2009 Mat Mladin Suzuki GSX-R1000 Test Photo Gallery

Even though the engine is essentially stock below the cylinder head, the Yosh guys have squeezed around 180 horsepower. That’s nearly a 20 horsepower increase over stock. Combine that with much shorter final drive gearing and the bike accelerates much faster than a production bike.

Watch MotoUSA put Mat Mladin’s Championship winning AMA Superbike through its paces. Check out the full review in our 2009 Mat Mladin Suzuki GSX-R1000 Test.

It was surprising how much effort was required to get Mat’s GSX-R1000 to turn. Although the DMG folks took the Super out of Superbike these bikes still aren’t easy to ride.

Mladin runs a conventional street bike-style one down, five-up gear shift pattern due to limited ankle mobility—a results from his infamous Ultralight plane crash.

The increased swingarm pivot height and flat-rate Yoshimura shock linkage allow the rear tire to dig into the pavement harder thereby facilitating better drive off the corner.

The 0.5-degree difference in steering rake between Mladin’s A-and-B bikes was highly noticeable. The B-bike turned into the corner much more quickly. So much in fact that it took a few laps just to get acclimated with its quick steering members.

Simply put, Mladin’s Superbike doesn’t perform right if you’re lollygagging around the racetrack. It requires you to exert every ounce of muscle from corner entry to exit and everywhere in between in order to get the chassis to perform properly. After only 5-laps, I felt like I was about to pass out. Seriously.

Although, Mladin’s Superbike is plenty fast, having never piloted a Superbike before we thought it would be even faster. Apparently they were—to the tune of almost 20-30 horsepower quicker before the Daytona Motorsports Group rule change.

Waheed studies the controls before heading onto the track.

Mat Mladin uses ridiculously stiff 11.0 kg/mm fork springs in order to compensate for the massive load he puts on the fork during braking. For our test, the Yosh crew swapped them out for 10.5 kg/mm springs for us morals.

Dunlop’s spec American Superbike racing slicks provide excellent grip.

The machine that helped Mat Mladin win an unprecedented seventh AMA Superbike Championship: The 2009 Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike.

Forged magnesium JB Power Magtan wheels are shod with Dunlop’s spec racing slick in sizes 125/80-17 front, 195/65-17 rear.

The American Superbike series rules now deem that the entire chassis including frame, subframe, swingarm, and fork externals remain production based. The difference is they say in the details, i.e. swingarm pivot height, flat-rate shock linkage, adjustable off-set triple clamps, Ohlins shock and fork internals.

Yoshimura will sell you this exact motorcycle for around $80,000.

For the 2009 model year, Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 Superbike got a full redesign including new more streamlined bodywork.

Final drive gearing was changed from an 17/42 combination down to an 15/41 for improves acceleration.

The MoTec dash provides information about the bike's status to the technicians and the rider.

Despite the more production based rules, Mladin’s Superbike makes use of a number of key mods that help it perform better on track. Note the larger radiators and swingarm pivot inserts.

American Superbike rules now call for everything below the cylinder head to remain nearly bone stock and production based.

A production Showa fork with Ohlins internals is clamped by Yoshimura triple clamps that allow for offset adjustment.

This is one of the most expensive pieces of Mladin’s race bike. The Magneti Marelli engine management system.

An Ohlins TTX-series gas charged shock absorber works through a Yoshimura flat-rate linkage.

It was surprising how early and hard you had to load the rear suspension to get it to perform.

The Yoshimura Superbikes swap out the cable-actuated clutch for an hydraulically operated one.

Waheed prepares to shred exactly 5-laps at Auto Club Speedway aboard Mladin’s Championship winning Yoshimura GSX-R1000 Superbike.