TOOELE — It was the side-by-side battles at 130-plus miles per hour between Jake Zemke and Mat Mladin that made for a fun and exciting opening race at the Miller Motorsports Park.
It was Ben Spies, however, who won the race. The question now is whether or not he can do it again?
The second race in the Honda Summit of Speed superbike event will get the green flag today at 3 p.m.
Saturday's race, by all accounts, was the most exciting yet this season. Four riders — Zemke, Mladin, Spies and Ben Bostrom — started on the front row, based on their qualifying speeds, and coming out of the first of three turns rated at 130-mph-plus, the four held a substantial lead.
After five laps there was more than a two-second gap between the four and the field, which in superbike racing is too much to make up without a few spills to help out.
The race started with Mladin, from Longview, Texas, a six-time series champion, in the lead, followed by Spies, of Henderson, Nev., and Zemke from Paso Robles, Calif. On the third lap around the 3.06-mile track, Zemke passed Spies.
On the seventh lap, Zemke passed Mladin, then Mladin pulled inside on a tight turn and passed Zemke, then Zemke pulled inside and passed Mladin, all within a few seconds of racing.
The lead changed again on the 13th lap and again on the 14th. Then the unexpected happened. Zemke, riding a Honda, went wide and was passed by the three riders. Then Spies made his move with six laps to go, with Mladin, Bostrom and Zemke following.
Spies, riding a Suzuki, won his 7th superbike race of the season and said he knew this was going to be a close race right from the start.
Then, once Mladin and Zemke got in the lead, Spies said he simply sat back and let the two fight for position.
"I didn't want them to get more than a two-second lead on me. When it got to a second and a half, and they weren't slowing down and were not sliding about, I knew I needed to catch up. When they started going back and forth, that helped me out a lot," said Spies.
"When they went into a chicane and got into each other, I said I might as well go out front and see what happens. At that point I just tried to run as clean as I could."
Mladin, also riding a Suzuki, and Zemke, in fact, did tangle with four laps to go.
"I kept leaning and leaning," Mladin said of the bump. "I was in there and that's what happens sometimes."
The bump pushed Zemke into the infield where the soft dirt caught and flipped his bike end-over-end. His lead was enough that he was able to right the bike, spin out of the dirt and re-enter the race in 8th position, which is where he finished. Bostrom, from Las Vegas, riding a Ducati, finished third.
Before the race, the riders were wondering whether or not the tires would hold up for the full 21 laps if the riders pushed hard the entire race.
Spies and Mladin both said that the pace was faster than they expected. Both also noted that the tires held up despite the speeds.
Even though the track is new, the small particles that are left on the surface of a new track can cause more wear than riders like.
"I thought the pace was a little fast. I think if (Mladin and Zemke) hadn't been battling, it would have hurt my tires a whole lot more. Catching up was easier for me while they were trying to pass each other. They slowed down by a half-a-second on a couple of laps there at the end and I was able to jump out front," Spies said.
"We all were blind going into the race because we didn't know if the tires would hold up. Now we know. We'll make some changes to make the bikes run even better tomorrow."
Shane Turpin of Salt Lake City started in 16th place and finished 19th overall. He was 5.8 seconds behind the winner.
The four leaders were posting consistent times of 1.50 seconds around the 3.06-mile track. Average speeds were 99.3 miles per hour. On the one main straight, riders and bikes were posting speeds of more than 180 mph.
Larry Lawrence of the American Motorcycle Association said this race was more exciting because, "Most of the time it's been a race between Mladin and Spies. Having four riders in there battling it out made things a lot more interesting."
Spies, in fact, said even if he finished in second he would have been satisfied.
"I was a little concerned when we left here after our test runs (two weeks ago). This race, though, was awesome. It was the funnest race of the year . . . four guys up there battling and swapping places. It was also the toughest race of the year. I expect the same thing will happen tomorrow," he said.
The first race today will be the superstock class at 11:30 a.m. The supersport event will be at 1:45 p.m. with the final race in the superbike class at 3 p.m.
E-mail: grass@desnews.com