Early in the contest it looked like Mladin’s new found momentum may be stamped out before it really took hold, as the 34-old ace bogged heavily coming off the stripe. While Spies put his head down at the front, the defending series king found himself down in the region of 20th place heading into Turn 1 for the first time.

Mladin worked extremely hard to dig himself out of that hole, crossing the line down in tenth at the completion of the opening lap. He then dropped a bevy of Superbike stars over next two laps, blasting past his teammate Aaron Yates, Parts Unlimited Ducati runners Neil Hodgson and Ben Bostrom, and works Kawasaki entry Tommy Hayden to move into fourth by the start of lap 4 of 16.

Mladin picked off Saturday third-place finisher Jake Zemke aboard the CBR1000RR on the very next lap and set his sights on a heated battle for the lead being contested by Spies and a very racy DuHamel, still some five seconds away.

However, just when his ability to erase that advantage with a clear track in front of him was about to be put to the test a red flag was shown due to oil laid down on the back straight, bringing the race to a temporary stop.

While the restart appeared to be a major advantage for Mladin, he later claimed that he was actually a bit disappointed to see it fly as he was relishing the challenge.

He didn’t make things that much easier for himself the next time around though, falling from third on the grid to seventh in Turn 1 when the race got back underway. The Suzuki hero kicked off lap 6 almost three seconds out of first but ripped his way up the order with an incredible string of 2:11-lap times.

Consider that Mladin established a new track record during qualifying with a 2:11.970 lap, a mark topped during Saturday’s race by Spies at 2:11.934. Mladin was on a whole different level Sunday, laying down seven consecutive laps beneath the previous benchmarks, including an astonishing 11:208 circulation.

While Spies was running a terrific pace (consistent low ‘12s), he had nothing in response for Mladin after he slammed up the inside in the new chicane section on lap 11, the very same corner Mladin had dispatched of American Honda’s Jake Zemke two laps earlier.