With MotoAmerica set to bring AMA Superbike racing back to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, August 16-18, we’re taking a closer look at past Superbike races at the iconic racetrack in Lexington, Ohio.
It took four starts, three red flags and two hours and 15 minutes to complete the first of two AMA Superbike races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2008.
The race featured a horrific crash on the seventh lap and the first red flag, then, on the next start, leader Mat Mladin and second-place man Jamie Hacking crashed simultaneously on the first lap when a fan dumped his cooler on a bridge and the water ran on to the track.
Both riders were okay and made the restart, but that only lasted four more laps before Matt Lynn crashed, causing Miguel Duhamel to crash in the debris. Lynn’s bike caught fire and brought out another red flag.
The final start went the distance with Mladin beating Ben Spies with Jamie Hacking third. Phew.
In Sunday’s race two, there was no leaked oil, no spilled water, no red flags… but there was still plenty of Mat Mladin.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mladin cleared off to easily win the 70th AMA Superbike win of his illustrious career in what was a rather dull race compared to the tumultuous goings on the day before when everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
Mladin topped his teammate and championship rival Ben Spies by 6.3 seconds after leading every single lap of the race. Third place again when to Monster Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking, some 20 seconds behind Mladin with American Honda’s Neil Hodgson finishing fourth.
The only on-track battle was the one for fifth between Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden and Duhamel with Hayden taking the spot by .9 over the French Canadian.
Mladin came into Mid-Ohio trailing Spies by 36 points, and he left Ohio after cutting that points deficit to 27. Spies, however, had to be fairly pleased considering he had his appendix removed just 12 days before the start of the race weekend.
