Mladin completes winter test schedule

Two times American Superbike Champion, Australian Mat Mladin, has just completed a two-day test session at Willow Springs, California, which has left him and his team on a very confident approach to the opening round of this years Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship, which will be held at Daytona on March 11.

Mladin was joined by fellow Team Yoshimura Suzuki riders Aaron Yates and Jamie Hacking at the test, which was held on Wednesday (Feb 21) and Thursday (Feb 22). Yates and Hacking spent a considerable amount of their time testing their 600 and 750 Supersport machines, while Mladin concentrated on the Suzuki GSX-R 750 Superbike.

In contrast to recent tests, the Suzuki team had exclusive use of Willow Springs for the two days.

The team utilised the test to evaluate modifications made to the GSX-R in the past week as well as fine tuning their pit stop strategies which will be required at the all-important Daytona 200. Day one saw Mladin take to the track with the bike set up in sprint format. He quickly worked his way into the 1-min 19-second mark, with a best time of 1:19.3 being set on race tyres. This time was almost three tenths of a second faster than the time he set at the same track last week.

Day two saw the team fine tuning their pit stop techniques, with the team working hard on the quick release mechanisms designed for fast wheel changes. All went to plan with Mladin leaving the circuit satisfied and looking forward to Daytona.

"The test went extremely well," said Mladin. "The 2001 Suzuki GSX-R750 is working great and I'm looking forward to getting to Daytona and defending my title there. We have been plagued recently by poor weather, but the last two tests that we have had have produced some extremely good results. On Wednesday we had the bike set up the same as we did the week previous and we were able to go three tenths faster. On Thursday we concentrated on our pit stop strategy and I'm more than pleased with how fast we can get things changed on the bike. With the season opener just a fortnight away, things are running pretty strong and I think we're looking pretty good for that first race."

The Yoshimura Suzuki Team heads to Daytona next week to prepare for the week long festivities which form `Bike Week' at the famous Florida beachside 4:15 PM 2/23/01circuit, with the Daytona 200 mile race being held on Sunday March 11.