Mladin takes hot streak to Infineon

From AMA Pro Racing

SONOMA, CA - The second of three 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing events in California will take place this weekend, May 15 - 17, at Infineon Raceway in the Napa Valley where the Kawasaki Superbike Showdown presented by Supercuts will feature five AMA Pro road races and more.

Headlining the weekend schedule will be dual feature races for AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike and AMA Pro Daytona SportBike on Saturday and Sunday. Also on the card are the up-and-coming West-division riders of the AMA Pro SuperSport division. The Kawasaki Superbike Showdown is round five of the 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing season.

Flag-to-flag coverage of the four featured Infineon races, as well as SuperSport highlights, will be showcased on the new AMA Pro Prime Time show on SPEED in consecutive episodes on Saturday, May 23 and 30 at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT). 

Respective American Superbike and Daytona SportBike Championship leaders Mat Mladin (No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX- R1000) and Jamie Hacking (No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) will lead a strong entry of top riders and teams in the premier classes to the 2.32-mile Infineon road course that is a favourite with fans and competitors alike.

Mladin last won at Infineon in 2007 when he swept both of that event's American Superbike races and it won't be a surprise if he does it again this weekend. The crushing Australian has been dominant and undefeated all season and comes to Infineon with 220 points and an unprecedented streak of seven wins in the first seven races of the season, in addition to winning every pole. Mladin leads American Superbike in every statistical category this season and is part of a powerhouse Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki team that also includes Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Blake Young (No. 79 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000).

Hayden is second in the standings with 143 points and gave Mladin one of his toughest challenges of the year at Auto Club in March in addition to battling for the lead in the majority of this year's races. 

Young even racing at Infineon could be the story of the weekend as the 21-year-old suffered severe injuries to his left pinkie and ring finger after an early accident in race two at the most recent event at Barber Motorsports Park two weeks ago. Young will train on a bicycle this week and will see how he feels on his Suzuki Friday in opening practice at Infineon in hopes of racing the entire weekend.

Geoff May (No. 54 National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) is third in the American Superbike Championship with 122 points and his best showings have been three third-place finishes in Race 1 at Auto Club and both rounds at Road Atlanta. His Jordan Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates (No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) had his best finish of the season in the Sunday final at Barber where he placed second. He is seventh in the championship standings with 98 points.

Yamaha's American Superbike riders Ben Bostrom (No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) and Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) have seen their best results in the last two events at Road Atlanta and Barber.

The only Ducati rider and a pair of competitive privateers round out the top 10 in the American Superbike championship standings. Ducati's Larry Pegram (No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R) finished sixth in both finals at Barber for his best showings since placing fourth in the Daytona opener and third in Race 1 at Auto Club. David Anthony (No. 25 Aussie Dave Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000) is ninth in the standings with 69 points and Taylor Knapp (No. 44 Taylor Knapp Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000) is 10th with 68 points.

Neil Hodgson (No. 100 Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR) was expected to make his first start at Barber since finishing second in the Daytona opener but elected to sit out one more race after a motocross training injury put him on the sidelines the last two months. If Hodgson isn't ready for Infineon, expect 2008 Infineon Superstock race winner Jake Holden to once again fill in. Holden will likely ride his own No. 59 Holden Racing Honda CBR1000RR if Hodgson returns while another rider to watch in the Honda camp is Aaron Gobert (No. 96 Team Trifoglio Racing Honda CBR1000RR).

While Mladin has taken firm control in American Superbike, two riders have scored three wins apiece so far in Daytona SportBike while Hacking has taken the points lead for the second time this year after the Barber weekend.

Hacking has finished out of the top five just once this season and even that was a competitive seventh-place showing in Race 1 at Road Atlanta. His best results are second from the pole in both finals at Auto Club, where he left leading the championship for the first time, and he also led the most race laps on Sunday at Barber on his way to his third runner-up showing of the year. He retook the championship lead with 146 points, three ahead of Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) and just five points clear of Colombian rider Martin Cardenas (No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600).

Eslick and Cardenas have each won three races and no other rider has stood on the top podium spot in victory lane this year since Bostrom won the season-opening Daytona 200 from the pole in a one-off Daytona SportBike start. Eslick swept both finals one race later at Auto Club while Cardenas went two-for-two one event ago at Barber.

Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) was on pace with Hacking's consistency until a 30th place showing Sunday at Barber, but he finished no lower than sixth this season prior to that race. He finished second to Bostrom at Daytona, scored another runner-up showing in race two at Road Atlanta and heads to Infineon fifth in the championship with 114 points. Herrin's 16-year-old teammate Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) has been competitive in both qualifying and races this season and scored his best finish of the year in the Saturday final at Barber where he crossed the line in fifth place.

Eslick's teammate Michael Barnes (No. 34 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) in turn posted his season-best finish of fifth Sunday at Barber and rounds out the top 10 in the championship standings with 64 points, one spot ahead of Aquino who has 61 points. Cardenas teams with the equally quick Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) who finished third in the Daytona 200 and race one at Auto Club before posting a season-best second-place finish from the pole behind Cardenas in the Saturday final at Barber. DiSalvo is fourth in the championship with 117 points.

Chaz Davies (No. 57 Factory Aprilia /Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV) is sixth in the standings with 90 points, and like Barnes and Aquino, saw his best result of the year at Barber with a strong fourth place in the Sunday final.

Jake Zemke (No. 1x Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) and his Canadian teammate Chris Peris (No. 10 Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) saw their best results this season at Road Atlanta. Zemke led the most race laps and finished fourth on Saturday and Peris finished third in the Sunday final. Zemke is seventh in the championship with 74 points and Peris ranks ninth with 64 points.

An early-season championship battle is forming up in the West division of AMA Pro SuperSport. SuperSport is divided into East and West Championships and Infineon will be round three and the first race since March for the riders battling it out in the West.

Tyler Odom (No. 46 Erion Racing/Pro Honda Oils & Chemicals Honda CBR600RR) won Daytona's season-opening dual East/West championship race and finished fourth in round two at Auto Club to stay on top of the standings. He heads to Infineon with 48 points, 13 ahead of nearest challenger Clint Shobert (No. 26 American Honda/Pro Honda Oils & Chemicals Honda CBR600RR) and the West title battle could easily play out as a race between the two young Honda riders this season. Shobert - son of Hall of Famer Bubba Shobert - edged Odom for third at Auto Club and the duo is expected to once again be among the race-winning contenders at Infineon.

Chris Clark (No. 48 Bazzaz/Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6) and Garrett Willis (No. 80 Mach 1 Motorsports/Arai Yamaha YZF-R6) also firmly factor in the early-season SuperSport West title battle. Clark is third in the championship with a pair of sixth-place finishes in the opening rounds while Willis finished second in his first race of the year at Auto Club and is fourth in the championship with 25 points.