Mat Mladin (#1 Suzuki, third place)

Q Mat, you were involved in an ultra-competitive race, going back and forth with Miguel and Jake, and in the end, the weather started becoming a factor. Talk a little bit about the last couple laps, if you will.

A We were competitive from entering Turn 1 to just exiting the bus stop. On the rest of the track we weren't competitive. So we pushed hard through the first couple turns to make up a huge gap on every lap. That's the best we could do. I got stuck in that traffic with a couple to go, and fell back a second and a half, and that was it. Once I lost the little bit of wind that I was getting on the straight, I couldn't do it after that.

Q As you were racing out there, were you becoming aware of the weather situation?

A Yeah. Second to last lap it was already getting a bit, and then the last lap the track was wet. Poor officiating. Again. By the AMA.

Miguel Duhamel (#17 American Honda, second place)

Q Miguel, your thoughts on the race, particularly the last couple of corners, you and Jake going back and forth.

A Yeah. Turn two, I just carried a little too much speed. I went a little wide. A bit wider than I thought. Just sliding a bit. Then Jake jumped on the chance and passed. Then I was pretty much on him. Coming out of the tight right-hander, the bus stop I guess, it was raining. Pretty bad. He got in a slide, and I got a good drive on him. And you crossed the bridge and it was just pouring rain. I mean, pouring rain.

I got a bit in front of Jake, and then going into the corner I just rolled off, and he went for it, and I just braked a bit and stayed wide. And then this cornerworker, there was three on the track, two on the outside and one on the inside. The girl's running. And on that surface, that whatever you call it there for the dragsters-

MLADIN: Bubble gum.

DUHAMEL: Yeah. I was going one mile an hour and I almost highsided. I can't... I think that racing, which is what we do-it's not like traveling, going cross country, going to Six Flags or something. If it rains and it snows, you just keep going, and you pee in a cup, and you just keep going, you've got to get to Six Flags, you know? Well, for racing, I think, when we established that it's supposed to stop in the rain, it stops. That's all there is to it.

Yeah, it's a heartbreaker that we're maybe a couple of corners away, or a lap away, because the lap beforehand it was raining, drizzling here and there, but definitely getting worse. As you could tell by the result at the end. And it's a heartbreaker, I do understand. I understand that, but they've got to do what they've got to do. It's safety, right? And that's what it's all about. They should have called it. That's my opinion. If you saw what it was out there, there was nothing else to say. I know it's-I mean, they pushed it, and pushed it, and it rained like three laps before, and then two laps-

MLADIN: The 600 [Supersport] race is a perfect example. Those guys had their hands up for three laps.

DUHAMEL: I didn't see that.

MLADIN: Yeah. They wouldn't do anything about it. Finally everyone just sat up on the back straight before they put a red flag out, and said we've had enough. And they all pulled into the pits, and the red flag came out on the start/finish line. Three laps.

DUHAMEL: See, that's ... I just don't understand that, that logic. I didn't even see that part. I was inside. So, I mean, there's just safety. Like I said, Jake almost crashed, I almost crashed, it could've ruined our season right there, at one mile an hour. We could break something.

MLADIN: I could've won.

DUHAMEL: [Laughing.] Mat could've won.

MLADIN: Then I would've been happy. [Not smiling.]

DUHAMEL: But still, the point is, they're supposed to. But back to what happened and what looks like is official. Which I was really impressed that it only took them like ten seconds on the cool-off lap to make the call on how the race went, and everything, which is fine with me. It's a new record, by the way.

Jake rode a great race, and so did Mat. He was down on power, and we did take a few stickers off him going by the front straight. We just rode really hard, everybody. For me, sure, it was a heartbreaker to lose the race, but to lose it to Jake, I don't think there's a guy that's more deserving in the paddock, because he's been getting a lot of heartbreakers.

But a win is a win, and if this is the way it is official, I'm 100% fine with that. I'd have been a lot more bummed if it'd been Mat, because we're trying to catch him, of course. That's about it. Just, I don't understand. Hopefully, they'll draw the line. I don't know. They need to review this and do something, and just have somebody to do the call. I mean, not only was it raining and people crashing, there was people on the racetrack, and finally they threw a red flag, and usually-I don't know. I'm just really confused. But the race is what it is. I went wide in Turn two, and Jake got by me, and Jake made it across the start/finish line. Anyway. Just ... it's not that simple. Unfortunately. But [he's] deserving. Because our pace was pretty hot at the end there, and he was right there.

Jake Zemke (#98 Erion Honda, winner):

Q Jake, your first career Superbike win, here at the track where you also got your first Xtreme win and your first 600 win. Tell us a little bit about that, and then talk a little bit about your views on the weather.

A Sure. It was a hard race out there from the get-go. Even though I was on pole, I don't want to say it was a fluke getting on pole, because I put the lap in, but at the same time, that's just one lap, and we've been searching for bike setup. And with the tangle I had with Larry [Pegram] in qualifying, it really lost a whole lot of our setup time. On a short weekend.

So going into the race, I was riding an unknown bike. We just threw some stuff at it. Luckily, it was good enough to hang in there. The first couple of laps I was up there at the front. I didn't feel strong on the brakes at all. I felt like a little girl when I was braking going into Turn 3. Mat came by and Miguel came by, and I was like, man. They started, actually, to pull away from me just a hair. My bike had been sliding around the whole race, just about from the get-go, just with the setup that we had. But luckily I just kind of figured out how to ride the bike we had, and was able to pull back up onto the two of these guys. Miguel made a little mistake there coming out of two, and I was actually lining him up and that's where I was going to try and pass him anyways, and then when he did that it just opened the door wide open.

It's like, I was trying to peek in, and then all of a sudden someone kicked the door through. I said oh, okay! So, yeah. Then just came around to the finish there. The last two corners were awfully wet.

Besides that, the person, the cornerworker running across the racetrack, there's no excuse for that. They have cornerworkers on the outside of the corner for a reason. And there are people out there, I know, because me and Larry crashed on the outside there, and they picked us up from the outside, I believe. And I'm pretty sure there's guys on the outside and the inside. If not, there needs to be, because no one needs to be running across the racetrack while bikes are racing. There's no excuse for that whatsoever.

That was really scary. I mean, it's bad enough when we're racing and it starts raining like that, and you're doing all you can just to keep it on two wheels.

And then you see someone running across the racetrack who looks back at you. I'm not sure if it was a guy or a girl. I think it was a girl. And both of her eyeballs were bigger than her head. She just looked back at us like this [looking over his shoulder] while she was running. And it's like, what are you going to do in that situation? Other than that, I'm just happy to be sitting right here.

Q Does any of that take away from the fact that you got your first win here?

MLADIN: No. It shouldn't. He deserved his win and he got it. He was the first one across the finish line.

Q No, I don't mean that. I just mean the controversy.

A I'm not too worried about it. It is what it is, and I've lost races by [indicating half an inch with his thumb and forefinger] fractions of seconds. We can all sit here and wonder what would've happened if it wasn't wet in the last two corners. So it's just one of those things.

Q I just mean the fact that it just sort of overclouds it, even though everyone knows that you deserve it.

A I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried about it at all.

Q Jake, what is it about this place? You got your first 600 win, first Formula Xtreme win?

A I don't know. I think I might need to quit racing pro and just come here and race club races. [Laughing.] I'd have a perfect win streak, maybe. No, I really don't know. I really like the layout of the track. It gets rougher every year, and a lot of guys-I know a couple of years, when they re-did all the sealer across the whole track, everyone was complaining a lot. It's a track, and it's rough.

But I really like the layout in the infield, because it leaves you an opportunity to change your lines a bit. It's wide enough, in the way the corners fit together, that you can use a little bit different lines to try things out. That's one of the things I like about it the most.

Q Miguel, how did the last corner affect the outcome of the race?

DUHAMEL: Well. There shouldn't have been, I think, a last corner. I think it was just too dangerous. But the thing is, it's really hard to put in words, because you don't want to take away anything. We were all in the same really terrible conditions out there. But, I mean, you know, you've got people walking across, running across the track, and stuff like that, so that's really terrible. And unfortunately we're debating that.

I don't know what to say, to be honest.

I think we already said all that needs to be said about that. It ended the way it ended. By no means did that make a difference. Jake and I were neck and neck, as they say. Coming here, before I came into Brainerd, I knew that Jake was probably the number one threat, because I know he goes good here. So both of us were out there going really fast. The bike was working good.

Besides that, I don't have a time machine that can go backward and forward in the future and see what other scenarios would've played out. He's really deserving.