Darryl Mocek

Recent years in AMA pro racing have seen two veteran motorcycle racers, Mat Mladin and Ricky Carmichael, come under pressure by younger, equally hungry competitors. Mat Mladin lost his AMA Superbike streak to Ben Spies and Ricky Carmichael finally has someone able to run with him in both Supercross and Motocross in the form of James Stewart. Mladin, this year, is out to prove he is still a champion. He has stepped up his game, looking at every possible aspect of motorcycle racing he can to leave no stone unturned in getting ever faster. This past race at Miller Motorsports Park, Mladin proved why he has been so dominant in Superbike racing. On lap 6, he high-sided on Turn #1, causing a red flag. It looked like Matt would be out of the race as not only was his bike smashed up some but he was holding his leg, clearly in pain. However, his pit crew was able to put the bike back together for the re-start and he toughed out the pain to get back to the pit. Because he caused the red flag, he was relegated to the back of the grid for the re-start. Mladin had a great re-start...by the time he got to the first turn, he was already up to ninth. Curing the course of the race he had made it up to third place at one point, but Miguel DuHamel got the best of him on the last lap and relegated Mladin to finishing fourth. This kind of effort is why Mladin is a six-time champion...and why Spies should be worried.