Chino, Calif. – March 9, 2009 – Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki's living legend Mat Mladin added to his legacy with another great win at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday. In spite of a wrenched back, and subsequent lack of practice, the venerable Aussie racer once again came through with his 73rd win on his GSX-R1000 Suzuki Superbike.

"It was an interesting race, that's for sure," Mladin commented after the race. "It's always nice to get any win, obviously, and with all the new stuff this year it was really nice to get one for the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team and keep that Suzuki win streak alive. Now I'm looking forward to the next race at Fontana"

Teammate Tommy Hayden put in a fine ride for a photo finish third place. Initially it was thought that Tommy scored second but upon examining the photo – the award was given to Hodgson. "I felt like I was riding pretty good and my Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was definitely working very well," Hayden explained. "With Mat being a little wounded today, I thought this was my day to get a win but I came up a little bit short. We'll do a few things before the next race at Fontana and come back strong."


New Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Blake Young had a fine showing with a well earned 5th place. "I have to admit it would have been nice to be up on the podium with Mat and Tommy today, but since this is my first Superbike race on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000, I'm OK with fifth place. I know we'll come back for Fontana with a better bike and hopefully a better result."



Results:
1 Mat Mladin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
2 Neil Hodgson (Honda)
3 Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
4 Larry Pegram (Ducati)
5 Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
6 Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
7 Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki)
8 Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
9 Michael Laverty (Suzuki)
10 Geoff May (National Guard Jordan Suzuki).

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