Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128245
Mat Mladin: Cycle News Rider of the Year TO SUCCEED Mat Mlad in is your AMA Superbike Champion and our Rider of the Year , I \ B y P AU L C A RRUT HERS P HOT OS BY B LA K E C O N N ER M at Ml adin leans ba ck in h is c hai r and roll s his ey es in disgust, his unmist akable way of calling bullshit wh en one of hi s riva ls feels like tell in g th e wo rld j ust h ow good Ml adi n 's Yoshi m ura Su zu k i GS X -R I 000 is com pa re d t o th e rest of th e AMA Sup erb ik es. In this cas e th e rival is Kurtis Robert s, and the c hair is one of th ree reserved for th e podi um fi nishers in the press cente r o f Ba rb er Mot or s ports Pa r k , th e sit e o f th e fi na l r ound o f t he AMA /Ch evy Tru cks U .S . Superbik e Seri es. And Ml adin gets th is wa y wh en he feels cheate d, wh en he feels he's being put down, hi s talents dismissed by th ose less accomplished wh o don 't mind hinting that he isn 't all that he's cracked up to be, but boy , th at motorcycl e sure is. 14 JAN U A R Y 7,20 04' cue • e n They m igh t as well j ust punch him in the stomach . On th is da y , the insult ripped through him m or e so than on a normal day. His seaso n had just ended , and he 'd b een cro w n ed th e first four-time AMA Superbike Nation al Ch amp ion in th e 28- year history of th e ser ies. And he ha d to wi n the titl e in the m ost un -Mladin wa y over the final tw o da ys of the season . He had to be co nservative. He ha d to figh t th e urge to race with th e leaders at Ba rbe r because to do so wi th his p oints l ead w ou ld ha v e b een idi otic . So instead , he had to sit back and let them go. And now he had to sit bac k and let th em go again, th e ta lk as painful to tak e as th e thi rd -place finish . One lo ok at his pained exp ressio n and yo u knew that Mladin was wishing th ere was one more rac e the next da y . Just one more race with th e same guys. This time without a championship to p rot ect. eVIl's Ml adin has w ork ed t oo hard to hear the crap . Whil e he wi ll readily admit that hi s Yoshi mura Suzuki was ste llar thi s year, he do esn't beli eve his riv als rod e infe rio r m otorcycles. He believes th at both th e fact ory K awas ak i ridd en by E ric Bos trom , the Hond as ridd en by Rob ert s, Ben Bostr om and Mig uel Du Ham el, and the nearly identica l Suzuk i ridden by teamm at e A aro n Yat es were on p ar with hi s GSX RIOOO. He'd li k e one of th o se rivals, just once, to ad mit th at th e fas test man - no t j us t t he fa st est motorcycl e - wo n t h is ye ar 's title. He 'd also like some of tho se rivals to have longer m emories so th at they cou ld rec all that it wa sn 't ve ry long ago that Mladin won AMA Su pe rbik e ti tl es on m otorcycles that few wou ld argue as being th e best in th e field . Bu t non e of that is going to happen. Instea d, the 31 -yea r-ol d A ust ralian files it away , and whenever he nee ds a little more inspiration to wo rk just a little bit harder, he goes to the m em ory ban k and fuels his desire on what was said. It's like pou rin g gasolin e on a raging fire . He lets the anger bu ild and then he goes out rides his bic ycl e a little farth er, a li ttle hard er. Or he st ays at the gym a litt le lon ger, lifti ng a littl e more weight. A ll the wh ile, the fi re burn s in hi s pit of his stom ach , an d he can' t wait to get back t o the race tra ck . You 'd think his ri va ls wo uld ta k e heed . You 'd think they' d learn to let sleep ing dog s lie. In simple r term s, you 'd think they 'd learn to not pi ss thi s gu y o ff . Ge t h im m ad and he gets t oug her. T his is a man who th rives on th e battl e, even if th e batt le is ver ba l. He' ll go tong ue to t ongue wit h anyo ne , and he won't back dow n . It does nothing but motivate h im to do more, and he kn ows it. Th at's why , year in and yea r out , you ca n co unt on Mladin making an ene my out of one or two of his rival s. Th is year it was Ku rti s Roberts an d Er ic Bostrom . A nd anybody who referred to his team as " the Australians' - with a negative tone . "A bso lut ely, I use that as a m otiva ting factor ," M la din admit s. " I d on 't put any bo dy down unless they decide th ey want to h ave a shot at m e. And then I'll shoot all da y - I don 't have a pr oblem with that. Nobody worries me on that racetrack . If they w ant to g et it on , we 'll get it on - no probl em! I rememb e r when Er ic [ B o st ro m ] was c oming through th e ranks and Ben [Bostrom] was getting all the tal k , and then Eric got on a su pe rbi k e and had a co up le of good races ... m at e, I co m m ended that guy. I cou ldn' t bel iev e how well he'd don e. I sai d , 'J eez, th i s guy ' s doin g rea lly well ,' and all th at so rt of stuff. Then , when I hear this sort of stuff com ing back on me , it' s like , ' Dude, yo u need to c h il l o u t. You n eed t o w a k e up and sm ell the rose s.' And he [Eric Bostrom] also needs to understand ho w good his bike wa s. Ma ybe Eri c needs to work a bit harder or do something a bit different. It's simple: Con centrate on yo ur own program and you m ay go some where. That stuff is disappoint-