2013 AMA Pro Roadracing No-Spoiler Catch-All Thread

Its nice to have Dean Adams to remind us how everything was perfect before DMG came along. Like Paradama never existed. Or how AMA membership dollars were never used to subsidize racing or TV packages. Or that the economic meltdown didn't have any impact on racing. Thanks Dean.

[SIZE=+1]On The Tube Or Down The Tubes? Is DMG Superbike Going Off The Air?[/SIZE]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Jan/130129lastangry.htm

DMG still has a chance to be the death of AMA sportbike racing... At some point, the AMA has to get a clue and realize they just made a bad decision, eat the crow pie and move on; otherwise the AMA will just be a amateur/club level roadracing series that no one pays any attention to... Hell, it's almost there now.

This is not a knock on the racers by the way, or the teams, just the organizers and promoters.

Herrin's status with Monster Energy Graves Yamaha for 2013 officially announced.
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=50726

Thanks ! I just read that on RRW. Now I'm wondering where Tommy Hayden will end up.

I get my news from Road Racing World.

Superbikeplanet occasionally has some cool photos, but their agenda-driven anti-DMG rants were tired even when DMG was seriously screwing things up.

While the series still has some room for improvement, I prefer the way things are going now to how they were when they were controlled by the Japanese manufacturers (and, by the way, the TV coverage SUCKED in those days).

I just can't see why they scheduled the 200 the same weekend as the Sebring 12 hrs for the second year in a row quite a conflict!

Sebring? Isn't that an endurace race for cars on an old airport?

Yeah, but I would expect that some folks who actually attend the 200 (rather than ride their open-pipe hogs up and down main street) might also be part of the audience who would attend the 12-hour. So why would they seek to dilute an already diminishing audience? I would think that they could schedule it the weekend before or after and seek to attract some folks who would still be on vacation - heck, they could actually advertise it as something the audience would want to stick around for.

Supercross is a bigger draw so they get priority scheduling over road racing. Only so many weekends during Bike Week to choose from.

Looks like the Team Hammer rig is hauling all Honda's afterall. JU signed Benny Solis to race a M-4 cbr600rr in Daytona Sportbike. He should make his mark after a couple years. I didn't read anything, but I presume Westby is still on the team and also racing a Honda, yes?

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=50725

Westby is racing a Honda CBR600 on Chris Ulrich's team, IIRC.

It's good to see Honda represented again in AMA roadracing. Solis has shown some potential.

Now, if Kawasaki, BMW, Aprilia, MV Agusta, Ducati, etc... would step up to the plate, we'd have something here. Given the economy, however, I don't see it happening.

Maybe when the 2014 rules are set we'll see increased participation.

What Spezjag said is true I've been going to both for over thirty years last year was the first time they were concurrent. About nine of my buddy's feel the same way we will be at Sebring since the week of the 200 will also be during spring breakers invasion. Also same weekend as the Gatornationals in Gainsville just seems like they are missing out on motor racing fans

if ama/dmg can find a way to fuck something up, they will! seems like they are doing the usual bang-up job. seems the 200 is a week later than usual. bike week has always been the first week of march, and this year looks like it's the 2nd week.
and to the poster that wants to see honda, kawa, ducati,etc all racing? yeah, used to be like that, what a great time it was.

DMG is the promoter of AMA Road Racing. A few years ago the AMA decided they didn't want to run the races anymore, that they wanted an outside production company to do it for them (sound idea, every other big series does the same); however, there was much politicking going on, as there were people ousted from the AMA and other folks that came in and all of a sudden they wanted to change everything; meanwhile, there were several track owners and other "power brokers" who were "in bed" with these new folks at the AMA & DMG - there are several really good articles about it several years ago, I'm sure still available on the webz.

Anyway, DMG are the promoters of NASCAR, and the idea was that they would bring that HUGE audience to AMA road racing; except it never happened. They have monkeyed with the rules, made all kinds of changes, screwed up the schedule, gone to tracks no one likes and are not safe, dropped tracks everyone liked and were safe, and made some really stupid deals with SPEED for TV coverage (their guy actually tried to defend the 11PM showings, saying "that way everyone knows when the races will be on..." No lie).

Then, when Fox made it clear that they were changing the format of SPEED and would not renew the contract, DMG was "caught completely flatfooted" (at least that's the public view) and had no plan B, and took many months to recover and even come up with a plan to try to start looking for a new TV deal...

There was an overhaul at DMG a year or two ago, and some new blood came in; they did at least seem to have a better handle on how to run a series, at least from the rules perspective; but, they have never recovered from the perspective of the schedule, tracks or TV coverage.

And unfortunately, nothing has really changed in the several years this has been going on, it has perpetually gotten worse, yet in my opinion, pockets are getting lined, so they don't care. If my opinion is wrong, then both the new guys running the AMA and the folks at DMG are both COLOSSALLY incompetent, almost criminally so; and yet they sure are making a lot of money and have been awfully successful elsewhere for that to be the case.

Or, they could just be a bunch of spoiled, self-absorbed, prideful to the point of arrogant incompetents, who didn't really have a plan, can't manage their way out of a wet paper bag, and refuse to admit it and ask for help...

But that's just my opinion...

They're more than promoters. They own, sanction, and run AMA Pro Racing outright. Meaning just about everything that ran under the AMA Pro racing banner years ago. AMA’s Superbike Series, Motocross Series, Flat Track Series, Supermoto Series, Hillclimb Series and ATV Pro Racing. Supercross and Arenacross were already tied up in another agreement with Live Nation.

EXACTLY!!

I will never forgive them, they killed MY sport!

Actually, I think the Motocross and Supercross/ArenaCross series were sold to the Coombs family, the folks who run Racer X Magazine. Those series are very well run, very profitable, and look to be going from success to success.

I cannot figure out why the AMA Road Racing series has failed so dismally over that same period of time.

If I remember correctly, there was a bit of a scandal as to how much AMA sold those respective series off for as well - I understand they basically gave those series away, much to the financial detriment of the organization.

Well said. I remember a time when all of the big four had factory efforts in the series. Hell, even Harley Davidson got into the action for a while. There where world class riders competing, including some Europeans. There were big crowds at some of America's best tracks. There was live tv coverage and SpeedTV even had " Two wheel Tuesday ". Now, the series is merely a shell of what it used to be. It more resembles club racing than it does a major world class series.

I agree, our series has lost it's credibility, it's a joke. yes, we had the big 4, Ducati, Harley, and a paddock full of stars. then the assholes decided they wanted to change all that, the manufacturers were holding back the sport, you had to have a factory ride to win, blah blah blah. well yeah, because it's FUCKING SUPERBIKE, not a club race. if you want club racing, then go club racing. but this was the top of the sport in america, yes, it should have the fastest bikes and the fasted riders, but ama/dmg fucking killed it dead. fuck them for what they did.
and now we have what we have, which I just can't bring myself to get excited about, or even watch.
I feel bad for the racers. ama superbike is no longer a stepping stone to the international stage. will WSB and motogp teams follow any of our guys anymore? I doubt it, the series just isn't strong enough, they look at the spanish and british championships instead. any of our guys that have an eye on racing in WSB or motoGp are gonna have to do it the hard way, they will have to start in moto 3 and move up the ladder. Winning the ama superbike series will no longer matter for those wanting to move up.
I think back to the first superbike race I went to, mid-ohio, 1989, and since then, the number of champions we produced that went on to race overseas and either win championships or at least be competitive, an amazing number of racers actually. I really hope to see those days again, but in reality, I don't think it's gonna happen.