Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

_____ _ _ _________ _ _ __ _ _ ---'-- trip to a wind tu nnel in San Diego , whe re they fou nd small ways to make the package sleeke r. T he pieces all came together afte r the summe r break at Road Atlanta . "We believed , as a team, that was going to be the race meeting that was do or die for us," Mladin said. The times they'd done in a tes t earlier in the year at Road Atlanta we re eas ily matched on the race weekend . "The tes t times that we 'd done we cou ld run in the race with obviously a small safety buffer," Mladin said. "By the time we got to Atlanta, we were pro bably actually just slightly ahead of where we were the year befo re [in terms o f horsepower]," Mladin said . "Especially at the start of the yea r, we were way behind. It wasn't even just a little bit. At Road Atlanta, we were very close, just a fract ion better maybe than we we re at the e nd of last year." The motorcycle was better in every way. "It gave us a package at Atlanta that was actua lly, on the overall , was be tte r than ou r package that we finished 2003 with ," Mlad in said. ! There was more acce leration and to p speed , and it '"" was more aerodynam ic. 'And just from the Atlanta test that we had earlier in the year com pare d to the Atlanta race , the difference in speed of the bikes was now here near as not iceable." Tires also played a part . Mladin had too many highprofile tire failures in 2003 . Quality control was occasionallya problem , but Dunlop provided far more consisten t tires. And, for the first time, a dedicated tire tec hnician. "Dunlop wo rked very hard to give us tires fo r our motorcycle that weren't going to allow the same thing to happen to us in 200 3," he said. "I think they achieved tes ted the 200S GSX-RI000. "The new bike seems to be pretty stro ng," he said. "In ou r first te st , we had probably 50 percent o r 60 pe rce nt of the 200S model there. And the main parts that we rea llywa nte d to test of the 2005 were there, it's just that we had a lot of 2004 hang-ons, bits and pieces hanging off it that weren't quite ready. The bike was really, really good . We also had our championship-winning 1000 the re as we ll, so we got to compare both of them, and we certain ly came along with some prom ising resu lts. "T he bike just fee ls better. My oid bike was a great motorcycle, but Suzuki isn't going to bring out a brand new GSX-R1000 unless they were com fortable that the bike certainly had som e major improvements - and it certainly has." With every one able to take advantage of the same rules for 200S, Suzuki w ill start the year, the oretically , eve n wit h the co mpeti tion . "On e may be a little bit better than the ot her or a little bit faster or this and that, but ce rtainly it isn't going to be the difference that we see n this year at the sta rt of the year," Mladin pred icts. Having a lesse r motorcycle worked in Mladin's favor. The team couldn't help but notice when Be n Bostrom wen t 196 mph at the Dece mber Dunlo p tire te st . Team manager Don Sakakura said they were a little depressed. Then came motivation in the form of Duhamel's crew chief, AI Ludington . "There 's plenty of mot ivating factors in Ame rica, I'm sure of w hich many people in the off-season have already read about," Mladin said. Accord ing to Mladin, Ludington boasted abo ut the "It's not hard to keep motivated racing in the Superbike .. series in the States." pretty rem arkable results. As a ride r, you're always going to complain about tires and tire grip, but this year I think what happ en ed on the racetrack... everyone saw i4 that Dunlop worked very hard. " Dunlop didn't build tires specifically for Mladin or the Suzuki. "Eve ryone had access to all the tires , but we had a lot better choice of w hat we had to pick from ," Mladin said. "There were certainly races in the past whe re everyo ne ran the same tire, where this year, there we re quite a few different choices of tires to run, and people did run differe nt choices." One of Mladin's wo rst tire failures in 2003 came at Road Atlanta. The rear exp loded just as he straightened up on the lo ng back straight , well into sixth gear. Had it happened a seco nd ear lier, while he was still banked over, his season wou ld have bee n over. When they left Atlanta this year, the champ ionship It was over. "We certainly done what we had to do in Atlanta," Mladin said of his sweep of the Superbike races, his seventh and eighth wins of the year. "To be honest with you, with all the stuff that went on before Virginia [the thre eweek hurr icane-induce d delay of the VIR we ekend] ... for me it was just a matter of conce ntrat ing e nough to get through Virginia. As everyo ne saw, my concentration wasn't exactly up to what I call my 'normal standards.' It turned out to be a long year in the end , because it's nice to get home . And whe n thingsget put off fo r mo nths, it' s more of a pain in the butt than anything." Mladin is hom e now in The O aks, a small town abo ut It an hour o utside of Sydney, Australia, where he lives with his wife, Janine, and their one-year-old daughter, Emily Jean. His on ly recent trip has been to Malaysia, where he impressive speed of the new Ho nda 1000 by saying, "We'll put the fourth plug lead on afte r lunch" at the Decembe r Daytona tire test . "It's not hard to keep mot ivated racing in the Superbike series in the States," Mladin said. Next year, the re's mor e motivation and more com petition, including 200 3 World Superb ike Champion Ne il Hodgson. "I think he's a grea t addition to the series," Mladin said. "Do I think Ne il's going to come over and win the cham pionship? Absolutely not . But, of course , if I wen t to the English series , then that's what every one wou ld be saying about me too. Of course you' re going to say that. But Ne il's obvio usly a ve ry good mot orbike rider. He's a World Superbike Champion ... and I think he's capable of putting in so me very goo d resu lts - I have no doubt about that. Some of the racetracks in America are very, very similar to English race track s. They're a bit bumpy, they 're a bit up and down . I don't think he'll have a pro blem learn ing the racetracks in 4 hours of practice ." Mladin knows that his words, like those of others who don't ex pect Hodgson to win, could rile up the Englishman. "It's amazing what good motivation can do for a race," Mladin said. "I expect some good res ults fro m Ne ilfor sure. I certai nlywo uldn't underestimate him." Mladin also sees Zemke cont inuing to improve . Before the start of the 2004 season, Mladin had pre dicted Zemke wo uld be a force. And he was, holding second to Mla going into the final race at VIR. din "T he fact that he'd bee n riding big bikes for quite a while and the fact that he's obviously a ve ry good mot orcycle racer, and that he got on a moto r- ~I cycle that was ve ry goo d , certai nly he was going to be a threat, no doub t ," Mlad in said. "I think Jake rode a good steady yea r. He couldn't quite get a few things toget her at the time w hen it was nee de d, but I'm sure that he'll come around. He'll get it toge ther, more than likely. The differe nce in winning cha mpionships and not winning championships is, whe n it matt e rs, yo u have to get it togeth er. Th is year, Jake didn't quite do that, but he' ll ge t going." Duhame l will be a threat, as always, with Ben Spies joining the Yoshimura Supe rbike lineup . Eric Bostrom, back on Dunlops, co uld find his old form . Jaso n Pridmore will be on the Super bike grid re presenting Michael Jordan's Suzuki team . But tha t's it, and Mladin doesn't like it. He'd like to see all manufacturers in the pre mier class. "The fact that they 're not.. . to me , the exc uses they give are weak," Mladin said. "O ne of the manufacturers that isn't in Superbike blames the AMA for not doing this wit h the rules or that w ith the rules, yet we 're going to have a set of 1000cc Superbike rules for at least four years . Some of the excuses I've hear d are weak . And to me, it just mea ns the boys are scared to play - that's it. I don't think they think they can win." Mladin's contract is up at the end of this year and he hasn't discussed an exte nsion. "We' ll just wa it and see, " he said. "My life's changed a lot in the last three or four years with a lot of different things. And making a commitment now to anybody wou ldn't be a very smart move on my beh alf." Mat MladinImpo rts, the co mpany he owns in Australia along with a multibrand dea lership, contin ues to grow. "Life changes and things change, and who knows what I might want to do co me 2006? T here're different possibilities out there for me. Suzuki and myself have done amaz ing things in the States , and they 'll certainly be at the very to p of the list when it comes to peo ple I'll be talking to for future racing things." eN

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