Yesterday the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) announced the formation of a new professional racing organization the United States Super Bike series. Today, American Honda has confirmed its intention to race in the proposed series. “Yes, that is our plan, as of today,” said Jon Row, American Honda Motorcycle Sports Manager. “Our plan is to race against the top teams in the sport in an environment where innovation is embraced and the Honda Racing spirit can thrive. As I see it today it appears to be that USSB is the option.” Asked if American Honda might also participate, directly or indirectly, in the 2009 AMA Pro road racing series, Row said he did not know for certain, but he cast serious doubt on it happening. “At this point in time, the way the AMA series is currently structured, it is unlikely that we would participate in it,” said Row. “We need to be in an environment in a series where we can demonstrate the things that we have traditionally used racing to demonstrate: innovation, durability, an environment where individual and team efforts can be recognized and rewarded, basically a series without the artificial limitations to performance or restricted options or overly-controlled conditions that inhibit creativity or reduce our team’s ability to demonstrate their expertise.” AMA Pro Racing/Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG) has proposed several evolutions of class and rule structures for 2009, adjusting them several times to accommodate the wishes of manufacturers like American Honda and American Suzuki. Most recently, AMA/DMG offered a “Factory Superbike” 1000cc class with rules very similar to the current AMA Superbike rules and the Super Bike rules announced yesterday by USSB. But still American Honda chose to go with USSB instead of AMA Pro Racing. Why is that? “I can’t really comment on that because I haven’t been involved in that aspect of this,” said Row.