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Mat Mladin and Ben Spies (Photo: Brian J Nelson) ยป More Photos
Even though Mat Mladin has made it clear that he's not a big believer in momentum, his rivalry with Ben Spies has been defined by shifting fortunes and alternating runs of success by the two AMA Superbike legends aboard their Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000s.
Ever since Ben Spies stepped up his game following an impressive rookie season in '05 to successfully challenge for the crown in '06, the two have traded hard-hitting combinations as they've built up, and torn down, title advantages.
In 2006 Spies caught everyone a bit off guard -- including himself -- when he strung together six straight victories to construct an early-season championship lead. Mladin answered by closing out the year with a five-race run of his own, narrowing the final standings to a slim 8 point difference.
In '07 Mladin made up the ground created by his Daytona misfortune with four straight wins, putting him in the driver's seat by midseason. The Texan came back four straight victories to reclaim the leadership role, while the Australian stole it back with an epic six-race streak that put him in control heading into the season finale, famously won by Spies,
The typically supremely confident Mladin admitted that his self-belief has taken a bit of a beating recently, as the six-time champion has crashed multiple times while searching for the speed needed to outpace Spies.
After scoring a fourth consecutive runner-up result on Sunday at Infineon Raceway, Mladin said, "Things were better for me today and we look forward to getting to the next race and trying to build up some confidence. That's it. I've had five crashes this year, and it's not like me to have five crashes in the first few months being at the racetrack. I'm just trying to build some confidence back up again and we'll move on. I'm looking forward to the next few races and trying to challenge Ben for some race wins. He won pretty handily this weekend so we've got a little bit of work to do.
"Honestly, it's a tough fight at the front. Rarely have we seen very many close races. We had one at Fontana but it seems to be one of us is away by a little bit. Rarely are we fighting on the racetrack. It just seems if one of us gets something we're comfortable with, we seem to go away."
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