Yooperbikemike's 2013 MotoGP Thread

<dl><dt>"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." -- H. L. Mencken</dt></dl>

Speed 2 is only available in very limited markets or it would be a natural progression to use it to reach a limited and geographicaly diverse market. Until it is available to much more of it's target market it will be a non starter.

The big selling point for 'reality' programming is the production costs. To make a program about three people guessing how fast a 1967 Chevelle 4-cylinder automatic will cover a quarter mile is about $3.27. You need one handheld camera to walk around at the start line, one camera on a boom to show the run, and one fixed camera to show the contestants and host.
To show a race (even as badly as they do for AMA pro today) may require three boom cameras, three hand helds, three fixed, one airborne platform, a dozen on-vehicle cameras, three or four tractor trailers of computers and technicians, a couple of high dollar talking heads...Plus travel expenses.
Do the math. The sad part is that Speed has a thousand events they COULD cover every week, but if they don't have WSBK and MGP, they end up covering a bunch of Nascar races and moto-x. Then they throw in a couple of AMA pro, the Daytona 200, Aussie supercars, German sedans, the 24 hr of Daytona, and not much else during prime viewing time. It all comes down to money and their ability to sell sponsorships. Hell - Soccer from Mexico and the British Premier League show more 'real' events than Speed shows motor events. What ever happened to the rallye coverage? Why don't they spend a little time at the flat track races (much cheaper to cover because they can use one boom and some handhelds). Damned accountants...

The few AMA Pro Flat Track races that get televised are either because the whole production team is already there (Daytona Short Track) or they are one of many events that fill the Lucas Oil Motorsports hour broadcast on NBC Sports cable channel (formerly Versus). I talked to one of the camera operators at the Sacramento Mile last year for a quite a while. The had four fixed cameras plus at least one handheld for the podium and several GoPros. He said he and the whole crew were individual independent contractors and flew to different events every week; off-road trucks, dirt and paved ovals, extreme sports, etc. He didn't always work with the same crew.

I was volunteering at the MIle and there were several long breaks so we talked quite a bit. He just kept telling me all this stuff about video production and I didn't even have to ask a million irritating questions like I usually do.

Time to put up or shut up...Who really knows their stuff? Join the free online fantasy league. http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20726599

This reminds me of the fact that GP or AMA can barely attract fans to the facilities in the first place in the States, let alone sell advertising on regular TV. It blows my mind to watch AMA on TV and race day looks like a practice day; thousands of empty seats. Filming bikes going past the finish line with empty bleachers in the background can't be appealing to a sponsor.
The fact is that bike racing isn't that popular here in North America. I go, and you go, but that's not paying the bills.

Indy motogp draws a decent crowd, though it should be bigger, given the proximity to large population areas and the fact that the track can handle HUGE crowds. Plus, it's CHEAP! 75 bucks for a weekend ticket and you can split a camping spot with your buddies for 50 bucks. I've spend more at a bar on a good friday night!
as for AMA, see the ama roadrace thread for the reasons why nobody attends races anymore. I've been attending mid-ohio since 89, and during the 90's, the raceday crowd was incredible, with weekend attendence in the 100k range. after the ama debacle, the crowd is a tiny fraction what it once was, and like you said, looks like club racing.

OK folks, let's not denigrate club level racing !

That is the back bone of all efforts, some poor dude or dudet slaving away at some POSJ
trying to get ahead enough to go racing.
Yea the big boy's and factory riders are interesting, but for my money give me a hungry club level racer , a few $$ and we have a champion.
Sure the Europeans take a different slant on this and have serious feeder ladders, but let's not forget the US club level rider trying to get ahead.

anything that requires my full name, my email, home address, phone number and oddly when my insurance renews, forget it.

I don't think anybody is denigrating club level racing. It's just that I expect to see a difference between club level racing and AMA racing. Like I expect to see a difference between HS base ball and college level base ball and professional base ball. Some of the HS player are full of heart and have a ton of talent. It's more fun to watch them rise to a level where they're playing against equal talent.

There's some good AMA racers but the field has gotten so thin these last few years and there's a lot of talent sitting on the bench. It's not really that entertaining any more. Participation at the club level isn't what it once was either. Entries are down. I blame that on the lackluster performance of AMA.

when there is no carrot to chase, there won't be many rabbits.

I worked corners at Sears Point in the late 80s early 90s. The 600cc novice class was 2 wave starts. Sometimes I ask myself, 'what happened?"

Oh Christ. Its the economy affecting club racing. It has nothing to do with AMA Pro Racing. Club racing is a lot more expensive and fewer people have the means. 600 SS bikes are over $10,000 to buy and you can't even get one race weekend out a set of tires. Suspension is way more expensive. I raced AFM in the late '90s during the dot.com boom and the paddock was jammed. Over 1000 race entries per weekend. 600 Production and 600 Superbike would have full grids and wait lists over 20 deep every weekend. Was never the same after the dot.com crash even during 2004-2008. There is a huge gap between club racing and AMA Pro and its foolish to call it club racing.



Back on topic. Why is Dorna jerking around Suzuki about returing to MotoGP? Dorna wants a long commitment but won't commit to a long term rules package. Why should a large manufacturer have to jump through hoops to compete?

Yeah I've flown down twice for Indy GP/Mile and last time was the endurocross too. Loved it!

You're wrong.

I've had the same questions.

Ezpeleta explains, in Spanish:

http://solomoto.es/1/1360787418/mot...ta-en-2017-habra-grandes-cambios#.UR4b5KVwp8E

Well worth reading. Rules are fixed from 2014 thru 2016, big changes currently under discussion for 2017 onwards. There is plenty of time to plan.

Also, hints at the spec tire changing. This is A Good Thing.

There is an interesting article with Kenny Roberts in the latest MCN .

I think his take on the current status of GP and the reasons Americans will have no one in competition in a very short while .

This may be down to a translation issue, but did I understand correctly that he was saying to the factories that their ploy of 'we don't like it, we'll do sbk instead' is no longer an issue? It reads like 'we control it all, you play it our way, or tough shit'.

Considering how wrong Dorna runs their web presence, if the above is correct, this does not leave me with a warm fuzzy.

I club raced a little in the early 90s. There was no shortage of guys who showed up to "run what they brung." From my current "way on the outside" vantage point, it seems like the number of low-buck riders is down. Seems like you need a reasonably serious $$ effort to compete these days. Is anyone still racing on stock bikes w/stock suspension and worn out tires?

It's the same thing riding dirt bikes. Used to be that the parking areas were full of ratty pick-ups and vans. Now 1/2 the vehicles are nice toy haulers or motor home/trailer combos. Peer pressure?