DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin made his way to Gatorade Victory Lane for the sixth time at Daytona International Speedway after winning his third AMA Superbike Opening Round at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, leading the entire 15-lap event.

“It was good fun,” Mladin said. “We got a really good start and put our head down and got out to about one second, or a bit over one second, when Ben (Spies) got there into second place. He had a little bit of a go there, so we dropped it a few more tenths and almost got down to qualifying time for a number of laps.”

The 2007 AMA Superbike Opening Round winner Ben Spies finished 3.368 seconds behind Mladin, taking second.

“The race was pretty good,” Spies said. “We didn’t get a great start and I’m pretty unhappy about that, but got pushed out a little bit. By the time we got to second, I kept my head down and kept plugging away and made one pretty good mistake of my own. Other than that, the race was good. I can’t complain.”

Rounding out the podium was Yamaha’s Jason Disalvo.

“I’m really fortunate Yamaha gave me this opportunity to come out here and ride this bike,” DiSalvo said. “The YZF-R1 was ripping today and like I said, it’s really great to see all of this hard work pay off — both the crew and myself.”

Mladin’s victory marked Suzuki’s fifth straight Superbike win in Daytona (including the 2004 Daytona 200 By Honda).

Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden and Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking finished fourth and fifth, respectively as Daytona 200 Week By Honda comes to a close.

Ticket information for October’s Fall Cycle Scene, including the 8 Hours At Daytona SunTrust MOTO-ST Series race, are available at www.racetickets.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.