Pegram tops Mladin in Superbike thriller

From AMA Pro Racing

ELKHART LAKE, WI - On a nearly perfect day for racing at Road America on Sunday, Larry Pegram captured his first AMA Pro Racing National Guard American Superbike victory in 10 years on the final day of the Suzuki Superbike Doubleheader.

The American Superbike race featured an epic, four-bike battle royal at the front with Pegram on the No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R, Mat Mladin on the No. 7 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, Blake Young on the No. 79 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and Geoff May on the No. 54 National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000. The four bikes swapped positions throughout the first three-quarters of the race before the fight for the victory became a mano-a-mano duel between Pegram and Mladin.

As he also did at the standing start in Saturday's first race of the doubleheader, Pegram got an outstanding start from the second row and claimed the lead. Pegram led the first six laps of the 13-lap race before Mladin first took the lead as he went in search of his 10th victory of the season. The second half of the race featured a seesaw battle in which Pegram would power past Mladin heading into turn one at the end of the long front straightaway, and Mladin would return the favour under braking in turn five on each lap.

As a result, Mladin was scored as the leader from lap seven through lap 11. However, the lead changed hands an amazing four times on lap eight alone as the two combatants thrilled the Road America fans with their determination to wrestle the lead from one another at every opportunity.

The battle came to a head on the penultimate lap of the race. Pegram took the lead on the front straight heading into turn one, but Mladin reclaimed the position in turn three. Pegram finally sealed the deal on the run from turn three to turn five and managed to pull away for a 0.342-second victory.

It was Pegram's first win since April 19, 1999 at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA and was the third victory of his AMA Pro Racing career. The other win came in 600 SuperSport competition at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, CO on Sept. 6, 1998.

"It was definitely a great race," said Pegram. "I was expecting that I could run the pace, but I wasn't expecting to lead like that most of the time. I was real comfortable. When Mat would get in front of me, he wouldn't really get me anywhere. We were pretty even, but I'd catch him in The Carousel (turns nine and 10). When we'd go through there, he would gap me in the left-hander after The Carousel. It was weird. He was really getting through there good. It's been such a long time. I don't know if that was as good as the first one or not, but I don't want to wait 10 years for another one."

For Mladin, who won the opening race of the doubleheader on Saturday, it was just the second time in 11 races this season that he did not stand atop the box. However, it was his 10th podium of the season and he comfortably leads teammate Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) - who finished seventh Sunday - in the American Superbike championship standings by 110 points, 325-215, with nine races remaining on the season.

"Obviously, it was back-and-forth," Mladin said. "In the end, we couldn't get it done. We rode hard and that's all we could do today."

Riding the No. 23 Jordan Brand Suzuki GSX-R1000, Aaron Yates caught the lead pack late in the race as his teammate dropped back. Yates came out on top in the fight for the final podium spot with Young, taking third place away in turn 11 on the final lap. Young fell just after Yates took the spot away, but was not injured in the incident and finished the race in eighth place. It was Yates' first podium since finishing second in the second race of a doubleheader at Barber Motorsports Park last month.

"We had a pretty decent race there," Yates said. "The start didn't go quite like I was hoping. I left a little late, but I managed to just start to get by folks and just started putting in some good laps. We made some changes last night and this morning, so I was able to go out there and ride like I needed to to go fast. Thanks to the Jordan crew for that.

"I couldn't do much with ol' Blake. His little self on that Yoshimura bike was getting it pretty good down the straightaways. I was making a lot of ground through the (turns) five, six and seven area. I had a look under the inside of him coming out of The Carousel. I was on the inside for the next turn on one lap, and I knew he'd just get me on the straightaway. On the final lap, I looked again, but I was a little too late getting in there. I just kind of slipped up under him for that right (Turn 11) and I had to get in there and kind of park it. He wasn't expecting that, for sure, and I guess he had to get on the brake a little hard or something. It looked like he slid down, and I was able to just ride it hard to the end."

May made it two Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000s in the top four with a fourth-place performance, for his sixth top-five result of the season. Ben Bostrom finished fifth on the No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1. It was Bostrom's fifth top five in his past six races and was his sixth top-five run of the season overall.

The next round for American Superbike is scheduled for Sunday, July 5 as part of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Race Results
1. Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance · Pegram Racing Ducati) Ducati 1098R 13 Laps
2. Mat Mladin (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.342
3. Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +2.455
4. Geoff May (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +10.515
5. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha Motor Corp. USA) Yamaha YZF-R1 +12.885
6. Neil Hodgson (Corona Extra Honda) Honda CBR1000RR +18.700
7. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +18.701
8. Blake Young (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +28.775
9. Jake Holden (Holden Racing) Honda CBR1000RR +41.187
10. David Anthony (Aussie Dave Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +42.835
11. Shane Narbonne (Shane Narbonne · DASPerformance.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:06.207
12. Aaron Gobert (AGR Inc.) Honda CBR1000RR +1:06.245
13. Ryan Elleby (Team Hooters Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:12.180
14. Chris Ulrich (Roadracingworld.com · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:25.859
15. Shawn Higbee (Higbee-Racing.com) Buell 1125R +1:39.026
16. Eric Haugo (Liberty Waves Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:49.735
17. Trent Gibson (Aussie Dave Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:51.317
18. Ron Hix (Hix Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +2:02.819
19. Doug Polen (Four Feathers Racing) Yamaha YZF-R1 +2:12.022
20. Brian Boyd (Boyd Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 12 Laps
21. Marcin Biernacki (Biernacki Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +7.058
22. Michael Laverty (Celtic Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +23.898
23. Timothy Hunt (Team Hooters Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 11 Laps
24. Taylor Knapp (Taylor Knapp Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +17.993
25. Josh Hayes (Yamaha Motor Corp. USA) Yamaha YZF-R1 7 Laps
26. Dominic Jones (Moto Garage Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 5 Laps
27. Mark Crozier (Four Feathers Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1 Lap
Race Time: 29:12.488
Margin of Victory: 0.342
Best Race Lap: Mat Mladin (2:13.450)

Point Standings (Top 20)
1. Mat Mladin 325
2. Tommy Hayden 215
3. Ben Bostrom 187
4. Larry Pegram 180
5. Josh Hayes 164
6. Geoff May 161
7. Aaron Yates 152
8. Blake Young 143
9. David Anthony 120
10. Taylor Knapp 97
11. Jake Holden 87
12. Chris Ulrich 83
13. Aaron Gobert 80
14. Hawk Mazzotta 61
15. Scott Jensen 59
16. Neil Hodgson 57
17. Ryan Elleby 55
18. Michael Laverty 46
19. Mark Crozier 42
20. Eric Haugo 32