AMA SuperBike - High Temp and Low Grip cannot stop Mladin at VIR

AMA SuperBikes: High temp and low grip cannot stop Mladin

(AMA Pro Racing Release) Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin put in a quick lap late to surge past rival Ben Spies in Friday’s AMA Superbike qualifying session at Virginia International Raceway. Mladin, a five-time VIR racer winner, ripped off a 1:24.372 to claim the provisional pole, a few tenths quicker than Spies’ best (1:24.631) and well over a second better than the third fastest man, Eric Bostrom (1:25.611).

However, Mladin’s mark fell short of last year’s pole time (1:24.226) as well as the course record (1:23.986), set way back in ’05 (an eternity by AMA Superbike track record standards).

It’s rare to see lap times hold up without the addition of any major course reconfigurations these days, as riders like Mladin and Spies casually blow away record times while warming up in the weekend’s first practice session.

Mladin explained that the combination of near-triple digit heat and morning showers made the track less conducive to posting blistering lap times on Friday.

“The times are pretty slow,” Mladin admitted. “The track is very, very slippery. You can’t get any grip on the edge of the tires at all and the tires we’re using we’ve used a couple races now and they’re very, very good -- better than what we had before. We just can’t get them to hook up anywhere and obviously nobody can. It’s just very slick on the side of the tire. There’s not enough rubber down. I don’t know if it was the thunderstorm activity but the track seemed very green.”

Saturday and Sunday are expected to provide some relief in terms of temperature, and Mladin hopes that will improve the racing surface as well.

“If it’s a little bit cooler than it is now, it’s going to help with tire grip, that’s for sure. We’ll see. We’ll see if the track can get some rubber down. If we don’t get any rain and a few more bikes out there, maybe we’ll get the rubber down and it will help. We’re certainly very tentative on the throttle in the middle of the corner, that’s for sure.”

Even though he’s less than satisfied with the grip conditions at the moment, Mladin appears to be well positioned to continue his recent win streak. Not only would a victory on Saturday move him even closer to Spies in the points race, it would also see him post the 60th AMA Superbike victory of his career, a mark that would have been considered nearly impossible before the Aussie hit the scene.

Asked where that would stack up in a career that has seen him completely rewrite the AMA record books, Mat said in his typically focused fashion, “Honestly, to get 60 wins is pretty amazing and sixth championships and all the rest of it. It’s certainly not something I’m looking at like, ‘oh it will be great to reach 60…’ I certainly expect before I retire from AMA Superbike racing to have more than 60. Maybe we can put that out a bit further for Ben to chase when I’m gone. We’ll see.”

Mladin, Spies, and Bostrom were joined on the provisional front row by Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking (1:25.797). Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates was fifth, followed by Hacking’s teammate, Roger Hayden, the lone American Honda entry this weekend, Jake Zemke, and Bostrom’s teammate Jason DiSalvo.

MV Agusta’s Luca Scassa broke into the top ten in ninth, just ahead of third Yosh runner Tommy Hayden.

The final grids for the weekend’s twin 100k finals will be established following tomorrow morning’s second AMA Superbike qualifying session.