Recently I started following Mat Mladin on Twitter (twitter.com/MatMladin).
I have always been a fan of Mat Mladin's racing abilities but only recently have I been able to relate to him on a more personal level. You see, Mat has always been a bit of a rebel. He isn't afraid to speak his mind and at times he can come across as somewhat of a jerk.
His "less than friendly" image hasn't been helped by his open hostility towards the current AMA/DMG rules package for superbike racing in the US which he clearly regards as "a joke". So, if Mat is so unhappy racing here would he pack up and leave when his Suzuki contract expires? I say, extremely unlikely and here's why.
I'm convinced that Mat is #1 a family man and #2 a motorcycle racer. His priorities are to provide a good life for his family and he's doing that quite well by racing in the US. Even though he doesn't like the current rules package it has made the racing closer so far. Tommy Hayden, Neil Hodgson and even Larry Pegram have been able to run with Mat at times and they are sure to get closer as we now get to racing on real tracks like Road Atlanta and Barber. Mat loves competition, we know that.
So even though Mat might yearn for the real competition of full blown world superbike racing and running against Ben Spies again I think that at this point in his life his priorities are family first and ego second and I respect that. So I don't look for Mat Mladin to go world superbike racing.
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