Spies and Zemke Split Superbike Wins Team Erion go 1-2 in Formula Xtreme
6/19/2006
Tooele, Utah (June 17-18, 2006) — Miller Motorsports Park held its first professional race over the weekend along with providing some of the best racing of the year. Ben Spies won the first-ever AMA Superbike race on Saturday while Jake Zemke won on Sunday. Josh Hayes and Aaron Gobert went 1-2 respectively in the Formula Xtreme class.
For the first time this year, it was a four man battle up front in the AMA Superbike class on Saturday between Spies, Zemke, Mat Mladin and Ben Bostrom. While battling with Mladin, Zemke came into a cork-screw corner with no place to go except off the track and fell back to fourth. One lap later, Zemke crashed but was able to get back up and finish the race in eighth. With Zemke out, it was down to a three man battle with Spies out front, Mladin in second and Bostrom in third. As the top three came up on traffic, Spies was able to get through quicker and pull away to his seventh win of the season. Mladin finished second while Bostrom held of for third, his first podium since 2004.
The Formula Xtreme race saw Hayes grab his first-ever victory ahead of teammate, Aaron Gobert. After a late race charge on Gober, Eric Bostrom held on for third place, his first loss in the past four races. Hayes' win proved he will be a force to be reckoned with as he moved within two points of the championship lead.
Sunday's Superbike race provided exciting racing and something that hasn't happened all year with Zemke taking the checkers ahead of Mladin and Spies respectively. "It's been a long year and a half watching these Suzuki's pull away from us and this weekend we put the Honda on top," Zemke said. Early in the race, Ben Bostrom pressured Spies for the lead until a violent highside left Bostrom limping back to the pits and ending his day. On lap nine of 21, the race was red flagged due to suspected oil on the track. After the restart, Spies led a lap before Mladin and Zemke moved by. On the 17th lap, Zemke made his move around Mladin and went on to win four seconds over Mladin. The win was Zemke's first in nearly two years.
Also participating in conjunction with the AMA Superbike series was the AMA Supermoto series. Supermoto race one had Jeff Ward out front and looking to extend his win streak until tragedy struck. Coming into a bermed corner, Wardy lost control and launched off the berm like it was a freestyle jump. Ward was lucky enough to get back up and into the race until a second crash left Ward on the side kicking until finally calling it a day. Meanwhile, Doug Henry took over from Ward's misfortune and ran away with the win ahead of his teammate, Mark Burkhart.
Wardy came back with a vengeance in race two as he jumped out to the lead and never looked back. Henry attempted to close the gap several times but couldn't match the pace Ward was setting up front. Burkhart put in another consistent ride in third.
Local boy, Cassidy Anderson kept his winning streak alive as he dominated the Supermoto Lites race to capture his fourth win in a row. THOR's, Brandon Currie finished second while David Pingree rounded out the top three.
Saturday Superbike:
- Ben Spies - Parts Unlimited
- Mat Mladin
- Ben Bostrom - Parts Unlimited
- Neil Hodgson - Parts Unlimited
- Tommy Hayden
Sunday Superbike:
- Jake Zemke - Parts Unlimited
- Mat Mladin
- Ben Spies - Parts Unlimited
- Miguel Duhamel
- Neil Hodgson - Parts Unlimited
Formula Xtreme Final
- Josh Hayes - Parts Unlimited
- Aaron Gobert - Parts Unlimited
- Eric Bostrom - Parts Unlimited
- Jason DiSalvo
- Danny Eslick
Supermoto Race One:
- Doug Henry - THOR
- Mark Burkhart - THOR
- Christopher Fillmore - Parts Unlimited
Supermoto Race Two:
- Jeff Ward - Parts Unlimited
- Doug Henry - THOR
- Mark Burkhart - THOR
Supermoto Lites:
- Cassidy Anderson - Parts Unlimited
- Brandon Currie - THOR
- David Pingree