FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Communist Road Racing? I am thoroughly enjoying retirement in Tennessee. I have been keeping up to date with all the DMG goings on. As you know I am an avid road racer and it saddens me to see what could have been a great series “dumbed down” to a “lowest common denominator” series. Here are my thoughts: They say “be careful for what you wish for” and in the case of “someone” taking over AMA Pro Racing, it could not be a truer saying! From what I read, DMG wants Superstock style bikes, spec tires, spec fuel, spec ECUs and a “flexible” set of rules that will “redress” any “unfair” advantages perceived during the season. I really thought National-level road racing was meant to be the best versus the best. Not some watered-down series where you are penalized by success. That is basically the Communist way of life. There will always be times in racing that a rider, riders or manufacturer totally dominate the sport. In most sports this is applauded, in DMG’s Communist racing world this will be punished. It seems DMG backed themselves into a corner right from the start. Because they are part of the Daytona franchise (arguably the most dangerous motorcycle race track in the USA) they have to run their premier class at Daytona. As 200 miles of Daytona is too dangerous for Superbikes, DMG are hanging their hat on 600 bikes with restrictions to “level the playing field”. DMG tossed a 1000 cc “bone” to the OEMs, the “Literbike” class. They have to have 4 bikes each on the grid. That is a massive step-up for some and completely rules out any chance of Aprillia, BMW, Ducati or KTM racing here! However, there are other tracks in the USA that are safe for Superbikes for the near to mid future: Laguna, Miller, Barber, Mid Ohio, Fontana, VIR and perhaps Road Atlanta. That’s seven events on “real” tracks. An SBK format would mean a 14 race series. With SBK rules, an OEM can amortize its R&D over 2 race series. If the OEMS put together a series (helped by Hard Card?) and “sell” it to those tracks, DMG could just be the biggest club race organizer ever! Another issue I have with DMG is their assumption that if only they can “tweak” the rules, the show will be improved and the crowds will come flocking. They seem to have a vision that motorcycle road racing can somehow be like NASCAR. Yet those race cars look nothing like the street counterparts. Basically, they are a moving billboard with a driver’s number that the fans can cheer on. Street motorcycles on the other hand closely resemble the racebikes. The fans are very knowledgeable about their bike and their favorite team’s racebikes. The sad thing is America, has never really embraced road racing (2 or 4 wheel), yet despite this, we have produced some great world class riders. One has to wonder where the future generation of world class riders will come from if they can only cut their teeth on non-adjustable, spec bikes that have been de-tuned to suit the worst racetracks. Luckily us old “wrinklies” got to watch real racebikes being raced to the limit. The future, as DMG sees it, holds no interest for me. I would rather save and go to 2 motoGPs and 1 SBK race than watch a bunch of spec bikes droning around. But perhaps I am not the type DMG wants, they seem to have left out the enthusiast as well as the OEMs in their deliberations. Mick Ofield McMinnville Tennessee FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Many thanks for posting the audio clip of Mat Mladin’s comments at Infineon. I was almost ready to give up and believe the hype that all the riders and fans were happy about the upcoming Daytona Minibike series at the top of the marquee. Think attendance was down at the 200 this year? Wait until 2009. Bill Hyde Oviedo, Florida FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Well, I listened to the audio links Roadracingworld.com provided. I know Mat is a helluva rider but I didn’t know he is fortune a teller as well. Oh wait, he’s not. Phillip Williamson Sanford, Florida FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I am writing to voice my small but loud opinion. I, along with other serious AMA Motorcycle racing series fans, am deeply troubled by the new direction that DMG has planned for our beloved series. As an AMA member, a motorcycle owner (2007 Suzuki GSX-R1000K7), past club racer, and a feverish attendee of local AMA Series races, I am seeing no real future of my support for this new racing line up. I can see no reasons to attend local races in the future beyond the 2008 racing schedule. This means that I will not be able to attend Laguna Seca, California Speedway, Infineon Raceway or even Miller Motorsports Course after this year. Yes, my summers involve (involved?) a lot of travel for a sport I love! A life style I love and people that make it so damn much fun to ride. I am furious about the intended plans, or rape, of a series that I have watched, been involved with and paid to see every year destroyed by a few individuals whose egos and inflated self worth are appalling. 600 Superbikes? What a load. I’d hate to give up on an American series but the World Superbikes Series will fulfill those requirements to watch the bikes that I own run with the worlds best riders”¦”¦ not a 600 Première Class and 1000’s a secondary support class. But as it should be, 1000cc motorcycles being the Première class. Not MotoST, 600’s or anything else they can dream up. The World Superbike Series and MotoGP Series run the biggest and the baddest bikes as their Première classes. Why on earth would anyone with any common sense run a 600cc class as the Première class? It boggles my mind and other than I have read from and talked too. It’s gotta boggle yours too. I can no longer sit idly by and not speak out. Mat Mladin’s comments are spot on, we, the racing public”¦ the racing fans etc, need to speak out and let those whose own self interests (DMG et al) and the promoters of that racing series know how we feel. Because these “Brown Shirt” tactics do need to be addressed since it us whom they think are a bunch of lemmings and conformists who will convert quietly and become witting converts”¦ BS to that one. I does scare me to think that the same people who bring us NASCAR with its Circus want us to believe it’s good for motorcycles. We are a different breed, we RIDE, and not one NASCAR fan owns and/or drives a car that they drive everyday that they can take to the track and race”¦”¦”¦ we do. We know what it feels like to go 100+mph on a bike, we know how it feels to be on a bike, we know personally the inherent dangers of riding these machines, we know the exhilaration of riding, we know how it feels to watch Mladin, Spies, et al, do things we can only dream of on Sundays, we have tired it”¦”¦ and can fully appreciate those who can do what we can not with these machine, but damn sure as hell try it”¦”¦”¦”¦ So I guess what I am asking is as a Series promoter, a track owner, a track I have supported for many years, that you might help out the motorcycle racing fans by helping represent us when it comes to DMG and their plans for 2009 and beyond. Please let us know how you feel about it; let us know without the political posturing. We want change for the good. DMG is out of line and out of touch what the real racing fan wants. You know, you’ve seen the crowds leave after the 1000cc Superbike race and how small they get when the Supersport class is on the track, I’ve seen it every year for the past 12 at your track”¦”¦ DMG will hurt us the rider/fan and they can only ultimately hurt your bottom line too. Rick McBride Agoura Hills, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I would say that after reading the just released preliminary rules for the DMG Superbike class, I think that they will have a winner on their hands, but I am still very skeptical about the power to weight thing. I do agree that it will bring the costs under control, and should actually make for some great racing. It looks like they really will have a “racers” series, as the rules look like they will make it possible for any capable, talented rider to have a real shot at winning a race. I guess that this will also see which of the factory riders are earning their paychecks, and which ones are “Milking the system”. I am actually looking forward to next year, but for one thing: Where is the Moto Guzzi entrant? Mark Lewellen Ozark, Missouri FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: It appears DMG may be trying to screw up US motorcycle racing. Promotion and sponsorship development are much more fertile avenues for their efforts. I googled for a website with no luck; but would like to e-mail them. I am subscriber # 24979. Can you please send me an e-mail address for Roger Edmondson at DMG? Their prospective focused promotion of 600 cc machines in preference to liter bikes seems utterly without merit. This comes just at the point that Kawasaki and Honda are showing some real competition for Suzuki! I attend at least 4 to 5 AMA races per year. Daytona was eliminated as a trip the very year they forced 600’s into the 200 race. I’ll vote with my feet again if they succeed in their ludicrous diminishment of the real SuperBike class. Thanks for your GREAT magazine. Mike Lyles Duluth, Georgia ~http://www.moto-st.com/contact/~ FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I’m surprised at the limited coverage given to Mel Harris’ comments confirming US Suzuki will most likely not be racing in the US next year, and will probably also halt their current support of privateer teams. I find it disgusting that just as Jamie Hacking & Kawasaki find their legs to give Suzuki a serious challenge, and Neil Hodgson & Honda seem to be finding theirs, the rug is pulled out from under them. Instead of watching top level 200+ hp factory bikes ridden by the best in the US (possibly the world), we’ll be watching privateers racing spec tire, spec gas, (and probably spec ECUs) hp limited 600s. I usually travel to several Superbike races each year – looks like I’ll save that money for WSB and/or MotoGP instead. I guess I’ll go dirt biking and maybe catch the highlights on a website or two. Thanks DMG. Art Astle Newburgh, Indiana FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: On any Saturday night in any small town across Europe, the sound of screaming 2 -strokes can be heard echoing up and down the streets until the wee hours of the morning. Drag racing, girls on the back, painted like Valentino. Mothers don’t cringe when their daughter gets picked-up by a boy on a motorcycle, they are reminded to wear their helmet. Towns are small, distances between, small, a landscape built over centuries around the horse and carriage. A scooter is almost everyone’s first vehicle. Cheap, affordable, fuel efficient. Hell, they’ve had $5/gallon for gas for over 20 years now. Most Europeans have probably ridden a scooter as transportation at one point or another in their lives. The scooter and motorcycle, today, are a part of the European experience. On our side of the pond, we share a different experience. Saturday nights are filled with drag racing and girls, but our shared experience is with the automobile. Our landscape is vast, built largely over the last century, dominated by distance. We live in a places where people call themselves neighbors when they live 10 miles apart. Our youth grow up dreaming of cars. Bikers are the outlaws, the rebels, the dusty, bugs-in-the-teeth, leather jacket wearing fringe of the fuel propelled fanatics. When we show-up, for a date, daughters were sent inside, and we were sent packing. That’s not to say that we didn’t meet her somewhere in the dark, a short time later and give her the ride of her life, but most often, we weren’t welcome. We are never going to be NASCAR in this country, because it is not in our shared experience as Americans. We won’t ever draw 150,000 face-painted, flag-waving, horn-blowing, smoke-bomb and flare burning fanatics on a single day like Valencia or Mugello. But we do stick together. You don’t see car drivers giving each other the wave on a Saturday drive. We are a clique, a club, a band of enthusiasts who love our sport, and love our racing. And we want to see the biggest, baddest bikes be tamed by the biggest, baddest riders. We all dream of one day taming a fire-breathing 1000, not a 600. And we are brand loyalists. We wear our matching colors. We like our matching bikes. Where would Kenny be without American Yamaha, Nicky without American Honda, or where would Ben be going without American Suzuki? These are our heroes. These are our brands, and they and they are the ones we cheer for, just as much as the riders, on Saturday and Sunday. They showcase 1000cc bikes, we dream of 1000cc bikes, racing in America should reflect that. 600s are the stepping stone, 1000s are for the best of the best. What we need in American road racing is not a new flavor, but more focus. We need all the brands, with the best riders, competing on their fastest bikes, on Saturday and Sunday, for the biggest purse. A top 1000cc class, with all the brands , with all the best riders. A 600cc production-based class as a final stepping-stone for young riders, and a place where independent teams can compete and win. And anything else is just gravy. I think this is what we all collectively want. Please DMG, keep us all together, don’t tear us apart. Bret Weiss Los Angeles, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: In regards to Roger Edmondson’s position and statements in the Union Leader ~http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Top+bikers+poised+to+return+to+Loudon&articleId=d7c3264a-cb4d-477b-90c2-232e1764a32e~ I am impressed with Roger’s position (which mirrors, if I am not mistaken, that of Jerry Wood some years ago in regards to his public statements that the track is/was not dangerous). More or less, I believe that this train of thought boils down to something along the lines of “Until or unless someone gets killed, everything is just great and there is nothing at all to worry about.” And yet a seasoned professional motorcycle racer with decades of experience racing all around the planet on a vast array of equipment on a wide variety of racing venues still feels the need to say “It needs changes … honestly the changes would have to be dramatic.” I do not have a terribly difficult time deciding which opinion to put more confidence in. I suspect here that the issue is not one of racing or racing in the rain or, in fact, safety. It looks to me as though The Front Office is trying to impose some strong fisted control right out of the gate so that there will be no question about who is in charge. Perhaps having the riders, who in many cases *are* the show that is being promoted, speaking in public (beyond thanking mom and dad from the podium) is not the way the office sees the sport. Norman Lastovica Salida, Colorado FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: At first, I couldn’t figure out this deal with DMG & Roger E, but I’m getting an idea now. When I heard about the “Daytona Superbike” class I thought “well, that’s a little strange and not what the rest of the world is doing, but I can see how it makes some sense and after all, what does the equipment really matter if all the top guys are there.” Moving the technical focus of the top class a bit away from “works bikes” to “bikes a good privateer team can build” wouldn’t be a bad thing either… Then I hear they want to continue to allow “liter bikes”… So… your headlining class isn’t going to be the fastest one on the track? I’m sure that’s happened in the past (probably when superbikes took over from formula bikes back in the dark ages?), but its sure not a good thing in my mind. Then I read this latest missive from Roger E. about riding in the rain everywhere the AMA doesn’t currently ride in the rain. Hey, let’s be honest… I’m in no position to judge whether that’s a good idea safety wise or not. Sure, I used to road race a little and have been a fan for longer, but I still have hardly any basis to judge. However, I’ve got to think that when a pro racer, driven as they all seem to be, tells you something is too unsafe for them to ride you probably ought to listen. In particular, a series organizer that completely discounts racer opinion to the point of ignoring racer safety groups and the like seems like a series organizer that’s about to have a pretty big problem on his hands, either in terms of rider boycotts or of very unpopular injuries. So… Is Roger E. just really dumb? Heck, even NASCAR seemed to wise up a bit on the safety side after Earnhardt’s death. I don’t Roger is dumb. What I think is that Roger E. is still mad about his mistreatment in the 1990s and is doing his level best to make sure that AMA Pro Racing’s road racing program ceases to exist. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold, as they say. Mark Andy Poland, Ohio FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: AMA Superbike Rules Proposal Since the AMA has relinquished its control of motorcycle road racing to the Daytona Motorsports Group, the rules proposals appear to have caused some discontent among racers and manufacturers. I would like to suggest a reasonable solution. For those who have been coming to Daytona International Speedway over the years, in the past, the Daytona 200 was recognized as a world class race with the top racers from all over the world competing with the best equipment. As Daytona’s track layout appears to be too fast for today’s current tires and superbikes, why not make some changes to the track layout? There’s plenty of room to make an interesting road course. This would add to the uniqueness of Daytona, making it one of the few tracks the entire road course could be seen from the stands. I see this as a win-win proposal, entice more fans to fill the bleacher seats and give the competitors a challenging track to ride so everyone can enjoy the racing of America’s premier class of motorcycles. For the large displacement superbikes, why not adapt the same rules used in World Superbike? There seems to be parity at that level. I believe that would entice the manufacturers to become much more supportive in this country as they are in the rest of the world and open up their support of our racers to be groomed for World Superbike or Moto GP. How about making the Daytona 200 the opening round of the World Superbike Series? Break the race down into two 100 mile races. The first 100 mile race held on Saturday along with the support races and the second 100 mile race on Sunday, giving teams time to make changes and a second day, if needed for the support races. After all isn’t Daytona referred to as Daytona International Speedway? Dave Back Wilmington, Delaware