Spies completes sweep

From Infineon Raceway

SONOMA, CA -- Suzuki's Ben Spies completed the sweep on Sunday at Infineon Raceway with a victory in the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown, presented by Supercuts.

The Texas native completed a perfect weekend in the Sonoma Valley, winning the pole, as well as both Superbike main events, including Sunday's 28-lap feature race. Moreover, Spies also led every lap of each race (56 laps).

The perfect weekend enabled Spies, who is second in the Superbike point standings, to narrow the deficit to teammate Mat Mladin to just nine points (242-233). Neil Hodgson (Honda) is third with 181 points.

"I was riding as hard as I could," said Spies. "I was just trying to be consistent and not make too many mistakes. I made a couple, but towards the end we caught a little break with the (lapped riders) and got to ease up a bit, but it was looking like it was going to be a pretty hard fight."

It was Spies' fourth career Superbike win at Infineon Raceway and the 22nd of his career, good for third place on the all-time list. The two-time defending AMA Superbike champion took the checkered flag 8.042 seconds ahead of Mladin. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki), Aaron Yates (Suzuki) and Hodgson rounded out the top five.

"The pace was a little quicker today for us. We got a few things sorted on the bike and felt a little more comfortable. In the end I just couldn't get on the back of Ben," Mladin said.

In other racing on Sunday, Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) posted his second career victory at Infineon Raceway, taking the checkered flag in Pro Honda Oils Supersport. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) was second and Danny Eslick (Suzuki) third.

Bostrom led 16 laps of the 17-lap feature, edging Zemke by 3.480 seconds for the win. Zemke was looking for his second victory of the weekend; he won on Saturday in Formula Xtreme.

"This is like my home crowd. I really want to thank Yamaha - the R6 is phenomenal," said Bostrom, who retained the Supersport points lead over teammate Josh Herrin (145-124), who placed sixth. "Those guys pushed me to the end and that was fantastic. That's the way I wanted to win it."

Jake Holden (Corona Honda) notched his first-ever win at Infineon Raceway in the Superstock feature. It was his second consecutive win of the year. He was followed by Jordan Suzuki teammates Yates and Geoff May. Despite taking second place, Yates maintained the points lead over Holden (138-126).

"I kept hearing the Jordan Suzukis behind me and I knew I couldn't make a mistake because they were right there," said Holden, who edged Yates by 0.237 seconds. "It was a great race. I just tried to hold the tight line and not let those guys get by me."

AMA Superbike Results
1. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28
2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28
3. Jamie Hacking, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 28
4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28
5. Neil Hodgson, Honda CBR1000RR, 28
6. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha YZF-R1, 28
7. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, 28
8. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28
9. Chris Peris, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27
10. Ryan Elleby, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27