Mladin Appeal is Rejected
American Suzuki Motor Corporation and Yoshimura Racing were shocked and dismayed when, less than 30 minutes after they submitted, on behalf of Mat Mladin, the written evidence demanded by the AMA, the request for an appeal of Mladin's disqualification from the VIR Superbike races was summarily rejected.Both companies believe the decision is arbitrary and unreasonable, and flagrantly ignores the letter and spirit of the AMA rules.
On Saturday, August 30th, AMA Special Projects Manager Bill Syfan informed Don Sakakura of Yoshimura Racing that they must produce supporting documentation and crankshaft production records and information by 5:00 p.m. (EST) August 5th. The written submission, along with an opinion from an independent crankshaft expert, was faxed to the AMA shortly before 5:00 p.m.In addition, early that morning Yoshimura Racing and American Suzuki Motor Corporation delivered to the AMA offices in Ohio an exemplar crankshaft for inspection and comparison.
Shortly after 5:00 p.m. - less than half an hour after the written submission was timely sent to the appropriate AMA officials, Don Sakakura and Mat Mladin were notified by phone by Bill Syfan that an appeal board would not be convened. However, it took a posting on roadracingworld.com for them to learn that the AMA had, within minutes after receiving the written submission, concluded that the appeal was "without merit."
A spokesperson for Yoshimura Racing stated that the decision stunned everyone, and team officials were bewildered as to why the AMA would make such an onerous request for evidence on short notice and then refuse to consider any of it. "It makes us question the integrity behind the enforcement of the rules and suggests that there was never an intention to assemble an appeal board to conduct an objective and impartial hearing. From all appearances, the AMA had clearly made its decision well before 5:00 p.m. The 'deadline' was obviously a ruse to create the impression of fairness."
Mladin has asked the AMA to immediately provide a written statement of the basis for its summary rejection of his appeal.
