The battle for the superbike...
The battle for the superbike race lead became a four-way affair, with Corona Extra Honda’s Neil Hodgson (100), Foremost Insurance Ducati’s Larry Pegram (behind Mladin), and Mladin’s teammate Tommy Hayden (22) mixing it up with the Australian for the win.
Mladin didn’t bolt from the pack, as many had expected, but took his place in a tight quartet that included Hayden, Corona Extra Honda’s Neil Hodgson, and Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing Ducati’s Larry Pegram. Mladin led laps one and two, dropped back to second, then to third for laps four through six.
“We knew from the three riders that were there that we were down overall on performance,” Doyle said. “But at Daytona if you can get with the group and stay in the draft you’re OK, so I wasn’t concerned about that. Our only concern was whether his back would do the whole race. I think he obviously had to take it a bit easy. He couldn’t be as aggressive as he normally is.”
Mladin was back in the lead on lap eight of 15 and the lead was elastic as the pack kept tight.
Despite the rules changes...
Despite the rules changes intended to level the playing field (i.e., give the competition a better chance against the dominant Yoshimura Suzuki team), the song has remained the same.
“Obviously he was able to hang,” Doyle said. “Even when he was in the back of the pack, the draft can bring you right there. Mat has two strong areas to the track, obviously the infield, and the exit of the chicane.” Tommy Hayden, who followed him much of the race, said of Mladin’s chicane exit, “I just can’t hang with him.” Doyle figures that alone is worth a couple tenths, which means they’re out of the draft. “The only concern would’ve been if he’d have come out of the chicane with only 10 or 15 bikelengths, because we weren’t quick enough to the start-finish. If someone’s close enough to you at the chicane, they’re going to draft you,” Doyle said. Mladin led out of the chicane and powered to victory by 1.028 secs. Hayden lost out on second to Hodgson in a photo finish. Pegram was fourth.
Mladin didn’t have much to say in the winner’s circle. “He was just smiling,” Doyle remembers. “I think the situation we were thrown a few weeks before and then hurting his back, hey, he was pretty happy with it all. Stick it into a few people.
“He still won by a second. With a couple of laps to go the gap was zero at the start line, so maybe he had a little bit there to be able to pull away in two laps. But you only have to win by that much.” Added Sakakura, “he soldiered through it and got the job done for us. But it was quite an impressive weekend. Unseen motorcycle, unproven motorcycle and back injury. It never surprises me what he can pull off, but it was a good weekend for us.”