There they sat on the freshly repaved starting grid of the 11-tune — including the three-story drop that is the world renowned Corkscrew —2.238-mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It was round 19 of the 19-round 2007 AMA Superbike Series and it was, as black and white as things can be, a one race, 28-lap race for the prize; The 2007 AMA Superbike Number One Plate. On pole — after carding a lap of 1.23.01 in qualifying — was Ben Spies on his #1 Yoshimura Suzuki. Immediately aside on the #66 GSX-R was teammate and championship points’ leader (by two points!) was Mat Mladin.
“This is one of those days that doesn’t really matter, it’s all about this race,” declared Mladin on the grid just before the engines were lit.
Added Spies, the reigning champion: “It’s go time. This is what I’ve been working for all year.”
When the four red lights went out to signal it was all systems go to start the race, Mladin grabbed a picture perfect holeshot while Spies, who lifted the front wheel of his Suzuki a bit too high, made contact with American Honda’s Jake Zemke, and started the opening lap in third. Zemke and Spies would change spots on one occasion, but then Spies was through and the race was on. Mladin, who had led over 66% of ALL the laps in the 2007 AMA Superbike Series, led the way with Spies nipping at his rear wheel. Wavering between 1.24.04 and 1.24.06 lap times, the two Suzuki riders put on a thrilling show as the laps clicked off toward a conclusion.
Then, on lap number nine of nine 28, Spies set the fastest lap, breaking into the 1.23.00 zone, nonetheless, Mladin set the tempo of the race and by lap 11 opened up a small gap of 1.027 seconds. The word on the street was that Mladin had chosen a harder compound front tire than Spies and once the thing started to heat up, the race, ever so slightly, began to come to the Australian. On lap 14 — the halfway mark — Spies began to visibly close the gap, the difference a mere .370. On lap number 16, about to dive into the Corkscrew, Spies made a daring move by using a lapped rider to split he and Mladin and stole the lead. Spies then opened up a large gap, Mladin desperate to reel him in. With 10 laps remaining Spies had opened up a two and a half second lead and appeared headed toward his second consecutive AMA Superbike Championship. Clicking off consecutive and consistent 1.23.00 lap times, Mladin could not answer to the American and with six lap remaining, further bolstered his lead to over four seconds.
And so it was… On the white flag lap, Ben Spies, looking over his shoulder a couple of times, had opened up a lead of well over five seconds and it was, for all intents and purposes, all over but the shouting. Less than a minute and a half later, he flashed across the Laguna Seca finish line, the winner and the defending AMA Superbike Champion. On the cool down lap, the two competitors exchanged words (positive words) and handshakes, closing the book on one of the more thrilling championship fights in AMA Superbike history.
“I just didn’t have it today,” lamented a gracious Mladin after pulling his helmet off. “Early on the race I thought we had it in control, but I couldn’t keep up. Congratulations to Ben.”
And then there was the beaming Spies.
“Once I got in the lead I just tried to be fast and consistent,” he explained. “It got tight up in the Corkscrew when I made that pass, but I did what I had to do and didn’t buckle under pressure.”
Colton Haaker takes a third place finish at a fast wide open second round in Oklahoma
In the first moto, Villopoto took the measure of teammate Brett Metcalfe
