Spies takes Superbike victory

From Infineon Raceway

SONOMA, CA -- Suzuki's Ben Spies put on a clinic on Saturday at Infineon Raceway, taking a dominating victory in the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown, presented by Supercuts.

Spies, the two-time defending AMA Superbike champion, coasted to the win in the 28-lap feature by 6.168 seconds over teammate Mat Mladin under 90-degree temperatures.

It was Spies' third consecutive win and also his third Superbike victory on Infineon Raceway's 12-turn, 2.2-mile road course. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) reached the podium with a third-place finish, his best-ever in Sonoma in Superbike.

With the win, Spies narrowed Mladin's lead in the standings to just 14 points after six races (210-196). The battle continues on Sunday as the two Rockstar Makita Suzuki riders compete in the second 28-lap feature of the weekend.

"The bike worked really good," said Spies, who notched his 21st career Superbike win, good for third all-time. "We wanted to get a pretty comfortable margin because this track is really physical, really hard. We're doing what we need to do for the championship. We'll go back and try to make it faster and ride harder."

Spies, who began the race on the pole after a blistering track-record qualifying time of 1 minute, 34.731 seconds, was beaten to turn 1 at the drop of the green flag by Yamaha's Eric Bostrom. But Bostrom's lead did not last long as Spies took the top spot for good on the first lap at turn 7.

Spies built nearly a 10-second lead by lap 11 and never looked back.

"There was no catching Ben. He was too fast today," said Mladin. "Congratulations to him and his team. We'll get out there tomorrow and give it another shot."

Bostrom and Aaron Yates (Suzuki) rounded out the top five.

Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) edged teammate Josh Hayes by just .067 seconds to take a thrilling win in the 17-lap feature for Formula Xtreme. It was Zemke's third win of the year and his second Formula Xtreme win in Sonoma, the other coming in 2005. Zemke maintained his lead in the Formula Xtreme points standings.

"Josh was riding great and really made me work for that one," Zemke said. "I thought we had the perfect setup, but it wasn't so perfect come race time. The guys have made improvements to my bike the whole time, and we put the Erion Honda bikes one-two again, so we're happy."

Steve Rapp placed third.

Action continues on Sunday at Infineon Raceway with main events in three classes: Superstock, Pro Honda Oils Supersport and Superbike. The Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup will also run their seven-lap feature.