Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The news last week that Virginia International Raceway had not included an AMA event on its 2005 schedule was met with disappointment from racers.

“It’s a bummer, for sure,” 2004 AMA Supersport Champion Tommy Hayden told Roadracingworld.com. “I always liked going there (VIR). I’ll be disappointed to only have 10 races. We need to keep as many races as we can, and VIR is definitely one of our good tracks. I hope this gets worked out, but it doesn’t look very good.”

“It’s never good to lose races off the schedule,” said American Honda’s Jake Zemke. “It would be nice to see if we can find a replacement or go back to another track twice. If we lost (VIR) and Brainerd in one year, that wouldn’t be good.”

“It’s always disappointing to lose a racetrack,” said 2004 AMA Formula Xtreme Champion Miguel Duhamel. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to replace it, if that does happen.”

With the AMA event at Brainerd International Raceway also listed by the AMA as tentative, due, in part, to the facility being put up for sale, and the possibility that all AMA support classes will not race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this season, Duhamel was asked what he thought about the possibility of racing AMA Formula Xtreme only eight times in 2005.

“The point structure is made to be tight. They want to keep it tight. If there’s only eight races, if anything it’s just going to make it tighter. Hopefully, no one has a problem,” said Duhamel. “I’m just going to jump into the season. There’s not much I can do about it, personally. All I can do is give it my best effort. I’m going into the season pretty confident that no matter what they throw at us we’re going to have a good season. To this point in my career, I’m pretty much immune to anything they (AMA Pro Racing) could do. I’ve seen pretty much everything. That’s why I’m not anticipating too high or too low. I’m just going to really keep my head down and hope they keep it fair for everybody.”