Mladin back to AMA Racing?

[EastBayDave]

I sure hope not; he spent too many years "cherry-picking" the AMA when he should have been off racing MotoGP or WSBK. Knew a good thing when he had it; if he does come back (doubt it) I hope he fails miserably.

 

[gixxerjeff]

I sure hope not; he spent too many years "cherry-picking" the AMA when he should have been off racing MotoGP or WSBK. Knew a good thing when he had it; if he does come back (doubt it) I hope he fails miserably.

^^^
This.
Sure it might be good for the AMA...for a while, but this is classic Mladin.
Beating up on the kids in the shallow end, all the while side stepping the world stage with its world stage competion.

 

[Spec-ECU]

Pay him enough, he'll go anywhere.

 

[kevin 714]

Mladin was not cherry picking.

At the time AMA was easily as prestigious as wsbk, even more post 2002. He was making more $ here and said he would go to motogp if he could get a good ride. He wasn't fielding offers, and having already rode 500cc on an uncompetitive bike he knew what that was like

To say he was cherry picking, is idiotic. Never mind Hiw two man rivals both went on to be works champs

 

[gixxerjeff]

Mladin stayed stationary in one series for way too long. Economics and other excuses not withstanding, the "What could he have done on the world stage" will always haunt, if not underline his carreer.
The last few years he was here, he was merely cashing checks wth virtually no competion.....doing himself and the series no favors.
He may have some value as a rider mentor (Kevin Schwanz) but I feel his ego is too jacked up for him to have any value there either.

 

[kevin 714]

How was he just cashing checks? He broke the record for number of wins and while battling his biggest rival in spies, he win another title too

Y'all act like he had offers knocking down his door, he did not. Mladin wasn't fielding offerers for motogp or wsbk. He was too old, teams weren't interested. No motogp team was looking at him and wsbk was in a huge slump and struggled from 2003 onwards. Even spies only went to wsbk as a motogp gateway

You guys really don't have any idea what you're talking about

 

[Spec-ECU]

What kev said.

Same reason that Hayes isn't getting fielded by a WSBK or GP squad after three consecutive titles in relatively dominant fashion. Nevermind that for Mladin/Hayes, they've got to be able to make a living on competitive machineries, every squad in the world paddock will always invest in the future, and it's hard to look at old-timers as long-term investment no matter how competitive they are, especially if they have to import them from a national series to an international one.

 

[Map8]

The Mladin hate is strong. He was up against Spies until the last year of his career in serious title fights so he wasn't coasting. Even in 2009, he was beaten by Hayes twice and Pegram twice (Road America).

Think of racers as operating a small business instead of some character in a Rocky movie.

You have worked your ass off to get somewhere in one of the most dangerous and competitive pursuits on earth. You have endured injuries an pain to reach this position. You have been at this since you were five or six years old so the rewards came after nearly two decades of hard work. You have only a few peak earning years and you have to make the most of them. What would most BARFers do? Give up several million dollars to go race on a 2nd rate team overseas?

I don't have a problem with anyone for staying in a particular series and getting paid vs. riding for peanuts on a shitty team just to finish 10th in a World Championship race behind other riders that may or may not be as talented.

 

[sidewazzz]

Mladin stayed stationary in one series for way too long. Economics and other excuses not withstanding, the "What could he have done on the world stage" will always haunt, if not underline his carreer.
The last few years he was here, he was merely cashing checks wth virtually no competion.....doing himself and the series no favors.
He may have some value as a rider mentor (Kevin Schwanz) but I feel his ego is too jacked up for him to have any value there either.

Nobody in their right mind wanted to put a 30 year old 6 foot 180 lber on a motogp bike. At the time AMA 》 wsbk so the only other place was gp. Cherry picking lol guess spies cherry picked wsbk stoner, Jorge, rossi & Pedro have been cherry picking GP for years because they are the only ones to ever win. Guess Mayweather cherry picks as well hard to imagine guy is 43-0 because of it.

 

[TTTom]

...Y'all act like he had offers knocking down his door, he did not. Mladin wasn't fielding offerers for motogp or wsbk. He was too old, teams weren't interested...

it's a shame but you're right. Too old & wrong passport, didn't have a big $$ personal sponsorship that he could bring with him.

on the other hand unlike a guy like Hopper who DID go to the big show on a shitty bike, Mladin's body is intact and he's probably not sweating his next paycheck.

 

[firstbuell]

[edited].....Think of racers as operating a small business instead of some character in a Rocky movie.

You have worked your ass off to get somewhere in one of the most dangerous and competitive pursuits on earth. You have endured injuries an pain to reach this position. You have been at this since you were five or six years old so the rewards came after nearly two decades of hard work. You have only a few peak earning years and you have to make the most of them.

What would most BARFers do?
Give up several million dollars to go race on a 2nd rate team overseas?.....

------------------------------------------------BARF quote of the day !

 

[fast4ward]

Mladin was not cherry picking.

At the time AMA was easily as prestigious as wsbk, even more post 2002.

No it wasn't. :bs
It was a mickey-mouse championship that no-one outside of the US paid any attention to. Sub-standard tracks for the most part and mediocre riders (bar one or two) that he could dominate.

Mladin was a big fish in a small pond. Moving to MotoGP (if he had that option, which I seriously doubt) it would be like moving from the small pond into the Pacific ocean, and he'd be nobody there.

 

[kevin 714]

No it wasn't. :bs
It was a mickey-mouse championship that no-one outside of the US paid any attention to. Sub-standard tracks for the most part and mediocre riders (bar one or two) that he could dominate.

Mladin was a big fish in a small pond. Moving to MotoGP (if he had that option, which I seriously doubt) it would be like moving from the small pond into the Pacific ocean, and he'd be nobody there.

yet another person who has no idea what he is talking about

in 2003 there was ONE factory team in wsbk, ducati. one, all the other factories had left house. the series was on life support and 2004 was just as bad, if not worse. wsbk was a forgotten series, while ama had a full factory participation in every class. and was gaining ground with ducati setting to enter their own full factory team.

meanwhile AMA had multiple factory teams and a serious HRC pressence (running three guys at one point, inlcuding wsbk multi race winner bostrom). we had just sent an ama champ to motogp straight to the most prestigous factory team while the wsbk champ was passed over and exiled to a shitty aprilia. michelin was ramping up their efforts in ama as well, to boot.

ama had far more factory involvement than wsbk, and by a HUGE margin. hell ama SS had more than wsbk. the entire top ten in wsbk that year was on ducati's.

mat had no motogp or wsbk offers, because as was already said, a 180 lbs plus guy nearly 6 feet tall, over 30 years old, was not a sound investment for a team. he also was being paid more than any rider except rossi. think about that. the ama champ was the second most paid rider on thew planet.

considering the fact mat was and is better than spies, and what spies was able to do, i think mat would have done just fine.

ben bostrom was sent to wsbk after winning his title, nbicky hayden to motogp, ben spies to wsbk and then to motogp. as far as not paying attention, every young champion was moved on to the world stage

 

[NTron3000]

Guess Mayweather cherry picks as well hard to imagine guy is 43-0 because of it.

Here's the thing though. He has taken himself out of the conversation of goat by ducking and protecting that zero. This talk of money and practicalities is meaningless from a fan perspective (though of course dude can do whatever he wants he just needs to stfu when comparisons are made).

 

[sidewazzz]

No it wasn't. :bs
It was a mickey-mouse championship that no-one outside of the US paid any attention to. Sub-standard tracks for the most part and mediocre riders (bar one or two) that he could dominate.

Mladin was a big fish in a small pond. Moving to MotoGP (if he had that option, which I seriously doubt) it would be like moving from the small pond into the Pacific ocean, and he'd be nobody there.

:rofl

 

[sidewazzz]

Here's the thing though. He has taken himself out of the conversation of goat by ducking and protecting that zero. This talk of money and practicalities is meaningless from a fan perspective (though of course dude can do whatever he wants he just needs to stfu when comparisons are made).

:rofl

 

[insyder]

Kev is right on all counts here.

 

[clutchslip]

:teeth

mat[t] had no motogp or wsbk offers, because as was already said, a 180 lbs plus guy nearly 6 feet tall, over 30 years old, was not a sound investment for a team. he also was being paid more than any rider except rossi. think about that. the ama champ was the second most paid rider on thew planet.

Exactly. And who would up that? Matt had a much easier tour (travel wise) than any other series and made that much dough. Someone would need to make a big commitment to get him away from Yoshi/Suzi & AMA. I have no doubt he helped sell bikes for Suzi. Enough to justify the bucks? We don't know. I ride other Jap junk.

 

[Holeshot]

:teeth
Exactly. And who would up that? Matt had a much easier tour (travel wise) than any other series and made that much dough. Someone would need to make a big commitment to get him away from Yoshi/Suzi & AMA. I have no doubt he helped sell bikes for Suzi. Enough to justify the bucks? We don't know. I ride other Jap junk.

And that's the most salient muted point made: factory team efforts exist to sell bikes. Factories aren't involved in series with shitty economies, which is likely why the AMA had so much factory participation in the AMA until about 2008.

 

[Ducky_Fresh]

Right. But viewership was still shit in the USA compared to other countries. Even at its most recent peak of 2003-2004ish.

Kev, you on fire man!! :clap