Mathew 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 five), and holds series records for wins (83), poles (50) 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.[1]
A plane crash in 1995 nearly cost him his foot,[2] but he returned in time to finish second in the Australian Superbike championship.[citation needed]
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[3] in 2006 (despite winning the final 5 races, after making some riding style changes to cope with his young team-mate[4]). Mladin also finished runner up in the Championship to Spies again in 2007, losing by one point.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
On 20 August 2008, AMA Pro Racing issued a press release announcing the disqualification of Mladin from the previous weekend's AMA Superbike National round at Virginia International Raceway. The press release indicated that the crankshaft from Mladin's bike was found, after comparison with a stock "control" part kept by the AMA, to have violated Superbike class rules, which require an essentially stock crankshaft to be used. The Team Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's appeal of the penalty was summarily dismissed as being, "without merit," by AMA/DMG on 5 September 2008.[citation needed]
As a result, with only one round remaining in the championship, Ben Spies' numerical advantage in the championship points became unassailable and Mladin lost the championship for the 3rd year in a row to Spies. It is a known that all Yoshimura bikes on that day had the same crankshaft. Mladin's bike was the only one inspected. Upon his disqualification, Spies and Hayden were moved up the ladder into first and second placings, also riding illegal bikes.[citation needed]
On 31 July 2009, Mladin announced that he would retire from the AMA Superbike Championship at the end of the season,[5] and the announcement came as Mladin refused to take part in that weekend's round at Heartland Park, Kansas due to concerns over rider safety at the circuit: Mladin is known for his campaign for improved rider safety through improvements into the circuits. Mat won the 2009 AMA Superbike championship, and then retired.
He lives near Oakdale, New South Wales, with his wife and two children. In 1998 he commented that "I don't enjoy all the press side of things at all, I enjoy my racing and I enjoy winning like nothing else.".[6]