Road Atlanta may begin making major changes to its 2.5-mile road course as soon as this winter in order to keep its AMA Superbike Championship event, if a plan discussed between track and AMA officials comes to fruition. Newly-hired AMA Pro Racing Road Race Series Director Keith Kizer told Roadracingworld.com today that he and AMA Pro Racing Road Race Series Manager Ron Barrick met with Road Atlanta officials Wednesday to discuss changes that needed to happen to increase safety for motorcycle racing at the historic track. “They said they wanted to repave this winter,” said Kizer. “I told them, ‘If you repave without addressing these issues, we will not be back.'” Kizer said turn 12 (a high-speed turn with very little run-off room in front of a concrete wall) was originally the number one priority to get fixed, “but after looking at it [the track] in person, we thought the Esses might be number one.” Under the AMA’s proposed plan, the wall outside of the original turn three would be pushed back significantly, allowing motorcycles to return to using that section of track and abandoning the much-maligned new chicane at turn three. Due to a property line issue, however, the barriers outside of turn four, the right-hander at the bottom of the Esses, can only be moved back “about 10-15 feet,” said Kizer. This work plus a complete repave of the entire track could be done this winter, said Kizer. In the meantime, the complex engineering required to add a new, motorcycle-only turn 12 to rider’s left of the existing turn 12, could be drawn up and then carried out after the 2007 season. “‘We want a racetrack we can race on in the rain,'” Kizer said he told Road Atlanta’s staff in their very cordial and productive meeting. “So the plan is to do a long-term contract with them, which will state that these things need to be fixed on these dates. We want to come back here. It’s a great racetrack. It’s just outgrown its use.”