On September 3 it was announced that the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), based in Pickerington, Ohio, had re-acquired the rights to professional motorcycle road racing in America from Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG, dba AMA Pro Racing of Daytona Beach, Florida) and as the U.S. affiliate of the FIM would sanction a new professional road racing series promoted and managed by a new group called MotoAmerica.

MotoAmerica, is an affiliate of the KRAVE Group, and KRAVE represents the initials of its four partners: Terry Karges, Wayne Rainey, Chuck Aksland and Richard Varner. Varner, according to information released by KRAVE, is a motorcycle manufacturer, energy sector entrepreneur, philanthropist and businessman. Karges, is a former motorsports marketing executive and team owner who spent 17 years at Roush Performance until he was named Executive Director of the Peterson Museum. Rainey is a former AMA Superbike Champion, a three-time 500cc GP World Champion, an AMA Hall of Famer and a MotoGP Legend. And Aksland is a former racer, a former Team Manager at King Kenny Roberts’ Team Roberts, a rider manager and until recently was the Vice President of Motor Sport Operations at Circuit of The Americas.

Aksland was at New Jersey Motorsports Park this weekend to attend the final round of the AMA Pro Superbike Championship, and on Friday, September 12 he sat down to give Roadracingworld.com an exclusive interview. The interview has been published in three installments over the last three days. The third part of the interview addresses the class structure and rules and the TV package of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship.

Roadracing World: To the rules and class structure, do you anticipate radical changes for 2015? Or are you going to try to avoid making radical rule changes for 2015?

Chuck Aksland: “Obviously with the lateness where we are in the realm of things, and probably that doesn’t even have as much to do with it, the intention is not to flip the world upside down and make competitors have to go out and buy new equipment and reinvest, because I think they’ve invested over the last few years in different electronic packages and so forth. So there’s some details to work out.

“Long-term goal, again, would be to try to align this as close as we can with FIM world rules so that there’s one platform that everybody is working off of. Again, there’s pros and cons to that, and it’s not something that can be achieved overnight, but I think long-term that‘s a goal for us and we’d like to try to work into that with some of our classes.

“Really, the United States series has fallen off the path of where team managers and factories used to look to for guys. There’s some very talented people here, but they [team managers and factory representatives] tend to look within their own envelope. World Superbike guys look at classes coming up under them, for instance. We’ve got to try to create opportunities, and I think this is where having Dorna as a supporter in this is going to help.

“When this Championship, hopefully, regains the recognition that it used to have and there’s young kids that you can see following this ladder and dominating each class or each step they go, then hopefully that will create some opportunities to get them overseas or let them pursue their goal if they want to go to World Superbike or another World Championship.”

RW: From talking to people we’ve learned that they want to know the schedule and they want to know the classes and technical rules, but they also want to know about the TV package as soon as possible. What’s your plan regarding TV coverage of the MotoAmerica series?

Aksland: “Well, I think unfortunately it’s probably going to be easier for me to get a schedule and get the rules than getting a TV package negotiated, but it’s something that’s underway. We’re talking to different parties and about different scenarios. We’re committed to having a TV program, and we’re working on it. That’s all we can say.”

RW: Can you talk more about classes? Do you have any idea of what the class structure might be near-term, mid-term and long-term? What existing classes might carry over? What classes might not carry over? And there’s been a lot of talk about a Moto2 element. Can you address that?

Aksland: “Obviously, we have a Superbike class. The numbers on the [Superbike] grid, I think the average for last year was about 14-15 bikes, maybe more sometimes, maybe less. We would like to add another 1000cc element into that class by maybe introducing a stock 1000cc [class], much in the way that MotoGP and the CRT class ran with the separate scoring.

“Again, it’s about having a stepping stone for the rider. Right now a rider goes from a 600 straight onto a Superbike. So we want to give riders a chance to step into a 1000 without having to spend the money and go straight onto a Superbike. That’s one of the ideas being considered.

“We’d also like to introduce a Moto2 element, but much like they do in the [Repsol FIM CEV] Spanish Championship. Their Moto2 and Superstock 600s are a combined class and they’re scored separately. So maybe something like that as well for those two categories.

“We’re talking with the other classes. The Harley[-Davidson] class, we’ve had some discussions with them. The 600cc Supersport class, I don’t really see any changes there. And then if we could find the right opportunity for an entry-level-type [small-displacement] class, then we’re looking at that as well.”

RW: You guys want to develop young talent. You’re talking about an entry-level, small-displacement class. Are you guys going to stick with the 16-year-old age limit that’s currently in place for AMA Pro Road Racing?

Aksland: “The goal is to reduce that by a couple of years for the entry-level class.”

RW: The entry-level class, are you guys considering all options or more of a one-make series, like a Ninja Cup or KTM Cup?

Aksland: “I think the easiest option and probably the most economical for riders would be a one-make-type series. We’re open to anything that will work economically for riders and work for the series, but there’s going to be a lot of things going on next year with the transition. We’d also like to keep things simple, too. Generally, if you have a one-make-type series it’s a little bit simpler to govern than opening something up to a lot of manufacturers and variations on rules and so forth.”

RW: Will your series have control tires?

Aksland: “We’re in negotiations with Dunlop [the current control tire supplier for AMA Pro Road Racing] now to continue as it is for next year. Nothing has been finalized yet, but we think that’s the direction we would like to go and Dunlop seems pleased with their participation in the sport as it is. From past endeavors we have a good relationship with Dunlop. We don’t want to flip anything upside down, again, and everybody’s used to the system.

“And realistically to introduce any new type of tire manufacturer, especially going to Daytona as one of your first races, if that’s the case there’s a lot of work for a tire company to get ready. I think even if it were opened up they would probably question whether or not they would want to do it, initially.”