Matt Mladin's Tire Disintegrates During AMA Superbike Race!

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Most of the time, when you see a crash during a motorcycle race, it’s because the rider comes into a turn too hot, or because a couple of riders get tangled together and wind up wrecking each other. But I’ve never seen a tire fail as spectacularly as it did on Matt Mladin’s GSX-R 1000, and it’s amazing this wreck wasn’t more serious. Riding one of these vicious racing machines is hard enough when everything is running perfectly, and trying to bring one to a stop with no rubber on the rear wheel must be a nightmare. Here, the seven-time AMA Superbike champion makes it look easy, but it’s safe to say a lesser rider wouldn’t have been able to handle a situation so gracefully. Good thing it was the rear that went, I don’t even want to think about would have happened had the front one disintegrated…