Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Mladin vs. Hodgson: Round One 30 Years Ago... MaA 4, 1976 9J RolfTibblin and lack lohnson teamed up to win the Plint 400... Led by Barry Sheene, the British road-race tearn defeated defendrng cham- pions Team USA at the lohn Player Transatlanti< Trophy Match Races in England... Heikki Mikkola topped the Be$an Easter Trophy Weekend, where two GP-type MX races are held back to back, Sunday and Monday. in two different classes... we covered the hillclimb of all hillclimbs, the Widowmakei lim True was the only rider to make it over the top. I low close d'd Mat Mladin and Ne,l l.luoag.on come to a proper dust-up dunnS quahfyrnS? Hard to say. Cooler heads prevailed afier the pair 8ot physical following an on-track altercation that spilled over into the pits. The incident beSan when l"lladin felt HodSson slowed intentionally during qual- ifyin8. Mladin said he was on a hot lap and felt that Hodgson blocked him near the end of the lap. Mladin oflered a hand ges- ture and Hodgson countered. Then the two jawed with each other while ridinS slowh,, back to the pit lane. Hodgson rode throuth the pits; N4ladin stopped before going back out. "Not realry much to sa),,," Mladin said in the front-row press conference after qual- irying second to teammate Ben spies. "Ten mlnutes to go in the Superbike session, you iust exp€ct people to have a look over their shoulder, especially if they've come out ol the pits or they re coming into the pits. I mean, it amazes me ahat someone who comes from Europe and is a world Champion can't llgure that out. Eecause I had a eo at him, he got all a bit funny abou( it and tried to run me into the fence on the way ro the pits and allrhe rest of it. I don't know af it's normal to mess people's fast laps up and then expect nobody to say anything; unfortunately, over here, it's not how it works." HodSson's view was diflerent. "lwas out on a fast lap and then labort- ed it and I had a kind of problem with the front end of the bike, so I was thinkint, 'l'm toing to come into the pits' - so that's basically what happened," Hodgson said. "So I wasn't, like, riding around really slow or anything. I was even at that point.,. I was still unsure if I was goin8 to come into the pits or not. I mean, l'm always looking over my shoulder - l'm always getting out of people's wap And I keep getting blocked by all sorts of people. So, it hap- pens. You know what I mean? lf someone blocks me, I mitht shake my head a littl€ bit, but ldon t then try to make a big scene out ofit, like he's done three or four times with me before. This time it just wound me up a little bit- Hodgson didnt know Mladin wa5 upset until "he came past me and he started waving his hands all crazy, like he's done on three or four occasions before." The Al'4A time sheecs reveal that nei- ther was at their best on that lap. Mladin was slower at both the first and second splits than on his p.evious lap, one that wouldn't have gotten him the pole. Hodgson was much slower on his first ovo splits. The confrontation didnt get physical on the track, but it could have, Mladin said. "We would have if I would have pushed the rssue, he said. "l really corrld. ni be borhered with him. lt's cenarnly not worth thinking about. I'll let these tuys think about it. HodSson's son of in another race.' when the session ended, Mladin con- fronted Hodgson, who was seated in a chair in the Ducaai Austin pits. After some back-and-forth jawing - during which Hodgson reponedly said, "What do you want me to say? You're my hero" - Hodgson stood up and pushed Hladin with both hands, accordint to three eyewitnesses, and asked him to leave the paddock. The team intervened at that point. "The thing is, he came over, tryint to tell me the rules," Hodtson said. "l found that quite insultint, really. So we said a lew thinSs. and that was that, really, you know what I meanl k certainly doesn't work against me anyway, you know what I mean? lt cenainly didn't in(imidate me. I've been racing a lot of years, and anything like that morivates me, you know what I mean? I'm not going to have arrybody tell me what the rules are and what I should be doing. You've got to have a mutual respect for everybody out there. And I always have done all throughout my caree.. And I know he certainly hasn't, from a lot of the stories I've heard." Henry Rol Ahroms rf L lf"ilI =]trt.lt Tonl Destefano 8ot on the cover of Cycle News 30 years ato for winning both 25occ National motos at Rio Bravo MX Park in Texas... ln the Nevada desert, Chris Carr was featured on the cover 20 years a8o to accomPa- close-up look at Rotax din trdck- ed that Honda broke the 24- hour M oto r- cycle World Spe€d Re

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