Mat Mladin

Mathew "Mat" Mladin (born 10 March 1972, in Camden, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional motorcycle racer who last raced for Yoshimura Suzuki in the AMA Superbike series. He won the title seven times (no other rider has won more than three), and holds series records for wins (75, breaking Miguel Duhamel's previous record of 27), poles (50), wins in a season (11) and poles in a season (10).

Career

Early years (1992-1995)

Born in Camden, a suburb of Sydney, Mladin began his professional racing career in 1992. He won the Australian Superbike Championship that year, and made his debut in the 500cc class the following year. A plane crash in 1995 nearly cost him his foot,^[1] but he returned in time to finish second in the Australian Superbike championship.

AMA (1996-2009)

Mladin joined the AMA Superbike series in 1996, riding for Yoshimura Suzuki, and finished fourth overall. He switched to Fast By Ferracci Ducati the following year and finished third in the championship before returning to Suzuki for 1998 where he again finished third. He finally broke through to win the 1999 championship. Remaining with Suzuki as of 2007, he went on to take the title in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005, with a second-place finish behind Ben Spies ^[2] in 2006 (despite winning the final 5 races, after making some riding style changes to cope with his young team-mate ^[3]). Mladin also finished runner up in the Championship to Spies again in 2007, losing by one point.^[4]

Mladin is a three-time winner of the Daytona 200 (2000, 2001, 2004). He has also made wild card appearances in Superbike World Championship races, taking pole position in the class at Laguna Seca in 2003.

On 20 August 2008, AMA Pro Racing issued a press release announcing the disqualification of Mladin from the previous weekend's AMA Superbike National round at Virginia International Raceway. The press release indicated that the crankshaft from Mladin's bike was found, after comparison with a stock "control" part kept by the AMA, to have violated Superbike class rules, which require an essentially stock crankshaft to be used. The Team Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's appeal of the penalty was summarily dismissed as being, "without merit," by AMA/DMG on 5 September 2008. As a result, with only one round remaining in the championship, Ben Spies' numerical advantage in the championship points became unassailable and Mladin lost the championship for the 3rd year in a row to Spies.

On 31 July 2009, Mladin announced that he would retire from the AMA Superbike Championship at the end of the season.^[5] The announcement came as Mladin refused to take part in that weekend's round at Heartland Park Topeka, Kansas due to concerns over rider safety at the circuit. Mladin is known for his campaign for improved rider safety through improvements into the circuits.

Personal

He lives near Oakdale, New South Wales, with his wife and two children.

Mladin is a private individual; in 1998 he commented that "I don't enjoy all the press side of things at all, I enjoy my racing and I enjoy winning like nothing else.".^[6]

Mladin also lends his name to a company that imports motorcycle clothing and aftermarket accessories. As of 1 July 2009 this changed to Bike Gear Warehouse and sells online only.

Career Statistics

Grand Prix

AMA Pro Racing

References

http://www.amasuperbike.com/article.php?UID=rdH7pdq1qjs8B09D5rlQxN7KXCAoTV&sc=1120&aid=12212

External links

• Mat Mladin profile at AMAProRacing.com
• MatMladinImports.com.au - Mat Mladin Imports Official site
• BikeGearWarehouse.com.au - Mat Mladin's New Business Venture
• Twitter - Mat Mladin's Twitter account
• Blog Spot - Mat Mladin's Blog Spot account