Mladin announces retirement in open letter
Going out on his own termsAustralia’s Mat Mladin has announced his retirement from AMA racing at the end of the 2009 season, by which time he should have claimed his seventh superbike title and left the sport still at the peak of his powers.
Announcing his departure from America in an open letter, Mladin said that his “career has been long and above and beyond my wildest expectation”.
The letter continued:
For those into critical interpretation, Mladin has only announced his retirement from AMA racing, but at 37 years old there appears little chance he will continue his career in another environment – not even world superbike, where rumours have been floating he may have followed his erstwhile AMA teammate Ben Spies to.
Spies, who enjoyed some epic tussles with Mladin in the last few years of AMA superbike, has been a revelation in this year’s world superbike title.
Mladin will also leave motorcycle racing as a two-time Australian road racing champion, and with a year of MotoGP (nee 500cc) racing behind him.
Mladin was plucked straight from the Australian Superbike Championship to go grand prix racing for Cagiva in 1993, but only lasted a year before the Italian marque decided not to take up the option of extending his tenure.
He returned to Australia in 1994, vowing never to return to world championship action unless he was on competitive machinery.
After reconsolidating in Australia, punctuated by a nasty paraglider crash which badly broke his leg, the forthright Mladin eventually ventured to America, where he has won all his six AMA titles (1999-2001, 2003-2005) on Suzukis.
The New South Welshman is now expected to return to Australia full-time to oversee his business, Bike Gear Warehouse.
Mladin boycotted last weekend’s round of the AMNA title at Topeka, citing concerns with safety, but still leads by 73pts over teammate Tommy Hayden with three rounds remaining.
Australian Scott Charlton (Suzuki), deputising for badly injured countryman David Anthony, was 12th and 10th in the superbike races at Topeka, while Aaron Gobert (Aprilia) went 14-11 in the SportBike class.
Click the following link for more information on the 2009 AMA Pro Superbike Championship.
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