish of the year.

Larry Pegram (No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R), who is the year's only other race winner, finished fourth. Aaron Yates rounded out the top five.

Although Mladin has clinched the American Superbike championship with his current total of 427 points, the remainders of the top five are close heading into the season-ending race at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Labor Day weekend. Hayden is second with 348 points, Hayes has jumped to third with 344 markers, Bostrom is fourth with 315 points and Pegram is a close fifth with 313 points.

Race 2 Results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
3. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
4. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
5. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
6. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
7. Blake Young (Suzuki)
8. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
9. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
10. Jake Holden (Honda)