CycleOnline revisits Mladin's historic seventh championship victory.
In today’s Rewind feature we re-visit Mat Mladin’s final race in the AMA Superbike series as he signed off as the championship’s most successful rider ever.
Mladin has been at the centre of speculation recently, this week confirming to an American media outlet that he was seriously considering an offer to contest the FX-Superbike FX-500 race with Glenn Allerton.
It would mean a move out of retirement for the 41-year-old, who returned home to Australia shortly after his final season in 2009 to pursue other hobbies including farming and flying.
His seventh and final title was secured in customary dominant style with a round still left to run at the end of 2009.
He entered the penultimate round at Virginia International Raceway with a handy lead, and would not need to win, or even podium, to take an unbeatable points advantage.
10 race wins earlier in the season took his tally to 82 total, a number that will likely stand for the foreseeable future with today’s current active leader just under 50 wins shy of the mark.
Mladin’s competitive instincts saw him lead the race away but he would eventually settle for a ninth place finish, teasing his title rivals who had almost extended the fight for victory to the final round.
The win marked Mladin’s first title since 2005, and added to his previous victories in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004.
“These guys are fantastic,” Mladin said at the time. “It’s been a pretty amazing run.
“We’ve obviously won a lot of championships as a team over the last 10 years. It’s been pretty amazing from the first one in 1999 all the way through to this year, with Ben [Spies] winning a few, three in the last few years.
“It’s hard to believe that that many will ever be won in 10 years again by one manufacturer. It’s been nice to be part of it and part of building it. It’s been good fun.”
As a sweetener to his stellar career, Mladin was able to replace his customary number seven with a number one plate to round out the 2009 season at New Jersey Motorsport Park.