Mladin’s GSX-R1000 Gets Torn Down
Henny Ray Abrams | August 17, 2008
ALTON, VA, AUG 17: The near perfect weekend of Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin was thrown into question when AMA Pro Racing cast doubt on the legality of the crankshaft in Mladin’s race-winning Suzuki GSX-R1000.
Race officials asked the team to tear down all three of the Suzukis that swept the podium after today’s Superbike race at Virginia International Raceway. Mladin’s crankshaft was compared to a unit that travels on the AMA transporter, but further tests are needed. The crankshaft will be taken to AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio for comparison to production units. Officials looked at other parts on the machines of Tommy Hayden and Ben Spies.
AMA Pro Racing didn’t issue a timetable on when their decision would be announced, saying in a press release that “the results of the inspection will be made available as soon as they are complete.”
Mladin scored every possible point, except for the one that goes with winning the pole position, en route to a double header sweep at VIR. With three races remaining, he trails teammate Ben Spies by 18 points in the quest for the AMA Superbike Championship.
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
