Mladin Has a Thing for Superbike History

By SHAV GLICK

April 2, 2004 12 AM PT

Australian Mat Mladin became the first rider in AMA superbike history last year to win four national championships. This year, the Yoshimura Suzuki veteran is after another record -- most AMA superbike victories in a career. Miguel Duhamel holds the record at 26.

Mladin reached 25 last month when he won the Daytona 200 for the third time.

He will have the opportunity to pass Duhamel this weekend at California Speedway, his home track, during Rounds 2 and 3 in the Yamaha Superbike Challenge.

“I don’t have any favorite track, but I call California Speedway my home track in America,” said Mladin, 32, who came to the United States from his home in New South Wales in 1996, after winning the Australian superbike championship.

“I live about 10 minutes [away, in Rancho Cucamonga], so I get to sleep in my own bed. I also like Fontana because it’s quite a good racetrack and I like racing there. It’s generally a safe track and that is important when you ride for a living.

“We won a couple of races there last year with a really great motorcycle. We tested there and things went pretty well. It will be tough, but I think we can get another double. To win Daytona, I feel a lot more comfortable going into the rest of the season. We’re going to be competitive.”

Mladin was more than competitive at Daytona, winning the 200-mile marathon by more than seven seconds. Last year at California Speedway, he won both races, one by an astonishing 14.9 seconds and the other by 6.3 seconds.

To get the record, Mladin must contend with Duhamel himself, the second-generation French Canadian rider who has held the record since 1998, when he surpassed Fred Merkel’s 20 wins. Duhamel finished third in the Daytona 200, behind Jake Zemke, a Honda rider from Paso Robles, and Mladin.

Mladin expects to get the record, but he also knows that it will be broken someday.

“Records are only made to be broken, you know,” he said philosophically. “Somebody’s going to come along in the future and some young kid, a Ben Spies or a Jason DiSalvo, and probably break that record, if I get Miguel’s. I’ve been fortunate I’ve had a great team over the last six years and I’ve been able to win a lot of races.”

Spies, 19, is defending Formula Xtreme champion from Longview, Texas, and DiSalvo, 20, is defending champion in the supersport series from western New York. He also won the Daytona supersport race.

Duhamel, riding a new Honda CBR100RR, says he wants to use his third-place finish at Daytona as a springboard to a second AMA superbike title. He won in 1995.

“I want to come out [of this weekend] with a good position to finish the season strong,” he said. “Winning Daytona would have been good, but winning a championship is pretty good too.”

The Bostrom brothers, Eric on a Ducati and Ben on a Honda, are eager to make up for their disappointments at Daytona, where Ben won the pole but neither finished the 200 because of mechanical problems.

Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, who had been one of the favorites to dethrone teammate Mladin, will miss the races after having been fined $5,000 and suspended by AMA Pro Racing for a post-crash incident at Daytona. After Yates collided with Anthony Fania, course workers said that Yates kicked and head-butted Fania. His sponsor, American Suzuki Motor Corp., agreed with the sanction and fined the veteran Georgia rider an additional $25,000.

Yates was second and fourth in last year’s Fontana races.

Saturday’s program, in addition to the 100-kilometer superbike race, includes the Formula Xtreme 60k. On Sunday, there will be superstock 60k, supersport 60k and the Yamaha 100k main event.

Formula One

Michael Schumacher and Ferrari have turned this year’s Grand Prix season into a rather boring parade, but there may be some variables making Sunday’s Grand Prix of Bahrain special.

This is the first time that Formula One has ventured into the Middle East. The track was not completed until March 17 so there was no opportunity to test the 3.36-mile Sakhir circuit before today’s official practice. Blowing sand from the desert and temperatures around 100 degrees could give tire engineers, as well as drivers, unusual problems.

Then, too, there are security concerns. Bahrain is between Qatar and Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf.

Because of the heat, the race will start at 6:30 p.m., Bahrain time.

The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, one of the darkest days in motor sports, will be reviewed tonight on Speed Channel at 10, and again on Saturday at 9 a.m. That was the weekend that Brazilian star Ayrton Senna was killed when he crashed at 180 mph in the Tamburello corner while leading , one day after rising star Roland Ratzenberger had lost his life in a crash.

Steve Matchett, then a mechanic for Schumacher’s winning car and now a TV analyst, will offer his perspective on the events.

Kendall Coming Back

Tom Kendall, Trans-Am’s only four-time champion, is returning to the series this year, after a six-season absence, to drive a Jaguar XKR for Rocketsports Racing. Since retiring from the cockpit in 1998 he has kept in touch with racing as a TV commentator.

“My plan had been to get in shape and get back in a race car in 2005, but when Paul [Gentilozzi] offered me the ride in his Rocketsports car, I jumped at it,” Kendall said.

“Getting another chance at Long Beach was a big part of the decision. I grew up going to the Grand Prix every year, but I never won a Trans-Am there, not even in 1997. I won the pro-celebrity, but that doesn’t count when you’re talking Trans-Am.”

In 1997, Kendall won 11 consecutive races, a series record. He had his best Long Beach outing in 1996, when he won the pole and led the most laps before dropping out with ignition problems.

Last Laps

The USAC/CRA sprint car series moves to the three-eighths-mile dirt oval at Kings Speedway in Hanford on Saturday night. Cory Kruseman is the points leader after three events, 20 points ahead of Damion Gardner.

The Sprint Car Racing Assn. will open its season Sunday at Thunderbird Raceway in Tulare.... The Coors Light 125, a NASCAR Southwest Series race, is scheduled Saturday night at Cajon Speedway

Veteran Mike Hixson is leading in both the PASSCAR super stock and extreme truck classes at Perris Auto Speedway and the 51-year-old Murrieta driver will be going for victories in both races Saturday night. He finished second in both last year.

The Vintage Auto Racing Assn. will hold its annual High Desert Challenge this weekend at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park. Also at Willow will be a Fabulous Fifties Assn. reunion Saturday and the Corvair Society’s Tehachapi rally on Sunday

Hila Sweet’s annual California Racers Reunion will be held May 1 at Parnelli Jones’ racing museum in Torrance.... Actor Morgan Freeman will drive the Corvette convertible pace car for the May 30 Indianapolis 500.

Alex Sperafico of Brazil has been signed by Mi-Jack Conquest Racing to be Justin Wilson’s teammate on the Champ Car open-wheel circuit. Wilson is a British driver coming from Formula One. Sperafico drove two Champ Car races last year for Dale Coyne.... Marco Andretti, 16, grandson of Mario and son of Michael, has clinched the Skip Barber Formula Dodge Southern Region series, having won 10 of 14 starts.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have made Tony Schumacher a 5-2 favorite to win in the top-fuel class in the NHRA Summit Racing Nationals this weekend in Las Vegas. Doug Kalitta is 3-1 and defending champion Larry Dixon and Brandon Bernstein 4-1. John Force is 3-1 in funny car while Greg Anderson is a prohibitive 7-5 favorite in pro stock.

This Week

*--* MOTORCYCLES Yamaha SuperbikeChallenge

*--*

* What: Rounds 2 and 3 of AMA Chevrolet U.S. Superbike Championship.

* When: Today, qualifying, 3 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 10:30 a.m., Yamaha West Region Dealers 100k, 3:40 p.m.; Sunday, preliminary races, noon, Yamaha 100k, 2 p.m.

* Where: 21-turn, 2.36-mile course at California Speedway, Fontana.

* 2003 winner: Mat Mladin, Australia and Rancho Cucamonga.

* Tickets: Today $10, Saturday and Sunday $30 each, two-day weekend package $50.

*--* NASCAR Samsung/RadioShack 500

*--*

* When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, 1 p.m.); Sunday, race (Channel 11, 10 a.m.)

* Where: Texas Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns), Fort Worth.

* Race distance: 500 miles, 334 laps

* 2003 winner: Ryan Newman.

* Next race: Advance Auto Parts 500, April 18, Martinsville, Va.

*--* BUSCH SERIES O’Reilly 300

*--*