Mat Mladin

Mathew Mladin (born 10 March 1972, in Camden, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional motorcycle racer who last raced in 2009, riding a Yoshimura Suzuki in the AMA Superbike series. He won the title seven times (no other rider has won more than five), and holds series records for wins (83), poles (50) and poles in a season (10).

Mathew Mladin
Mladin at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2009
Nationality	Australian
Born	10 March 1972 Oakdale, New South Wales, Australia

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 World Championship class the following year, disappointed at finishing in position thirteen and at his treatment by the Cagiva factory team.[1]

A plane crash in 1995 nearly cost him his foot,[2] 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[3] in 2006 (despite winning the final 5 races, after making some riding style changes to cope with his young team-mate[4]). Mladin also finished runner up in the Championship to Spies again in 2007, losing by one point.

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 Mazda Raceway 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. It is a known that all Yoshimura bikes on that day had the same crankshaft. Mladin's bike was the only one inspected. Upon his disqualification, Spies and Hayden were moved up the ladder into first and second placings, also riding illegal bikes.

On 31 July 2009, Mladin announced that he would retire from the AMA Superbike Championship at the end of the season,[5] and the announcement came as Mladin refused to take part in that weekend's round at Heartland Park, 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. Mat won the 2009 AMA Superbike championship, and then retired.

Personal

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

Career statistics

Grand Prix

Year	Class	Team	Machine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Points	Rank
1993	500cc	Cagiva Team Agostini	GP500	AUS 9	MAL 10	JPN Ret	ESP Ret	AUT 10	GER 7	NED Ret	EUR	SMR 9	GBR	CZE	ITA Ret	USA Ret	FIM 6	45	13th

AMA Pro Racing

Season	Class	Team	Bike	DAY	FON		RAT		BAR		INF		RAM		LAG	M-O		HRT		VIR		N-J		Pts	Pos
				R1	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2009	SBK	Yoshimura	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	5	1	1	2	1	3	7	DNS	DNS	2	9	24	2	453	1st

Year	Class	Team	Bike	DAY	BAR		FON		INF		MIL		RAM		LAG	M-O		VIR		RAT		LAG	Pts	Pos
R1				R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1
2008	SBK	Yoshimura	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	DNF	4	2	1	1	1	1	DSQ	DSQ	1	2	1	557	2nd

Year	Class	Team	Bike	DAY	BAR		FON		INF		RAM		MIL		LAG	M-O		VIR		RAT		LAG	Pts	Pos
R1				R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1
2007	SBK	Yoshimura	Suzuki GSX-R1000	11	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	3	2	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	651	2nd

Year	Class	Team	Bike	DAY	BAR		FON		INF		RAM		MIL		LAG	M-O		VIR		RAT		M-O	Pts	Pos
R1				R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1
2006	SBK	Yoshimura	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	2	6	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	641	2nd

References

1. Motor Cycle News (UK weekly newspaper) 22 December 1993 p. 18; "Mladin back to Superbikes".
2. "From 1997: A Man Named Mladin". SuperbikePlanet.com. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
3. "2006 AMA Superbike Results". SuperbikePlanet.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2007.
4. "AMA SBK: Streaking Mladin Claims Provisional Pole in Wisconsin". SPEEDtv.com. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
5. "Mladin retires after safety row". Insidebikes. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
6. "Motorcycle Online Interview: Mat Mladin". Motorcycle Online. Archived from the original on 10 May 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2007.