On Saturday, July 19, during the combined AMA/MotoGP event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG) announced that it had finalized its purchase of certain AMA Pro Racing properties. DMG also announced its final rules and class structure for the 2009 road racing season. DMG/AMA Pro Racing will have three primary classes in 2009: The premier Factory Superbike class, the American Superbike class and the Daytona Superbike class. Factory Superbike will be run under the technical rules developed by AMA Pro Racing and a rules committees (including manufacturer representatives) in 2007. Those rules allow for 1000cc four-cylinder machines to race against 1200cc Twins with minimum weight limits but no restrictions on tires, electronics and testing. Factory Superbike will be the final, featured race on Sunday of each race weekend. American Superbike will include 1000cc four-cylinder machines and 1200cc Twins with more technical restrictions than Factory Superbike regarding which parts can and cannot be used, modified and/or replaced. The class will run on spec tires, use spec fuel, have minimum weight limits and restricted testing but will not have any dyno-enforced horsepower limits. Daytona Superbike will be made up of 600cc four-cylinder machines, 675cc triples and Twins up to 1200cc. The class will have spec tires, spec fuel, a horsepower-to-weight ratio (three pounds per horsepower) enforced by a dynomometer and strict rules governing which parts can be used, modified and/or removed. The three classes will be supplemented at some venues by the SunTrust MOTO-ST endurance series (for twin-cylinder motorcycles using spec tires, spec fuel with horsepower and weight limits) and the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup series for emerging talents (which use spec KTM RC125 machines and tires). For reaction to the announced and published 2009 rules and class structure we contacted, (or attempted to contact), representatives from each of the major motorcycle manufacturers currently involved in AMA National road racing in America. We will run the feedback from each representative in individual posts, starting with Ducati North America CEO Michael Lock. Roadracingworld.com: What are your thoughts on the recently announced 2009 AMA Pro road racing classes and rules? Michael Lock: When the fog clears and you can see what’s in front of you it’s always better than the alternative. We’re relieved that it seems it’s gotten to a point where there’s a published set of rules now that we can pour over in detail and discuss with Ducati Corse in Italy, really, to determine what we would need to do to have competitive bikes here for next year. Certainly, at first glance at the rules, we’re pretty encouraged. We think that the Daytona Superbike and the American Superbike classes are the ones we could compete in and be pretty competitive. We’re still having a really close look at the Factory Superbike class because it does not, at least as I can interpret it, allow us to run World Superbike rules, which is obviously what we were looking for. And it doesn’t look like it is a facsimile of World Superbike rules, which is gonna be a tough sell back at Bologna [Italy, location of Ducati and Ducati Corse headquarters] because they want to build as few specifications of bikes as possible. They’re pretty overworked as it is. So we’ve got a bit of a question mark over that and we’ve also got a bit of a commercial question mark over the Factory Superbike class. If there’s half a dozen bikes on the grid that’s not going to look too good, and there is certainly a serious doubt at this moment in time as to how many bikes will grid for that class. You spend a fortune to go racing in the most expensive class and if you beat five bikes it’s not much to shout about. So that one we’re still considering, but the other two I think we’re encouraged by in terms of our ability to be able to compete in them. So the emphasis for me now is moving into being able to talk seriously to our potential partners and sponsors and the factory about putting something together in time for next year. RW: So sponsors and being able to use racing kit pistons are key elements in your decision? Lock: For Factory Superbike class, yes. RW: We spoke earlier and it seems that your view may have shifted just a bit? Lock: I’ve had a couple of discussions with DMG people in the last few days, and I think we’ve got a clarification now as to what we need to do, or rather what I need to report back to Corse in Bologna. So I feel a bit clearer on it than when we spoke [at Laguna Seca], and I think I feel a bit more optimistic. RW: Optimistic as in going toward the American Superbike and Daytona Superbike classes instead of the Factory Superbike class? Lock: No. Certainly I think we could field a good quality effort in both Daytona and American Superbikes. I think we’re confident about that. And I feel a bit more optimistic about Factory Superbike than I did a few days ago, as well. There is no doubt in my mind that the DMG want as many people as possible to go racing. Having spoken to them at great length the kind of language that they use is all biased towards getting us to the racetrack, which is great. And if we can we will. RW: Will DMG allow you to use racing kit pistons? Lock: We haven’t got as far as determining that yet, but they’ve given me a couple of pointers to go back to the factory, for me to discuss with the factory that might allow us to get around this problem. RW: As far as the American Superbike and Daytona Superbike, do you have any issues with spec tires or spec fuel or anything like that? Lock: You ask anyone involved in racing and they will say they want as many variables under their control as possible. I think that’s the same for everybody. But we have gotten used to spec tires in World Superbike, and it is a field-leveler. There’s no question about that. So I’m not going to get hung up on spec tires and spec fuel. It’s the same for everybody, and we’ve been there before. We would prefer not to have to do it, but I understand why they’re doing it. RW: So what is your planning timeline like? Lock: I’m at the factory [this] week. It’s just ahead of their shutdown in August. They close most of the functions of the factory in August. So next week is my last chance to go there before they shut down for the summer. And it’s really my last chance to discuss anything serious ahead of our dealer meeting, which is right after the Indy MotoGP, where we seek to announce our whole strategy and all the projects we’re involved in to our dealer network then. So if we’re going to go racing next year I would like to be able to say something at the dealer meeting, if possible. So [this] week is pretty important round of meetings for me with factory people to talk about next year. Of course racing is one of the most important things in that. RW: Ducati North America’s involvement in 2009, would you characterize it as being a full factory team or a team like the one run by Larry Pegram with factory support? Lock: That depends on one major variable, which is the ability I have to bring in serious sponsorship. If I can bring in a headline team sponsor to the level I’m looking to do we would run either a full factory team or at least a semi-factory-supported team and it would be under the control of Ducati North America. If we are unable to bring in sufficient sponsorship dollars to be able to do that we would have a fallback position, which I think would be to support something separate from the factory, like we’ve done with Larry this year, with cash and with technical assistance and with marketing and P.R. support. We would look to at least do that, but that’s not what I’m planning for. RW: You’re going for the whole ball of wax, huh? Lock: Yeah, I am. This is a brand new race series with brand new promoters. I think all the eyes of the road racing community and the sportbike community in America are going to be watching this next year. We want to be part of it. As imperfect as it may be for a couple of years we want to be part of it and show our commitment. So that’s what I’m aiming towards. The big issue is whether we can afford it, and we can only afford it with the generosity and support of a big outside sponsor. So that’s what I’m planning towards. RW: With their announcement DMG gave a vision of bringing AMA Pro Racing in line with World Superbike specs by 2011. How does that affect your decision now and in the long term? Lock: I don’t think we’ve got around the central objection that’s been discussed for the last few months, which is the full World Superbike-spec motorcycles are fast. And really we have not, to anybody’s satisfaction yet, addressed the safety issue as to where can we run these motorcycles where we don’t put the riders under undue risk. If you think forward to 2011 the bikes are unlikely to be slower. They’re likely to only be faster and lighter and more aggressive. So I think without a full discussion about the safety aspect of racing”¦there are three or four tracks on the tour at the moment that I think we will have to put under the microscope if we’re, as an industry, to seriously stand up and support full World Superbike spec racing, particularly as far ahead as that. So that’s a much bigger question. My consideration working for Ducati is I’ve got to try and deliver as consistent a specification to our factory to go racing with as I can. They spend a tremendous amount of time and money developing the World Superbike spec. And we’re a small factory. You know that. The number of people who work at Ducati Corse is so small you could put them all in my office and count them. So we’re a small factory. The more variances they have to build into the specification”¦you know it’s not as simple as building cams or putting restrictors in because it has a knock-on effect on the total performance of the bike. So you’re re-engineering a lot, or rather yet you’re testing to potentially re-engineer a lot every time you change a specification when you’re right on the cutting edge like that. So it’s no damn good to us to have multiple specifications of Superbike racing around the world because all it does is it forces Ducati Corse into a corner to either support us badly, which is no good to anybody, or to turn around and say we can’t support you because we don’t have the resources. So we’ve got two issues here. One is we’ve got the infrastructure of the race circuits, that really does need looking at. And I don’t just mean people pontificating about “Wouldn’t it be a good idea if we made them safer?” I mean, you’ve got to listen to the racers. There are some guys on the circuit like Mat [Mladin] and Neil [Hodgson], who have been around a long time and are smart guys and know their racing, and you have to listen to what they say. And I think we have to do that as an industry. It seems to me that the objective of DMG of making motorcycle racing profitable and well-promoted and safer and with the emphasis they’re putting on bringing the class sizes down to a lower level of performance I can understand why they’re doing it. It’s not commercially such a great idea if you’re a manufacturer trying to sell liter sportbikes, but somehow we’ve got to make all of this fit. We’re in the biggest sportbike market in the world, and it doesn’t look like it (laughs) to anybody on the outside. We are unable to somehow contrive with the biggest sportbike market in the world with the biggest motorcycle population in the world and the highest disposable income that we are unable to put together a top-level motorcycle racing series because of the inherent limitations of the infrastructure of the tracks. So I think that still needs to be sorted out, and there’s no way any of us can start looking towards putting full factory Superbikes on grids on 2011 without that really being addressed. RW: We haven’t heard too many people buy into the goals DMG has been working towards like you have. Lock: Well, look, they’ve come on the scene, they’re putting a lot of money behind this, they’ve taken a hell of a lot of abuse (laughs) for the last few months because they’re trying to change things. And as imperfect as the current situation has been people are very frightened of change because they see it as a threat and not an opportunity. I’m trying to see all of this as an opportunity. My experience tells me it will jump around all over the place for the next couple of years, and people might be able to point the finger at DMG and say, ‘Ah, ha! Told you so.’ But these guys are in it to try and turn this sport into something that’s sustainable. And the AMA sold them the series, so this is where we are and I think we’ve, as an industry, got to do the best we can to make this work. So there’s a lot of political to-ing and fro-ing going on at the moment. That’s to be expected, but at some point we all need to knuckle down and put on a fine road racing series for the public. At some point we all need to do that. We’re [Ducati] a very small player in it. What we do will not, in the grand plan of things, affect things very much, but some of the big players need to think to where we want to be three, five, 10 years from now in road racing in the U.S. Do we want to have road racing in the U.S.? If we do today is the first day towards planning that, I think. And I come from a little country, a little country that has a very successful Superbike race series that has been going for a long, long time. And if it’s possible to do in the U.K. it’s possible to do here. And there’s no less bitching and complaining in the U.K. (laughs). They’re all at each other’s throats, and the organizers don’t agree with the manufacturers, who don’t agree with the promoters. I don’t think this is anything unique to the U.S., but that doesn’t mean that it’s a get-out for us all coming together and organizing it. And I’m sure we can do that. There’s a huge street/sportbike industry that depends on our product being promoted in an exciting way. It depends on that. So we’ve got to get on with that.