The 2009 AMA Road racing Season after three events
4-14-2009
by
Marc Cantin
, moto123.com
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The 2009 AMA road racing season is generating a lot of attention, not all of it positive. Nay-Sayers are screaming high and low that the new AMA administration, backed by NASCAR, has conjured up a total disaster; to whit: American Superbike (The old AMA Superbike class) is still dominated by Suzuki (51 wins on the trot after three weekends in 2009) and the races are still boring; the Daytona Sportbike (ex Xtreme) class, originally for 600cc four cylinder sport bikes, is now "unjustly" dominated by the much larger and more powerful Buell 1125R; the GT1/GT2/Moto-GT endurance run on Saturday afternoon are boring; and the entry level SuperSport 600 class for amateurs lacks interest from spectators as well as racers.
While the facts such as a low number of entries, lack of live TV and other unhappy occurrences (Remember the lighting system catching fire during the Daytona 22) are undeniable, I feel that they can be interpreted differently.
In American Superbike, Mat Mladin and his Yoshimura Suzuki are still showing the rest of the field how it's done. Yosh have done the most development work on AMA Superbikes over the years, and Mladin is the best development rider and racer in the bunch, so they deserve to win.
The political battle was something else entirely, as Suzuki US were most vocal in their opposition to the canning of the old Superbike class, which the new AMA had announced for 2009. On the other hand, they are the largest corporate presence in AMA racing and are an essential partner for the new AMA. The current situation gives Suzuki another year of apparent dominance (It certainly looks that way after three weekends), with the knowledge that the class will disappear in 2010. Personally, I cannot fathom why the other manufacturers even show up for such extensive (And expensive) beatings every weekend.
The Daytona Sportbike class, which will be the major class next year according to the AMA, was developed around slower and easier on tires 600cc four cylinder bikes. This season has however seen a semi official Buell 1125R win three of the five races held so far, much to the distress of the armada of factory and semi official 600s. But there is method behind this apparent madness, as the new AMA rightly feels that having any kind of Harley presence on the track, preferably near the front, is key to growing the number of on-site, TV and Internet spectators. They may have overshot a little on the handicapping and made the Buell 1125R too quick for the 600s; expect some fine tuning of the rules from the AMA before the middle of the season.
The GT endurance classes, with 2-hour races held on Saturday afternoon is a brilliant idea. Add big fields and multiple classes, effective cost control measures, and you have some real racing on Saturday afternoon. Combined with a Superbike race to close out the day, they attract more fans to the track on Saturday, which means more revenue for track owners and more exposure for teams and sponsors.
With the American Superbike class gone for 2010, there is still room for one more class and race, either the US Grand Prix Riders Union (USGPRU) small race bikes, or the SuperSport class for amateur 600s in place today. Both are appealing, and the rest of this season will determine which one will come back next year. Or, you may be able to reduce practice time for the Pro series and leave enough room for both lower classes to also race on Saturday. Either way, these racers will be sucking hind tit in terms of track time and importance if weather problems arise, while paying top dollar to be there. Maybe they are better off sticking to semi pro or amateur series after all.
The new AMA bosses asked for too much change from the manufacturers - who really ran the series during the old AMA days - for the 2009 season, and gave in on certain points (The survival of the American Superbike class in 2009 for example) in exchange for concessions and more sweeping changes for 2010. NASCAR's business model is to run the series for race teams, independent businesses who employ hundreds of people and need to make a profit to stay in business, not manufacturers who spend marketing money at the races and can leave any time they want to.
The Daytona boys have deep pockets and know how to promote and run a successful racing series, even in the face of disappearing support from manufacturers, as is happening on the car side these days. They have more than doubled the prize money in a slow economy, and will also fix the TV contract to bring back entertaining racing on TV, not the "Mat/Ben/Suzuki Wups The Field Again " bore of the last three years.
From where I sit, AMA road racing series is on plan.
Photo Credit : Philippe Champoux
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