Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown Teleconference
Note: Six-time AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin, who is the most
decorated rider in AMA history with 54 career Superbike victories,
took part in a teleconference with media members from Northern
California in advance of the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown,
presented by Supercuts, at Infineon Raceway, May 18-20.
Mat, you are certainly off to a tremendous start to the season.
Can you talk about the start to the season and your motivation for
recapturing the championship?
MM: You know, this year’s been a good year so far. From a
motivation side of things, there was a little bit of talk last year
that maybe my time was up and maybe it was time to move over and let
the young kids have a bit of a go, but the fact of the matter is I
won’t go away that easily. I worked hard in the off season,
and since Daytona we have wins in three of the last four races and
have had a good, hard season so far.
It really has been a contentious season so far, particularly
with you and Ben Spies. Do you see any of yourself in Ben? Maybe
when you were 20 years old?
MM: I don’t know him that well, to be honest with you. We
are teammates, but we don’t really see much of each other or speak
to each other. When I was his age, I won a national championship back
in Australia, so from a results standpoint there are certainly some
similarities, but otherwise not really.
There are a lot of young riders getting into the sport, what
would your advice be to them?
MM: I think it’s important that first and foremost these guys get
themselves to race track to go fast and stay off the street. All
professional racers ride fast, but we do it safely and within the
limits of the law. Unfortunately, there’s too much of this
other stuff going on. Get yourself to a track day, to a day when
all of the bikes are going the same way. Get yourself there and
see how you go. Things like that are probably the easiest way to
get an idea of where you stand.
AMA has scheduled the Hangtown event in Sacramento on the same
weekend as the Superbike event in Sonoma. What do you see as
being the big difference between two sides of motorcycle racing?
MM: The main similarities are that they’re both motorcycles and
they’ve got two wheels. That’s about it. I’ve done
both on a professional side, including motocross in my early days, but
they’re very, very different.
Ben Spies swept the two races at Infineon Raceway last year, is
that on your payback schedule? Is this one weekend you’ve
marked on your calendar?
MM: You know, he swept the two at Barber and the two at Fontana
last year, as well, and we’ve taken three of the last four this
year. It’s not something we’re taking on a negative note,
perhaps it’s something he’s taking on a positive note.
Certainly we’ve taken away that positive. I’m looking
forward to getting together and putting a good solid race on, and
getting inducted into the Wall of Fame will be fun. I’ll get
to see me ingrained in that track for a long time, which will be fun.
You passed Miguel Duhamel for the all-time Superbike win record
a while back. Do goals like that cross your mind?
MM: Not really. Miguel’s got wins in a bunch of different
classes. My records have all been set in the premier class, in
Superbike. I think Miguel might have 32 wins in Superbike, but
I’ve got 50-something (54) and six championships to Miguel’s one.
Do tracks where you’ve broken records become your favorites?
MM: Every track has to be my favorite track. You can’t go
to a track and say you’re not going to perform. You have to be
comfortable on most of the tracks. I’ve always looked at
racing that way. I’ve always said, a racetrack is just a bunch
of corners, connected by a bunch of straights, and that’s how I look
at them.
Can you talk about the unique personality of Infineon Raceway?
MM: Infineon is probably one of the most challenging tracks we go
to. It has a bunch of corners connected by very few straights.
It’s a rider’s track, that’s for sure. It has a lot of
blind corners over little hills. It’s certainly one of the
most challenging tracks each year.
This season is shaping up to me one of the more competitive in
AMA history, is that how you thought it would be?
MM: I knew Ben would be tough, although I’m not sure that
everyone was so confident that I’d be as tough as I’ve turned out
to be this year. It’s going to be a competitive year since
both of us are riding pretty good, and it’s just a matter of who’s
going to get the most wins.
The race in Fontana seemed to be a particularly exciting one.
MM: The race in Fontana was a good race, and it was reasonably
comfortable for us the first two-thirds or so. We had a bit of
tire delamination that we were fighting, but then it was just a matter
of staying strong and holding him off, and we managed to do that.
Do you think the AMA needs more races like that to help
generate interest for the casual fan?
MM: For sure. Anyone who says that AMA races have been pretty
boring so far needs a new set of bifocals, right?
You mentioned that you’ve been working hard in the off
season. What have you been doing to get ready?
MM: There are a bunch of different types of trainings that we do.
I actually started a training company, and you can join and see what I
do, if you’d like.
Would you have the motivation to push yourself like you do
without Ben?
MM: No, I think it would be very difficult. Things were pretty easy
for a few years, and I got a little lazy and complacent. It all caught
up with me in the end.
You really like your privacy. Is that hard to balance
when you’re a star of the sport?
MM: As motorcycle racers, we have a lot on our plate at the race
track and away at testing. Away from the track, we don’t do
much press stuff. I certainly enjoy promoting the sport, but away from
the track I like to spend time with my family and get away from it,
but I certainly try to do what I’m asked to do to promote the sport
and get it to the next level.
Suzuki is dominant in Superbike, and has been for a while.
Why is Suzuki so dominant?
MM: To be honest with you, I think Suzuki makes great sport bikes.
Also, over the years, Suzuki has become very strong and having the
right riders to keep pushing you along, and good development riders,
certainly helps develop the motorcycles into race-winning motorcycles.
Is that because they put so much into the development?
MM: Yeah, for sure. They’ve worked very, very hard at
delivering us good bikes and over the years, Suzuki has certainly
proven that when it comes to building good bikes, they’ve won a lot
of championships and their record speaks for itself.
With all of your wins at Infineon and with all of the
improvements there, is it one of your favorites?
MM: They’ve done a lot of work on the race track, and we tested
up there a month or so ago. There is still some work that needs
to be done, but they’ve come a long way. It’s certainly one
of my favorites because it’s so challenging. I like a good
challenge and Infineon is a fun track to race around, that’s for
sure.
What is your relationship like with Ben Spies?
MM: We don’t have one, really, to be honest with you.
He’s a lot younger than me and he does a lot of different things.
We’re teammates and we’re competitors, and we seem to be the two
guys on the track who seem to be fighting it out. There’s
certainly no love lost between us.
What are your expectations for Infineon Raceway?
MM: My expectation is to win a couple of races. We need to do
that to gain some points on Ben and really make a run for the
championship.
You’d mentioned that you may have become a little complacent
after wining all the championships, how has Ben helped you rededicate
yourself to winning championships?
MM: Well, the biggest help was obviously kicking my butt last year.
That was the number one thing. Number two, knowing how strong he
is and knowing that he’s a very good motorbike rider. Knowing
that I’d have to really work to keep up with him and beat him.
I know I’m a pretty good rider, I’ve got a few wins myself, but at
35 years old, it certainly takes a lot of work to keep up with a 22
year old.
Can you talk a little about the health of the AMA and how
it’s grown the last few years?
MM: For sure, we’re seeing record attendance at most races we go
to these days, and certainly since the late ‘90s and 2000, things
have taken off quickly. Walking around the paddock and seeing
how much money the manufacturers are spending and the good riders
they’re putting on bikes, and the number of people and fans you get
around the paddock, it’s very, very hard to miss it. It’s
there in your face, and the growth of the series has been very good
the last few years.
When you first came into the series, Miguel Duhamel and Doug
Chandler were the leaders, and you were the young-gun coming up.
Do you recognize how things have come full circle?
MM: Not really. I don’t see myself as somebody who’s been
in the position to win and then decided to go away and not win
anymore. I’ve seen myself dedicate myself for years to come, and
I’m certainly not a rider who’s going to hang around when I
believe I’m not able to get the job done anymore. I’ll be
the first to admit when I can’t beat the younger kids or I can’t
get the job done.
Any idea how much longer you’ll keep racing?
MM: It’s really year by year. Obviously I’m 35 and I’ve
been a professional now for 15 or 16 years. I’ve been around a long
time. I won my first Superbike championship in 1992. The
thing that I look at is that I’m in better condition now than I’ve
ever been in my life, and from a mental perspective I want this more
than I ever have before. I don’t see why I wouldn’t be able to be
competitive. I’m contracted with Suzuki through the end
of next year, which means I give it all I can through 2008. If I
still feel like I’m competitive then, I’ll make my decision.