Spies finally beats Mladin

On the eve of this weekend’s AMA Superbike races in Fontana, reigning champion Ben Spies took note of being winless after three races this season.

“We’re usually not in this position,” said the 23-year-old Texan, referring to how his Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin had swept the first three events.

But Spies returned to his winning ways Saturday, fending off Mladin and gusty winds to win the first round of the AMA Suzuki Superbike Challenge at Auto Club Speedway. Their other teammate, Tommy Hayden, was third.

Spies will try to repeat today when the series races again on a 2.3-mile, 21-turn course within the two-mile oval speedway.

“It’s been a few months since I’ve won a race, so it feels good,” Spies said. “Once we got out to a decent lead it was easy to get into a good rhythm.”

Spies (pronounced “speez”) and Mladin again showed why they’re in a league by themselves within superbike racing.

Mladin is a six-time champion and the 36-year-old Australian won a record 12 of the series’ 19 races last year. But Spies won the other seven and captured his second consecutive title by one point over Mladin.

On Saturday, the pair quickly pulled away from the 21-bike field to settle the 28-lap race for themselves.

Spies took the early lead until the eighth lap when Mladin reeled him in and took the lead. “I was a little nervous at that point,” Spies said.

But five laps later, he pulled back alongside Mladin and, as Mladin’s bike wobbled, Spies moved in front and steadily pulled away to win by nearly 21 seconds.

Spies was “super fast today,” Mladin said. “He just rode too good. I couldn’t keep up.”

He and other riders also had to battle winds gusting up to 30 mph that buffeted their 370-pound bikes. “When the Santa Anas are blowing, you don’t know what you’re going to get” on the track, Mladin said.

Spies started on the pole after winning the first round of qualifying Friday and because the second round was canceled Saturday morning due to the winds.

The winds upended some of the air-filled barriers that ring portions of the track to protect riders in accidents. Delays from fixing the barriers didn’t leave enough time for the qualifying session.

In the AMA’s support series, Honda rider Jake Zemke of Paso Robles nipped teammate Josh Hayes in a photo finish to win the Formula Xtreme race.

The series’ superstock and supersport classes also have races scheduled today along with the second superbike event.

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james.pelt@latimes.com