Mat Mladin
| Mathew Mladin | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Nationality | Australian |
| Born |
10 March 1972 Oakdale, New South Wales, Australia |
Mathew "Mat" Mladin (born 10 March 1972, in Camden, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional motorcycle racer who last raced in 2009, riding a Yoshimura Suzuki in the AMA Superbike series. He won the title seven times (no other rider has won more than four), and holds series records for wins (83, breaking Miguel Duhamel's previous record of 27), poles (50), wins in a season (11) and poles in a season (10).
Born in Camden, a suburb of Sydney, Mladin began his professional racing career in 1992. He won the Australian Superbike Championship that year, and made his debut in the 500cc World Championship class the following year, disappointed at finishing in position thirteen and at his treatment by the Cagiva factory team.
A plane crash in 1995 nearly cost him his foot, but he returned in time to finish second in the Australian Superbike championship.
Mladin joined the AMA Superbike series in 1996, riding for Yoshimura Suzuki, and finished fourth overall. He switched to Fast By Ferracci Ducati the following year and finished third in the championship before returning to Suzuki for 1998 where he again finished third. He finally broke through to win the 1999 championship. Remaining with Suzuki as of 2007, he went on to take the title in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005, with a second-place finish behind Ben Spies in 2006 (despite winning the final 5 races, after making some riding style changes to cope with his young team-mate). Mladin also finished runner up in the Championship to Spies again in 2007, losing by one point.
Mladin is a three-time winner of the Daytona 200 (2000, 2001, 2004). He has also made wild card appearances in Superbike World Championship races, taking pole position in the class at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2003.
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