AMA action resumes at Mid-Ohio

From Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

DUBLIN, OH – Completing two back-to-back weekends of motorcycle madness, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will welcome the AMA Superbike Championship Series to its Lexington, OH facility this weekend during the Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire.

An anchor to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course schedule for 26 years and featuring two Wiseco Superbike 100 races, the event will pit the dynamic Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki duo of Ben Spies and Mat Mladin against the rest of the paddock, as the two have won all 12 races thus far in the 19-round season.

While the AMA Superbike Championship Series season opened with Mladin going three-for-three, Spies followed up with a record-breaking seven consecutive victories.

The 24-year-old Texan, however, is recovering from an emergency appendectomy after feeling feverish and nauseous at Laguna Seca earlier in the month. Spies is slated to race at Mid-Ohio, owing in part to his determination to become the series’ champion for the third straight year.

Spies, no stranger to competing with injuries, will look for his eighth win of the season at Mid-Ohio, and his first at the racetrack since 2006.

Spies’ hunt for an eighth win will be hotly contested by teammate Mladin, who swept the doubleheader last year at Mid-Ohio. Mladin is coming off another whirlwind weekend at Laguna Seca where he upped Spies, cutting the championship margin to 36 points. Mladin also owns the title of spoiler, as he broke Spies’ seven-race win streak in early June. The Aussie will look for his ninth career win on the 2.4-mile, 15-turn Mid-Ohio circuit.

The American Honda stable is looking for its first win of the season on its home track, and Brit Neil Hodgson looks the most poised to do so. Hodgson, who has finished in the top-five for nine of 12 races this season, is currently only two points behind Monster Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking in fourth place. In each of the two 26-lap showdowns this weekend, Hodgson will be gunning for the top podium spot along with teammate and Honda veteran Miguel Duhamel.

Also on the hunt for that elusive win this weekend is Eric Bostrom whose victory in 2005 on a Ducati makes him the last non-Suzuki to win a Superbike race at Mid-Ohio. Since then it’s been straight Suzuki domination, a feat which Bostrom would love to quash on his Yamaha YZF-R1.

Bostrom and teammate Jason DiSalvo are no strangers to victory at Mid-Ohio either, both having captured first place in their respective Formula Xtreme and Superstock races two years ago.

In addition to the two Wiseco Superbike 100 races, Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire will offer plenty of other on- and off-track action. AMA Supersport, Superstock, Formula Xtreme and the new AMA Red Bull U.S. Rookies Cup will compete, while off-track more than 120 motorcycle dealerships from six states will converge on Mid-Ohio for the 18th Annual Mid-Ohio Dealer Ride on Sunday.