AMA Pro Racing/Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG) boss Roger Edmondson says the meetings he had this past weekend with members of the Road Race Industry Council (RRIC) have put him one step closer to announcing a 2009 AMA Pro road racing schedule. “We had a good meeting,” Edmondson told Roadracingworld.com. “I’m anticipating that that I will be in a position to announce a schedule within two weeks, and I anticipate that schedule will be very attractive to the industry and the public alike.” The list of venues on that schedule will not just be a wish list, according to Edmondson. “When that schedule is announced it will only include events that have been ‘papered,’ as they say, which means I will either have a sanctioning agreement or a letter of intent,” he said. “Because this situation is so fluid and so volatile I think that people need a little more assurance than a handshake. I don’t need it. These are my friends, I trust them and a handshake is fine for me. But on the other hand I think that as we stand up and claim to be doing this and doing that and doing the other thing we need to make sure that those who are Doubting Thomas’s can be reassured the proper way.” Some involved in the situation think a compromise may still be struck between Edmondson’s regime and his opponents among the Japanese manufacturers by making further changes to the proposed class and rule structure. “I don’t know why they would think that,” said Edmondson. “I would say that it’s not inconceivable that there will be a detail change or two, but there certainly will not be any conceptual changes. “When we asked the four Japanese manufacturers if they had an interest in supporting the Factory Superbike concept and only one replied, that would indicate to me that three had no interest. “Now that we have announced our plans for the doubleheaders for American Superbike and Daytona Superbike I’ve had other manufacturers call me [asking for] details regarding the weekend schedule and how many riders they needed to hire, we’ve sent RFPs [request for proposals] to the tire companies telling them how many races we’re going to run and the length of the races. In other words, we have started now to put in motion the process of adding the bits and pieces to the basic program. “For me to make a major change at this point would not only be difficult but of course this whole thing has been difficult but it would also then in some ways betray those who when they heard what we intended to do decided to come aboard. So I don’t believe it makes sense for us to make significant changes.” So what’s the next step? “The next step, as I understand it, is for me to strike individual deals that are agreeable to each promoter,” said Edmondson. “While I met with them as a group each of them has their own deal, OK? Each of them has a different level of security based on the size of their traditional crowd. Some of them have events that are very successful, and some of them have events that aren’t so successful. So our goal is to cater the sanctioning agreement to meet the needs and the maturity level of each of the events. “Once we have a schedule announced, then I’m capable of signing my TV contract. Once I have the TV contract signed, I’m capable of signing the sponsorship contracts. But each one of these things follows one after the other. “Quite clearly we still believe that this is the best venue for selling motorcycles for the major manufacturers, and we will make one more effort to go back to each of the manufacturers and try to convince them that this is where they should put their investment and where they should put their race team. And we owe that to the public, we owe it to the industry, we owe it to these promoters to try and make sure we have all of the best motorcycles and all the best riders in attendance.”