Zero. Nothing. Nada. None. Zip.

It sounds bad enough to mere mortals, but to a championship winning machine like Yoshimura's Mat Mladin, it's even worse.

Mladin has stated on many occasions that his number one goal is to win championships for Suzuki. An injury to Mladin's left elbow, however, caused Mladin to miss last Sunday's Daytona 200. With Mat earning no points at the event, the stage is now set for Mladin to show if he is as good at winning championships when trailing as he is when he leads from the front.

The Australian's Modus Operandi in previous seasons has been clear. Mladin earned his three AMA Superbike championships by beating out a lead over his rivals, then protecting it over the course of the year.

Mat won took his first AMA title back to New South Wales in '99 by getting in front of Ben Bostrom and putting the pressure on the Californian to win out. Bostrom couldn't get it done. In 2000, Mladin faced a tough challenge from Nicky Hayden, but Mat won early and often and The Kid couldn't catch up. Last year Mladin was hot out of the gate and his nearest rivals -- Eric Bostrom and Hayden -- couldn't get close enough to Mladin to really turn up the heat on the Suzuki man.

"This year, I guess the shoe will be on the other foot," said Mladin's crewchief Peter Doyle after the Daytona 200. Mladin trails Hayden by 38 points after the first race of the year.

Will that shoe be a steel-toed ass-kicking boot for Mladin?

Even if Mladin earns every possible point by taking pole, leading the most laps and winning each contest, it would still take him seven races to overtake Hayden if Nicky finishes second every time out, given Mat's current deficit.

The way the AMA points table is structured, a DNF or DNS spells disaster. It takes time to close any large gap. With 36 points are given to the race winner and 32 given for second place, it's hard to make up points if your rivals are on your tail every time.

Remember that Nick Hayden won the last four races of 2001 and never even got a good sniff at Mladin in the points race.

The first thing Mat needs to do, however, is get healthy. It's a long season, and with 16 races spread out of the spring and summer there is plenty of time for Mladin to get back into the title hunt.

"The only difference is that at the end of the season, instead of trying to protect, you're going for it," said Blimpie Yoshimura's Ammarr Bazzaz. "I guess you could argue that it's almost a better situation to be in."