One rider looking forward to the weekend is Australian Mat Mladin. The three-times American AMA Superbike champion recently tested at the circuit which is located within minutes of his home.

“We tested here a couple of weeks ago and I was happy with the results that we achieved then, so I guess we can put them to the test here this weekend,” said Mladin. “I’m looking forward to getting back to a ‘normal’ racetrack with ‘normal’ tyres where I won’t have to back off two seconds a lap like I had to at Daytona.”

Yoshimura Suzuki’s switch from the tried and trusted GSX-R750 to the new GSX-R1000 in 2003 has given Mladin a challenge which he is now relishing. Having a new bike to develop is always something that Mladin enjoys, especially when he can sense that success is not far away. At the opening round of the championship at Daytona, Mladin suffered from excessive tyre wear, but with the additional test days and a return to more conventional style circuits, Mladin is once again ready to do battle.

“The new Suzuki GSX-R1000 has a lot of potential, it’s now just a matter of fine tuning for each rider, especially for myself where I’ll be working hard on getting the suspension set up for my style. We’re definitely a lot closer to the others than we were this time last year which is good.”

“I don’t mind the layout here. It’s a bowl circuit with a couple of straights and turns to make up an infield section. It’s not technical by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a safe racetrack which is nice. Other than that I’m just looking forward to the weekend.”

“I fully expect to leave here this weekend with a points lead, I won’t be happy with anything less.”

Mladin currently lies sixth overall in the championship with just the Daytona round completed. He is 12 points adrift of American Honda’s Miguel DuHamel, but with 17 more races remaining the season is off to a strong start.

Mat Mladin in action on the GSX-R1000 at Daytona last month