Mat Mladin has the star power World Superbike needs. Apparently (if Mladin is not just bored and joking around on Twitter) the all-time AMA Superbike wins leader has gotten a couple of offers to race in World Superbike and if the series is smart it will do whatever it takes to coax the Australian out of retirement.

World Superbike has a deep field of very solid riders, but with Ben Spies gone the series lacks a superstar, one that the entire world talks about. With Mladin they would get that. And the fact remains that even though Spies managed to beat Mladin for the championship the last three years they raced, Mladin still won more races than Spies during that period.

Mat’s going to be 38 this season, but he’s still undoubtedly one of the best Superbike riders in the world and an opportunity to win a world championship would certainly be enough of an incentive to get Mladin back into hyper-training mode.

I’ve talked to some experts who go as far to say they believe Mladin would be the favorite to win the World Superbike title should he decide to return.

If Mladin does go to World Superbike it would almost certainly be with Suzuki. He helped develop the GSX-R. He knows the bike inside out. It would only make sense for him to stick with the brand and it would make a lot of sense for Suzuki too, since that maker has won only a single World Superbike Championship in 2005 with Troy Corser.

Mladin will not be offered the kind of money he made while racing in America, but by now his financial future is secure and Infront Motor Sports might be wise to offer to subsidize Mladin’s salary as some speculate it did with Spies. Having Spies in the series paid off in terms of fan interest. The international crowd would love to have the opportunity to watch Mladin race in person. Additional ticket sells alone would justify sweetening the pot to get Mladin in the series.

As for Mladin’s incentive? The opportunity to have world champion associated with your name doesn’t come around very often. And though Mladin has always been one race in his comfort zone and cash the mega checks, by this point he’s certainly must be thinking of his legacy.

Undoubtedly Mladin will go down as the greatest AMA Superbike racer of all time, but is that enough? No matter how well a rider does in a domestic series, even one as formerly prestigious as AMA Superbike, it still will never equal the worldwide recognition of winning at the world level.

Ask Ben Spies.