Copyright 2018, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

As the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series moved into the paddock Thursday at Pittsburgh International Race Complex (PittRace), hopes of another successful weekend to follow last year’s successful inaugural event were diminished by the tragic news that long-time race announcer Brian Drebber died in a motorcycle accident on his way to the track this morning.

The rider population is slightly smaller this weekend due to injuries and problems within teams.

For starters, Cameron Petersen will not be riding his Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda CBR1000RR SP at PittRace. Petersen suffered an injury to his left foot during a freak accident in Superbike Race One August 11 at Sonoma Raceway, but the South African held out hope that he would be fit to compete in Pennsylvania. Petersen, who is present at PittRace, said he didn’t have surgery on his foot until August 17 and that his surgeon, track day rider and motorcycle racing enthusiast Dr. Thomas Bryan, said the damage was more significant than originally thought. Petersen now has his sights set on returning to action at New Jersey Motorsports Park in early September.

Omega Moto and Geoff May will not be racing at PittRace this coming weekend because the team has made a strategic decision to end its season early. In a telephone interview Thursday, Omega Moto Team Principle Ken Chewey told Roadracingworld.com, “We made a team decision that it would be more financially responsible for us not to continue in the last three rounds of the season. We’ve had some issues with the suspension components [Mupo] we have on the bike, and there’s no sense to continue spinning our wheels. So we decided to regroup and come back next year even stronger.”

Chewey said he hoped to be testing new suspension components on his Yamaha YZF-R1 by the end of the 2018 season in preparation for a return to the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship in 2019. Chewey also said that he hoped to continue working with Geoff May next season, as well.

“Geoff coming on [mid-season] provided some solid knowledge and experience to help guide us and was probably the best thing we did all year,” said Chewey.

Quicksilver/Lexin/Hudson Motorcycles is at PittRace but only with Supersport rider Richie Escalante and no Superbike class entry. Quicksilver/Lexin/Hudson Motorcycles had a falling out with Superbike rider Bobby Fong following Round Five at Utah Motorsports Campus. David Anthony was brought in as a replacement for Fong at Round Six at Sonoma Raceway, but Anthony told Roadracingworld.com that he informed the Quicksilver/Lexin/Hudson Motorcycles team at the end of the weekend at Sonoma Raceway that he did not wish to continue with them.

In the meantime, Kyle Wyman says he purchased a set of Öhlins Superbike forks from the Quicksilver/Lexin/Hudson Motorcycles team and installed them on his Lucas Oil/KWR Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike today at PittRace.

Fong will make his debut on the Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda CBR1000RR SP2 this weekend at PittRace. In his first ride on the Broaster Honda and his first time riding at High Plains Raceway, Fong lapped under Jake Gagne’s lap record during a one-day test last week.

The chicane put in place for the inaugural MotoAmerica race last year at PittRace will once again be used without any modifications.

In the entrant meeting on Thursday, MotoAmerica Race Operations Manager Niccole Cox told the gathering that MotoAmerica would continue with all five classes – Superbike, Supersport, Junior Cup, Twins Cup and Stock 1000 – in 2019. Cox said there would be some refinements to the technical rules, but the decision on whether the Twins Cup and Stock 1000 classes would get two races each weekend next year had not yet been made. Cox also said the 2019 MotoAmerica race schedule was in the works but the MotoGP and World Superbike schedules needed to be finalized first.