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Mladin Storms to Win at 98 Rock Superbike Challenge

AGATE AT BOTTOM OF FILE. PHOTO TO COME IN ANOTHER TRANSMISSION

 

 

John Cardinale

707-933-3907

 

Suzuki's Mladin Captures

98 Rock Superbike Challenge Victory

 

SONOMA, Calif. (IMMEDIATE RELEASE) - Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin
continued his winning ways on Saturday at Infineon Raceway by capturing
the 98 Rock Superbike Challenge.

 

It was Mladin's fourth consecutive victory to begin the 2004 Chevrolet
Superbike Championship season. Mladin posted earlier victories at
Daytona Beach (Fla.) and Fontana (Calif.). Mladin will hope to make it a
sweep of the doubleheader on Sunday in the Supercuts Superbike Challenge
(2 p.m.) at the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown weekend. The weekend is
presented by Cycle Gear.

 

"Overall, it was a solid race and everything went pretty well," Mladin
said. "To be honest, I wasn't sure what we would have with the tires,
but I got off the bike at the end and the tires looked brand new so that
was good."

 

Honda's Miguel Duhamel took second place, with teammate Jake Zemke
third. It was Mladin's fourth career Superbike victory at Infineon
Raceway, tying him for the track record with Duhamel. It was also
Mladin's 28th career AMA Superbike victory, an ongoing record.

 

Mladin began the 28-lap feature on the pole, but was passed quickly by
Suzuki's Aaron Yates entering Turn 1 on the opening lap. Yates, the 1996
Superbike winner at Infineon Raceway, lost the lead to Zemke, who
appeared strong in the early going on his Honda.

 

Mladin made his first move for the lead exiting Turn 6 on lap 6, but
Zemke stormed right back, claiming the top spot entering Turn 7. Mladin
forged ahead for good on the back half of the circuit, passing Zemke for
the lead at Turn 9. The native of Australia built a 4.573-second lead by
lap 17 and never looked back.

 

"For a couple of laps I was able to hang with Mat but I could feel (the
tires) going away in the corners and the apexes," Zemke said. "From
there on I knew it would be a battle just to stay on the podium."

 

Earlier in the day, Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki) grabbed the pole for
Sunday's Pro Honda Oils Supersport feature, while Jamie Hacking (Yamaha)
took the pole for Sunday's Repsol Superstock Series feature. 

 

 There will be feature events on Sunday in the following classes:
Chevrolet Superbike, Pro Honda Oils Supersport, Repsol Superstock and
Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme. Gates open at 7 a.m. (for more
information visit www.infineonraceway.com
<http://www.infineonraceway.com/> ).

 

 

 

98 Rock Superbike Challenge

 

SONOMA, Calif. (May 1, 2004) - Following are official results from
Saturday's 98 Rock Sueprbike Challenge, part of the Kawasaki AMA
Superbike Showdown weekend at Infineon Raceway, May 1-2. The race
spanned 28 laps:

 

1. Mat Mladin
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.

2. Miguel Duhamel
 , Honda CBR1000RR, 28. 

3. Jake Zemke
 , Honda CBR1000RR, 28.

4. Ben Bostrom
 , Honda CBR1000RR, 28.

5. Eric Bostrom
 , Ducati 999R, 28.

6. Josh Hayes
 , Kawasaki ZX-10R, 28.

7. Dave Stanton
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.

8. Larry Pegram
 , Yamaha YZF-R1, 28.

9. Geoff May
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.

10. Aaron Yates
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.

11. Ken Hill
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.

12. Clint McBain
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.

13. Lee Acree
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.

14. Opie Caylor
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

15. John Haner
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

16. Robert Christman
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

17. Mark Foster
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

18. Brien Whitlock
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

19. Cory Denton West
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

20. James Randolph
 , Yamaha YZF-R1, 27.

21. Jack Pfeifer
 , Honda CBR1000RR, 27.

22. Garry Combs
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

23. Rob Mesa
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

24. Jeff Williams
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

25. David Bell
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

26. Andrew Nelson
 , Honda CBR1000RR, 27.

27. Dean Mizdal
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

28. J J Roetlin
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

29. John Wilson
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

30. Jeremiah Johnson
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

31. Steve Crevier
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.

32. James King
 , Yamaha YZF-R1, 27.

33. Kim Nakashima
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 26.

34. Chris Siglin
 , Yamaha YZF-R1, 26.

35. Craig Connell
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 20.

36. Scott Jensen
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 18.

37. Shawn Higbee
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 17.

38. Thomas Montano
 , Ducati 999R, 17.

39. Jason Curtis
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 9.

40. Kenyon Kluge
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 9.

41. Kevin Hanson
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 8.

42. Eric Wood
 , Suzuki GSX-R1000, 6.

43. Jeremy Toye
 , Yamaha YZF-R1, 4.

44. Mike Krynock
 , Ducati 999R, DNS.

 

RACE TIME:  46:19.27 min. 

WINNER'S AVG. SPEED: 91.397 mph. 

WINNER'S AVG. LAP TIME: 1:39.26.

LAP LEADERS:          Mladin 23 (6-28)

                                    Zemke 4 (2-5)

                                    Yates 1 (1)

 

 

 

 

---------------------------

John Cardinale

VP of Media/Community Relations

Infineon Raceway

Highways 37 &121, Sonoma, CA 95476

wk: 707-933-3907

cell: 707-334-9805