American Honda's Jake Zemke heads to the AMA Superbike Championship season finale in two weeks third in the point standings after tire problems struck in both ends of the Superbike double-header at Road Atlanta north of Atlanta, Georgia.

The recently repaved 2.54-mile road circuit was brutal on tire life, with a number of riders having problems on Saturday. Because of tire wear concerns, Sunday's 25-lap race was shortened by five laps.

Saturday's race was red-flagged when defending class champion Ben Spies crashed on the sixth of 25 scheduled laps. Zemke was fifth at the time. An adjustment to his Honda CBR1000RR didn't work out as planned, and he wasn't able to improve his position. He finished sixth.

The pace on Sunday was faster than it had been on Saturday. Zemke gated well, slotting into third place behind the leading Suzukis. But tire wear again became an issue and he was relegated to fourth on lap seven of 20. Zemke fought back to re-take third for two laps, then fell a few more places to finish sixth for the second day in a row.

In two weeks, Zemke heads to the final championship round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, site of the U.S. Grand Prix, with a five point cushion on the fourth placed rider.

American Honda's Miguel Duhamel sat out his second race in a row after suffering injuries in a test crash here at Road Atlanta three weeks ago. His status for the final race at Laguna Seca isn't known.

Mat Mladin beat Suzuki teammate Ben Spies in both races. Jamie Hacking was third both days on the Kawasaki.

Jake Zemke, 6th,
Saturday we struggled with grip a little bit. Actually before the red flag came out, we were going pretty good, except on the very first lap of the race in the back straightaway kink I lost the front end and I lost it bad. And not just once, but it tucked and I saved that one and then it tucked really good. I'm really glad that Aaron (Yates) wasn't right beside me because I'd just drafted before we bent it into the kink and as soon as I turned the thing in I lost the front. I was real lucky to save that one.

So we made an adjustment to the bike in the red flag and it actually hurt us really bad over here in the esses on the whole first half of the race track. We weren't able to do those times again. We definitely struggled for grip there. With the changes I had made, I just couldn't get the bike to get through the esses.

But the boys overnight came up with a good setting this morning. We were P-3 and we were able to do pretty consistent mid-22's and thought we'd be good for the race  for the podium there, which we here for a while. But I never foresaw those guys dipping into the high 21's, which all the guys who beat me did. By the end of the race I had used my tire up pretty good. When Roger Lee (Hayden) came by me, I just couldn't get off the corner to get a run at him. And the boys were working hard and we made a big improvement from yesterday to today, it just didn't show in the results.

Sunday Superbike:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
2. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
3. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
5. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki)
6. Jake Zemke (Honda)
7. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
8. James Ellison (Honda)
9. Jake Holden (Suzuki)
10. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)

Saturday Superbike:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
2. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
3. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
5. Jake Zemke (Honda)
6. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki)
7. Matt Lynn (MV)
8. Jake Holden (Suzuki)
9. Luca Scassa (MV)
10. Ben Thompson (Suzuki)

Championship Standings:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 618
2. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 615
3. Jake Zemke (Honda) 441
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 436
5. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 429
6. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 403
7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 360
8. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki) 344
9. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 336
10. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 335