Mladin retires from racing over safety row

[Bob]

AMA Superbike championship leader Mat Mladin announced his immediate decision to retire from racing after refusing the take part on what he considered an unsafe circuit.

Mladin, 37, said of the Heartland Park circuit “170mph turn 1 and you can hit the concrete with your shoulder, which leads to turn 2 head on into concrete which leads to turn 3 where a wall has removed and if you run off the track you go into a 10ft deep ditch. The track seems willing to do work but the wrong people are advising what to do and unfortunately I do not wish to die or be busted up waiting for that work to be done.”

Mladin also launched an attack on his fellow racers, saying “Some riders are saying that the work will happen in stages. It is the reason why some places we go now are still bad, because riders won’t stand up and be counted. Amazing how great they can ride a bike but be the most gutless people I have ever known. Spineless!”

Mladin has such a substantial lead in the championship that he is guaranteed seventh place with three rounds remaining.

[slowpoke]

This has already been covered mate.........and his retirement is not immediate, but at the end of the season.

[Bob]

Thanks for the clarification on the retirement date.

Did you notice Jamie Hacking also withdrew from racing that circuit? US circuits are worrying, in regards to how close they are to concrete walls. Given that it is such a litigous country, I'm amazed it is allowed.

I know when I used to be British Superbikes Correspondent for Race24, I once went to Cadwell Park to cover that weekend's racing - and they had a big hold up in practice, as the tyre wall wasn't tall enough to cover the permiter barrier. Practice was stopped until they went to a scrap yard 20 miles away and got a load of tyres to raise the level.

So if the UK would prevent this sort of thing a few years back, surprised that the US still allow people to potentially run into a wall. That said, the IoM TT would never be allowed if it was starting up new, would it?

[slowpoke]

Yep, I reckon the disclaimer they sign would be about 35 pages long.

It's a shame Topeka didn't work out. The circuit owners were keen to have the Superbikes there, and were bending over backwards to mitigate the concerns of the riders, but the AMA/DMG screwed it up by not doing a decent track inspection before the meeting. Had the circuit owners been given enough time it could have been a great event.

It seems typical of the AMA/DMG show at the moment, with many tracks having a take or leave it attitude to riders that they have cocked up an event that seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of the bikes coming to town.

The NZ series isn't in any better shape, the murmurings from Oz aren't positive, so you are lucky that BSB seems to be doing well.