Mladin Has That Winning Feeling

Is Mat Mladin the greatest superbike rider ever?

The cocky Australian took a giant step toward that designation Sunday when he and his Yoshimura Suzuki completed a sweep of two rounds of the Yamaha Superbike Challenge at California Speedway in Fontana.

It made no difference to him if it was rain or shine.

On a course made slippery by mist and rain Saturday, his margin over Ducati rider Eric Bostrom after 28 laps of the 2.36-mile infield motorcycle road course was 9.054 seconds.

Sunday, with bright sunshine and a cooling breeze, his margin over Bostrom was 9.917 seconds.

Mladin was riding with so much confidence it was as if he were in a race of his own.

The two wins brought his AMA total to a record 27, bettering the mark of 26 set by Miguel Duhamel. He has won all three superbike races this year and is well on his way toward a record fifth national championship.

He already holds the record of four.

He also has won four straight races at California Speedway.

Last year, after winning 10 superbike races, Mladin was named Cycle News’ rider of the year.

But is he the best?

His record is unparalleled, but some earlier champions, such as Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey, chose to move up to world Grand Prix competition and win world championships at the sport’s highest level.

Lawson won U.S. superbike titles in 1981 and 1982 before winning world titles in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1989. Rainey parlayed his 1983 and 1987 superbike crowns to three straight world championships in 1990, 1991 and 1992.

Mladin, who lives in Rancho Cucamonga, “about a 10-minute drive from California Speedway,” during racing season, says he has no illusions about moving to a higher level.

“I don’t think there is a next level,” he said after accepting the winner’s trophy.

“To me, there is no next level. I’m 32. The factory’s not going to be ringing me, offering me $10 million a year to go out and race Moto GP. This is my level. That’s it.”

Had it not been for Bostrom, Mladin’s wins would have been even more one-sided. Third-place finisher Jake Zemke of Paso Robles was nearly 25 seconds behind the winner. On Saturday, Duhamel was 25.8 seconds back in third place.

“We did the best we could,” said Bostrom, whose brother Ben finished fifth. “Our bike was geared so low that I had trouble getting through traffic and lost my momentum, which sent us backwards a little.”

About halfway through the race, Mladin took advantage of the lapped traffic to increase his lead several seconds a lap.

“Eric kept it tough for half the race before I managed to stretch it out a bit,” said Mladin. “I was really aggressive through the first five or six laps with traffic. I got a couple of clear laps, got [the lead] up to about 10 seconds and just sort of held it until the end.”

Duhamel, the popular French Canadian who has been road racing since 1988, finished fourth Sunday and then came back to win the 17-lap Formula Xtreme race that had been postponed Saturday by rain. It was Duhamel’s second win this year, giving him 70 AMA national victories in a variety of classes.

It was his first at California Speedway. Zemke was second, 0.102 seconds back, with Jason Pridmore of Ventura third.

Other winners in 17-lap races were Tommy Hayden, who led every lap on his Kawasaki in the supersport final, and Ben Spies, who overtook Rancho Cucamonga rider Damon Buckmaster to win the superstock race.

Spies rode a Suzuki, Buckmaster a Yamaha.