Hello all from down under,

Just wondering if you can give your input about Mat Mladin, I have always liked him, but a lot of people say he is a jerk, I never saw that the time I saw him in person, he even gave his autograph to my son, (nicky haden did also)

Ben Spies did not, anyways, is he really a jerk, or is it just that he is a little different on race day ?

Thanks

When he was racing here everybody said what an a-hole he was. I disagree. His job was to win races. EVERY time he was on the track he was ON it! No slow warm up laps at all. He was aggressive and didn't suffer fools. I think he is similar to Doohan and Stoner that way. I really liked Mladin. Still do.

Mad

...AND I believe that Mladin made Spies the rider he is today. Ben had to dig deep to beat Matt.

Mad

And Mladin beat Spies, more than Spies beat Mladin .. Spies is a jerk, or at least he was when I was watching him, he even accused Mladin of cheating, when they were teamates, I always liked Mladins passion, and he was the only rider that got up in front of the cameras, and told all the fans that DMG taking over AMA superbike, was going to ruin it, and he was right !

I saw a photo of Spies smiling after winning his first MotoGP and I didn't recognize him! In various ads, interviews and other shots taken of him, he almost always has a race face on. Hopefully riding a Ducati will loosen him up a bit because he seems wound way too tight. Nicky, by contrast, is almost always smiling and having a good time other than when he's on the track or about to go there. One thing that made Rossi so popular is his "I don't take myself too seriously" attitude when not racing. When he was winning, anytime after a race he was yukking it up and pulling some sort of shit to entertain the fans. The time he had himself caricatured as a donkey on his helmet after a numbskull fuckup was priceless. Therre's a time to be serious and go fast, and there's a time to realize how lucky you are to get paid not to work, but to ride a motorcycle, which for all it's interest, is a relatively frivolous activity. Before political correctness (Honda is the worst), racers were colorful and fun-loving, knocking each other on their asses on the track and partying together afterward. Racing is just like any other activity; the more money there is at stake, the more dog-eat-dog things get and the less fun it is to be around.