Mladin's Californian rollercoaster

Aussie Mat Mladin (Suzuki) has held off a determined Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) to clinch victory in race two of the latest AMA Superbike Championship round at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.

Bostrom closed to within 0.608secs of Mladin on lap 18 as both riders fought through traffic, but was never closer as Mladin led all 22 laps and stretched the lead to 1.833secs at the finish. For Bostrom, his second-place finish was his highest in AMA Pro American Superbike this season.

"It was a tough one today," said Mladin, who holds the record for AMA Pro American Superbike wins at Infineon with nine. "I had nothing left out there today. I went as hard as I could and kept going and going and going. I got stuck behind a couple of lappers but I said (to myself) I didn't want to give Ben a sniff, but he got one and he got pretty close. I just put my head down and went hard the rest of the way."

Josh Hayes (Yamaha) was fourth, with the race one winner just unable to mount a challenge to the top three.

On Saturday, Hayes claimed his first superbike career win when he defeated Hayden (Suzuki), Larry Pegram, Aaron Yates (Suzuki) and Mladin, who struggled with set-up.

Hayes' win was the first for a non-Suzuki in the superbike title in 55 races, since Jake Zemke won on a Honda on June 18, 2006 at Miller Motorsports Park. It was also the first win for Yamaha at Infineon since 2001.

Mladin's fellow Australian David Anthony was in great form at Infineon, finishing eighth and seventh on his Suzuki, while Aaron Gobert (Honda) scored 12-14 finishes.

Mladin leads the title on 268pts, from Hayden (189), Hayes (160) and Bostrom (150).

For full results and standings, click here.

Round six wil be held at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin from June 5-7.