News - July 5 Laguna Seca
Round 7 – AMA Superbike Series Monterey, California, Laguna SecaAMA Superbike - Suzuki Sweep Podium at Laguna
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin picked up his 82nd AMA Superbike victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, on Sunday afternoon.
The six-time AMA Superbike Champion rode flawlessly and battled with his teammate Blake Young for much of the race, which was abbreviated due to earlier crashes that drew a red flag. Young followed Mladin home in a close second place after having led multiple laps of the race on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000. Joining Mladin and Young on the podium and creating a Suzuki Superbike podium sweep was Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, who finished in third place.
Unfortunately, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden suffered some bad luck at Laguna Seca. Prior to the red flag, Hayden jumped the initial start and received a stop-and-go penalty. As a result, once the race was underway, he had to pull into the pits while he was running in second place. He rejoined the fray in ninth place and finished up in eighth place.
Tommy Hayden
“Aside from the start – which was a cluster, I thought I saw the lights flash and I took off way too early… I’m not sure what happened, it all kind of happened fast – aside from that, I’m pretty happy with how the race went. I had some good speed and the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was working awesome today. I’m pretty disappointed to have let a good result slip away. But I guess I can take away the positive that we had a pretty good weekend and I was fast enough to run up front, it just didn’t work out.”
