The Mat Who Would Be King.....

.....IS King again for the 7th time!

Mat Mladin, who has managed to dazzle, ruffle, and keep our interests alive for the better

part of the last 13 years in the AMA Superbike Series, managed a 9th/2nd place finish over

the weekend at Virginia International Raceway, and took his 7th Superbike title in the

premier class of American roadracing. Not that winning his 7th--and unfortunately what

looks to be his last as he announced his retirement a couple of weeks ago--was going to be a

stretch. Through and including the Laguna Seca round over the 4th of July w/e, Mat had won

a total of 10 races, while managing to build a lead in the series standings that he would not relinquish. The formalities were all but done by race time yesterday, as in the Sunday race he

only needed 2 points to take the title from his team mate, Tommy Hayden, no matter where

Tommy Gun finished.

After having started the year on a tear in not only claiming pole wins, Mat amassed win after

win in what seemed from the start of the season a cakewalk. However, after having to deal with

a new '09 motorcycle several race events into the season, it took some time for Mat to come to

grips with the handling and performance of the new machine. Never failing to take it to the edge,

he showed everyone why he is the all time champion by protecting his point lead while

developing the bike, and coming to grips with the nature of the new beast at hand. Not too

mention the new beasts involved with the Damaged Motorcycle Guys people who have

attempted to re-work the series ala NASCrash and their rule making/changing ways to re-

formulate the series. That's another story for another time. This is about Mat.

For the man who stepped up and has taken the U.S. series by storm since he emerged on

the FBF Ducati in 1997, yesterday was the final crown and the final exclamation point to

a very storied career. Not that a chance of another win or two might not be possible in 2

weeks at the season-ending event in New Jersey, but yesterday was the culmination of all the

dedication, effort, training and focus that Mat Mladin has shown all of us here, let alone the

world, for all of these years, and shown how/why he is now a 7-time champ after having won

his 7th crown in the last 11 seasons. I've said it from the start, the man is a machine, and he has

rolled over all of us in showing what kind of champion and competitor he is. And unfortunately,

after the end of this year, Mat Mladin will go back to being a mere mortal. He will walk away from the sport and series he has decimated virtually since the start, and we will all be

worse off without him as a result. Not seeing Mat Mladin on the grid in 2010 in the AMA
Superbike Series is going to leave a hole the size of Texas in the series and we all will suffer

as a result. However, we can say we have been treated over the last decade plus to one of the

finest performances by one of the premier athletes at his job, and boy, were WE wowwed by it!

For Mat Mladin, we all bow at your feet for what you have done and shown us, and we are all

better for what you have done and shown us over the years. You will be surely missed, and

we will appreciate even more, when you are gone, how much you have truly done for us.

Thanks for the memories, Mat, and congrats on Number 7! We never doubted it would come!

The shots above are all of Mat at Road America in 2004, in various stages of practice, qualifying,

and generally kicking everyone's a.. over the w/e while winning both races that year.

Their may be some people out there that won't miss him when he's gone, but I can tell you I WON'T be one of them.....Thanks again Mat!!

Mat Mladin Announces He Will Retire at The End of The '09 Season...

It is with great sadness that news comes to us from the folks at
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/ that 6-Time AMA Superbike Champion--
and still possibly 7 after this year--Mat Mladin will retire at the end
of the 2009 season.
Having obviously been on the end of a what he has surely felt like a
losing game with the takeover of the AMA Road Racing Series by the Daytona Motorcycle Group and the difference of opinions on how a professional motorcycle series should be run, and coupled with the fact that he withdrew from this w/e's competition at Topeka's Heartland Park event due to some overlooked safety issues on the part of said AMA/DMG people, it is not surprising to see him ride off into the sunset on top of his game. The hush you
hear now is the air being let out of the bag as the motorcycle racing community mourns the loss--on track--of one of the all-time true champions.
You can read the official announcement here as you catch your breath and pinch yourself to make sure you aren't dreaming:



http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jul/e/n090731e.htm

It's been a GREAT ride Mat! We will definitely miss your spirit, enthusiasm, direction, and most assuredly your zeal to whip ass! Thanks for all you have done for the true road racing fans in America--and all over the world!

Hell is Beginning to Thaw & All is Well in The World Again...

...unless you are one of the fine folks from the DMG Group. And then
you are bummin' again as Mat Mladin pulled off his 8th of 9 event wins this
afternoon in the AMA American Superbike Series race at Infineon Raceway in
Sonoma, CA. After having suffered defeat yesterday for the first time this season,
Mat stormed back to the win by an unofficial margin of 1.8 seconds over
Yamaha R1-mounted Ben Bostrom, the former '98 AMA Superbike Champ having his
best outing of the season as of yet in the 'new' AMA American Superbike Series.

Thanks to the fine folks at http://www.roadracingworld.com/ for the link to the top 10 results:

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=36593

The shots above were taken of Mat during practice and qualifying during the race w/e
at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL., for the 'old' AMA Superbike Series in April of '07.

Hope everyone had a fine w/e. Now it's back to work to look forward to the 3-day w/e coming
up and celebrating Memorial Day, first and foremost, to honor all of the fine men and women that have served, fought, and died for this wonderful country. And to get pumped up for all of the fine racing to see and view for the upcoming 3-day w/e. Should be fun as one of the series
that kicks into gear next w/e is the AMA Flat Track Championship. returning after a 2 1/2 month break after Daytona, to the beautiful Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Il. Up first
for Saturday night are the 450 class bikes in the TT shoot out at the rodeo stadium, and then
the Infamous Springfield Mile on the fairgrounds dirt track for Sunday afternoon. It's going
to be a fun and fast w/e and nothing is better then seeing the flat track bikes on The Mile.
Stay tuned for the action and have a safe week!

Straight From The 'Guess Who Won Their 5th & 6th SuperPole' Dept.--Mat Mladin Wins AMA 5th SuperPole and Ben Spies Wins 6th WSBK SuperPole

As we begin to get into the thick of the motorcycle road racing seasons
in the AMA American Superbike Series as well as the World Superbike Series,
two names keep coming to the top in both.
Having fought one another tooth and nail for the previous three years in America
in the AMA Superbike Series, Mat Mladin and Ben Spies are both setting and maintaining
new records in their quests to win a 7th AMA title and 1st WSBK title, respectively.
Yesterday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA., Mad Mat took his series-leading title
venture to another, and not surprising, level in winning the 5th SuperPole session of the year
in the new AMA American SuperBike Series. This morning, Ben 'Elbowz' Spies took his
World Superbike-leading 6th SuperPole win at the South African round of the WSBK Series.

Both riders, besting a field of multi-talented and race-winning riders, managed to pull off
another milestone in each of their series to lead their fields off the line in each of their w/e's
upcoming races.
You can follow Mat's ventures via the link below in the AMA series at Infineon this w/e. This
afternoon's race starts at 3 P.M. west coast time and tomorrow's race at 4 P.M. west coast time:

http://www.amaproracing.com/rr/events/event.cfm?eid=2009010925

....and you can get the live timing link here as well:

http://wire.ama-cycle.org/

As for following Mr. Spies venture at Kyalami in South Africa, tomorrow's races are at 6 A.M. and 9:30 A.M. east coast time. The link is below and the live timing is located on the right side
of the Official WSBK website:

http://www.worldsbk.com/en/home.html

The shots we view as we keep up on their exploits were taken at the beautiful Barber
Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL., just outside of Birmingham, at the AMA round in April
of '07. In both we see Elbowz chasing Mad Mat in both shots, as he did in both races that
particular w/e, while defending and ultimately winning his 2nd of 3 AMA Superbike Championships.

Good luck to both Mr. Spies and Mr. Mladin in their quests to show the U.S. and the World as
to really who is top man in each of their indicidual series they are competing in this year.
It just doesn't get any better than on 2 wheels!

Ben Spies Runs Out of Fuel and Wins

Although, just not in the same race outing.

After winning his 5th SuperPole of the season in WSBK competition at Monza,
Mr. Elbowz suited up for the racing end of things at the Italian circuit. After leading
the majority of the race, his Yamaha R-1 ran out of fuel in the last set of turns onto the
final run relagating him to a 15th placing, and 1-point outing for the day in the championship
hunt. Later in the 2nd race of the day, Ben pulled off another win, while his main competition
for the title, Nitro Nori Haga, binned it early in the race to card ZERO points for the race. While
taking home a 2nd place in race 1, Nitro managed to give up a few points to Ben to make the
championship a now 54 point differential going in to next weekend's race at the South African
round of the World SuperBike Series.

You can view all results straight from the official site here:

http://www.worldsbk.com/en/season.html

The shot above is Mr. Spies in SuperStock-class qualifying mode at Barber Motorsports Park
in Alabama during the April '07 round of the good OLD AMA Superbike Series.

Ben Spies Takes 5th SuperPole of the Year at Monza WSBK

While we see Ben Spies bend it into turn 11 at Barber Motorsports Park
during qualifying for the old AMA SuperStock class in April of '07, word comes
from across the pond that young Mr. Spies has claimed his 5th SuperPole of the year
in the World Superbike Series in Monza, Italy.
Being a 'rookie' racing in Europe this year, Elbowz Spies has now amassed 5 Superpole wins, 4 wins, 1 second, and also, unfortunately, 3 crashes. The 3 crashes, with ZERO points each for those three races, mean that Mr. Spies comes into the 5th round of the year 60 points in arears
of one Nori Haga on the Team Xerox Ducati in the fight for the '09 World Superbike Series
Championship. However, with the 2 races for tomorrow, and the other 9 events and 18 races
to go in the season, anything can happen. And Nitro Nori in this young season has made ZERO
mistakes so far, having captured 2nd place to Mr. Spies 4 wins.
You can keep your fingers crossed and watch the tape-delayed races tomorrow on Speed TV, or
even catch the live timing during the races 'live' on your computer. The races roll off at 0600 and 0930 ET in the morning, and will be shown 16-1800 ET on Speed, or the night owl times of
0300-0500 on Wed. 5/13 on the same. You can also follow along with the
updates from the website on the left side column, or click here:

http://www.worldsbk.com/en/home.html

It should be a great round to see.
Go get 'em Ben!!!

Follow Mat Mladin on Blogspot

As Mat waves to the crowd after having won the 2nd of both w/e races
at Barber Motorsports Park back April of '07 in the REAL AMA Superbike
Series, news this week is that he has started his own blog here on Blogspot.
After having announced several weeks back that he is now on Twitter--see post
below--Mat this week announced his intentions to keep us up to date on his new
blog, as well. If you would like to follow Mad Mat this year, check out the link and
hang on for a fast and furious ride as he rips through the ranks of the NOW AMA
American Superbike Series--think Superbike-Lite compared to what we have been
used to here in the good ole U.S. of A. Nonetheless, Mr. Mladin is spanking the competition
on the DE-tuned bikes just as he has done so for the better part of the last 12 or 13 years,
now having amassed a total of 7 wins this year aboard the '08 and now '09 model GSXR-1000
Suzuki. The competition has a long year ahead of it. Read on and right on!

http://matmladin.blogspot.com/

From The 'So, What's New' Dept. Mat Mladin Doubles at Barber

As we also see of the shot above from Mid Ohio in 2008 after winning
both Superbike events of that w/e, Mat Mladin, now on the #7 Team Yoshimura
Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSXR-1000 (my now that is a mouthful!), Mat won
both events this w/e at Barber Motorsports Park just outside of Birmingham, AL.,
in the wonderful town of Leeds.
Being at the top all w/e for when it counted--winning Superpole and both main events,
and for the first time this year now mounted on the new 2009 K9 models, Mat showed
the competition--not to mention the suits at DMG--that you don't make him mad by
changing the rules to try and beat him. Mad Mat simply delivered on the same goods
he has been delivering to us for over 13 years of competition now--by showing everyone
that may or may not have doubted, that Mat is NOT going away. And just making him even
madder by criticizing, putting him on probation, stripping him of real wins by means of petty
rule interpratations---did I spell that right??!!---and by thinking for any iota of a moment
that you are going to keep or kick him down, well, ya all have a new thing coming then. Cuz
Mat Mladin will not break, and he will not be allowed to be beat down by overzealous suits
or rules that were intent in many ways to alter his domination. And if it really came down to
it, don't you think he could do it on a scooter, too?! Come on! Wake up people. Or at least
a few of those suits......
Go get 'em Mat! I only wish we could see this live!

Ben Spies '08 Championship Winning Yoshimura Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSXR-1000

As you view the shots above of Mr. Ben Spies 3rd Championship

winning Suzuki in various stages of dress, the updates from across

the pond as he takes his assault to the World Superbike stage are

good and bad.

We'll start with the bad as it occurred in race one at Valencia this last

w/e, as Ben crashed chasing Nori Haga on the Xerox Ducati. Thankfully

it was only a high speed wash out, but the bike appeared to suffer fairly

severe damage from the endo it took into the kitty litter. He did, however,

get right up without appearing to have suffered any serious damage to his

body, and 3 1/2 hours later jumped on his back-up bike, and pulled off a

very valiant effort for 2nd behind Mr. Haga again. While scoring zero points

for the first leg, he grabbed a solid 20 for his second place effort to come out of

the w/e only 40 down from Nori after 3 events and 6 races. We still have 11 events

and 22 races to go and I guarantee we will see MUCH more of Mr. Spies on the box,

and most probably on the top at that. And did I fail to mention he did take Superpole

again for the w/e. Sure, it doesn't pay any points, but after 3 events, and 3 Superpoles

under his belt on tracks he has at best barely seen, well, you can do the math.

Good luck, Ben, we're all behind you and amped up you are doing such a super job.

We'll be following your exploits throughout the season and looking forward to more!

And you can follow all of his exploits through all of the links and feeds on the left-side

column. You won't be disappointed!

All of the shots above I took at Road America in June of '08 in the Yosh camp in the

paddock area. One of the most sanitary looking operations you will see anywhere in

this series, if not in the world. Between Ben and Mat Mladin, they have won 9 championships

since 1999 in the AMA Road Racing Series. That's 9 Superbike Championships, the grand

daddy of the best. Not too mention their current race winning streak of 51 races and

you start to realize you are looking at not only mastery, but history as well. Enjoy their

wares above. They are built for the gods of the series, and they are the gods of

machinery on two wheels.

The Song Remains the Same 2009 Version:

'Mad' Mat Mladin 'The Master' just wrapped up win's

Number 74 and 75 at the Fontana round of the new AMA

Superbike Series. The man is undeterred in showing us

all that no matter the formula of motorcycles he is forced

to ride due to the radical change of rules in the Superbike

class, he IS the man! And no matter what the DMG-run

series throws at him, he is going to dig deeper and deeper

and show them, as well, that he is the man and regardless

of the dribble running from the mouths of babes of turning

the series around to gain more parity they forgot one thing.

Mat Mladin wasn't going anywhere this year and he was even

more focused on showing the DMG people that they made a big

mistake in thinking otherwise.

Go Mat. Long time fan here who has always been treated

very well when going after autographs of shots taken of him.

And the dude always says what's on his mind. You don't have

to agree with the man. But you better respect what he has to say.

He didn't win 6 Championships and NOW 75 races just hangin'

around being a wallflower. Kick their a..es Mat!

The above shots are of various states of battle-readiness at Road

America in June of '06, as well as 'Mad Mat' using turn 7 during race

one of the weekend as a berm-buster. Check out the body english

as he wrestles the-then SUPER Superbikes. The man is a master.

But don't make him Mad.