Bv HENNY RAY ABRAMs
PHoTos BY 8IuAN J. NELSON
AND
Mat Mlaclin (l)set things right on
Sunday and _ s back to his winning
~s. Here, he leads Jake Zemke
(98) - who had his best ",suit of the
year, a third.
24
TOM RillS
Hodgson had a plan not to look at his pit
board. Then he changed his mind. The first
time it said plus four. then it went to plus IB
after fIVe laps. "so then I slowed down," he
said. "Then Ilooked again. and it said plus 27
or something and I thought. 'Oh no. I better
really slow down...•
By then. early leader Ben Spies had
already pitted for a rear tire.
"I thought I was doing something really
stupid and everybody was going down really steady," Hodgson said. "Thankfully. by
then I was starting waving. saying put the
red flag out because someone's going to get
killed there because it's lethal."
Mladin. like everyone. sometimes needs
a little luck. and Saturday he got it. The fIVetime champion had to pit for a rear tire on
the ninth lap and was on his out lap when
the red flags flew. He was credited with second.
"We're happy with second place and the
second-place points," he said.
Attack Kawasaki's Josh Hayes was another 10 seconds back in third. his best-ever
Superbike finish.
"I don't know if Iso much got on the box
or if the box came to me today." Hayes said.
"I just tried to stay upright. I knew from riding here two years ago in the wet this place
was pretty treacherous. and I just wanted to
get through it alive."
Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies was one of
the riders who fell at the end of the race.
twice. The first fall was on the eighth lap.
which he recovered from, the more finite
one on the ninth. By then. he'd led the race
for the first six laps before pitting for a rear
tire on the seventh lap. Still. he was credited with fourth. his position at the end of lap
eight.
Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki's Marty
Craggill came fifth, his and the team's best
ever AMA Superbike finish. Craggill admitted he'd survived the race of attrition.
The Hondas didn·t. Miguel Duhamel
crashed on the first lap. taking out Ducati
Austin's Eric Bostrom. Both remounted. but
Bostrom's Ducati F05 was too damaged to
continue. Duhamel soldiered on to seventh.
one spot behind teammate Jake Zemke.
Zemke slid off and tumbled into the
gravel trap starting the ninth lap. The crash
made for a long night for Zemke's crew.
Spies. Zemke and Bostrom all had better
days on Sunday. but Hodgson didn·t. Mladin.
typically. was good both days. though better
