Mladin, Calling it quits @ end of season

Soup :: Mladin Announces His Retirement :: 07-31-2009

:reg:

 

I wrote in a thread at the Aprilia Forum a couple weeks ago, that it seemed like Mat was on his way out...I could just tell. I spoke to him at Infineon this year and I could tell, I asked him, and all he could say was: "We shall see, Mate"...then he gave me that wry, Mat Mladin, smile, I knew it was over. I will miss him.

 

not surprised.

 

I'd like to see him in motoGP ..........

 

Sweet sadness. Sorry to see such a racer retire, but nice for those staring at his ass for the last few years.

 

Wow. Another 'hero' down. I'm getting really old.

Well, I think he was awesome. I know a lot of folks didn't like his personality, but he doesn't care, and neither do I. He was the best rider on American soil and I'll miss him.

He tried and played with MotoGP, and it woulda been awesome to see what he coulda done had it worked out. I also woulda liked to see in WSBK, but same, same.

As it is, he made a huge mark, and there is now a serious vacuum in American Motorcycle Roadracing. Unfortunately with Spies gone, I don't see anyone filling it at that caliber anytime soon.

I'll miss you Matt.

 

:frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown:

 

I loved watching Mladin and Spies go at it. But with Spies in WSBK, should we really be suprised Mladin is leaving? I know there are other factors at play too.

Great racer, I'll miss his on track action.

BZ

 

That's too bad. He's one of the reasons I watch AMA Superbike. The guy is just so precise and does everything right that's it's just like watching a dance. I have to wonder whether or not he'll show up under another banner somewhere though.

 

So here’s the problem; with Matt gone we have no REAL roadracers in American Motorcycle Roadracing. I was already embarrassed when MotoGP came to Laguna Seca and while they had a couple lowsides because riders were pushing so hard, the AMA/DMG races had crazy crashes in every televised class, because of crap riders trying moves they couldn’t pull off and taking eachother out.

We looked like a bunch of amateurs, and that’s what the rest of them are like, which is why Matt has killed ‘em all season. He is so far ahead, he’s sitting out the races this weekend because of safety concerns at Topeka. A NASCAR track that DMG has acquiesced to because they’re the NASCAR promoter, that isn’t anywhere NEAR ready to host motorcycle roadracing (and it’s not the only one on the schedule now).

Which brings me to DMG. Obviously another reason Matt’s leaving. These hillbilly NASCAR promoters who ACTUALLY HAVE A ROLLING START for the ‘Daytona Sportbike’ class; that’s brilliant, let’s have our junior riders, on their way up, actually do a kind of start like NASCAR because it’s fun, even though NO ONE else in racing does that (because it’s stupid hillbilly NASCAR crap). Thus they end up working on a skill they’ll never need again, and NOT working on the skill they will need for the rest of their career (standing start). That’s just one example, btw.

So now our roadracing is actually FURTHER from the rest of the world instead of closer, so we have even less of a feeder class (farm league) then we used to, so it will be even harder to develop a world-class American Motorcycle Roadracer…

Great job DMG. Oh well, at least HD Theater is showing the Isle of Man TT…

 

Brief Bio by Gregg Leary

DOB: 3-10-72
Born in Suburb of Sydney, Australia
Races for Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000
6 Time AMA Superbike Champion (1999, 2000-01, 2003-05)
Runnerup to teammate Ben Spies in 2006-07
3 Time Winner of the Daytona 200 (2000, 2001, 2004)
63 Career Super Bike Wins (at time of this bio)
Most wins in a season 12 (2007)

Wife: Janine
Daughters: Emily and Jessica

Mladin started riding motorcycles at 4
He did dirt track flat track racing for 6 years but was bored
1981: Mat won the Australian Amateur Flat Track Championship
He switched to motocross…won 3 OZ Titles his first year but got burned out and quit in 1989…
When he saw fellow motocrosser Troy Courser winning road races he decided to make a change
1991: MM won the Australian 250cc Production Championship
1992: Won Australian Superbike Championship (“Mat was so much faster than anyone on cold tires.” Ken Wooton) Mat won 14 races in a row. Troy Courser was the first to beat him.
1993: Rode for Cagiva Team in 500cc MotoGP World Championships (6 Top Tens…best finish 6th) but was sacked. In Dean Adams’ “A Man Named Mladin” article, Mat said of 1993…

”There I was in Europe with a 45 foot motorhome and a big paycheck. A year before I had one pair of shoes and was racing out of my own pocket. I’m racing Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Wayne Rainey…I had their posters on my bedroom wall in Australia…and Cagiva was putting pressure on me to beat them They should have put me on a Superbike.”
1994 Returned to race in Australia…broke his collarbone and his back in a crash.
1995: Ultralight plane crash…badly broken ankle…infection nearly caused amputation…flat on his back for 6 months. It changed his attitude…

“I was a cocky little p**** before the crash…talking about myself and what I was going to do.”MM (After the crash...MM said, “I don’t care what anyone thinks anymore. I’m happy with myself and I know if I give 100%, I’m happy. Even if I don’t win, I know that if I’m on the right equipment, I’m going to be hard to beat.”
Came back from injury to finish 2nd in Australian Superbike Series despite missing several races

1996: AMA Superbike with Yoshimura Suzuki
1997: Fast by Feracci Ducati
1998-2007 Yoshimura Suzuki…6 Titles…63 AMA Superbike Wins
In 2003…won Title despite extremely fatiguing Epstein-Barr virus

2007 Superbike Season…Spies beat Mladin by a single point…Suzuki won every race
Mat said he no longer cared about winning championships...he wanted to WIN RACES. He did…a record 12 in 2007. He crashed twice trying to win…Daytona and Miller…remounted and still scored points. Spies won 7 races and never finished worse than 2nd. Spies had more poles and more times with most laps led.

Mat crashed out of the lead of the Daytona 2007 Superbike race on Lap 5, remounted and finished 10th. Spies won and took a 17 point lead out of Daytona. (You can’t WIN the title at Daytona…but you can LOSE it there.) Mat fought back and won the next two races at Barber.

Mat did a Dale Earnhardt like impression at Miller…Mat crashed out of the lead on the 6th lap...appeared injured…got out of the ambulance…ran back to the paddock , where his crew repaired his bike in time for the restart after the red flag…Mat finished 4th. Guts!

The Laguna Seca finale was fantastic…Mat had won 6 races in a row (Record 12 on the season)..it was “winner take all”…Spies passed Mat on Lap 16 in the corkscrew (Like Alex Zanardi did to Bryan Herta in CART)…and went on to win his second straight title.

Ben and Mat make each other better.
About 2007: “This year was a fantastic season for the fans. We (Ben and I) went at it. I’ve had to work harder than I’ve ever had to work before off the racetrack to be able to compete. I’ve had to lift my game to come up to Ben and be able to race Ben. Not too many people in their mid-30’s can lift their game to another level to continue to compete.”

Mat extended his contract with American Suzuki through 2009.

If Ben should go to MotoGP in 2009. How will he do?

“Ben will do very, very well if he goes to Grand Prix. I’d put my house on it. He will do very well given the right equipment and the right people around him. I’ll be rooting for Ben because I’ve been a big part of the kid’s career.” MM

(About Ben) “I’ve got someone out there that’s helping me get up every morning to work hard to better myself.”

MM “I’m certainly working as hard as I can to extend my career and be a force in AMA Superbike for as long as possible.” 2007