2007 AMA Superbike Championship

It came down to one race, one lap, one moment. The 2007 AMA Superbike Championship saw a see-saw struggle between Yoshimura Suzuki teammates Ben Spies and Mat Mladin that went down to the final round at Laguna Seca. Heading into the weekend, six-time series champion Mladin held a slim three-point lead over defending champ Spies. That gap closed to just two points after the latter earned a point for pole position on Saturday, setting up a winner-take-all scenario for Sunday.

Mladin led from the start with Spies nipping at his heels, and when the Australian veteran got into the Corkscrew a tad hot on lap 16 of 28, the Texas upstart pounced. As this photo sequence shows, Spies slashed across the bow of Mladin's GSX-R1000 and ran a tight line over the inside curb that prevented his teammate from re-passing him. From there Spies set it on cruise control, stretching his lead to 5 seconds before slowing on the final lap to claim the win by 2.5 seconds-and the championship by a single point.