Originally run under the AMA Superbike Championship name, the inaugural Superbike race was held at Mid-Ohio in 1983 and won by Steve Wise. This weekend's Permco MotoAmerica Superbikes at Mid-Ohio (Aug. 16-18) marks the 33rd running of the event featuring the 48th and 49th all-time Superbike races at the legendary track. As Superbike racing returns to Mid-Ohio for the first time in 10 years, it's a perfect time to look back on the history professional motorcycle road racing at the track:
2014
The Last Dance
With weather seemingly always a factor when the AMA Superbike Series visited Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and the track needing a resurface to allow races to be safely held in the rain, delays “back in the day” were commonplace. But the last of the AMA Superbike races held at the iconic racetrack, prior to this coming weekend’s MotoAmerica races on a repaved racetrack, was all of that in a nutshell. Read more.
2013
Hayes Takes The Points Lead, Barely
It took Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha’s Josh Hayes virtually all of the 2013 AMA Superbike Championship to gain back the points lost in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. At Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Hayes finally took over the lead in the championship after the first of two races – by just a single point over Yoshimura Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas. Read more.
2012
Hayes Makes It Seven In A Row
Josh Hayes had it all his way at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in July of 2012. Not only did Hayes and his Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 win both of the two AMA Superbike races, but he also tied a record in the process. Read more.
2011
Suzuki Superbikes Shine
It was a good weekend to be Blake Young at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2011. It was also a good weekend to be Suzuki. In Saturday’s race one, it was an emotional Young taking the win over championship rival Josh Hayes after a battle that went the duration and on Sunday the Wisconsinite padded his points lead a bit more over Hayes. On Sunday, it was a Suzuki sweep of the Superbike podium. Read more.
2010
Hayes Beats Bostrom, Hayden Beats Hayes
In the first of two Superbike races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2010, Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes took sole possession of the AMA Superbike Championship with a win over Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom. In race two, Rockstar Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden – the man who Hayes was tied with coming into the two Mid-Ohio races – reversed that and beat Hayes to win race two. Still, Hayes emerged with a four-point lead in the championship with his one-two finishes besting Hayden’s three-one tally. Read more.
2009
It’s Hayes Time
Yamaha’s Josh Hayes earned his first career AMA Superbike pole position on a Friday in July of 2009 and a day later he earned his second victory in the class with a narrow victory over Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. It was the beginning of a good run for Hayes. A day later and Hayes was at it again, giving Yamaha back-to-back AMA Superbike wins for the first time in 15 years. It was also Yamaha’s first one-two in almost 15 years. Read more.
2008
Mladin Wins Both, Including Race-One Havoc
It took four starts, three red flags and two hours and 15 minutes to complete the first of two AMA Superbike races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2008. Read more.
2007
Mladin Piles On The Pressure
Mat Mladin needed to come away from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2007 with two wins if he had any hope of keeping his teammate Ben Spies from earning the AMA Superbike Championship. Despite a weekend that teetered on the brink of rider boycott and culminated with Sunday’s Superbike race not starting until 7:15 p.m., Mladin was able to do what he needed to do to keep his hopes alive. Read more.
2006
Part I: Spies Untouchable | Part 2: Spies Wraps It Up
In 2006, there were two AMA Nationals held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The first one went off as normal, the second one? Not so much. In fact, it almost ended with a factory-rider boycott of the heat races, a gimmick new to the Mid-Ohio round. Read Part 1. Read Part 2.
2005
Mladin, Bostrom Rule The Roost
Early in the season, Mat Mladin had a DNF in the California Speedway round of the 2005 AMA Superbike Championship and it took him a lot of the season to make up the points lost. After Saturday’s first of two races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in July, Mladin was thriving, his DNF behind him, and he was sitting pretty with a 37-point lead after winning his eighth race of the season. Read more.
2004
War Of The Words
Although Mat Mladin and Jake Zemke split Superbike wins at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2004, Mladin went home with a lot more than just a victory. He went home after taking a giant step toward winning his fifth AMA Superbike Championship with his 1-3 tally pulling him clear of his rivals, both of whom suffered setbacks of some kind in each of the two races. Read more.
2003
Mladin Gets A New Challenger
Mat Mladin had a new challenger to his reign at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2003, and his name was Kurtis Roberts. But when all was said and done, it was still Mladin taking two victories on his Yoshimura Suzuki. Read more.
2002
Bostrom And Hayden A Step Above
Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom and American Honda’s Nicky Hayden emerged from the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course doubleheader weekend in 2002 with the two splitting wins and second-place finishes after two extremely hard-fought races. At the time, many were likening the pair’s battles to Rainey vs. Schwantz in 1987. Read more.
2001
Mladin Takes Charge
Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom arrived at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2001 riding the wave of confidence after winning two AMA Superbike races in succession. The wins looked to have given him at least a slim chance of winning the 2001 AMA Superbike title, but Mid-Ohio changed all that. Read more.
2000
Yates Is Mr. Mid-Ohio
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates always fared well on tight, twisty, and somewhat bumpy racetracks. Like the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In 2000, Yates won the fourth and fifth AMA Superbike races of his career with a clean sweep of the doubleheader in Ohio, bringing his Mid-Ohio win total to three. Read more.
1999
Chandler Does It Again
Muzzy Kawasaki's Dough Chandler ended a 26-month drought between victories when he won at New Hampshire International Speedway in 1999. But he didn't wait that long again to win for a second as he scored the victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course less than a month after his New Hampshire win. Read more.
1998
Yates From Start To Finish
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates missed three rounds of the 1998 AMA Superbike Championship as he nursed a wrist injury. By the 10th round of the ’98 championship, Yates was back to full health, and he showed it by dominating every aspect of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course weekend. Read more.
1997
Duhamel Over Chandler In A Thriller
Smokin’ Joe’s Honda’s Miguel Duhamel and Muzzy Kawasaki’s Doug Chandler engaged in a Superbike battle royale at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1997 with Duhamel winning a mad dash to the finish line by just .120 of a second. Read more.
1996
Picotte Wins A Messy One
The soaking-wet 1996 AMA Superbike race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was nothing if not a complete and utter debacle. The race was won by Yoshimura Suzuki’s Pascal Picotte after a second red flag stoppage when Vance & Hines Yamaha’s Jamie James crashed in spectacular fashion in the last corner, prompting AMA officials to finally put a stop to the proceedings. Read more.
1995
If You’ve Got ‘Em, Smoke ‘Em
Smokin’ Joe’s Honda Martin Adams had a day at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1995 with his two-rider team of Miguel Duhamel and Mike Hale giving the likable team owner from Kentucky a one-two finish in the fourth round of the 1995 AMA Superbike Championship. Read more.
1994
Edwards Nabs His First Superbike Victory
In 1992, an 18-year-old Colin Edwards won the AMA 250cc Grand Prix National Championship in his first attempt. That title led him to a Superbike ride on the Vance & Hines Yamaha team and with that came great expectations. In his rookie Superbike season, the young Texan failed to win a race and there were a lot of “I told you so’s.” Read more.
1993
A Popular Victory As Quarterley Finally Gets It Done
It’s difficult to imagine a more popular winner than the man who won the 1993 AMA Superbike race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. That man was Dale Quarterley. Read more.
1992
Russell DNFs, Polen Races To Victory
With four laps to go in the 1992 Superbike National at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Scott Russell looked to have his first AMA Superbike Championship in his back pocket. But then it all changed when his Muzzy Kawasaki sputtered to a stop, handing the race win to Fast By Ferracci’s Doug Polen and giving new championship hope to a host of riders. Read more.
1991
Stevens Quiets The Doubting Thomases
Vance & Hines Yamaha’s Thomas Stevens quieted the doubters at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 with the Floridian winning the first AMA Superbike win of his career while asserting himself as the man to beat for the Superbike Championship. Read more.
1990
Chandler Wins, Russell Impresses In Muzzy Kawasaki 1-2
August 5, 1990, was a good day to be Rob Muzzy as his pair of Team Muzzy Kawasaki riders finished one-two in the Wiseco 100 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in what was round six of the 1990 Superbike National Championship. Read more.
1989
Chandler Gets The Grand Slam
Doug Chandler joined an elite group when he won the AMA Superbike race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August of 1989 as his victory made him just the fourth rider in history to complete a grand slam by winning each of the four types of flat track racing – mile, half-mile, short track and TT – and road racing. Read more.
1988
High Drama As Shobert Takes Over
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Doug Polen looked like a shoo-in for the 1988 AMA Superbike Championship, but that all changed with just half a lap left at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as Polen crashed out of the race and all but handed the title to his Team Honda rival Bubba Shobert. Read more.
1987
Schwantz Wins, Protests Fly
The 1987 AMA Superbike season featured a Wayne Rainey/Kevin Schwantz rivalry that began in America and would ultimately find its way to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and the 500cc World Championship. At Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the seventh round of the 10-round AMA Superbike series, the rivalry caught fire as both riders and their teams ended up protesting the other over the legality of their motorcycles. Read more.
1986
Merkel Wins, Leads Points Chase
Team Honda’s Fred Merkel left Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with the points lead in both the AMA Superbike Championship and the Camel Pro Road Race Championship (which combined points from Formula One and Superbike races to crown a single AMA Road Race Champion) with his Superbike victory in the 1986 running of the Mid-Ohio National. Read more.
1985:
Bettencourt’s Surprise
John Bettencourt ended a seven-year drought between AMA Superbike wins when he stormed to victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1985. The victory was Bettencourt’s second career Superbike win, but his first since he won at Loudon in 1978. Read more.
1984
Honda’s First Title
In September of 1984, Fred Merkel accomplished what no other rider had thus far done. He gave Honda its first AMA Superbike Championship, and he did so at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the ’84 series finale. Read more.
1983
The AMA Makes Its Mid-Ohio Debut
They say you never forget your first so Steve Wise must think fondly of Mid-Ohio Sport Car Course. After all, Wise not only won his first AMA Superbike race at the facility on May 21, 1983, it was also the first-ever AMA Superbike race held at the track in Lexington, Ohio. Read more.
