Mladin reigns in superbike

Mat Mladin flexed his championship form Sunday to barely hold off teammate Ben Spies and win the second race of the AMA Suzuki Superbike Challenge at California Speedway.

The 35-year-old Australian nipped Spies in a photo finish after Spies, who had trailed Mladin for most of the race, charged back and came alongside the six-time series champion in a drag race to the checkered flag.

That gave Mladin a record sixth victory at the Fontana track and a draw for the weekend. Spies, the reigning title holder, won the first race Saturday for Team Yoshimura Suzuki.

“I gave it everything I had,” Mladin said. “There wasn’t anything left on the table. It was a great comeback for the win.”

Spies, a 22-year-old native of Longview, Texas, maintained a nine-point lead over his teammate in the standings, with eight events left in the season.

“I rode as hard as I could,” Spies said. “I just couldn’t quite get the pass done. And the pace was extremely fast.”

Eric Bostrom of Yamaha, who finished third Saturday, jumped into the lead after the start of Sunday’s 28-lap race, in which the riders reached speeds of 160 mph or higher. But he was passed on the second lap by Mladin and then Spies, who started on the pole.

Mladin then steadily pulled away and appeared poised for a comfortable win on the 2.3-mile, 21-turn course, which mostly winds through the infield of the speedway’s two-mile oval track.

But Spies slowly reeled him in and, for the final 10 laps, they were so close it seemed Mladin was towing Spies with a one-foot rope, with Spies briefly taking the lead once.

Bostrom again finished third, 20 seconds behind the leaders. Tommy Hayden, another Yoshimura Suzuki rider, was fourth.

Spies fared better in one of the AMA’s support races, winning the superstock race by 1.9 seconds over Jake Holden, who rides for the Suzuki team of basketball great Michael Jordan.

During the race, Jay Tanner of Orange crashed and was thrown from his Yamaha, his head hitting the ground. He was transported to a local hospital for evaluation but was awake and alert, track officials said.

The supersport race, meanwhile, was twice marred by multi-rider crashes on the opening lap. Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking ultimately won and Josh Hayes of Honda was second.

-- Jim Peltz

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Dan Wheldon, a close runner-up in his two previous races at Kansas Speedway, easily won the Kansas Lottery Indy 300.

Winning under caution, Wheldon was 10 seconds ahead of Dario Franchitti when Scott Sharp crashed with two laps to go, giving Wheldon his second victory in four races this year.

Wheldon led 177 of 200 laps on the 1.5-mile tri-oval.

Franchitti was second, followed by Helio Castroneves.

Milka Duno, whose debut made the race the first North American open-wheel series event with three women in the field, stayed out of trouble and finished 14th.

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Ashley Force won the first father-daughter race in NHRA history, edging 14-time series champion John Force in the first round of funny car eliminations in the Southern Nationals at Commerce, Ga.

Ashley, 24, finished in 4.779 seconds to easily edge John (5.783 seconds). She advanced to the semifinals, equaling the best funny car effort for a female driver in NHRA history, before losing to eventual runner-up Mike Ashley. The final was won by Robert Hight in 4.882 seconds at 314.61 mph over Ashley (5.167 at 229.66).

Brandon Bernstein won the top fuel event to move into first place in the standings. He had a 4.662-second run at 305.01 mph to beat Doug Herbert, who posted a 4.714 at 297.02.

Greg Anderson raced to his fourth pro stock win of the season in 6.671 seconds at 207.62 mph to take a 212-point lead in the standings.