FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: Please forward to Mr. Edmondson, I understand trying to build a fan base by putting on an edited show. However, you are alienating the existing fan base. Granted, you want me to come to the race in person and buy a ticket. OK. Here is what I need for you to make that happen: 1. Work with the manufactures to get first class riders riding full on Race bikes. 2. Have a premier class that is on par with the rest of the world. 3. Hold the races at road race tracks, not at Auto club Speedway. Within an 2 hours there is a real racetrack. (Advertise and they will come!) 4. Let me watch the races that are not in my area within 2 or 3 days! Jim Fisher Anaheim, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: When you really think about it, why are any of us surprised by the new DMG / AMA television package. I would be hard pressed to name one thing DMG has done to the AMA Superbike series that made any sense. Ben Spies is not the only American moving on to World Superbikes. Good-bye AMA. Dan Sheehy Houston, Texas FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: All this BS I have been reading about watching AMA/DMG racing on Speed is just too funny . This sounds just like the manufactures (importers) not wanting to race. I don’t like playing with you so I’m going home or I’ll show them I’ll just quit. Come on people grow up and live in the real world. Hell I remember when we had no motorcycle road racing on TV and no Internet for results. Stop your damn whining and be thankful for what we do have and support motorcycle road racing period. Van Lamberty Southside, Alabama FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: What has been traditionally shown on Speedtv at 11pm on Saturday nights? I know tonight Feb 21, the show is”¦ motorcycle racing! It is Supercross, to be precise. As far as I can tell the time slot is sometimes shared with Speedtv’s series “Wrecked”. So, I have asked the monkey on my shoulder to cipher what will happen when fans of these existing shows tune in and are greeted with lunatics careening full tilt boogie around a road course? Will they watch or will they turn away? The monkey offered no answer. He only asks for more peanuts. Sincerely, Phillip Williamson Lake Mary, Florida FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: I think Mr. Fitzgerald from Illinois AND everyone who hates the new TV deal are correct – the new TV package is good for attracting new fans to our sport (or, at least, better than what we’ve had) and really sucks for current fans. Question: did DMG pay SPEED for the time slot or did SPEED pay DMG for the broadcast rights? I think the old police saying is true in this situation – follow the money and you’ll find the motive. As for me, I will no longer be trying to watch AMA racing on TV (I’m usually busy on Saturday nights) or attending races in person (I don’t care to spend a lot of money watching dumbed-down showroom stock posing as Superbikes.) I can certainly understand DMG’s efforts to make racing cheaper but I don’t care to see it cheapened! I think there are more thoughtful and less heavy-handed ways of accomplishing their goals of broadening appeal, increasing the fan base and turning a profit. I will, however, continue watching WSB races on the internet for free a few days after each race; at my convenience; marveling at the way-cool bikes; listening to the engines screaming; and rooting for Elbowz, Haga, Biaggi, Corser, Kiyonari and Neukirchner! Dan Herron Urbandale, Iowa FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: I guess that I am in the minority on the DMG/AMA racing TV coverage. I think this will wind up being a very positive thing for racing. 1. It will always be on at the same time and same night. This is good because I always had to worry about getting the VCR programmed before I left so that I would be sure and record it for later that night. 2. With 2-3 hours of time available, I would think that the production values will go up. With more time to review, edit, and comment, and hopefully with more intelligent commentary. (No, I have no complaints about prior commentators) 3. More hours means we see more racing on TV. More is better. 4. A fixed broadcast schedule tends to develop a consistent viewing base, rather than just “sometime this weekend” scheduling. I regret that this is going to be the first Daytona that I will miss in a long time, due to the fact that I started a new Job January 5th. So no vacation time yet. I will still be at the Heartland Park race and the Indy MotoGP race this fall. I think the racing is going to be fantastic! It should be close and with some fairly large groups fighting for the win, like it was when the nay Sayers all doomed World Superbike when they put spec tires and parts rules in place. Enjoy, and I know what I will be doing on most Saturday nights! Mark Lewellen Ozark, Missouri FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: After reading the newsflash about AMA/SPEED and some of the reader comments”¦these things caught my eye. AMA Pro Racing and SPEED announced today an innovative and unprecedented new programming format”¦I think unprecedented is the key word. The 26-week run for AMA Pro Prime Time begins March 21, and will air every Saturday night on SPEED at 10 or 11 p.m. ET (7 or 8 p.m. PT), with each program ranging in length from one to three hours depending on weekly content. The programming schedule will feature flag-to-flag coverage of every 2009 AMA Pro American Superbike and AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race”¦.doesn’t the season start on the 6th of March?…I guess I have to wait until the racers are at Fontana to see what they did two weeks ago in Daytona”¦.maybe I should break out my Commodore 64 and email slowSPEED channel with my concerns. If the coverage is flag-to-flag, shouldn’t I get at least 2 hours of programming? I guess maybe they will cut out the “boring” parts of the race. The competition on AMA Pro Prime Time will include 39 races from both the AMA Pro American Superbike and AMA Pro Daytona SportBike classes that will air within a week or two of the actual events throughout the season”¦..1 week or 2 weeks? “For the first time, viewers will know exactly when and where to tune in to not only see AMA Pro Racing”¦” (Edmunson)”¦..so remind me again what “exactly” I’m tuning in to? Is it 10 or 11pm? Is it one or two or three hours of programming? Is it one or two weeks from live racing to SPEED racing? I am glad to see that SPEED will air the races, even if they are 2 weeks late. I am also glad that nobody else has been bought out by DMG. I can watch F1, MotoGP, or WSBK live from Malaysia or Singapore or (insert country) but I have to wait 2 weeks to see an American Superbike race in America. I’m not a fan of CRASHCAR, as I gather most AMA fans fall in a similar category. The only form of motorsports I don’t watch is NASCAR. I would rather watch swamp buggy racing or the golf channel or world poker tournaments rather than CRASHCAR. I can only hope they don’t put Waltrip in the studio as an “expert” to dribble on about his analogies between two and four wheel racing. David Hunt Biloxi, Mississippi FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: I was really hoping that the new regime running AMA racing would finally give the fans a show to watch but it seems with every decision they make it’s only making it worse and the new T.V. deal is just the icing on the cake. I guess we have to look at the audience they are trying to appeal to, just look at the top 10 shows that have been and are on television, shows like Home Improvement, Full House and now CSI Miami. They are trying to appeal to an audience who likes to swill watered down beer and stuff there faces full of fast food for 4 hours while hillbillies drive around in circles but at the same time they are alienating the core fans that stuck around watching the suzuki parade for the last five years. Personally I think I’ve had it and will stick with WSB and MotoGP. Mike Knott Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: What I think needs to happen instead of airing all this at RRW, people need to send a note to the AMA and ask them if this is the result they thought they would get when the sale was made to DMG? I am a member of the AMA and will send them a note about this, maybe everyone else should too. As far as I am concerned, WSB is the only show left on TV. I agree also that some of the programing on Speed is silly and a waste of broadcast time. It goes to show how little quality programming they actually have. Oh, to be back in Europe. Urban Moore Creswell, Oregon FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: I can’t disagree with most comments about disliking what DMG is doing to road racing in the US. If DMG has it’s way, what we know as Superbike in this country will be either a joke, or gone completely. I’m a Suzuki guy, so watching the Ben & Mat show the past few years was great. Regardless of your loyalties though, the racing last year was some of the best we’ve seen in years. Jamie Hacking was strong last year as he was still sorting out the Kawi. Hodgson was making similar strides on the Honda. This year would have been a great fight…if things hadn’t changed. Yeah, the economy is partly to blame, but does anyone really believe that is what led Big Red and Team Green to make the moves they did before DMG agreed to some changes to their ’09 program??? The factories have little use for a series that doesn’t let them explore the edges of technology and improve their product. A spec NASCAR type series will be a joke. That being said, I am at least glad we will have Superbike racing in the US this year. One of the letters posted the other day said SPEED should let a network that cares about motorcycle racing take over. Unfortunately, there is no network that fits that bill. SPEED is the best we have kids. If you watched NBC’s coverage of the MotoGP races they picked up last year, you know how bad it was. The biggest story at Indy last year was Ben Spies jumping on the Rizla Suzuki with next to no practice. Did they open the show with an interview with Ben? Nope. Their coverage was TERRIBLE! An American kid jumps on a new bike against the best in the world in the USGP in bad weather…and it’s like a non-story for a US network broadcasting in America. I guess I’m just glad SPEED will be showing anything. The other good thing about the SPEED package is some of the other forms of AMA sanctioned races are supposed to get some air time on the show. If you’ve never watched a pro ATV MX race or a SuperMoto, you are missing something. Tom Willig Atlanta, Georgia FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: I just read the [press release] regarding the upcoming programming schedule of AMA races on SpeedTV as proposed by Roger Edmundson of AMA pro racing and SPEED President Hunter Nickell. As a cable subscriber that pays extra to have SpeedTv included in my channel lineup I am extremely upset to hear this. It is a horrible idea to delay the airing of the races. Why would I want to see the race when I already know the outcome? I would not watch a baseball, football or basketball game if I already knew the outcome! I would have to avoid motorcycle talk and motorcycle programming to enjoy the outcome of the race and there is little chance I would avoid association with an entire sport because I didn’t want to know the outcome of one race series! They need to reconsider this decision! I think a better idea would be to continue to air the races on race day and the proposed recap with in studio on a separate day. I would actually watch this recap race for the bonus programming element after I watched the actual race! As a community, motorcycle sport is already an under represented sport in this country and on your station. I really hope they reconsider this position. Manuel Zamudio Chicago, Illinois