Oakdale’s Matt Mladin is on the verge of an unprecedented third successive US Superbike title when he lines up in the final race of the series at Virginia this weekend.

The four-times winner this year, holds a commanding 16-point lead over his nearest rival, Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom.

The two riders have engaged in a bitter duel all season, with Bostrum making a late-season lunge at the Highlands-born Suzuki rider.

“I’ll be treating this round the same as I’ve done at every round this year, with all emphasis on winning the title,” he said.

“I will be looking to get pole on Saturday and Sunday will be a tactical day.

“I’ll be watching Eric (Bostrom) closely and I expect it to be as close as it has all year.”

But the battle for the Superbike Championship has taken a backseat to the recent tragedy in America and Mladin agrees that the dramatic events have taken their toll.

“Things are getting slowly back to normal here in America, but I must admit I’m a bit nervous about flying across the East Coast this weekend,” he said.

“In a lot of ways of ways I’m looking forward to getting business done and heading back to Australia.”

The 150km, 42-lap race will be the only other round other than the season opener (at Daytona) that will include pitstops but Mladin remains confident that his team is up to the job.

“We have been in endurance trim for the past few races, using components and strategy that we normally use at Daytona just to make sure things go right this weekend,” he said.

“The guys have been working on their pit stop technique and I’m sure we will be right for the weekend.

“The race should be fine.

“It’s not so much an endurance race, only that it has a pit stop, however I guess we will still be looking at conserving the revs and tyres to make sure we are there at the end.”