Spies' joy of six

From amasuperbike.com

Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies put on a virtual repeat of Saturday's AMA Superbike performance at Miller Motorsports Park on Sunday, powering into the lead from pole and tearing open an immediate gap just a handful of corners into the 100k event.

Spies slowly eked out his advantage on his GSX-R1000 and was never seriously challenged en route to his 24th career AMA Superbike victory. The win was the Texan's sixth straight, again tying the all-time record he already shared a piece of along with Miguel Duhamel and Mat Mladin.

In fact, the entire podium was a repeat of Saturday's, right down to Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jamie Hacking running off line briefly, forcing him to work back past former World Superbike champion Neil Hodgson to claim the runner-up position ahead of his fellow countryman.

One key difference on Sunday, however, was the way Hacking and Hodgson elevated themselves into podium contention. Six-time champ Mladin didn't crash out of second on this day, instead he was tracked down and passed, first by Hodgson on lap 5 of 14 on the front straight, and then by Hacking a lap later in the same place.

Hacking made minor inroads on Spies' lead for a couple laps mid-race, but the GP aspirant stepped his pace back up and immediately added additional chunks to his lead.

Spies ultimately took the checkered flag with a 6.897-second margin of victory.

Mladin settled into a clear fourth, some 17 seconds behind race winner Spies, while Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates beat Hodgson's teammate, Duhamel, for fifth.

Geoff May, who claimed his first-career AMA win on Saturday, took his Superstock-spec Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 to seventh in Sunday's Superbike race, nearly tracking down Yates and Duhamel, while Yamaha USA teammates Jason DiSalvo and Eric Bostrom finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

Team ESP's Chris Peris completed the top 10.

Next week the AMA Superbike Championship travels to Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI.

Results (14 laps)
1. Ben Spies Suzuki GSX-R1000 39:10.983/96.17 mph
2. Jamie Hacking Kawasaki ZX-10R +6.898
3. Neil Hodgson Honda CBR1000RR +14.703
4. Mathew Mladin Suzuki GSX-R1000 +17.331
5. Aaron W. Yates Suzuki GSX-R1000 +26.424
6. Miguel Duhamel Honda CBR1000RR +27.137
7. Geoff May Suzuki GSX-R1000 +27.498
8. Jason DiSalvo Yamaha YZF-R1 +41.245
9. Eric Bostrom Yamaha YZF-R1 +49.150
10. Chris Peris Suzuki GSX-R1000 +55.182
11. Taylor Knapp Suzuki GSX-R1000 14 laps
12. David Anthony Suzuki GSX-R1000 14
13. Scott Jensen Suzuki GSX-R1000 14
14. Dean Mizdal Suzuki GSX-R1000 14
15. Reno Karimian Suzuki GSX-R1000 14
16. Eric Haugo Suzuki GSX-R1000 14
17. Ben Thompson Suzuki GSX-R1000 13
18. Johnny Rock Page Yamaha YZF-R1 12
19. Matt Lynn Honda CBR1000RR 11
20. Martin Szwarc Suzuki GSX-R1000 5
21. Santiago Villa Suzuki GSX-R1000 0-DNS

Point Standings
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 308
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 269
3. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 239
4. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 234
5. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 222
6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 205
7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 187
8. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 186
9. Matt Lynn (Honda) 158
10. Geoff May (Suzuki) 153
12. Chris Peris (Suzuki) 146
23. Jordan Szoke (Kawasaki) 40
27. Brett McCormick (Kawasaki) 33
29. Francis Martin (Suzuki) 23
37. Matt McBride (Suzuki) 13