From a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

MLADIN CHASES ROAD ATLANTA SUPERBIKE VICTORIES

The American AMA Superbike Championship may have enjoyed a six-week break in racing action before heading into this weekend’s penultimate double-header round of the season, but for current championship point’s leader Mat Mladin, the break has brought with it plenty of encouragement as he strives to convert his current 21-point advantage into an unprecedented fifth American Superbike crown.

The Australian and his Yoshimura Suzuki team have worked overtime during the break chasing increased performance from their Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike.

The team tested at Road Atlanta, the venue for this coming weekend’s round of the series, in the week following the last round at Mid-Ohio, with Mladin emerging with the fastest time of the two-day test. Last week, the team then headed to Virginia International Raceway, host of the final round of the series, where Mladin again set the quickest time of the test.

The tests provided the team with a vast amount of technical information relating to tyres, chassis and engine performance.

“The Road Atlanta test went even better than we expected,” said the four-times American champion. “We’ve been very competitive there in the past and this time we found four or five different tyres that we can potentially race on, that were all very good as far as lap times went.”

“Last week we spent two days at Virginia and it was good for us just to get back out on the bike after having nearly a month off it. It proved very worthwhile as we found something there with the set up of the bike that made a big difference in a few areas allowing us to drop our lap times.”

“Suzuki have made some improvements with the bike since the Atlanta test, plus the team has also been busy working on some improvements, so overall I think we have the best package that we have had all year. It’s great that we have made these improvements at this point of the year.”

With testing now complete, there are just two double-header Superbike rounds (four races) remaining. Mladin arrives at Road Atlanta with a 21-point break over Jake Zemke (457 – 436), with Miguel DuHamel (413) third.

“I’ve been saying it all year, I’d prefer to be in front than chasing,” added Mladin, a six time race winner this year. “It certainly holds true the closer you get to the end of the year, that’s for sure.”

“We’re in a position where we can’t relax. We have to get out there and get it done in Atlanta and hopefully if we do a good job it will allow us to enjoy the final round at Virginia.”

“As far as the championship and everything else is concerned, this is by far the most important weekend of the year. We can really do a lot to put the championship away this weekend. We’ve had a good build up with the tests and have made further improvements with the bike, so it’s up to us now.”

Mladin has four race wins to his credit at Road Atlanta, taking the double in 2000, as well as single victories in 2001 and 2003. He has also set the fastest single lap time in recent years with the lap record and last year’s pole position to his credit.

Practice and qualifying for the weekend commences on Friday, before the first of the Superbike nationals take place on Saturday afternoon.

ROAD ATLANTA – FAST FACTS

Circuit length: 4.087km (2.54miles)

2003 AMA Pole position: Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:23.520

2003 AMA Results:

Race 1
1. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki)
2. Eric Bostrom (Team Kawasaki
3. Kurtis Roberts (Erion Honda)

Race 2
1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki)
2. Eric Bostrom (Team Kawasaki)
3. Kurtis Roberts (Erion Honda)

Lap Record: Mat Mladin (Team Yoshimura Suzuki) 1:22.735 (2001)

2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship (Points after 14 of 18 rounds)
1. Mat Mladin (457, 6 wins); 2. Jake Zemke (436, 2 win), 3. Miguel DuHamel (413, 4 wins), 4. Eric Bostrom (336, 1 win), 5. Ben Bostrom (306, 1 win), 6. Geoff May (299); 7. Aaron Yates (272), 8. John Haner (262), 9. Eric Wood (239), 10. Josh Hayes (237).