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Written by:
Chris Martin
07/20/2008 - 06:42 PM
Monterey, CA
Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin (Photo: Suzuki Racing) ยป More Photos
It's a strange day indeed when Valentino Rossi and Mat Mladin can register back-to-back victories and both are viewed as upsets, but that's exactly what happened on Sunday at Laguna Seca.
While Rossi overcame rival Casey Stoner by doing anything humanly possible (and beyond) to keep the speedy Ducati ace behind him, Mladin only had to demonstrate that he had a clearly superior pace over the field, including his Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Ben Spies.
While both men had been very tight on the leaderboards in the limited track time this weekend leading up to the race, Spies was generally viewed to be the favorite as he had taken the previous three AMA Superbike races at Laguna Seca and Mladin has never hidden the fact that circuit doesn't rank among his best. But less than an hour after Spies had claimed a top-ten MotoGP result while running as the sixth-fastest rider
Spies grabbed the holeshot and led the bulk of the opening lap but Mladin ripped past just after the start/finish line straight and that was essentially the end of it. The Texan clung onto the six-time series champ for a short while but it quickly became evident that the Australian was in control on this day.
Mladin now has two consecutive wins after Spies built up an imposing title lead on the strength of seven straight wins.
Afterwards, Mladin noted that he was inspired after observing Rossi's classic performance just minutes earlier.
"Maybe, the best individual motorcycle race I've ever seen in my life, what he did out there today. He had no business winning that race today. It was pretty impressive. Pretty hard not to be inspired by that."
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