Mladin ready to take on the World.

The number of Australian's competing in this weekend's eighth round of the World Superbike Championship at Laguna Seca has increased to three, with AMA ace Mat Mladin having been granted a wild-card entry that will see him line up alongside countrymen Steve Martin and Troy Corser.

It will be a busy weekend for the three times American AMA SBK champion as he juggles competing in the two-race World Championship event with racing in the AMA series.

Mladin will be one of three riders who will compete in both championship events over the weekend, joining Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates and Team Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom.

The three are currently locked in battle at the top of the AMA Championship where Bostrom holds a slender three-point lead in the 18-race series over Mladin, with Yates a further five points in arrears.

The weekend will present itself with a number of challenges for Mladin. While trying to enjoy the opportunity to compete against the world's best Superbike riders on Sunday, he will also be concentrating his attentions on the AMA Superbike race on Saturday afternoon.

"I do look forward to the opportunity of racing in the World Superbike round here at Laguna, but it is always hard as the AMA race is the one that we really need to focus on, especially this year," said Mladin. "It would be nice to go to a WSBK round and just have that race to concentrate on. This weekend though, things are different and as we are close in the championship and it will be important for us to aim for a win in the AMA on Saturday."

Mat's Suzuki team will also be busy as their GSX-R1000's come under different rules for each championship. The rule differences are minor, but do affect the performance of the bike, which in turn affects the final set-up of each machine.

"We have to prepare two different motorcycles, with different tyres and settings and then there's the swapping and changing of practice and qualifying sessions. There is a lot to one of these weekend's and sometimes you can do without having that much of a distraction," he admitted.

"For the WSBK race it is encouraging to have seen a number of other Suzuki GSX-R1000 riders (Lavilla etc) being in a position to challenge for the win. It is a good sign that the bike is close to what it needs to be. For sure it would be nice to be on the podium, or even take a race win, but I would still trade two WSBK race wins for a win in the AMA on Saturday, that's how important it is."

Tyres have also been a key point for Mladin this season. He has suffered a number of tyre failures, but is confident that Dunlop, the team's tyre supplier, can respond to produce a compund combination that can tolerate a full race distance.

"As for tyres, yes we've had more than our fair share of problems. The team have been working closely with Dunlop in recent weeks and they are trying to find a tyre that suits my style," he revealed. "They flew in some tyres for the last round at Brainerd, but they still weren't quite right. I guess we'll know when we've got a good tyre when I can go a race distance without have to ease off to preserve the tyre. I'm confident we'll get to that position."

The Aussie's hectic schedule commences on Thursday with qualifying for the AMA Superbike race which in turn takes place on Saturday afternoon with a 28-lap journey of the Monterey layout.

World Superbike qualifying commences on Friday, followed by Superpole on Saturday afternoon and then the two 28-lap races on Sunday.

Mladin recently signed a two-year extension on his Suzuki contract, which will keep him in the AMA series for the next two years.

"My success in the past in the U.S. has kept me here," he said of his new deal. "I enjoy living in the States and have a lot of fans over here. I most certainly do not believe you have to be world champion to be successful. I have a good shot at winning more races and championships and winning keeps me excited and motivated."