Throwback Thursday: Mat Mladin on a Ducati 916
Larry Lawrence | September 8, 2016
Henny Ray Abrams Photo
In this week’s Throwback Thursday (a little late, so we’ll call it an early Flashback Friday) we go back 19 years to 1997, the season Mat Mladin raced a Ducati 916 for Ferracci Ducati. Mladin of course is best known for his record seven AMA Superbike Championships, all with Yoshimura Suzuki. But for one season Mladin jumped ship and went to Ducati. It was with Ferracci in ’97 that Mladin won the first of his record 83 AMA Superbike victories. His first win came at Phoenix International Raceway in Feb. of that year. This shot is from Brainerd (MN) International Raceway and shows Mladin lofting the front wheel of his Ducati ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki’s Pascal Picotte and Kawasaki’s Doug Chandler. Mladin scored four wins that season and finished third in the championship.
You can read about this race and thousands more if you subscribe to the Archives at: https://www.cyclenews.com/cycle-news-archives/