Wayne Rainey group to take over from DMG

[DirtFlier]

There was an article in today's Cycle News that detailed the takeover of american road racing from DMG to a group led by Wayne Rainey, starting in 2015.  The new group also has the support and guidance of DORNA which is the owner of WSB and motoGP.   A few weeks ago, the leader of Dorna said in an interview that he wanted a revival of American road racing but gave no details at that time and I had no idea this was in the works. 

I hope this revives interest in road racing and it can't hurt because if they use the WSB specs, most manufacturers already have bikes built to that spec.  It was the AMA/DMG weird specs that caused most mfgs to shy away from the joke of a series.   

[stevegrab]

That would be great news and I was hoping that the head of Dorna was hinting at some kind of positive development for AMA road racing when he said that.
Getting the manufacturers back (talking to you Honda) will be a good start. But they also have to do better marketing and getting it on TV. It will continue to be a niche product, but it had basically disappeared and become on par with some of the club racing.

[GlibGuy]

I hope they get back to VIR and Road Atlanta, two great tracks that allow camping and are interesting to get to (nice roads expecially from where I live).

[Mooose]

FANTASTIC NEWS. It takes a lot to get an old man excited, but color me excited. It may take some time but here's to hoping we can get viable series going once again. MId-Ohio here I come!!!!!!

[DirtFlier]

It would be nice to have a "spec series" for newbies where they would ride CBR250/300 or Kawasaki 250s with very limited mods.  Ideally they would outlaw engine & electronic mods plus require that the standard fork and shock be used.  Leaving the engine stock means it will easily last an entire season so greatly reduces the cost.  Beginning racers need "seat time" most of all and not more horsepower or Ohlins suspension! 

Once past this stage, they could try something like moto3.  This is pretty much the path taken in Spain and perhaps Italy.   

[Brick]

This does sound very positive! Can't wait!

[DirtFlier]

[I hope they get back to VIR and Road Atlanta, two great tracks that allow camping and are interesting to get to (nice roads expecially from where I live)]

Neither of those really have any effect on tickets sold or the size of a TV audience.  Many of the modern tracks in Europe have a "stadium section" where racers are in full view of the audience at least through several turns.  This is contrary to VIR or RA, both beautiful and natural in their setting.

[Patmo]

Hopefully the rules will become such that the major manufactures will want back in.  I believe that it will only be their influx of money that will allow teams to compete, and provide seats for riders.  There does not seem to be enough sponsorship money from other companies to provide the level of support that teams need.  I think that was one of the main mistakes that DMG made. They alienated the companies that built the series and counted on outside companies to pick up the slack, which never happened.   This new development is certainly promising and I hope that it means better days ahead.  Currently,  I couldn't tell you a thing about this years AMA pro racing series, and I used to follow it very closely.

[stevegrab]

[I hope they get back to VIR and Road Atlanta, two great tracks that allow camping and are interesting to get to (nice roads expecially from where I live)]

Neither of those really have any effect on tickets sold or the size of a TV audience.  Many of the modern tracks in Europe have a "stadium section" where racers are in full view of the audience at least through several turns.  This is contrary to VIR or RA, both beautiful and natural in their setting.

Well there are few if any tracks like that in the US. Not sure if maybe Austin has that, the only others that do are road circuits inside the ovals (Daytona, Indy, Fontana and others where AMA no longer races). Problem with Austin/Indy for this series is $$$, they'll want a lot and the promoters won't have it. I think they have to use mostly the existing road courses they've used in the past. Get more mfg. involved, and don't make up silly rules just to keep things competitive. (Though there is something to be said for a competitive series, not just 1-2 riders running away and winning every reace.)
Pat,
Feel the same way about AMA racing, this was only the second year I missed the event at Mid-Ohio. And since there was no TV coverage I didn't see a single event nor do I have any idea who was done what during the season. I look forward to improvements, returning to Mid-Ohio for the races and maybe adding another venue to the list of ones I've been to (VIR would be cool).

[motodog650]

Here is my plea to *All involved with motorcycle roadracing here in America as MotoAmerica prepares to take the helm from DMG:

http://motodog650.com/2014/09/08/a-plea-to-all-involved-with-motorcycle-roadracing-in-america/

[RichGrab]

All, great comments and sentiments. BUT, and this is a big one (ha, ha), the new series will not prosper without support. SO, everyone needs to try and go to at least one event next season. Kind of like "Build it and they will come." We can't sit on the sidelines and see what this will develop into - must go to events. Heck, that is the only way they can judge how successful they are. And if it isn't covered on TV, then letter writing campaigns to the likes of FS1, and other TV outlets would be in order. Regarding the comments on tracks, there is a great little track in California where the AMA used to race all the time. It's called Willow Springs, out near Rosamond (Edward's AFB area). And the viewing there pretty much allows the whole track to be seen from the major viewing areas. I like the big venues as much as anyone, but maybe they need to start a little smaller and work (back) up to where they were. Just my $0.02 worth.

[DirtFlier]

[...there is a great little track in California where the AMA used to race all the time. It's called Willow Springs, out near Rosamond (Edward's AFB area). And the viewing there pretty much allows the whole track to be seen from the major viewing areas...]

Willow was used by all the Japanese motorcycle companies for testing since it was relatively close to their US headquarters in So Cal.  One thing I always disliked about it were the track edges which had no safe runoff for a road racing bike. If you got off track, you needed a desert racing bike to survive! It may have changed by now. 

The latest issue of Cycle New Online (free) has a nice interview with Wayne Rainey and he has good plans to get things off the ground.  His new series will be called motoAmerica and in all my years at Honda, I never heard anyone say a bad word about Rainey, either here or in Japan, so he is well respected.  At least for now, the plan is to retain SuperBike (1000) and Supersport (600) for the factory bikes and in the same SB races have 1000s for privateers on slicks and in SS races have 600s for privateers on DOT rubber.  The old system with four separate races now becomes two races, a lot less confusing to spectators, and easier to fit into a day's races.  And they are still working on a class similar to moto2 (identical engines but different chassis) but it's a long way off and getting the 1000s and 600s off the ground is their immediate goal.

Since they are working so closely with the FIM and Dorna (owner of motoGP & WSB), the SB specs will probably be identical to those used in Europe, which will make it a bunch easier for manufacturers to supply their American teams with bikes.  And with the blessing of the FIM, motoAmerica is planning to have support races at both motoGP races next year, Indy and COTA.

They got FIM OK and backing to produce a TV reality series about young kids who are coming up through the system with a finale at one of the motoGP races.  I just hope they don't make it "too much Hollywood" but hey, some publicity is better than no publicity.   Overall, it's a very hopeful sign. 

[qman8]

Thanks for the info!
Curious if "1000" means that includes V-twins up to 1200cc to include EBracing and Ducati bikes??!!

[DirtFlier]

I would think the new rules will allow larger engines than 1000 cc but with some performance curbing add-ons to make it fair

EBR, with bags of money from Hero Motors in India, has been racing in WSB this year and if you said they were having a difficult time, it'd be an understatement.  There have been many races where they fell outside the "107% rule" so failed to qualify or if they did get into the race, they finished well down the order and sometimes the engine expired during the race. 

I'd venture a guess that WSB is far more competitive than motoGP when you look at how many different winners and brands exist.  It's way more than Honda vs Yamaha in motoGP.   

[qman8]

Yeah....too bad I cant get WSB thru my local cable provider (TWC).  I have to wait a week or so and hope it shows up on YOuTube...Usually does, but sometimes I have to settle for a language other than English!