mat mladin is coming home.......

**gomick** · 2 Jul 2002, 09:15 (Ref:325700)

great news, the 3 time ama superbike champ is going to race in the final 2 rounds of the australian formula xtreme championship at oran park (aug 18) and eastren creek (sep 29) - these rounds dont clash with ama superbike rounds - cant wait

f1manoz · 2 Jul 2002, 09:18 (Ref:325705)

Cool. Might go to the Eastern Creek round as it's only 15-20 minutes from where I live. Just have to convince my mates to go along with me!!!

**gomick** · 2 Jul 2002, 09:32 (Ref:325715)

bloody lucky f1manoz - i am seriously thinking of riding my bike up (from vic) just to see the man.

remember seeing him dominate an aus sbk round at winton in 1992..... he is a class act

elephino · 3 Jul 2002, 10:40 (Ref:326382)

Very tempting....assuming they haven't put on another event at the same date (as has been so for the previous two rounds at EC).

asha · 6 Jul 2002, 01:21 (Ref:328002)

well it gets closer F1manoz tell us the details and we'll try for a 10-10ths gang to see the race!

**gomick** · 14 Aug 2002, 08:18 (Ref:357481)

this weekend folks, havent heard if mat is entered though

v8 supercars are at winton (the centre of australian motorsport

) on the same weekend.

**gomick** · 14 Aug 2002, 10:40 (Ref:357569)

Three times American Superbike champion Mat Mladin had hoped to make his first racing appearance in Australia for six years at this coming weekend's Oran Park round of the 2002 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State, but a tight end of season schedule has forced him to rethink his plans.
With just a week's break between the final round of the American AMA Superbike Championship round at Virginia International Raceway and the Oran Park Formula Xtreme round, there was insufficient time left for Mladin to return home and prepare the Suzuki GSX-R1000 that he will race under the Mat Mladin Motorcycles / Yoshimura / Suzuki banner.

Mladin will be in attendance at the Oran Park meeting as an interested spectator, catching up with old friends and finding out first hand as to how competitive the local motorcycle race scene is at the moment.

"There was no chance in making it back home to do the race after Virginia," said Mladin. "The earliest time that I can get home is Wednesday and then I've got to ride on Friday and I haven't even ridden the bike that I will be riding. It's a brand new bike that hasn't even turned a wheel, so I mean, it's pretty much an impossibility at this time that I could race there."

"It's a shame that I couldn't get home to do it because I was looking forward to it," added Mladin. "Oran Park is just a few minutes from our shop at Narellan and I was just looking forward to getting home and racing in front of the Australian people again."

Following his decision regarding Oran Park, Mladin indicated his intention of racing at the sixth and final round of the Formula Xtreme at Eastern Creek in late September.

"The Eastern Creek round on the other hand is 100% go. I certainly don't have anything to do back in America leading up to that round on September 28 - 29. I've already told my Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki team over here (in America) that it was on so that they can plan around it, so they'll do the best they can."

For the past 18 months Mladin has been dedicating his time to the development of his business interests here in Australia which includes Mat Mladin Motorcycles at Narellan, south west of Sydney and his role as the distributor of Yoshimura performance products in Australia. While he has been competing in America this year, he has also been coordinating the preparation of his race bike from his dealership.

Prior to his international racing career, which included a year racing for the factory Cagiva team in the 500cc World Championship, Mladin won the Australian 250 Production Championship in 1991 and the Australian Superbike Championship in 1992. He also continues to hold the outright motorcycle lap record at Oran Park. He has been racing in the American AMA Superbike Championship since 1996 and has had a brilliant career racing in what is regarded as the strongest domestic Superbike championship in the world. He won the AMA title in 1999. 2000 and 2001, was voted the AMA Pro Athlete of the year in 2000 and is the all-time AMA Superbike pole position holder with a total of 24 pole positions.

racer69 · 14 Aug 2002, 12:35 (Ref:357659)

Thats a shame that there is no Mat Mladin this weekend, i was thinking of going if i could get there, i'll still try and get there though, as similiar to f1manoz, Oran Park is only a half hour away.

As for EC, which is only 15 mins up the M4, maybe for me, i was thinking of going to Wakefield Park for the PowerTour (or whatever they're gonna call it), but may make the trip to EC instead.

Hopefully Mat will be in better spirit's than he was after Virginia, for good reason as well, the Suzuki was pretty uncompetitive this year, and as he said, the year was pretty much a waste of time. Apparently he has asked to ride the Formula Xtreme Suzuki in America next year instead of the Superbike, be interesting to see if he is serious.

**gomick** · 15 Aug 2002, 07:11 (Ref:358127)

that would be interesting - what hope would the suzuki 750 have of beating a 1000 in next years ama superbike championship.

i am thinking about the EC round of formula xtreme too, think it is a day after afl grand final though - which means i probably wouldnt be in to good a condition to ride a bike

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