This just in from four-time Superbike champion Mat Mladin:

Brainerd, Minnesota, USA (Saturday, June 26) - One of the closest and hardest fought races of the season saw defending American Superbike champion Mat Mladin battle for the race lead for the full 21-laps with arch rivals Miguel DuHamel and Jake Zemke, before a shower of rain hit the Brainerd International Raceway circuit on the final lap of the race.

Mladin crossed the line in third position, trailing Zemke and DuHamel by 1.763 seconds, with race officials showing both the red and chequered flags to the leaders. The red flag was shown after rain fell at the Turn 10 section of the circuit, with a number of riders falling at that corner as a result of the slippery conditions. Being the final lap of the race and the leaders being shown both flags, the win was given to Zemke, ahead of DuHamel and Mladin.

With eleven rounds of this years American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship now complete, Mladin leads with a total of 358 points, six clear of DuHamel (352), with Zemke closing in third with 348.

Starting from the front row of the grid after setting the second fastest time during qualifying, Mladin and his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 were quickly away, along with Zemke and DuHamel. Mladin led the field for laps three, four and five, before Zemke worked his way to the front. Mladin then regained the lead on laps 13 and 14, before being passed by DuHamel. DuHamel made a mistake on the wet final lap, allowing Zemke to squeeze by for his first AMA Superbike win, with Mladin trailing the pair home after a frantic final few laps through the traffic and then rain.

Mladin Column Update
Mat Mladin is currently driving his motorhome from Brainerd to Mid-Ohio, and says that he will file a column after he arrives on Tuesday.

"It was a good race for us, even though we did get third, we were right in there with them," said Mladin. "With two laps to go, I got into some traffic and got held up a bit and that allowed them to get away from me and I couldn't get back to them on the last lap to have any chance of making a move."

" There was light rain at the back of the circuit on the second last lap that turned a lot heavier on the final lap. The race should've actually been stopped when the rain did start and not wait an additional lap. What made it worse was that they then showed the red and the chequered flag at the same time. Jake stood on top of the podium so I assume that they gave him the win after that."

"We led some laps, but it's unfortunate that we are missing some speed. We were hoping to win here, but unfortunately it didn't happen. I couldn't break away from them at all because they were just drafting me down the front straight and that was that."

"I've still got the points lead as we head off to Laguna Seca for the next round and see what we can do. You're powering up hills out of tight turns there. So it won't be easy again, but we'll be trying our best as we always do and will be chasing the win there for sure."

The series now heads to Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, where the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship will feature in a double header alongside competitors in the World Superbike Championship on the weekend of July 10 & 11.