IT'S BEEN A HELL OF A RUN.
Six AMA Superbike championships,
82 race victories, 61 pole positions,
and all those tallies are likely to grow
by the end of this year. And he's doing
this at age 37, a time when most
racers have long hung up their leathers for good, in a sport that (usually)
favors the younger and more fearless
generation. It's a record that many
surely look upon (and will look upon
for years to come) with envy.
A career can't last forever though,
and Mat Mladin has decided that
2009 will be his last year of racing--
in AMA Superbike or anywhere else.
Although there were reputed offers
of racing overseas, the outspoken
Australian is apparently walking away
without a look back.
In fact, despite such a stellar career,
it's that blunt personality that has
made Mladin one of the most polarizing figures in AMA history. He rarely sugarcoats his feelings on a subject, which can either be
interpreted as being a "straight shooter" or very abrasive, and
such uncompromising behavior has made him a lightning rod
for both praise and criticism from every corner of the sport.
The recent upending of the AMA roadracing series by the new
regime at AMA Pro Racing has only stoked the fires in Mladin's
brusque character, and the organization's continuing blunders
and miscues in fact played a leading role in his decision to
retire at the end of the '09 season (an entirely separate subject
that will warrant discussion in a later issue).
Mladin certainly was an easy target for hatred. His penchant
for speaking his mind on anything from fellow competitors
to the state of racing in the U.S. to racetrack safety obviously
played a major role, but even his actual racing and racetrack
demeanor drew fire from some racing fans.
The Yoshimura Suzuki team's domination of AMA Superbike
racing for many years--Mladin and former teammate Ben
Spies hoarded the title six consecutive seasons, combining
for an incredible 55-race win streak spanning nearly three
years--can be said to have indirectly fueled some of the radical changes imposed by AMA Pro Racing for '09. Mladin obviously played a huge part in that domination, with an approach
that was all business every single minute he was at the track.
Where some racers would take a little while to get up to speed,
Mladin would usually be turning nearly the same lap times he
would later run in the race a few laps into the first practice.
Until Spies came into the picture, it
was a surprise if Mladin wasn't atop
the practice leaderboard from day
one as well as qualifying on pole,
and often by a big margin. And when
the checkered flag fell, the margin of
victory was frequently huge; Mladin
wasn't the type to build a lead and
then put it on cruise control. The
monotony of his winning ways soon
had people crying about AMA Superbike boredom, and Mladin was the
perfect villain.
This just in: Mladin was paid to win
races. Not win them by close margins.
That Mladin stayed racing in the
U.S. for 13 years after winning six
(and most likely soon to be seven)
superbike championships had some
disgruntled racing fans wondering
why he didn't try his hand on the
world stage. Actually, he did campaign a world championship: In '95,
he was signed to an ill-fated ride on
the Cagiva 500cc Grand Prix squad, which quickly taught him
that if you don't have a capable bike and the team behind it to
help you, all your effort could be for naught. He was also paid
handsomely by American Suzuki to continue his winning ways
in the U.S. Racers are allowed to race for their own reasons--
not someone else's.
Like him or hate him, the undisputed fact is this: Mat
Mladin raised the level of American professional roadracing. His blistering speed set a high-water mark for the rest of
the AMA paddock to reach, and the few that have reached it
have already gone on to the world stage. Facing such serious
competition forces those who are capable to raise their game
accordingly; it's difficult not to believe that squaring off against
Mladin race after race for four years has helped Ben Spies' ability to handle the pressure of World Superbike Championship
competition and become an instant contender for the title in
his rookie season. And Mladin's fanatical approach to physical
fitness has surely had a positive effect on most of the AMA
paddock as well.
To attempt to demean Mladin's accomplishments by accusing him of cherry-picking in the AMA Superbike series conveniently ignores the fact that there have been scant few who
have been able to beat him. We can only hope that someone
will step into his shoes and keep that bar at a high level, so that
other Americans will be ready for the heightened competition
of the world stage.