Moto GP will not return to Indy in 2016

[wardie]

Sad news in a joint statement both Indianapolis Speedway Officials and Dorna announced that due to logistics (Only one race East of the Mississippi) that the Moto GP racing will not return to Indy in 2016. Sad news for some of us that don't want to travel to the CART track. Glad I made all 8 years though what fun, excitement...the highest level of road racing and I got to be a part of it. Good memories.

[Patmo]

Sorry to see this happen, but no real surprise.  Glad I got to attend a few years.


Wonder if SBK might be a replacement?  Also wonder if AMA will now return to Mid-Ohio?

[RichGrab]

So I'm curious - where will the "one race east of the Mississippi" be held? I seem to recall they have a multi year contract at COTA (in TX).

[Patmo]

Rich....I think that what they were saying was, that with ONLY ONE race east of the Mississippi, it didn't make sense logistically for them to continue.  COTA, being further west gives them a stopping off point coming from Argentina to Europe. But Indy would just fall in the middle of the European rounds, without any other reason (like another round in the U.S.) to go there.

[stevegrab]

Pat, That would make more sense if there were ever 2 races east of Mississippi, but there never were.

I believe Indy usually followed the summer break in MotoGP (3-4 weeks with no races) and would usually be followed by another race the following weekend, so there is a logistics issue. But the racers seemed to like the track and many would take extra time off and vacation in the US before that round. I also think that when they had Laguna and Indy the summer break was between those 2 rounds and the equipment didn't need to be shipped back and forth but stayed in the US.

Oh well glad I made it there one time, was hoping to go back again. Sucks that the US went from 3 GPs to just one in a few years.

[Patmo]

Looking at the 2016 schedule, there is a break between Jully 17 (Silverstone) and August 11 (Austria).  But Austria is a return after 19 years.  So it seems that Austria has replaced Indy.  If they put Indy during that time there would be no summer break.

[wardie]

Patmo  and SteveGrab both of you are  correct about logistics..it doesn't make sense. WSB under Dorna has the same issues . I don't think the current state of Road Racing in America could or would support having the AMA Superbike races at Indy. I am hoping the AMA Superbike racing would come back to Mid Ohio, but before that happens they've got to fix the Daytona 200 event.

[HawkGTRider]

I went to the first couple of races in Indy, but for one reason or another, have missed all others. I understand the reasons for dropping Indy from the schedule, but this is a real loss for the race fans in the eastern half of the country.

[normkern]

Sorry to see the Indy MotoGP disappear. Glad I got to attend every one.

Norm Kern

[qman8]

They said that 60K+ people showed for the last Indy race....but the place looked near empty!    And, when general admission is allowed to sit in covered stands directly in front of the yard of bricks and the podium, you know the place could use more people to cover the costs of the event.  Plus they say most riders HATE the track, due to bumps, lack of traction, hi speeds, etc.

[96viffer]

Dorna wanted to increase the sanctioning fee to cover the cost of transporting the equipment to and from Europe. When Laguna Seca was still part of the calendar, the transportation expenses were split between Indy and Laguna. I'd read somewhere that it wasn't financially feasible for Indy to pay the increased sanctioning fee. And it's very likely that there'll be no Americans competing in MotoGP next year.

Now if Nicky Hayden lands a ride in WSBK next year and PJ Jacobsen continues his strong showing in WSS, it may make sense to have WSBK and WSS at Indy. One can only hope.

[DirtFlier]

I honestly can't imagine Nicky getting much of a WSB ride with the results he's had for the last 3-4 years.  All the WSB teams are high-dollar and getting someone who finishes consistently 12th-20th in motoGP is not exactly a prime catch.

The level of competition in WSB is probably higher than in motoGP because it has many riders who can win on a given Sunday.   MotoGP has Marquez, Rossi, and Lorenzo. 

[wardie]

96 VIFFER and DirtFlier I believe both of your comments are spot on! Moto GP big money, Indy not willing to pony up. Let's face it. Over the past 8 years I have seen the bright promise of the highest level of motorcycle racing with an International flavor be diminished by both the Indy and the Dorna people. $10 or $20 for Friday, $20 or $30 Saturday and $70 just for Sunday, how's a guy going to take his family without going broke? Well he visits on the day they aren't racing and then you have little paid fans attending the race. In the first year or two there were really good spectator areas that allowed the regular Joe average fans a great look at the infield then the following years have become off limits to the regular fans unless U had super duper pass ($170) or U belong to one of the sponsoring corporate people. Those stands had like 25 people in them ridiculous. The Dorna people are difficult at best to deal with from a media stand point. I could go on and on but it's these things that lead to low attendance and eventual cancelling of the race. If I recall in a rain shortened first year Sunday fan attendance was 100K. Just saying it always seems to end this way...this is just my impression of what I saw others may feel everything including pricing was fine...

[qman8]

The sad reality is that there just isn't much interest in this country.  I mean, when 95% of the people who have ever said anything about my hat say something like "Who drives the 46 car?", there just isn't a good reason to come to the USA.    

[DirtFlier]

Q-man - sad but true.  To most people in this country a motorcycle is made in Milwaukee and only ridden on sunny days at 15 mph below the posted speed limit, while making as much noise as possible.