AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series
Round 12: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
By
remaining, it appears as though the
title chase will be fought out amongst
those men.
At Laguna Seca, however, there
was no matching Mladin. Not only
was he the fastest of the AMA men all
weekend, he was the fastest Superbike racer - period! At least in qualifying it was a busy weekend for
Mladin, Yates, Bostrom and Ducati
Austin's Giovanni Bussei - the four
men pulling double duty, competing
in both the AMA Superbike and World
Superbike events.
The AMA Superbike Championship
is Mladin's priority. The World Superbike race was just a "pain in the ass.·
So with his focus on the task at hand,
Mladin did absolutely everything he
could. Practice - fast. Qualifying fast. Race - fast.
Although he didn't get the
holeshot, Mladin led by the second
turn, and that's where he stayed.
Ear!y on, he pulled away at a clip of
half a second per lap. Then he'd be
slowed by traffic, and the gap
wouldn't grow. Then the others would
be slowed, and it would go up again.
PAUL CARRUTHERS
PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS
MONTEREY, CA, JULY 12
rom the time a wheel was turned
in anger at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, there was simply no doubt
as to who was the fastest of the
Superbike men. For the want of a
better word, Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat
Mladin was dominant - from the time
his Suzuki GSX-R1000 was unloaded
from the team truck until the time it
was put back to rest. And this time,
there were no tire failures to slow his
pace, allowing him to race cleanly to
his seventh victory of the season.
The win also put Mladin back in
the driver's seat in what has turned
out to be a rather intense battle for
the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike title - though that driver's seat is
by no means in the reclined and comfortable position. Still, with a point for
pole position, 36 points for winning
the race and a point for leading the
most laps, Mladin came away with
the maximum points on the weekend,
and he leaves the Monterey Peninsula
as the championship leader - six
points better than Kawasaki's Eric
Bostrom and 11 better than Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates.
With three rounds and six races
F
14
JULY
23,2003'
cue
I
•
Mladin won his seventh race of the
year by more than eight seconds and
took back the points lead In the
process.
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