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Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies and Mat Mladin (Photo: Brian J Nelson) ยป More Photos
What was on Ben Spies’ mind after claiming his first victory of the season on Saturday at Auto Club Speedway, a mammoth 20 seconds clear of his Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin (with close to another 15 seconds beyond that on third place finisher Tommy Hayden)?
“We’ve got to make it faster for tomorrow and I don’t really know how we’re going to do it yet. But we need to.”
Not accustomed to leaving Mladin with such ease following a tense early scrap that nearly ended in sparks on the pavement, Spies wasn’t about to let himself believe that the Australian was able to offer his best effort on Saturday.
“I just rode as hard as I could and the bike with how greasy it was I thought was pretty good,” Spies said. “He could definitely turn it around tomorrow and be there the whole race. He might have had a little problem, I don’t really know yet…
“Racing is hard out there -- this is a pretty physical track and it’s hot and it’s windy. It was definitely hard racing. I don’t usually win by 16 or however many seconds it was without him having a problem so I’m sure he’s going to be a little bit quicker tomorrow.”
Mladin smiled at Spies’ minor bout of paranoia and claimed that he had pushed to his maximum. “For me that was it. I had serious pucker factor at the start of that race. He was going hard man, and I was pushing hard. That was it. If he goes quicker than that tomorrow, he’s going to be on his own off the start. I gave it everything I had. I won’t elaborate on the rest of it but the start of that race was very fast and very, very
Despite their rivalry over the past four seasons, there haven’t shared too many controversial on-track clashes. They’re both inch-perfect front-runners who rarely put a wheel wrong. Generally one man makes the start and the other chases behind for the next 100k.
Saturday was a bit different as they traded the top position a couple of times, including a very close pass that pushed Mladin off course momentarily that Spies’ marked up as more of a mistake on his part than anything.
He explained, “We just went for a real good run down the back straight and went for the pass and got in there so hot that if I would have tried to complete the pass and go off in there and make the corner I was definitely going to lose the front. I was doing everything I possibly could just to stop and it just so happened that he was right there. We got in there and unfortunately he ran off. I sat up for just a little bit so I didn’t just kind of…”
Mladin interrupted and quipped, “I waved.”
Spies continued, “I just didn’t want to completely go on about my day and be that dirty of a move. It’s just how it was.”
For his part, Mladin didn’t seem too bothered by the maneuver. “There was nothing wrong with the pass. He got in there a little bit hot and that was it. I made a mistake; I expected him to be up there. That’s the way it goes.”
Watch the Last Lap of the Race
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