Think 2009 AMA Roadracing was bad ?

[motodog650]

Just wait until 2010  

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2009/12/01/purses-lowered-for-ama-road-racing

[scramblerracer123]

Doesn't sound like productive changes, only thing that makes sense in that article is a possible Harley class.  

[veefer800canuck]

Can someone PLEASE bomb DMG headquarters and give the series over to the Flammini bros?  

[pearsonm]

I think it could be fun watching a bunch of pros flog the shit out of XR's. I'd love to terrorize track days with one.

[crashtech]

Oh for goodness sake...ama is DEAD...let the riders go to WSBK....I dont know anybody who wants to see a bunch of 65hp 1200's running around a track. Harley doesnt and has never had a clue when it comes to real racing. They use money and legislation to win. They will and can not compete on a world level period! Pretty good at bike night though

[DogBoy]

Hey the AMA is getting near MotoGP and WSBK purse numbers!  

Here's some bike sales projections from Dealer News based on sales through the first three quarters of 2009. There is just the slimmest chance the economy has something to do with this.

[nater]

No small wonder that Suzuki isn't importing any new sportbikes to the US.

[veefer800canuck]

Hmm, seems that Piaggio and Can-Am are doing.... less worse, than the rest.  

[bogthing]

How profoundly depressing it's all become. I speculated a few months ago that club racing would once again be the only game in town, and it increasingly appears to becoming reality.  

[phoenix]

its interesting, maybe depressing, to see those sales numbers. I wonder why Suzuki is getting hit harder than the rest of the manufacturers? Within sportbikes, at least my general perception is that Suzuki is viewed as one of the best brands, in terms of performance and value, compared to the rest. While race bikes / track bikes make up a small percentage of overall sales, it still seems lopsided to me.

[crashtech]

How profoundly depressing it's all become. I speculated a few months ago that club racing would once again be the only game in town, and it increasingly appears to becoming reality.  

I agree...also looking foward to seeing some...god knows the competition has to be better then ama.

[Slippin]

Dean Adams over a soup weighs in.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Dec/091202purseinfo.htm

It is pretty impressive just how quickly DMG killed road racing in America. I am not sure anyone could have done it faster. At least it wasn't a long, slow death.

[pearsonm]

I wonder why Suzuki is getting hit harder than the rest of the manufacturers?

I guess it’s possible that Suzuki did a better job of forecasting the decline in demand and adjusting their production accordingly. Honda sure seemed to miss it, at least with their liter bikes.

[crashtech]

I guess it’s possible that Suzuki did a better job of forecasting the decline in demand and adjusting their production accordingly. Honda sure seemed to miss it, at least with their liter bikes.

I tell ya what would be nice to see is Zuk put the money into WSBK and GP that they poured into ama. They have sucked for WAY to long in those series.

[pearsonm]

I tell ya what would be nice to see is Zuk put the money into WSBK and GP that they poured into ama. They have sucked for WAY to long in those series.

GSXR’s are really popular in my area. I always attributed it to Suzuki's success in AMA and their national contingency programs. I get your point, though. I don’t follow WSBK so I can’t comment on their performance there, but they’re getting slapped around by privateers in GP.

[bogthing]

GSXR's are popular everywhere. Nobody's got any damn money, and those that do aren't throwing it around at the dealers. Hate to see more small businesses go under. I hope to hell things pick up in the spring, I sure do love my racing (even the abbreviated versions we North American fans get) and can't wait to sit trackside again soon.

[thatguy]

The plot thickens.

[pearsonm]

Aww man. I don't consider myself a Kawasaki fan but they always have interesting riders and machinery. It's bad enough they're out of GP.

Edit: I also heard that they ended their relationship with Keith Code.

[DogBoy]

I believe Kawasaki said they were dropping support of national championships and GP and actually putting some money into their WSBK effort (for the first time in about ten years) back when Vermeulen was signed.

Bummer about AMA participation. Their 600 seemed to struggle as the season went on last year and I was hoping they'd make progress this year. I really like the latest ZX-6R.

[squeezer]

Bummed about Kaw, but it seemed to me that people were talking about that in the middle of this past season.

I really like Jamie Hacking. I hope he lands on his feet somewhere.

[rajflyboy]

Oh for goodness sake...ama is DEAD...let the riders go to WSBK....I dont know anybody who wants to see a bunch of 65hp 1200's running around a track. Harley doesnt and has never had a clue when it comes to real racing. They use money and legislation to win. They will and can not compete on a world level period! Pretty good at bike night though

Have you ever been on an XR1200 ??   The bikes kick ass.   I will say this even though I'm not a big HD fan.   I test road one recently and I must say that the bike was "awesome"

[tomek]

Have you ever been on an XR1200 ??   The bikes kick ass.   I will say this even though I'm not a big HD fan.   I test road one recently and I must say that the bike was "awesome"

XR12 ? Mercy please, ,No, I`ve never been on XR12 but managed to test some air cooled  (  pretty much the same engine) and watercooled Buells at Road America two years in the row.XBs,I guess they might be entertaining on the streets but on the real racetrack ? Snoozville,it takes forever to cover the straightaways,just too damn slow.

Idea of  racing 70-80 hp bikes on national level is a cruel joke,and your definition of "awesome' differs from mine.

[ninegear]

wera racing dose not look so bad. why dosn't ama look at how they do things.

i have heard the stories about the complaints over the 1125r. as much as i like the 1125r i think it was complete bull that they were alowed to race alongside with the 600cc inline fours. though v twins tend to have less hp than inline fours you dont see ducati having rules changed just for them. ducati instead makes a bike with as good performance as it can get for whatever class. the 800 ducati had about the same hp as the inline 4 jap bikes.

AMA has screwed up. maybe wera should form a pro series. maybe CCS should ramp up their activities

america needs to have a good race organization.

[olderigetfasteriam]

Have you ever been on an XR1200 ??   The bikes kick ass.   I will say this even though I'm not a big HD fan.   I test road one recently and I must say that the bike was "awesome"

No you didn't.

[maddjack]

AMA ran a sportster road class in the past,nobody watched.Amazing the dumb asses think it will work this time for whatever reason.

[Playinthestreet]

I don't think a class for any specific motorcycle would hold most people's interest.  USAC has a Ford Focus engined midget class that's about as exciting as watching paint dry.  The AMA Sportster flattrack series was a filler, at best.  

I announced for CCS a few times, some years ago, and was generally confused by their "performance based" classes, but found the racing was pretty damned good.  Watching a first generation Buell race against SV-650s and RS-125s made no sense on paper but did provide some pretty good racing.  That said, I don't think that's what 'we' want at the top level of roadracing in the US.  

[tbeemer]

AMA ran a sportster road class in the past,nobody watched.Amazing the dumb asses think it will work this time for whatever reason.

+1  The 883 class sucked bad.  Saw them at Firebird and Laguna, and their time on the track was when everyone wandered around to buy food and goodies until the real racing started.

The only good thing to come out of it was the introduction to the AMA paddock of a couple of crazy brothers from NorCal named Ben and Eric.  Those two would be banging on each other and doing things on an 883 that mere mortals would never even entertain.