Mladin wins Superbike opener

By John Hopkins

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Mat Mladin led all the way to win the opening round of the AMA Superbike Championship at Daytona International Speedway Saturday.

The Australian six-time series champ finished 3.369 secs. ahead of Rockstar/Makita/American Suzuki GSX-R1000 teammate Ben Spies, the two-time defending class champion, in the 15-lap race around Daytona's 2.90-mile road course.

Jason Disalvo completed the podium on his factory Yamaha YZF-R1, his first career top three Superbike finish.

"I got a good start and I put my head down," explained Mladin, who started from pole. "I tried to get into the first corner reasonably deep to get the lead. I knew I could run some quick lap times if I got clear air. I just did what I had to do."

Spies didn't get a good start from his position alongside Mladin on the front row and had to work his way up from fourth on the opening lap.

"I didn't get off the line the way I would have liked and it took time getting my rhythm down," Spies said. "But I'm pretty happy with how I rode. It's happened so many times before, but usually when one of us gets out there, it's very hard to do anything with it."

Tommy Hayden came back from a miscue on the opening lap to finish fourth on the third of the Rockstar/Makita Suzukis, just ahead of the Monster Energy Kawasaki ZX-10R of Jamie Hacking. Aaron Yates completed the top six aboard the Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Montreal's Miguel Duhamel fought his way up to 12th at the finish on his American Honda/Shark/Joe Rocket Honda CBR1000RR. Duhamel was running ninth when he suffered a lowside in turn 6 and dropped all the way back to 17th before working his way back up.

Right behind Duhamel at the finish was Calgary rider Chris Peris on the Team ESP/Dunlop/Ohlins/GPR Suzuki GSX-R1000. Riding his back-up Superstock machine, Peris ran a solitary race before Duhamel caught him on the final lap.