From a press release:

Rounds 15 & 16, 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Virginia, USA

Event preview

MLADIN CHASES SEASON FINALE VICTORIES AT VIRGINIA

Alton, Virginia, USA – The 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship draws to an end this coming weekend with a Double-Header round at Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Virginia.

For defending and three times AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin, the weekend will also mark the end to what has been one of the most frustrating seasons in his racing career.

A combination of injury and suspension problems has kept the Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki away from many podium finishes this season. A crash during practice at the opening round of the championship left him with a badly damaged left elbow which ruled him out of the race at Daytona. More recently, he injured the backs of both hands in a fall during qualifying for the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca, that culminated his withdrawal part way through the AMA Superbike race held on the same weekend.

An area that Mladin has had a season long battle with has been suspension. His team have tried numerous ways to get the new Suzuki GSX-R750 to handle in a way that will be suitable for Mladin. It has proven to be an extremely difficult task, but one that has not stopped their commitment to finding a solution.

At the corresponding round last season, Mladin arrived at Virginia, with his third title all but wrapped up. He secured pole position for the event in lap record-breaking time, before taking a very conservative 12th place finish to secure up the title. This weekend however, things are very different as the Australian currently holds down seventh place on the championship point’s table.

“Certainly going there under different circumstances this year, just basically trying to win a race,” said Mladin. “It’s been probably the most frustrating year of my racing career, with the injuries and bike problems that we’ve had during the year. It just never was this year. The bike itself was good, but we just had so many dramas with the suspension for some reason. The crashes that I had this year are the sort of crashes that I just don’t have. They can happen any time, no doubt about that, but I contribute a lot of it to the rear suspension and the suspension in general. I don’t think we were well done by in that regard.”

“I feel that I have been riding well this season and I am as determined as ever to get onto the podium and hopefully grab a race win. After the season that I’ve had, that would be a great result.”

The battle for championship honours this year is being fought out between American Honda’s Nicky Hayden and Team Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom. After a blistering start to the year Hayden holds a 35-point lead over Bostrom, who has been the form rider of late.

Qualifying for the weekend’s round begins on Friday, with final qualifying scheduled for Saturday morning prior to the first of the two Superbike nationals.