After Mat Mladin told reporters in the post-qualifying press conference Friday that he wouldn’t ride in the rain at Mid-Ohio, AMA officials summoned Yoshimura Suzuki representatives to a meeting with track owner Michelle Truman Gajoch. Maldin objects to the uneven track surface and variable traction offered by the mix of asphalt and concrete patches, and the fact that riders who crash in the wet can slide farther (especially in grassy run-off areas) and more easily impact walls. “From what I understand, they say we will be racing in the rain,” said Mladin. “That’s a real shame because I won’t be riding…We shouldn’t be racing at this track in the rain. There’s a number of spots here, but it’s just the surface, in general. There’s way too many surfaces, way too many sealer patches and all that sort of stuff. There’s other racetracks that we don’t race at in the rain, and if we don’t race at a couple of others then we certainly shouldn’t be racing here.” Miguel Duhamel stopped just short of saying he wouldn’t ride in the rain, telling reporters, “It’s really slippery on the patches. We shouldn’t be on two different surfaces. Hopefully, it won’t rain.” “I agree with Mat Mladin,” said Neil Hodgson. “Come on, that’s crazy, there’s no grip at all. I’d hope that maybe all the riders can get together. I’d much rather race in the rain at Infineon.” AMA Road Racing Series Manager Ron Barrick told riders that he was more concerned with wet/dry conditions than with a full wet track. The course at Mid-Ohio has been plagued by water welling up through cracks and holes in the pavement all weekend. It’s likely the event schedule will be modified to work around any rain, as it was last year. It’s also likely that if it rains and AMA officials cannot run the Sunday Superbike race on a completely dry track, the race will be moved to Monday.