Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Pro Racing is poised to announce increases in Superbike purses, which the organization claims justify and prove the worth of CEO Scott Hollingsworth’s policies and negotiations with race promoters, insiders say.

The announcement of the larger Superbike purses was supposed to be tied in with release of the 2002 schedule today or tomorrow. But instead, AMA Pro Racing’s Ron Barrick released the schedule in advance of the announcement, to selected media outlets.

Roadracingworld.com was not one of the websites given the information by Barrick, but obtained a tentative schedule by other means.

The last holdouts in the sometimes contentious 2002 race sanction contract negotiations are Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Brainerd International Raceway.

Versions of the sanction contract have been flying back-and-forth between AMA Pro Racing headquarters and Mid-Ohio.

Hollingsworth and staff demanded greatly increased sanction fees for 2002 road races.

AMA Pro Racing is using the same approach in negotiations with AMA Supercross promoter Clear Channel Motor Sports. In those negotiations, AMA is demanding all sponsor rights, signage rights and TV rights, as well as an almost-doubled sanction fee, according to sources close to the negotiations.

According to one current AMA Trustee, if those negotiations–now being held for the 2003 season–fail, the AMA plans to hold its own Supercross Series in competition with the existing series, which has the best stadiums locked up in long-term deals. AMA Pro Racing is betting on the manufacturers sending their factory Supercross teams to the AMA Series instead of the Clear Channel Series, but, the Trustee said, this time the AMA cannot count on that happening.

Some AMA promoters are also worried that Clear Channel could retaliate against such a move by scheduling Freestyle Motocross competitions against AMA Outdoor Motocross Nationals in various markets, virtually killing attendance at those races.