Sunday Sep 3 2006
Race 2- Road Atlanta

Braselton (Georgia) 3 September 2006: Parts Unlimited Ducati's Neil Hodgson fought one of the closest and most exciting battles of the 2006 season on Sunday, trying his best to earn a spot on the podium in the AMA Superbike race at Road Atlanta. Neil came up just 0.098 short of a rostrum finish as he and Aaron Yates raced for third position coming down the hill on the last lap at the Georgia track. Ben Bostrom was seventh on his Ducati 999 as he improved one spot on the final lap of the 25-lap race.

Hodgson earned third spot for much of the race and the last laps saw him hold off Yates for most of the lap. Coming down the hill into turn 12 for the final time, Yates earned a slight advantage over the 2003 World Superbike champion and held it to the flag. "It's tough to lose one like that, but what can you say?" said Hodgson. "As soon as Yates was level with me, I knew it was over because he had the inside line. I tried to square him coming out of the corner but I knew it wasn't going to happen. The last turn pass hurts even more because you don't have a chance to get him back. I had a small problem with four laps to go and it just cost us a little bit of time and that extra bit of drive. Nothing really big but we needed everything in our arsenal today if we were going to make the podium."


Ben Bostrom moved to seventh on the final lap of the race, passing rival Jake Zemke after the two once again battled for position in an AMA Superbike race.

"I'm pretty disappointed because we weren't racing for the podium, but I had a good battle out there," said Bostrom. "We lost some ground in the early going but I had a lot of corner speed through the Esses and the bike handled pretty well. Jake and I, it seems like we're magnets because we end up racing together in every one of these, lately. On the last lap, I had a move planned for the chicane but Jake ended up running wide and I ended up with the position."

The AMA season finale will be held at Mid-Ohio Sep 29-Oct 1.

Results: 1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 2. Ben Spies, Suzuki 3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 4.Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 5. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 6. Roger Hayden, Kawasaki 7. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 8. Jake Zemke, Honda 9. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 10. Jake Holden, Suzuki

Points standings (after 18 rounds): 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki 625 2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 605 3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 496 4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 451 5. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 440 6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 430 7. Jake Zemke, Honda 424 8. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki 374 9. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 364 10. Larry Pegram, Honda 331