Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ing , but aga in - it' s a m otivating factor. 1.loo k forward t o th e fa ct th at people in the paddock see us a s f orei g n er s , p eopl e w ho see u s as o u t siders . Th at' s m oti vatin g. "This yea r wore on me ba d. T his year, I was that m entally fo cused and determined t o ki ck everybody's arse, especi ally aft er [Er ic J Bostrom decided he wanted to op en his m outh . He was the fue l to my fire this year - tota lly . I do n't take it lightly wh en you start doing good and someone sta rts sa ying that yo ur equipment is so much bette r tha n eve ry on e else's and that's the o nly rea so n . I've beaten him and everybod y else o n a 750 . Now th at I'm o n a c om pet it ive m otorcycle, my work is showing up even m ore , and m y team 's hard work is showi ng up eve n more. I d on't take that stuff lig htl y . I take it as a personal in sul t. " Mladin and his team are a close-k ni t group . A nd yes , they are Austra lian . But he goes o ut of his way n ot to fla unt tha t fact. The acc en t and th e sma ll Australian fla g stic ker on hi s bik e are th e on ly hints that he's rea lly not a nati ve of th e area in wh ic h he sp end s th e maj o rit y of his yea r - Ranch o Cuca m onga , California . "I don' t fl y th e Au stralian flag after race s ove r here, an d I do n 't do it fo r a reason ," Mladin said. " If th ere were not fans on the o uts ide of th e tra ck , I'd do it ju st t o ru b so me p eopl e in th e pa d dock 's faces . I would rub it in as hard as I c an, bu t I hav e a l ot of fa n s over here , a nd I resp ect tha t. An d I respect this cou nt ry, an d I resp ect tha t I h ave a good li fe because I'm here ra cin g, and I wo n' t rub it in th at I' m A ustralia n . I' m here rac ing and try ing to put o n a good show , and I thin k being A ustrali an an d having other Australia ns and Eu ro pean s over here only [adds] to this championshi p . People say that if I wasn 't here, then an Americ an wo uld have won the championsh ip and th is and th at , but wh o ca res? W e'r e her e to put o n a good sho w , and the fa ns app rec iate th at , an d that's why I wo n't rub it in th ei r face that I' m A ustralia n. Who cares if I'm an Austra lian ? I'm p roud t o be an Australian, no doubt, but th ere's a tim e and a p lace ." Mladin' s seas on has been well-documented here and elsewhe re. He was dom ina nt. He won 10 rac es ov er the co urse of the season , a mark tha t tied Fr ed Merkel's record for the most superbike victorie s in a singl e season , and he amassed a wh opp ing 550 points . He's also now on the verge of t ak ing o ver from Miguel Du ha me l as AMA superb ike rac ing's all-time win ner. Mladin's season didn 't start that well , as he fin ished sixth at Daytona, but he wasn 't worried . He do esn't pla c e mu ch emph asis o n t he 200 -mi ler, bec au se he doesn 't consider it much of a ra ce . He believes t he D a yton a 200 i s all ab ou t tire and m otorc ycl e co nservatio n and not about ra cing , and that takes th e fun and im po rt anc e o ut of it fo r him. That wa s stuff he knew go ing in , so he didn 't come out o f Fl orida a n y less confident than when he arrived . In fa ct , he knew from the first time he'd ridden th e new bi ke that he was goin g to be the ma n to beat. "It was at Daytona last year [2002J that I knew we had a motorcycle that was fi nally competitive," Mladin said . "We had a m ot or c ycl e that I believed o n the ra cetra ck was goi ng to have the acceleration and t op speed of the V -twi ns. And I fe lt confident after that D ecem ber test, beca use any ti me yo u ca n go o ut o n a bran d -sp an king -new bike, a bike tha t still really was n't in superbike tri m , and do wh at we d id at tha t t est.. . I kn ew and I fe lt co nfide nt with wha t we co uld do o n th e 75 0 when eve rythi ng was right, so I kne w we co uld hav e a good yea r on th e new bike. If we didn 't have a good year, the n th ere wa s nob od y to bl am e but m e. Th e bike was definit ely better th an wha t we had ." All Mladin ever want s is a bike that's c o m petitive wi t h hi s ri v al s'. In th e p ast , h e fe lt as th o ugh he wa sn 't on eq ual machinery w hen h e was riding the G SX -R750 vs . the V-tw i n Ho nda RC51 sand Ducatis . With the new b ik e , he had w hat he 'd always wan ted - equal footing . " I knew I was going to k i ck their ass , " Mlad in said . "I cou ld have kicked the ir asses at Da y t on a . I k new it was over, bar any disaste r, a nd we h a d a c ouple. I d o n 't fear a nybod y on the sa me motorcy cle , and that's it. I know th at if I have a co m pe tit ive bik e , I ca n be com pe titive w i th any bo dy . You c a n ne ve r c o m pa re y our self with peo ple in othe r c ha mpi o n sh i p s , o n ly a g a i n s t those yo u are rac ing , but I be lieve i f I h ad th e sa me o p po rt u n i t y t ha t [V al en t ino j Ross i's had, I co uld be The long-hair look. Mat Mladin had a bet with a friend In Australia that he w ouldn't cut his hair In 2003. Now he likes it that way. c o m p e t i t i v e. I b e li ev e if l,iiiiiJl!!~ yo u p ut m e o n th e sa me • bi ke as someone else has and g ive me eno ug h ti me to get th ings work ing and get a team sorted , I believe I can b e co mpetitive. I Cycling makes up a big portion of Mladln's training regimen. - believe my wo rk eth ic is as good if no t better than everyone else 's . "I live raci ng . I don 't live to rac e and then go out for rest of the week and do nothin g. I live racing. I get up everyday w ith th e shits if I didn 't bea t m y la st time on the bi c ycl e. I'm pissed if I ca n 't bench-press 10 pounds m o re a coup le of weeks later. It gives m e the shits . Th a t' s wh at I've c ho se n to d o a t the mome nt - li ve racin g. " M ladin t akes hi s j ob serious ly . And if he c omes ac ro ss as a hard m an , that' s beca use he is. " I do n't let peop le insid e m y per son al life, and that m ak es me look har d , and I am hard ," Ml ad in adm its. " I beli ev e I am har d bec au se I've had to do it ha rd . When I wa s a ki d , we never ha d all th e good stu ff. I e had to go and sleep in th e back of a c ar with a trailer w ith bi k es in th e b ack , just an o ld b ike trail er. We co uld n't afford hotels. I kn ow w hat it's like. I've been th ere and don e it. That' s why I have no sympath y for these privateers who are alwa y s jumping up a nd down about their bikes . They think that peop le like me were born on a fac tory motorbike, and I was n' t. I did it ju st like those blokes . It's up to the m to be the best p rivateer guy so they can get a facto ry ride ." T h e privateer. It doesn't tak e m uc h to sp a r k Mladin 's ire, and the privateers have it. "I don 't c are about having the privateers be co mpetitive - this is superbike racin g ," Mladin said. " Go and ra ce an ot her class that you can be co m pe titive in . You are not going to be competitive against th e facto ries - I don 't c are what th e AMA does. So go and ra ce something else . Ninety -nine percen t of them wouldn 't be competitive on my bike . In fac t, m ost o f them would be sl ower on m y bike . If yo u wanted t o go race, you wouldn 't ring u p the AMA an d tell them to change the rules because you wanted to go race Mat Mladin on his superbike. Th e o nes who complain the most are the ones yo u c ome around and lap, the o nes who get in yo ur way. The true privateers like the Sh aw n Higbee s a n d th e Michae l Ba rneses .. . they are good m otorbik e ri de rs. Bu t they have co m petitiv e bik es, and it 's up to them to do well now. Jason [Pri dmore] is the same. It just goes to show how good he is, b ec aus e his bike is v er y non fac t ory . If yo u 've got a decent r id er , the res ults speak for th emse lves . I ju st c an 't stand to he ar th e p riva teer thi ng, bec au se m ost of th e factory g uys hav e bee n th ere and done that. Th ere are some g uys wh o h av e been given eve ry t h ing the ir whole life, bu t m ost of th em have been priv ate ers ." Mladin ca me under fi re at La guna Seca this year for pu lling o ut of th e sec ond World Superbike rac e a day afte r he'd won the AMA Su perbike Natio nal. Suzuki iss ued a pr ess rel eas e say in g that Mladin w as ti red and wouldn 't com pete. A lot of people saw th is ye ' e n e _ S • JAN U ARY 7 ,2004 15

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