How are you feeling heading into the double-header at Infineon Raceway?

MM: I always look forward to Infineon. Obviously I’ve had great success there. I’m not too sure the exact number of wins, maybe nine wins or eight or something. It’s been a very successful racetrack for me. (Mladin has eight Superbike wins at Infineon Raceway). It always gives you great pleasure to go up there. When I first came to America, Infineon was one of the places that blew me away when it came to how far behind the times they were with safety and all the rest of it. Those guys have worked so hard and improved that racetrack so much. To the point of even now promoting the testing when we test up there and we get a bit of a crowd there to watch the testing. It gives you joy and pleasure to go there and race there and try to put on a good show because these guys have worked very hard and done a great job and been very proactive in a lot of ways to try and improve motorcycle racing in the area. I always look forward to going there. Obviously the success I’ve had there makes it all the more enjoyable.

On your eight wins at Infineon Raceway, what is it about that track that you are so comfortable with that makes you so successful?

MM: You know, one thing we know about Infineon is that it’s a very technical racetrack. There’s up hills and downhills, and most of the corners are blind. There are no straights and there is no time where you actually get tucked in under the faring and can make up time in the draft. For the complete race distance you’re going flat out and you don’t get a chance to rest. It’s one of those tracks where if you put in and really, really push hard and on the start line you’re prepared and knowing that it’s going to hurt by the end of the race, you can build a good lead. I think last year I won by 19 seconds and the other one maybe by 10 or 12 or something like that. It’s a technical racetrack. It’s a racer’s racetrack. It’s a racetrack where there’s not cheap time that you can make up. Like at Daytona, you can do the absolute best job in the infield and be a half-second quicker than anybody, but by the time you get onto the first banking, as soon as they pick up a little of that air off your bike, at 200 mph, they’re straight back up on your back wheel. It just doesn’t happen at Infineon, if you lose time in one corner, you’re not going to make that time up unless the guy in front of you makes a mistake. If that guy doesn’t make a mistake, he’s going to keep going away. For me, what I’m looking for, you try to keep it clean and keep pushing and pushing and pushing. If you’re willing to understand that it’s going to be a bit painful by the end and that your head is ready to blow apart and your legs are ready to blow apart, because they’re burning so bad, you’re going to be in a good position. You’ve earned a win at Infineon Raceway, if you’ve won it, there’s no doubt about that. It’s a difficult track, it’s a very physical racetrack and it’s a very technical racetrack, and I enjoy it up there. It’s pretty much always stretches the field out at that racetrack. You very rarely will see a gaggle of six bikes. You might see one or two or three bikes together, but it stretches the field out and it certainly seems to bring the cream to the front.