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Rockstar Makita Suzuki Racing is ready, willing and able to continue its “Own the Racetrack” performance in 2009. The team enters the new season with championship-winning equipment, new team members and the same exacting standards that have helped it win six consecutive Superbike Championships.
The most successful road racing champion in AMA history, Mat Mladin is the de facto leader of the Rockstar Makita Suzuki Racing squad. With six Superbike championships on his resume, Mladin brings experience to the racing grid that no other competitor can match.
Tommy Hayden returns for his third year on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team. In 2009, Hayden will focus his efforts on Superbike class competition. Last season, Hayden raced both Supersport and Superbike, with a mid-season injury in Supersport competition interrupting an otherwise successful season.
New to the team for 2009, 21-year-old Blake Young moves up to the factory team following three years racing for Suzuki support teams. Young proved he’s capable of competing at the top level with victories in two racing classes in 2008. He earned his first pro-level victories in 2008, and is prepared to continue at this level.
All three Rockstar Makita Suzuki races will compete on the Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the AMA Pro American Superbike class. New for 2009, the GSX-R1000 brings a new level of performance to the racetrack – the racetrack it has owned for so many years. A new engine and all-new chassis help this bike deliver improved power and handling.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin
With each pole position and each race victory he earns, Mat Mladin pushes his record-setting career numbers further from the competition’s reach. The Australian native turns 37 early in this race season, and is the only rider to ever win six AMA Superbike Championships. He has the most AMA Superbike race wins in a single season with 11 victories, and he’s the first rider to ever take all of the AMA Superbike pole positions (in this case, 10) in one year, with his career total now at 55. Finally, he holds the record for the most AMA Superbike career victories with an amazing 72 wins. Last year, Mladin finished second in the AMA Superbike Series after picking up 11 victories.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden
Two-time AMA Supersport Champion Tommy Hayden returns to Rockstar Makita Suzuki for 2009 to focus his skills on the Pro American Superbike class. The 30-year-old Hayden won the AMA Supersport Championship two years in a row – in 2004 and 2005. In 2008, Hayden finished eighth overall in AMA Superbike in spite of missing six crucial races due to an injury. Hayden raced both Superbike and Supersport at the start of the 2008 season. In the second half of the season, Hayden returned to focus on the Superbike class, and he scored two second-place finishes at both races during the VIR doubleheader weekend.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young
Blake Young joins the Rockstar Makita Suzuki Racing team following a stellar 2008 season in which he proved his position among the top road racers in the nation. Young started last season with a second-place finish at the Daytona Superstock race. And he ended the year with a Supersport victory at the Laguna Seca finale. His ascension to the premier Superbike class and the Rockstar Makita Suzuki Racing team is definitely earned. The 21-year-old Young joins new Crew Chief Chuck Warren on the team, together bringing a new intensity and motivation to the racing grid.
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