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AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series Round 13/14: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course mat mladin takel command of tne cnampion/nip By reaped a little rare praise on the Honda rider. A day later, the pair was at it again. This time it seemed that Mladin was stronger, the changes he'd made to his GSX-R1000 to make it better in the spots he felt Roberts had gained on him had obviously worked. The two battled initially, with Roberts even leading on two occasions, the first off the start, the second when Mladin allowed him to do so. But when Mladin decided to up the pace, Roberts couldn't match him - his RC51 already acting up with transmission problems. Those transmission problems would lead to Roberts' demise in the PAUL CARRUTHERS PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS LEXINGTON, OH, JQLY 26-27 here were two AMA Superbike races held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on the weekend. One was close, actually very close. One wasn't that close. The common denominator in each was a man named Mat Mladin. In Saturday's first of two AMA Superbike rounds at the famous race place in central Ohio, Mladin battled ferociously with an inspired Kurtis Roberts, the Yoshimura Suzuki and the Erion Honda going back and forth for the duration - never separated by more than a second. It was a race that went to the final lap, with the two exchanging the lead five times on that last go-around of the 2.4-mile track. It ended with Mladin winning his eighth race of the season and Roberts in the gravel trap, remounting to finish seventh, but never in a better position to win the first Superbike National of his career. Roberts had deserved better. He was the only man who could match Mladin on the day, and he wasn't content to finish second - and for that alone he should be commended. Although you'll likely never find the two breaking bread together, Roberts earned a bit of Mladin's respect with his effort, and the Australian even T 20 AUGUST 6, 2003' G U G • e n e vv s second race, though Mladin had 6.5 seconds in hand by the time the Honda called it a day. It was the end of the weekend for Roberts, a weekend in which he only came away with a seventh place to show for his efforts, for being the only man who could run on equal footing with Mladin. As imperfect as it worked out for Roberts, things went swimmingly well for Mladin, the Australian completing a perfect weekend with two victories the eighth and ninth of his season and the 22nd and 23rd of his AMA Superb ike career. Wins are nice, but it's championships that Mladin seeks the very most. When he looks back at the 2003 season, it may just be the MidOhio weekend that Mladin looks to as the one that won him a fourth AMA Superbike title. With Eric Bostrom forced out of the two races and possibly the rest of the season because of injury (see Briefly... ), Mladin's main competition was gone before the racing here even started. It left Mladin's teammate Aaron Yates as his main antagonist, but he - like everyone else - only managed to lose ground at Mid-Ohio, the Georgian finishing fifth and fourth in the two races. Based on past performances at Mid-Ohio, Yates was one of the pre-race favorites. But it was not to be. Instead, the next-best Suzuki man to Mladin was Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore. In what was easily Pridmore's finest weekend of professional racing, the Californian finished second in both Nationals. Sure he benefited in both from Roberts' ultimate demise, but he was the one in position to capitalize, and the result was two second-place finishes. Even if Roberts hadn't faltered, a pair of thirds would still have made Pridmore a star on this weekend. Although he was never really a factor, on paper Ben Bostrom's weekend wasn't so bad. The American Honda rider finished fourth on Saturday and third on Sunday, but he didn't leave all that pleased with himself. He knew he hadn't been on the pace, and he knew that Pridmore had beaten him soundly both times out. Third on day one went to Bostrom's teammate Miguel DuHamel. On Sunday, however, it all went wrong for the French Canadian when he crashed out of second place on the opening lap. If these doubleheaders were scored on an overall basis, Yates would have been fourth best with his fifth- and fourth-place outings. Fifth would have gone to Ducati Austin's Giovanni Bussei, the Italian learning on the job at Mid-Ohio and finishing sixth both times out. The privateers were next: Millennium Suzuki's Shawn Hibgee posting 8-7 finishes, Team Embry's Geoff May ending up with a 9-8 tally, and Mike Ciccotto carding a pair of 10ths. Somewhere in the mix was Corona Extra Suzuki's Jordan Szoke, the Canadian crashing on Saturday but coming back on Sunday to score a fifth-place finish - the best of his AMA Superbike career. So with four rounds remaining, Mladin leads the title chase by 33 points over Yates, 431-398. Ben Bostrom is third with 376, 26_points ahead of his injured brother Eric. Roberts is fifth with 349 points, 82 points behind Mladin.