Mat Mladin's story continues after a life changing call came from Yoshimura Suzuki to race in the AMA Superbike Championship... Words: Jeff Ware Photos: Mladin Archive & Heather Ware.
After the surprise call from Suzuki race boss legend Masayuki Itoh offering Mladin a spot on the factory Yoshimura AMA Superbike Team for the 1996 season, it seemed as if there was light at the end of the tunnel for Mat after an injury plagued 1995 season…
After the surprise call from Suzuki race boss legend Masayuki Itoh offering Mladin a spot on the factory Yoshimura AMA Superbike Team for the 1996 season, it seemed as if there was light at the end of the tunnel for Mat.
The Americans had been watching Mladin and a few kind words from Aussie legendary crew chief Peter Doyle helped get an offer on the table. Mat and Janine looked into the offer seriously and agreed that a new life, a fresh start, in America could be a good thing. There was money on the table so they could buy a motorhome and travel together. The opportunity was there for Mat to take his head technician Reg O’Rourke to the team and the all-new GSX-R750T of 1996 was a good thing on paper.
Read the first part of Mat’s story here…
Mladin had his last domestic race on the Kawasaki at Phillip Island and just after Christmas Mat, Janine and Reg and Trish O’Rourke headed Stateside, moving into an apartment in California. They would end up living together as one big happy family for seven years. In fact Mladin and Reg worked together full time for 14 years and never once had an argument…
The year was tough. Mladin and Reg were not at all impressed with the team structure and the work culture of 15 hour days seven days a week. To be successful there needs to be respite and tired workers make mistakes. The Japanese/American mentality of the team needed to be broken down and managed if this was going to work. In fact, in Mat’s own words, it was comical…
“For the first month I did not see Reg until weekends. I’d be gone training when he left for the workshop and in bed asleep at night when he returned. There were many times Reg and I would look at each other and say, ‘Did that really just happen?’ haha. It was a joke. I was also not impressed when I qualified second in one of my first races and then finished second and the team celebrated like it was a win. Second place may as well be last. There was nothing to celebrate. I had to rebuild the team if I was going to create success…”
At the end of the season Mladin had offers from other teams and one that stood out was Fast By Feracci. Mat had met the team during his year in grand prix racing on the 500 Cagiva.
Being new to the team and the series meant Mladin had very little pull and had to put up with negatives. Mladin led many races during 1996 and finished second at Laguna Seca, Sears Point and Las Vegas. It was a good year for learning circuits, settling into life in the USA and giving other AMA superbike regulars a bit of a shake up and a sign of what was to come…
At the end of the season Mladin had offers from other teams and one that stood out was Fast By Feracci. Mat had met the team during his year in grand prix on the 500 Cagiva. He knew the bike was good on a good day and he figured it was also a possible foot in the world superbike door. The GSX-R750 was also no match for the new RC45 Honda or the 996cc Ducati so a deal was agreed on and Mat, Janine, Reg and Trish packed up and moved to Philadelphia to be closer to the team. Mladin instantly came to grips with the Ducati. In early testing, however, he was blowing up tyres after just six laps. Michelin were tearing their hair out trying to get the tyres to cope with the temperatures Mat was cooking them to.
Mat at his plane and chopper hangar/man cave in Sydney in 2010.
“They were planning the edges trying to get rubber off to keep them cool. But nothing worked. The tyres that year simply were not up to the lap times. And neither was the bike. When it was good, it was sensational and very easy to win on. In fact I won my first AMA race on the bike at Pheonix. But it was chronically unreliable and just not developed enough to work at the lap times I was doing on it.”
The Italian mentality in the team was not a problem as Mat had worked with Italians in grand prix. However, mid season he began to realise that he needs more structure around him and much more focus. In June 1997 Mladin began taking steps to win. And he was not going to suffer any fools in the process… he also decided that he had unfinished business in America and was not going to be in any rush to go to Europe.
Mat had a good year on the Ducati but too many highs and lows and not enough consistency thanks to machine problems. He finished the championship in third place, one up the ladder from the 1996 season. The racing in the States was fierce and the money was bigger than the world stage. And Janine and Mat could travel in their motorhome from race to race and enjoy touring and training together. It was a great life for a young couple in their mid 20s.
“By July I had a good offer to go back to Yoshimura Suzuki for 1998. I knew the 750 would not be an easy bike to win on against the RC45 but in hindsight I made the right choice. Those years battling a lack of torque on the 750 came in handy once the GSX-R1000 arrived. But it was a six-year struggle waiting for the extra 250cc. “My entire attitude changed. I realised that I had to take the bull by the horns and get a team running in an organised, winning manner. Rules were laid down and people were put in place.”
“By July I had a good offer to go back to Yoshimura Suzuki for 1998. I knew the 750 would not be an easy bike to win on against the RC45 but in hindsight I made the right choice.”
Mat sat down at home in Australia over Christmas and studied the AMA results over the past years. He came up with an average and a pattern of point scoring that has resulted in championship wins. There was an average of 3.8 wins per champion each year and a certain amount of podiums, leading laps and so forth to make it happen.
“I had decided no more listening to other people. I am doing my own thing. I want things my way and I want to win the championship more than once. I started racing for the title.”
“When I got back to business tyre testing at Daytona I had decided no more listening to other people. I am doing my own thing. I want things my way and I want to win the championship more than once. I started racing for the title. Not race wins. In AMA racing it does not always pay to win the race. You get points for leading laps, pole position and so forth. So a rider might be better off staying in second place and collecting points than risking a move to the front for very little advantage points wise if the guy who comes second led the most laps. It’s very complex.”
Mladin wasn’t interested in the odd race win, he was going for the out-right championship win…
“Things started to work well in the team. We got some structure in place and because I had proved myself and had a few AMA years under my belt I had more influence in the team. I got seven pole positions that year, six podiums and won the final race at Las Vegas. It was a tough year competing with good riders like Gobert, Kocinski, Chandler and co. Team morale was high and Janine and I were enjoying the USA and living out of our Country Coach motorhome.”
During the 1998 season Mladin had a data engineer by the name of Amar Bazzaz, a true legend. He had a masters in mathematics and originally met Mat during his Ducati season, as he was a Ducati fan. Through numbers, he began to educate Mat about what it really is that makes a motorcycle work.
Mat collected some special bikes, planes and had an R44 when he resettled in Australia just over a decade ago.
“Amar was allowing me to see a motorcycle in a completely different way than I had ever experienced – a bunch of angles and numbers. It was working and it was an advantage that very few other riders or even so called crew chiefs had. I made it clear I wanted Amar to be my Crew Chief for the 1999 season… Amar helped me develop a very good understanding of the bike. That it is dynamic and that every rider is different. Every rider sits differently. Every rider changes the centre of the bike. He helped me find an ideal set-up and we could dial the bike in very quickly.”
Meanwhile the team were in a nine-to-five routine and happier than ever. Mladin gained an early points lead with second at Daytona and Phoenix. A win at Sears Point in April and four more podiums allowed Mat to hold the points lead until the end of the year to finally become AMA Superbike Champion. Miguel Duhamel was heard to mutter in the pits that it would be Mladin’s one and only title… how very wrong he was… there were six more to come…
“It was a great season. I went into Daytona in March already focussed on September. I made no friends and I stirred up as much crap with the other riders as possible during Daytona. I loved it! I would not let Janine come to Daytona as I didn’t want her to see what kind of person I could be. I just wanted to piss as many people off as possible. Then win the 200. It was great and I miss that stuff… Duhamel was the hardest charger out there and he also had the biggest mouth. It gave me great motivation for the next 10 years… I raced like that for the next four years, winning three titles in a row.”
Although Mladin was happy to win that first title and it was a great triumph for the team, he only celebrated with a glass of red wine on Sunday night and trained twice as hard Monday morning. In fact in 13 years Mladin only showed up to the presentation dinner once. He simply didn’t want to be part of it all… and it was another great way to mentally challenge his competitors.
Amar Bazzaz stayed for the 2000 season and the new fuel injected GSX-R750 helped bridge the gap to the bigger bikes. Mladin kicked the season off by winning the Daytona 200 after a huge battle with Nicky Hayden. He then won another three wins and five podiums to take the title for a second time.
“By mid season I was really getting sick of racing for points. Backing off to settle for second place for fear of losing 30 points from a DNF. That’s not racing but it was the AMA way. In my opinion racing is about going absolutely flat knackers, crashing, getting back on the bike, going flat out again and trying to ride faster than the next guy and win! I was getting really over the championship. I hated it. I just wanted to go flat out and win every race so I changed my attitude for 2001”.
“By mid season I was really getting sick of racing for points. Backing off to settle for second place for fear of losing 30 points from a DNF. That’s not racing but it was the AMA way.”
Mladin had Peter Doyle, his Aussie Crew Chief from Kawasaki, by his side for 2001. Amar Bazzaz was not enjoying the pressure of being the last person to OK the bike before Mat rode it. They were close friends and Amar could not be responsible for an injury… Mladin and Amar had discussed this mid season and Mat had began talks with Doyle or as he was nicknamed, ‘Murray Doyle’…
Amar remained as chassis engineer/data engineer and Reg O’Rourke was still head tech. Despite a change in Crew Chief, Mladin’s winning ways continued. The new win at all costs attitude was paying off. Mat was much more satisfied at the end of a weekend if he won races. He enjoyed four wins, four podiums and achieved an incredible nine pole positions.
Three championships in a row was incredible but all good things end and 2002 was set to be a very hard year for Mladin. But he looks at it like a true champion…
“I knew that winning the three championships was going to come with those three steps backward and I took them in my stride in the tougher years to come. That is life.”
2002 was never going to be easy. The 1000s had arrived and Honda’s RC51 was fast. Mladin, dedicated to Suzuki and his faithful crew, was to persevere on the GSX-R750 for one more season before the mighty GSX-R1000 arrived. And the season didn’t start well. At Daytona, where Mladin had won in 2000 and 2001, the Australian was, as usual, pushing at 100 per cent. Completely out of character, Mladin highsided his GSX-R750 and severely injured his elbow. Mladin had not crashed for years and, as he says, it was inevitable it would eventually happen.
Mladin highsided his GSX-R750 and severely injured his elbow. Mladin had not crashed for years and, as he says, it was inevitable it would eventually happen.
“I knew my luck was going to change. With motorcycle racing, or anything in life, you can’t take five steps forward then five steps forward. You’ve got to take a step back. The 2002 season was tough. The 750 was getting old, the points deficit after my Daytona accident was damaging and I was focussed on 2003 – waiting for the 1000 to arrive…”
Finally! The 1000cc Suzuki’s had arrived. It was time for Mat to put the hammer down and improve on his dreadful previous season.
Mladin went on to finish the 2002 AMA Superbike championship in seventh place – his worst position of his long career… Duhamel won. In typical Mladin style, 2002 was placed in the backburner and as far at Mat was concerned, with 250cc extra to put him on level power terms with the others, the 2003 title was his before the end of the Daytona weekend… Tyre testing first at Daytona and Dunlop were shocked. Mladin and the 1000 were blindingly fast and tyres were falling apart.
“I remember the Dunlop guys had never seen anything like it. The tyre temperatures were astronomical, I would keep it pinned no matter what so some guys were destroying rear tyres but I was doing fronts and rears. I’d stop and hop off and watch the rear tyre. There’d be a puff of smoke then pffft. A bubble would pop up. It looked like boiling tar!” There would be numerous tyre failures early that season, the most famous at the back straight at Atlanta where Mladin saved a 168mph rear tyre explosion.
“The years on the 750 helped me when I got the 1000. I kept the extra corner speed and still rode the front in hard then had the grunt on the way out that had been missing for so long. I won 10 races and my fourth championship. It was very satisfying for myself, Peter, Jonny, Reg and the team. Those 750 years made me a better rider and I was determined to carry that through with the 1000s. Giving Suzuki their first win with the GSX-R1000 was also a highlight of the year. It was good to be back on top and I was really enjoying the bigger bike it suited my riding style much better.”
As much as he loved the 1000, Mladin was working hard for his race wins as old footage on YouTube shows, he was always working hard physically – particularly into corners where Mat always liked to keep the wheels inline. He was known to use braking, clutch with one finger (check photos, he always has one finger on the clutch) and throttle on sometimes into turns while braking, to keep the wheels inline and save a tenth or two – all at the same time!
“I’ve always believed in riding with the wheels in line. A tenth per lap over 30 laps means a win by five seconds. If the next guy is doing everything I’m doing aside from that, then I’ve won. Backing it in looks nice but not when you are fighting for fifth place!”
On the family front, 2003 was a big year. Mat and Janine had their firstborn, Emily. Prior to Emily joining the gang it had just been the two long time sweethearts roaming the USA in their motorhome from weekend to weekend. Having a kid didn’t change anything – in fact if anything, Mladin was even more determined and committed as a motorcycle racer – if that was at all possible!
“Having a family meant racing was no longer number one but it was a means to supporting my family and our life we were leading so the responsibility drove me to an even higher level of competitiveness.”
“Having a family meant racing was no longer number one but it was a means to supporting my family and our life we were leading so the responsibility drove me to an even higher level of competitiveness. As far as effect on performance, Janine and I had an agreement that she would take care of Emily and our day-to-day lives separately from the track. Janine was never one of these partners interested in getting into the other persons professional time. You see so many girlfriends or wives hanging around the garages – distracting the riders. We might have seemed old fashioned but I had a contract to race and that is what I was there to do. And now I had a family to support”.
Legendary American publisher John Ulrich was once quoted as saying that “Mladin, in his 14 years at the top of AMA, never once uttered one single word that was not calculated.”
2004 was always going to be a strong year. Mladin felt he was maturing as a rider in his early 30s and in it’s second year of development, and with Dunlop now more on the ball with the tyres for the 200-plus horsepower AMA superbikes, it was set to be a good season for the now veteran of the AMA circus. Mat started the year by dominating tyre testing then smashing them at the Daytona 200 for his third win on the track he always labelled as far too dangerous and far from the ‘International’ race it was promoted as…
Mladin set up a lot of his psychological war games with fellow competitors early on each season and Daytona was his favourite place to start. In his mind during each successful championship year, he had won the season by the end of Daytona weekend. Mladin dominated the 2004 season, winning eight races and his fifth AMA Superbike title. Hard to believe this after he was originally touted as a one-championship wonder.
Mladin dominated the 2004 season, winning eight races and his fifth AMA Superbike title.
“I was enjoying winning races not focussing on points. I was really motivated and Duhamel was riding hard but also had a fast mouth. So I was motivated for many reasons and enjoying the challenge and the instant gratification and satisfaction you get as a competitive person by wining races. I also felt that I was putting on a better show for the crowds. People fighting for wins not rolling off for points.”
Good things come in threes and the second generation GSX-R1000 had arrived.
Good things come in threes and the second generation GSX-R1000 had arrived, the popular K5. With more power and better electronics as well as two years worth of invaluable data in the bank the team went into 2005 hoping for but not expecting another AMA title.
Duhamel won Daytona 200 for Honda but Mladin won round one of the AMA Superbike race from Neil Hodgson and Ben Spies, kicking the season off with a healthy 38pts. He went on to battle it out with the learning Spies and former World Superbike Champion Hodgson but in typical Mladin form he rose to the job and won 11 races, set 10 out of 10 pole positions and took his sixth AMA Superbike crown. It was as if Mladin was simply unbeatable…. Professionally, the next four years would be the most challenging, yet rewarding, of Mladin’s very long career.
In 2005, Mladin (pictured in 08) won 11 races, set 10 out of 10 pole positions and took his sixth AMA Superbike crown.
Ben Spies joined the Yoshimura Suzuki Team as Mladin’s teammate and thus began an incredible, epic three years of week in week out battling between doubtless two of the best riders in the world. Spies would win three titles on the trot – 2006, 2007, 2008 before going on to win the 2009 WSBK title in his debut season – proving to the public what the industry already knew. That Mat Mladin was one of the best – if not the best – rider in the world and AMA Pro Racing level was World level. Nicky Hayden had also had to do his time against Mladin before winning the MotoGP World Championship.
During those intense three seasons Mladin won 31 races to Spies 30 races. Spies won the 2006 title by just eight points, the 2007 title by only 1 point and the 2008 title by 95 points after Mladin was controversially disqualified from the VIR round due to an alleged illegal crankshaft. The team appealed the decision but the AMA ruled the appeal ‘without merit’ and as a result, the championship was handed to Spies on plate. Mladin was, understandably, gutted…
“Without a doubt those three years racing Ben Spies were highlights even though I did not win the championship, I won 31 races in that period. We were pushing each other very, very hard. I was at my slimmest, my fittest and I was really enjoying my racing from weekend to weekend, and of course race win to race win.”
“Without a doubt those three years racing Ben Spies were highlights even though I did not win the championship, I won 31 races in that period.”
Despite the winning ways and always putting in 100 per cent for the fans and his team and sponsors, Mladin was under constant pressure by the AMA board that he so strongly stood up against with his safety concerns over the years. And if it wasn’t for Mladin winning the title in dominant fashion with 10 wins for his Swansong season of 2010, those suits would have had the last laugh… but it was a relaxed Mat Mladin, a proud dad of two girls after Jessica was born during the 2009 season, that is smiling as he reflects on his long career…
Despite the winning ways and always putting in 100 per cent for the fans and his team and sponsors, Mladin was under constant pressure by the AMA board.
Love him or hate him (there ain’t no in between with Mat Mladin), this seven time AMA champion, Australian Superbike Champion, 250 Proddie Champion, motocross champion and ex 500 grand prix rider is doubtless the most winning International rider in Australian history.
A hard man at the track that was motivated by winning without compromise, yet a caring dad at home with a great sense of humour, Mladin was a technical rider that would attack a situation from all angles until a solution was found. Even for one tenth of a second. Data Engineers often said he felt issues before they even showed up on the data. His team always knew they were getting 100 per cent at all times and his competitors could not match his dedication and determination. He always had an answer for every single problem. And never once blamed his bike for a result. Never…
“People say I had the right team and the right bikes. That is true but I’ve always lived by the belief that life is what you make of it. I always put myself in positions to gain a positive outcome. Put strong teams together and showed leadership. You make your own life. Life doesn’t have to be that hard – it’s humans that make life difficult. It’s in our own power to make life what we want it to be and the trick is not to over complicate things”.
Mat, Janine, Emily and Jessica settled back in Australia over a decade ago and focussed on family and farming, flying and friends. Janine and Mat went their seperate ways a few years back, but remain very close friends and Mat spends his time these days working on fitness, repairing his war wounds, flying, riding, driving and spending lots of quality time with his daughters. He lives on the South Coast of NSW and is currently enjoying life to the maximum after a few problematic years. He has just ordered a brand new chopper, and recently took his daughters on the ultimate tour of the USA…
To keep up to date with Mat Mladin, follow – Facebook: The Real Mat Mladin
Mat holds up his unprecedented seventh AMA Super number 1 plate. The last one he would score.
Mat Mladin Career Highlights
- 2009 Champion, AMA Superbike Series, 10 wins and 4 additional podiums
- 2008 Second, AMA Superbike Series, 11 wins and 6 additional podiums
- 2007 Second, AMA Superbike Series, 12 wins and 5 additional podiums
- 2006 Second, AMA Superbike Series, 8 wins and 10 additional podiums
- 2005 Champion, AMA Superbike Series, 11 wins, 2 additional podiums and 10 out of 10 pole positions
- 2004 Champion, AMA Superbike Series, 8 wins
- 2003 Champion, AMA Superbike Series, 10 wins
- 2002 Seventh, AMA Superbike Series
- 2001 Champion, AMA Superbike Series, 4 wins
- 2000 Champion, AMA Superbike Series, 4 wins
- 1999 Champion, AMA Superbike Series,1 win
- 1998 Third, AMA Superbike Series
- 1997 Third, AMA Superbike Series
- 1996 Fourth, AMA Superbike Series
- 1995 Second, Australian Superbike Series, despite missing several races
- 1993 13th, World 500cc GP Championships, with a 6th, 7th, 2 x 9th, 2 x 10th places
- 1992 Champion, Australian Superbike Series
- 1991 Champion, Australian 250 Production
- 1990 First road race, Suzuki RGV250L
- 1976 – 1989 Multiple Australian/State motocross and flat-track titles 80cc, 125cc, 250cc
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