Results from Race 2 of American Superbike from Topeka
Pegram Takes the Double, Moves into 3rd in the Series!
Team Foremost Ducati’s Larry Pegram made it a double by taking the win in race 2 of the AMA American Superbike Championship round at Heartland Park, Topeka today catapulting him to 3rd in the series standings.
Ducati North America probably can’t believe it’s luck. Supporting Team Foremost Ducati allowed for a relatively inexpensive pseudo return to factory Ducati racing in the AMA series but the expectations can’t have been too high. They obviously weren’t counting on Larry Pegram, who broke his decade long drought of Superbike wins by standing on top of the dais at Road America and then has followed that up with double victories this weekend to move into 3rd in the standings for the inaugural, AMA American Superbike Championship.
Yes the rules allow the Ducati to be in a higher specification than competing brands and yes Pegram used the speed of the Duke at Road America to good effect and series leader and 6 time champion Mat Mladin, who has announced his intention to retire at the end of the season, wasn’t even racing this weekend. The simple fact remains, the bike doesn’t ride itself and Pegram has been riding out of his skin this season almost certainly because he knew he was now on a bike that could win. And win he has!
“Does it look like I had a harder time of it today? I’m pretty beat and Tommy really gave me all we could handle out there,” said Pegram. “It was a really good race, exciting for the fans and us competitors too. Looking at the timing sheet, I didn’t have a lead over three tenths of a second after the race got past the first couple of laps. Tommy made a move with a few laps to go and I tried to go right back after him and we were able to get the lead back. The Ducati 1098R is a fantastic bike and really proved a lot this weekend. Winning both races here at a new facility is great for our team. Needless to say, I love this track!”
Pegram made his intentions clear on Friday by taking pole before comfortably winning the first race yesterday. Things were a little harder today as he crossed the line just 0.3 seconds ahead of Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden. The 2 victories move him from 5th to 3rd in the points standings (286), within striking distance of Tommy Hayden (307) but still an aeon away from Mladin (390) despite the latters withdrawal from the weekends racing on safety grounds.
The penultimate round of the series will be held in 2 weeks time at VIR, August 14-16th.
Race 2, AMA American Superbike – Heartland Park, Topeka
1. Larry Pegram (Duc 1098R), 20 laps
2. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), -0.333 second
3. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), -5.845 seconds
4. Jake Holden (Hon CBR1000RR), -13.005
5. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000), -18.988
6. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), -19.432
7. Michael Laverty (Suz GSX-R1000), -21.444
8. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), -48.944
9. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), -63.426
10. Scott Charlton (Suz GSX-R1000), -71.316
11. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), -79.647
12. Ron Hix (Suz GSX-R1000), -93.426
13. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), -98.202
14. Dominic Jones (Suz GSX-R1000), -102.432
15. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap
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