INAUGURAL RULES COMMITTEE MEETING HELD AT AMA HEADQUARTERS
PICKERINGTON, Ohio (July 14, 2006) — The first meeting of the newly-formed AMA Road Race Rules Committee was held Thursday at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio. The all-day meeting covered a variety of issues related to the AMA Superbike Championship and was an encouraging beginning to a new way of conducting business according to AMA CEO, Patti DiPietro.
“I am very pleased with the outcome of our first meeting and the contributions made by each member of this committee,” said DiPietro Thursday evening. “We covered a lot of ground today and I’m happy with our initial progress. There is a great deal of work to be done by this group and this was a productive beginning.”
Members of the newly-formed committee attending the meeting included Ammar Bazzaz of Bazzaz Performance Design, Erik Buell of Buell Motorcycle, Co., Sean Clarke of WERA, Kevin Crowther of AMA Pro Racing, Gordon Lunde of the Wegman Benefit Fund, Britt Lynn of Moto-R, Nick McCabe of Ducati North America, Keith McCarty of Yamaha Motor Corp., Wendell Phillips of Phillips Motorsport Group, Michael Preston of Kawasaki Motor Corp., Don Sakakura of Yoshimura R & D (representing Suzuki Motor Corp.), Jay Sherritt, and Kevin Smith of the AFM. Committee member Chuck Miller of Honda Motor Co. was unable to attend due to a prior commitment. Additionally, AMA and AMA Pro Racing staff members who attended included DiPietro, Kerry Graeber, Ron Barrick, Ken Rogers and AMA Board of Directors member Carl Reynolds, who chaired the meeting. AMA attorney Timothy Owens was also in attendance.
Earlier this year the AMA and AMA Pro Racing announced a reorganization to its structure specifically designed to improve the rulesmaking process. In addition to a Standing Racing Committee created to provide strategic direction for AMA Championship Racing, a separate rules committee is being formed for each discipline. This committee will deal specifically with AMA Superbike rules. Committees for AMA Flat Track, AMA Supercross/Motocross and AMA Supermoto are being finalized and will be meeting soon. Additionally a committee has been formed to oversee AMA Hillclimb.
Once a rule is decided upon by the respective rules committee it is elevated through the Racing Standing Committee to the AMA Board of Directors for ratification. The board of directors can either approve the rule as is or send back to the rules committee with comment. The board is empowered to either approve or deny the rule but not change it.
DiPietro reported that the Road Race Rules Committee acted on several current issues and that its recommendations have already been sent to the AMA Board of Directors for approval. It is expected that the board will act quickly with announcements coming as early as next week. Typically, rule changes will not go into effect until the following season, but if the situation warrants, rule changes can be implemented immediately.
The next meeting of the Road Race Rules Committee is scheduled for September.