Mladin---Unstoppable?

Yet again Matt Mladin is dominating the AMA Superbike series.  He has won every race(but1...clutch probs) convincingly this year.  Is the GSXR that good or is it Mladin?  Personally I believe its mostly Mladin's great talent on a well developed bike.  If he rode a honda, kawi, or yamaha he would win too.  I would like to see someone be able to challenge him and maybe beat him....rrriiiggghhhttt!  C'mon Hodgsen get the duke moving.  

I agree. Great rider on a great bike. I think the first person to beat him in a straight-up race will be team-mate Spies.

The Honda's might give him grief on a faster track ( they have plenty of power ).  

He's a bit of a jerk, but he is doing his job better than anyone else.  As he said himself: he's not there to make friends, he's there to win races for Suzuki.  I like to watch him race, because watching him you can see just why he dominates.  He's just on that edge between smooth and loose.

I'm glad he's dominating because I have a Gixxer 1000 myself.

I see Ben Spies overcoming Aaron Yates as the the number 2 Suzuki man.  Yates just cannot make a rear tire last for some reason.  Maybe he's just too used to 600cc supersport and being hamfisted on the throttle.  On a superbike that's a big no-no.

How many Mladins and Hodgsons is it gonna take to show people like Nicky Hayden (aka crashboy), John Hopkins (aka ugly boy), Ben Bostrom (aka pretty boy), Eric Bostrom, etc. that American boys are usually only there for marketing reasons?

Most of these people are too busy trying to live like movie stars rather than focus on their drive and motivation to win.

I really wish that someone like Ben Spies could become that American motorcycle racing star that we desperately need.  But if he ever makes it to MotoGP it better not be on a Suzuki or he will fail miserably.  

Equation seems simple enough:

Good rider + good bike = good results
Average rider + dominant bike = good results
Dominant rider + good bike = interesting racing (e.g., 2004 MotoGP)
Dominant rider + dominant bike = racing that is "boring as sh*t"

Mladin is at the top of his game on a bike that Suzuki has done all their homework on for 2005. The results have been mirrored in WSB thus far- witness Troy Corser's and WSB rookie, Yukio Kagayama's results on the Alstare Corona Suzuki team.

As for Honda, the move to in-house development by America Honda instead of through HRC seems to have run into some issues. According to the various AMA roadrace sites, the problem isn't just about lack of power, it may have more to do with suspension and setup. If they don't come good soon, it'll truly be a race for 3rd place in the final standings what with the way Mladin and Spies are riding.  

There is no doubt in my mind that mladin is an amazing rider, but if he weren't on that suzuki i doubt he would be able to dominate the way he does.  It is an amazing bike.  Just look at the poduims!  I really hope Matt Mladin goes over to world superbike to see the battle of the australians on the suzukis.  Troy Corser vs. Matt Mladin......i can only dream

-Kyle  

On the other hand, considering 3 of his titles were on GSX-R750's against 1000cc twins, for me, personally, I have no question about his ability to compete on less than dominant machinery.

It would be cool to see him have a go at WSB or back into GP- although with the state of the GSV-R, that would be highly unlikely.

He isn't too old and he is at the top of his game, heck, Corser is slightly older and Bayliss is 3 years older.  

He is the man.  I don't see anyone beating him.  He is on a great bike.  He is at the top of his game.  He has a great team.  The only thing that will stop him is another mechanical break down, or maybe a tire problem.  He is just demoralizing everyone.  He had what, an almost 5 second lead after the first 2 laps on Saturday!!  And he did it all over again after the red flag.  No one has shown that they can run with him.  Zemke and DuHamel maybe if they were on the HRC bike again.  They picked the wrong year to bring it in house.  Hodgeson is doing well.  Still can run with Mladin.  The only competition for him is probably with in his own team.  Probably Spies.  I think Yates is about as fast as he is going to get.  Which isn't bad, as he'll probably finish 2nd or 3rd in the championship.  I'd like to see E Boz back on an inline 4.  Doesn't really matter the brand.  I think the inline suites his riding style better.  Maybe next year he'll be somewhere where he can challenge Mladin.  E Boz was competitive on that ancient Kawasaki 750/800.

Anyway....  Mladin wins the championship easily.  Spies in second.  Hodgeson 3rd.  And Yates is 4th.  And Mladin will win AT LEAST 8 more races.  Not much of a stretch since he has one 6 of 7.  


Chris  

He is the man and I give him his "props" for what he is doing and what he will do but this makes for some uninteresting racing.  Every now and again there is a good battle for 2nd or 3rd but even those spots are predictable.  Honda screwed up any chances of winning by moving development in house---hopefully it will benefit them for next year.  I can actually say that I enjoy watching the privateers battling more than watching the front runners pulling the huge gaps.  

Mladin is undeniably a great rider and he is indeed unstoppable for this year.  He has also proven he can win on varying quality of machinery.  
I don't know how anyone can deny that the new Gixxer is not a notch or two above all else on the track.  Duhamel, Zemke, Hodgson ,etc are very close to, or as talented as Mladin on any given track, but they are not even close this year.  Just the fact the Yates is in the hunt with the points shows the domination of the Gixxer. Remember, last year, the championship could have gone to Duhamel up until the last race.  
I wish it were not true.  I prefer better racing and not knowing who will win each race and ultimately the championship.
Just compare last year's CBRs to the new Gixxer.  The CBRs were winning races and occasionally dominating them.  The CBRs are essentially in the same stage of development as they were in last year following the pull-out of HRC help...
So, what changed, the Gixxer changed.  The new model is simply that much better, unfortunately!  

The CBRs are nowhere near last year’s stage of development. Give them another year and maybe they can start to challenge the GSXRs at the front of the pack. Mladin is very good but Duhamel and Zemke are equally as good. Yamaha and Kawasaki don't seem to have the support to be competitive right now, they may grab an occasional race but they won’t be a real challenge. I'm not sure that US Honda can really be a challenge either. I think that people underestimate how big of a commitment it was to bring development in-house. Assembling a kit of parts from various manufacturers into a functioning superbike [US Honda] is a much greater task than having a factory race shop and team of engineers that custom fabricate every part to work together [HRC]. If it were easy then you would have more competitive privateers. Seen any of those in a while?  

yes we all have actually......last year Chris Vermulen on the ten kate honda. This year on the ten kate honda...he and his teamate Carl Muggeridge are way ahead of the factory Honda teams and all this on a bike you and I can buy. They can get more out of the bike than HRC can and are still running it in a milder state of tune than than they could be for reliability reasons. No they are'nt running right with Corser but they are a whole bunch closer than the facory Hondas  

Finally somebody other than Mladin won and it was not one of his teammates!  I am glad to see Eric Bostrom on the podium again taking his Ducati to the front.  For most of the race I thought he was a lock for the win but Yates came up to spoil his fun for a few laps.  Great pass on the last corner to take the win.

Too bad both Hodgsen and Bostrom are behind by 50+ points to all the Suzuki riders.

Even Duahmel and Zemke were on pace but Duhamel jumped the start getting black-flagged and Zemke needed a tire.  Good to see some progress from them.  

I too was very happy to see E-Boz win the race.  What I liked the best is that someone other than Mladin won where he (Mat) did not have a DNF.  

What is up with the coverage of the race by Speed?  Did anyone notice that on the final lap, the bar in the upper left of the screen showed that there was one lap left when Boz took the checkered flag?  

All I know is that I can't wait to see if Miguel can sweep the weekend at Road America in two weeks.  Hopefully the Hondas can stretch their legs on the 4+mile road course.  Any which way it turns out, it doesn't much matter.  The race will be great because I will be standing there watching it from turn 8.    

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yes we all have actually......last year Chris Vermulen on the ten kate honda. This year on the ten kate honda...he and his teamate Carl Muggeridge are way ahead of the factory Honda teams"

And it only took +/- 8 years to get to that point. I'm not counting, of course, the years Ten Kate actually won championships ['02,'03,'04]. My point is to expect Honda USA to be competitive out of the box is unrealistic.  

Yeah, i m also glad to see Eric taking 1st place at PPIR again. Last lap of Superbike race was best, u should have seen all the crowd going nuts at PPIR when Eric made pass for a lead. Mladin was running strong also, he came from the last all the way back to 4th. If he had good start and didn't pit he probably would have won that race.