From a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist, Steve Reeves:

MLADIN TALKS THE FUTURE – FORMULA XTREME, MotoGP AND RUNNING HIS OWN RACE TEAM

Within days of arriving back in Australia after completing his seventh season racing in the American AMA Superbike championship, Mat Mladin was a guest at the Formula Xtreme race meeting being held at Oran Park Raceway, southwest of Sydney.

Oran Park is Mladin’s home race circuit, having lived just 15 minutes away for all of his 30 years, but it was the first time that he had been to an Australian race meeting for many years.

Mladin took time out while at the circuit to take part in a press conference along with a number of the leading Formula Xtreme riders such as Kevin Curtain and Robbie Baird from Radar’s Team Yamaha, Josh Brookes from Team Honda and Jamie Stauffer from the Bio Magnetics Sport Yamaha team.

The early conclusion of the American season this year has allowed Mladin time to return to Australia and take part in a number of different ventures both in racing and business before returning next year for the season opening at Daytona in March.

At the conference Mladin announced his intentions to race a Suzuki GSX-R1000 at the final round of the Formula Xtreme at the Xtreme Tri-State held at Eastern Creek on September 29, his desire to obtain a ‘wild card’ entry into this year’s Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island and his thoughts on running his own road racing team in Australia.

“I’m looking forward to coming back out here and having a race and see what the current riders here have got.” said Mladin. “I know that Yamaha has put a lot of effort into the series and there are some good riders such as Robbie Baird, Kevin Curtain and the Stauffer brothers Jamie and Daniel. So I’m looking forward to just coming back and having a good race with them.

“We tried really hard to have the bike ready for this weekend, but basically we just ran out of time and that made it difficult. We’ll be at Eastern Creek for sure.

“There’s not that much development to be done. The Suzuki GSX-R1000 that I’ll be riding will be essentially fitted with parts readily available from our dealership (Mat Mladin Motorcycles) and Yoshimura. The motorcycle will be anything that anyone can come and buy or have prepared at our dealership.

“There’s no doubt that there are a lot of good riders racing here in Australia and I think that any series that you race in is very tough. The best riders in most countries are very competitive and if they are with a professional race team, such as some of the guys here, then they are very hard to beat. At present there are a number of Australian riders racing in America and winning races in classes such as Superbike and Formula Xtreme. Three different Australian riders won races in the Formula Xtreme class alone over there this season.”

As a 20-year-old, Mladin raced in the World 500cc Grand Prix for the Cagiva factory team in 1993, almost ten years later, Mladin is still eyeing a return to the Grand Prix, either as a Wild Card entrant, or on a full time basis.

“I’d love to go back to the Grand Prix, but unfortunately with the way things are over there at the moment, I’d like to be paid to race rather than pay someone to let me race in their team, but it’s just one of those things.

“I am hopeful of scoring a ‘wild card’ ride at this year’s Australian MotoGP in October. Suzuki America have requested to the Suzuki Grand Prix team to let me ride for the Suzuki GP team. It would be great to be on the new four-stroke MotoGP bike and see what happens.

“Two and a half years ago I rode the Suzuki 500 down at Phillip Island in a test and did a day and a half on it and certainly since then the itch has become more and hopefully one day it might happen. I feel that I have a few more years racing in me, especially if I can have a different goal and it’s something different to achieve than just racing the AMA Superbikes for the next five years. I’m sure that if something else came up I could do it. I’ve maintained my training because if the Grand Prix thing comes off in two and a half months from now, I’ve got to be in great condition for that.”

Even though Mladin still has a year to run on his Suzuki contract, he is looking ahead and to what he can put back into the sport here in Australia.

“I have small plans at this stage but I don’t want to build something up and then not have something happen. I’d certainly love to try and have a rider out there and start doing a bit in the way of a team. This is what I know and this is what I love to do, and one day I’ll finish racing and might come home and do a little racing myself. Hopefully I’ll have a couple of guys racing in a series out here either next year or in the next few years. The profile of the sport is lifting and I would like to be able to bring some sponsors into the series and I’m just looking forward to many on and off track challenges ahead.”