Hayes completes sweep; Mladin is champ

From AMA Pro Racing

ALTON, VA - Mat Mladin (No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) clinched a record-extending seventh AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike championship Sunday at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) where Yamaha rider Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) led every lap from the Superpole in both Saturday's race and the Sunday American Superbike final.

"All of these guys have been riding great this weekend," said Hayes, who also swept the Mid-Ohio weekend two races ago. "Today's race was considerably faster than yesterday. Everybody was just riding good and the R1 was definitely the bike to have this weekend.

"Congratulations to these guys. Congratulations to Mat, he's a deserving champion. He's won all of these races, he deserves it and I hate that he's going away because he's definitely someone that we learn from on the race track. Congratulations to him."

Hayes raced after his wife and fellow competitor Melissa Paris (No. 13 MarkBilt Yamaha YZF-R6) suffered a tibia/fibula fracture of her right leg in a multi-rider incident at the start of the Daytona SportBike race two hours before the American Superbike final. Paris was transported to Danville Regional Medical Center (DRMC) for treatment while Hayes prepared to race.

"That's never easy and no one likes seeing someone they love get hurt," said Hayes, who saw his wife right after the incident at the VIR Medical Center. "Melissa's a racer and she's tough too. When I saw her in the medical center she hadn't shed a tear yet. She's tough, you know.

"When I got into this I knew part of being a motorcycle racer is sometimes you fall down, you break bones, things like that happen. Had she hit her head, something like that, it might have been a tougher story today. A broken leg is terrible, but it's part of this sport. As soon as we're done here I'm going to go check on my wife and see what we've got to do to make her comfortable. Had I not won today, it would have been really tough to show my face to her again after yesterday and I'm really glad I could do this, and do it for her."

Mladin beat Hayes into Turn 1 at the race start, but the Yamaha rider retook the lead in the same turn one lap later and steadily pulled away from the field. Hayes crossed the finish line 6.830 seconds ahead of Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000). Hayes' teammate Ben Bostrom (No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) charged through the field from 12th on the starting grid to take the final podium spot for the second consecutive day.

Hayes now has five American Superbike wins this season, second only to 10 victories by Mladin, who sealed the championship with a steady run to ninth place on Sunday. Mladin's American Superbike title is his first since 2005 and his other championships came in 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000 and 1999.

"It's nice to get it done and tie it up," said Mladin, who recently announced he will retire at the end of this year. "That's about it really, we've done a lot of hard work at the start of the year and then, the last couple of months, been going through the motions. These guys will battle it out from now on and into the future. It's been a great career and I'm really looking forward to being able to go for a run every day because I want to, not because I have to."

Mladin's No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 team also clinched the 2009 American Superbike Team Championship.

"These guys are fantastic," Mladin said. "It's been a pretty amazing run. We've obviously won a lot of championships as a team over the last 10 years. It's been pretty amazing from the first one in 1999 all the way through to this year, with Ben (Spies) winning a few, three in the last few years. It's hard to believe that that many will ever be won in 10 years again by one manufacturer. It's been nice to be part of it and part of building it. It's been good fun."

Hayden, the only rider still alive in the championship heading into Sunday's race, had a great battle with Bostrom for second place.

"I knew someone was right there and then I could start hearing Ben when he closed up on me," said Hayden, who has finished in the top three in half of this year's 18 races. "He got by and I was following him for a few laps. I thought I could get back by him and maybe I could run a better pace the last five or six laps and it kinda worked out. I was able to get by, stepped it up a little bit and got through traffic good. Then I was pretty smooth after that."

Bostrom's third-place showing was his eighth top-three finish of the year.

"I didn't think I had much for Josh today, he was really, really unstoppable this weekend," Bostrom said. "Mat and Josh are pretty incredible here, and Tommy's had a lot of wins as well. I did enjoy the race actually, it was pretty hairball at the first turn. The Yamaha was great, it went through the guys and by the time I got back up to second I had either used up myself or my tire.

"I don't usually get to race Tommy, that was enjoyable. Josh set sail. Mat was chillin out, like 'I've got this thing worked out and I've won the war.' The worst thing about it is losing Mat Mladin, he's the greatest champion we've had in this sport and the benchmark for every one of us. It's the reason I'm riding this class, this year, I came to race him."

Larry Pegram (No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R), who is the year's only other race winner, finished fourth. Aaron Yates (No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) rounded out the top five.

Although Mladin has clinched the American Superbike championship with his current total of 427 points, the remainder of the top five are close heading into the season-ending race at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Labour Day weekend. Hayden is second with 348 points, Hayes has jumped to third with 344 markers, Bostrom is fourth with 315 points and Pegram is a close fifth with 313 points.

Race Results
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha Motor Corp. USA) Yamaha YZF-R1 23 Laps
2. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +6.829
3. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha Motor Corp. USA) Yamaha YZF-R1 +9.701
4. Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance · Pegram Racing Ducati) Ducati 1098R +14.572
5. Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +15.399
6. Taylor Knapp (Taylor Knapp Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +20.170
7. Blake Young (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +23.423
8. Neil Hodgson (Corona Extra Honda) Honda CBR1000RR +23.432
9. Mat Mladin (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +24.084
10. Jake Holden (Holden Racing) Honda CBR1000RR +26.546
11. Jeff Wood (Higgins Powersports ·Roadracingworld.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +48.438
12. Chris Ulrich (Roadracingworld.com · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +57.243
13. Scott Charlton (Aussie Dave Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:11.746
14. Mark Crozier (Four Feathers Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 22 Laps
15. Ricky Corey (RCR Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1.233
16. Shawn Higbee (Higbee-Racing.com) Buell 1125R +8.473
17. Shane Narbonne (Shane Narbonne · DASPerformance.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +18.612
18. Dean Mizdal (M Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +29.177
19. Skip Salenius (Run One Racing/Marietta Motorsports) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +32.851
20. Eric Haugo (Liberty Waves Racing 2) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:15.637
21. Tim Hunt (Team Hooters Aprilia) Suzuki GSX-R1000 13 Laps
22. Geoff May (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 7 Laps
23. Scott Jensen (Moto Garage Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 5 Laps
24. Michael Laverty (Celtic Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1 Lap
25. Robertino Pietri (Team Hooters Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 DNS
26. Dominic Jones (Moto Garage Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 DNS
Race Time: 32:59.447
Margin of Victory: 6.829
Best Race Lap: Josh Hayes (1:25.066)

Point Standings (Top 20)
1. Mat Mladin 427
2. Tommy Hayden 348
3. Josh Hayes 344
4. Ben Bostrom 315
5. Larry Pegram 313
6. Blake Young 264
7. Aaron Yates 248
8. Geoff May 212
9. Taylor Knapp 183
10. Jake Holden 170
11. Neil Hodgson 143
12. Chris Ulrich 139
13. David Anthony 120
14. Michael Laverty 98
15. Scott Jensen 97
16. Aaron Gobert 87
17. Hawk Mazzotta 69
18. Ryan Elleby 55
19. Shawn Higbee 54
20. Mark Crozier 53