This e-mail actually came in from Mat Mladin on Friday but we were out at the racetrack instead of attending to website business, so it’s getting posted a little late:

WHOA! All this over a few test times.

I’ve read slightly different versions of Anthony’s (herein referred to as “MY HERO”) story on different web sites so I will try to cover all bases.

I turned my phone on as I got off the plane to the tune of a full voice mailbox. I called one of the people back and he ran me through a few things that were said. I erupted in laughter and said I would go home and take a look and e-mail my thoughts. Here they are.

FACT 1: “MY HERO” did win the 1994 Australian Superbike Championship. Half way through the season at the West Australian round of our championship I visited the local hospital in an ambulance where they did a few X-rays of my back and said everything was OK. After getting the good news I was lifted into the team’s rental car by my then Team Manager and now Crew Chief Peter Doyle where I spent most of the night in the hot tub trying to limber up for Sunday’s race. It was raining on Sunday morning which was great relief to me because racing in the rain is nowhere near as physical as racing in dry conditions. The first race was run on a damp but drying track. I was lifted onto my bike for both races by Pete and my then crew chief Wayne Smith and finished sixth in the first race. I was very happy with that especially with how I felt. I got lucky in the second race as it rained heavily and was a completely wet track. I then got lucky for a second time won the second race and beat “MY HERO”. I mean it’s the only way I’ve could ever beat him. I had just bought a house and was living by myself and wasn’t able to walk for the next two weeks let alone leave the house, when one day after I had passed out on the bathroom floor after having a bath, I managed to get to the phone and call my now wife Janine to come and help me because something was wrong with my back. Not to make the story too long, I had some C T Scans done of my back and they showed Thoracic number 6 through 10 were fractured severely and wedging occurred of Thoracic 6, 7 and 8. They said that if I had tumbled at the race again I would have more than likely now been in a wheelchair. The next few months were a little hard but I continued to race with a very big safety margin and ended up 2nd in the championship behind who else but “MY HERO”.

FACT 2: I’ve been hard on “MY HERO” because he has won the 1994 Australian Superbike Championship. Congrats. After I won my first championship in 1999 I somehow recall “MY HERO” saying how easy it was over in the U.S. and how fat he was and still winning races. Not that easy on an inline, hey big boy?

FACT 3: I would have to say that “MY HERO” is telling little lies (didn’t your mummy or mommy in the U.S. tell you not to lie?), as he had factory supported bikes in 1994 the same as me.

FACT 4: After Honda busted their butts to help “MY HERO” win the championship he defected the very next week to race for Kawasaki in the World Supers round at Phillip Island, whilst contracted to Honda.

FACT 5: I’m not sure what I’ve said bad about “MY HERO” all year but something has obviously upset him. I don’t recall saying anything about “MY HERO” that wasn’t true.

FACT 6: Jim Allen (Dunlop Tires) gave us two qualifying tires to test because a few of us riders complained about them at Fontana. Jim wanted to give us the chance to make sure they were OK and if not Dunlop will look at getting something different. From our team’s perspective on lap times everybody found time on the Q’s except Jamie. He didn’t seem to like his which I can fully understand because our race tires are getting very good. We thought Nicky went 23.5 on his Q and 23.7 on his race tire, I think we were pretty close. You can only judge on how many laps are being done in a stint and if I remember rightly I saw a 23.5 and then a 24.something and he was in. So we guessed that was his Q, but you never really know. Aaron found a little time but not much. We felt “MY HERO” found more time than anyone on the Q. 23.5 compared to a best lap of 24.3 on race rubber, again just a guess from our teams watches. Now to me being “FULL OF S–T” (don’t like those three words, got me in a lot of trouble once). I also had two Q’s to use at the end of the day but if you read the press release where I said I only tested for two and a half hours on the last day because of my elbow playing up, it was true. Anybody who has kept an eye on qualifying over the last few years knows that I don’t leave much on the table once they bolt a Q in the back of the big SUZI. My elbow was the reason I didn’t want to do the test Jim asked us to do as I wouldn’t have been able to give 100%. I apologized to Jim for not getting it done and he said he fully understood the situation. The bottom line being, Aaron got one of my Q’s and I think Jamie got the other one after I said I wasn’t going to use them.

FACT 7: I have called Jim and left a message for him to call into you guys and to put “MY HERO’s” mind at rest to tell you which tire I used to go 23.5. Hint! the same one I used last year to go 22.7 and get the pole in Atlanta but now in a bigger profile. Now that’s really going to upset him.

FACT 8: Anyone who knows Nicky and the team of guys he has working with him, know they wouldn’t waste five Q’s at a test. Merlyn (Nicky’s Crew Chief) has been around a long time and knows how handy they can be.

FACT 9: Obviously my press guy is going to need to be clearer and spell things out better just so “MY HERO” doesn’t get his panties in a knot in the future.

FACT 10: Oh I almost forgot. You are not only a better rider than me, you are MY HERO

Any proof “MY HERO” needs of my C T scans from ’94, lap times or anything else, he can come to my dealership in Australia MAT MLADIN MOTORCYCLES, he knows where it is, the same place that I sold him a 2002 SUZUKI RM250 at cost price late last year. I didn’t have to do it at cost but I thought for a racer and all, I would look after him. STUPID ME. Yes it’s the truth.

MAT MLADIN