This race's Super Seven was a bit odd, as some of the Mid-Ohio podium performers like Mat Mladin and Aaron Yates earned quality results but came out on the wrong end of their championship battles in the grand scope of the season.
Although 'Soup unabashedly favors the premier Superbike class over the support series in our rankings, we decided to go with two number one riders this week.
1. Ben Spies, Yoshimura Suzuki -- Going into the weekend, Mat Mladin needed a big weekend to tighten up the championship in his fight with Spies. If there were any thoughts Spies would crack under pressure in '06, they were all but eliminated last weekend after he dominated.
Spies did not have the weekend he needed at last year's Mid-Ohio round, but the Texan won pole and both Superbike races at Mid-Ohio this time. Ben increased his Superbike points lead to 45 with just five races to go in a superb performance. By the end of the weekend, even Mladin was admitting the championship would be Spies' unless something bizarre happens.
1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha -- Hacking once again won Supersport and Superstock races at Mid-Ohio, completing his third double win weekend in a row. Has any AMA rider racing strictly the support classes ever had a season this good?
Although though Jamie had never won before this weekend on the resurfaced Bellville, Ohio course, Hacking's win in a close Superstock race (closing from third to first and passing both Yates and Eric Bostrom) was as one of the finest a victories he's ever had. Hacking padded his points lead in that series and he now leads Aaron Yates by 27 with just three races to go. He won in Supersport as well, a runaway win after an early battle with Mike Barnes and Roger Hayden that padded his lead to 59 points.
3. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha -- Bostrom won the Formula Xtreme race to become the winningest rider in the disjointed history of the class. It was his fifth win this year in FX and pulled him to within four points of the lead behind teammate Jason DiSalvo and equal with Erion Honda's Josh Hayes. It looks like the Bostrom freight train will be tough to stop for the FX title.
Eric also led much of the Superstock race before finishing second -- and perhaps more importantly for Yamaha, holding of Suzuki's Aaron Yates in third spot.
4. Miguel DuHamel, Honda -- Miguel finished third in both Superbike races, giving Mladin fits at times in a fight for second place. This is a high water mark for Honda since they took the development of the CBR1000RR "in-house". Sure, Zemke won at a high-speed circuit like Utah, but Mid-O is a handling track.
Miguel said there was a setup breakthrough at the recent Mid-Ohio test. The next three events? A tight VIR track, Road Atlanta, with both a long straight and more technical sections, and, as the Pretenders sang, "Back to Ohio." It will be interesting to see how ol' 17 does at these races as he tries to build momentum for 2007.
5. Michael Barnes, M4 EMGO Suzuki -- The veteran Barnes led nine laps of the Supersport race and eventually finished third in the race. Barney jumped out to the lead quickly in both starts of the red-flagged event on his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600. He was also fifth in FX after a close battle with Aaron Gobert for fourth. It's good to see one of the "old guard" doing well.
6. Danny Eslick, MPTRacing.com -- The Oklahoman battled with the leaders in the Supersport race and drew a tad of criticism from some veteran Supersport riders after the race for wild riding. Personally, we hate to see crashes but like to see a young rider up there and going for it, especially when he thinks he has something to prove. There's also the old racing axiom: "If you're pissing people off, you must be doing something right."
Eslick, 20, is a former dirt-tracker who has stepped up his game this year and we think is worthy of the next level of support.
7. Mid Ohio Sports Car Course -- 'Soup has been critical of how the track has run their operation in the past. We felt they weren't very friendly to the AMA Superbike circus and that safety improvements to the course were long overdue. Giving credit where it is due, the track spent the dough to resurface the track and -- just as importantly -- brought a new attitude to this year's race as well.
While improved, the track still is far from perfect from a safety aspect. If they manage to fix some far-too-close walls, this track will be as good as any in the US.
Most people seemed to think the crowd was even larger than usual at this event and there is still the season finale to go.