The five-time champion raced his GSX-R1000 to a 31-point advantage over team mates Ben Spies – who finished third in today’s 28-lapper – and also Aaron Yates who lies third in the series.

“I’m glad to see everyone out for the AMA Superbike race,” said Mladin from the podium. “It’s good to have the MotoGP here in the U.S. It’s a shame it’s been 11 years since they’ve been her because America is a great racing community and it’s good to have them back.”

In the weekend’s only qualifying session on Saturday, Mladin captured his 44th career pole position as well as his seventh pole position of the year. His blistering 1:24.886 lap time was an AMA Superbike track record at Laguna Seca.

“This is the first time that we’ve had the new Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Laguna Seca,” said Mladin after qualifying. “And an hour and 20 minutes just isn’t enough time to get the most out of the motorcycle. But that also says a lot about the new Suzuki.”

Team mate Yates was also on the front row in third position, after posting a best time of 1:25.491. Spies, meanwhile, qualified in fifth position with a 1:25.879 lap time.

At the start of the 28-lap Superbike race, Mladin was out front and pushing for the lead. Even so, the leader got a slight gap and the confident Australian stayed put in second position.

“It was a good race and congratulations to race winner Eric Bostrom,” he said. “I wanted to get to the front and control it from the front. But my one attempt at that sucked pretty badly. Then I started thinking about the championship and backed off a little and Eric was able to pull away.”

Meanwhile, Spies and Yates were battling for third position. At the start, Spies had it, but then swapped out with Yates a few laps in. The two rode their Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000s hard and traded positions several more times before Yates settled into third and Spies into fourth.

“I was out there racing with my team mate and I really wanted to come out on top so I was pushing pretty hard,” said Yates from the box. “It was probably an exciting race for the fans and I hope they enjoyed it. I know I did. It kept me going. But at the end of the day, we got two Suzuki’s on the podium and that’s a good day.”

Added Spies: “It was an ok race, but I haven’t been comfortable with the front end all season. Overall, the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is awesome but we just haven’t found the right set-up for me. Hopefully, we can figure something out and pick up the pace.”

Five Suzuki GSX-R 1000s finished in the top 10: Behind Spies in fourth was Steve Rapp in eighth and Jason Pridmore in 10th.

Results: 1. Eric Bostrom (Ducati). 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki). 3. Aaron Yates (Suzuki). 4. Ben Spies (Suzuki). 5. Jake Zemke (Honda). 6. Miguel Duhamel (Honda). 7. Kurtis Roberts (Honda). 8. Steve Rapp (Suzuki). 9. Jacob Holden (Suzuki). 10. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki).

Championship Points: 1 Mladin 358, 2 Spies 327, 3 Yates 294, 4Bostrom 268, 5 Hodgson 249, 6 Duhamel 229, 7 Zemke 212, 8 Craggill 206, 9 Acree 192, 10 Rapp 188.