As the sh*t spins down the drain...

First real feedback from the Rog Ed tour of SoCal, and there's no good
news coming out of it so far:

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Apr/080415x.htm
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Apr/080415-brea.htm
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Apr/080415-brea.htm
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Apr/080416z.htm

So confirmation is that they've settled on Moto-ST endurance and
Formula Xtreme disguised as "Daytona Superbike" (you had to know that
was coming) as the two classes so far, both SS classes are out, spec
tires and fuel are in. 1000s entirely out? Sure sounds like the plan,
but here are the quotes on that:

Mel Harris, Suzuki - "So it was very disappointing to be told, "This
is the format that we're looking at," and being told - because I asked
over three times, "What about the 1000s?" - and I was told all three
times, there was no 1000s in their vision."

Keith McCarty, Yamaha - "I don't think that they ever said there
wasn't going to be a 1000cc class," he said. "The way it was proposed
to us, there will be a 1000cc class. But it was something more in an
idea stage as opposed to what they are doing. They did propose 600s
and 1000s to continue to run. I don't think that their motive is to
prevent anybody from participating. But again, we don't have all the
details."

Rog Ed, NASBike - ""I didn't go there to lie or duck any questions. I
was very honest. They asked what our plans were at this time were. I
told them that we had no plans at this time to run Superstock next
year, as it is canceled. And we had no plans at this time for 600
Supersport. However, I hope everyone keeps in mind the context—we're
still finalizing our program at this time. We are making plans, not
that we had a solid plan in place before we walked in there. At the
moment we see two bookend classes and we will develop the rest,"
Edmondson said. "We will include the MotoST series and a new Superbike
category using middleweight performance equipment with a wide variety
of configurations."

So the immediate problem appears to be that gasbag salesman Rog is
full of sh*t, which is something anyone who read his initial CN
interview already realizes. In the longer view, this sounds like
absolute crap, am I going to travel hunderds of miles next year to see
this? No way. Are the factories going to actually show? Or are these
guys so clueless that they somehow thought they could walk in with
this stinking pile and the OEMs would applaud or bow down in
respect??

And for good measure here's Ducati's Lock, yet to receive the Rog
Treatment: "With North America poised to become Ducati's number one
market globally in 2008 we would like an opportunity to showcase our
talents and pit ourselves against our competitors on the race tracks
of the USA. We retain an open mind on the class proposals for 2009,
although the industry will have to do more than cite safety concerns
if it wants to omit the liter-class bikes from the track."

Big-time racing in America, RIP. And may Dingman rot in hell as well,
after selling it down the drain. At least there's still Laguna (and
Indy) MotoGP and Miller WSB. For now...

 

It'd be easy to laugh from this side of the pond, but I really feel
for you (and other US race fans). Not everything in the BSB garden is
rosy, but the series here does seem to be fully subscribed, with
reasonably well financed teams doing a professional job. Of course, we
need the snow to hold off...

It still amazes me that a market the size of North America can't get
the fans/sponsorship/whatever to make this shit work properly.

 

Why? There's been no confirmation of anything as yet, just more rumors
and of course, Suzuki's expected very loud crying fit and besides, it's
good drama if nothing else, but at the end of the day it's like I said
a while back, political posturing. Did I see the endurance thing being
folded in? TBH, no, at least not so fast, but when you look at it
seriously it may have a place and damn sure would open up an avenue of
progression for the young guns, so?
Anyway, if they do drop the litres it'll be a sad day for me, that's
for sure, but the reality is we really don't have more than one, or at
the most, two tracks that can handle their present speed, not to
mention the tire, or safety issues that are not really up to the task
either. Bottom line, they just go too damn fast for the available
venues and it'll get even worse when they start racing in all those
concrete abominations we have here. So, you tell me, what's the answer
and where should we go. As I said to someone here the other day,
barring Bill and Melissa throwing down for a few gazillion dollar
tracks I don't see any other thing that could've happened..

And I thought you guys were tough. I don't get it, you run a
buck-eighty or so right though middle of a couple towns each year and
then you pussy-out for a little snow? Jeez!

We're at this point because of the ineptness of the AMA and their
bastard offspring Proracing, period. DMG didn't cause Humpty to fall,
all they're doing is trying to put him back together in a way that has
some solvency. What's funny to me is how "some" people have forgotten
that Proracing was done, broke, kaput, fork time, or however you want
to say insolvent. There was no choice but to sell and like any sell-off
these days, you go with the best offer and make no mistake, DMG made by
far the best offer. (actually, I heard the only one with real money in
it)
I don't know how close you been watching this deal, but what might look
like a train wreck to "some" (with agenda's, or myopia) might also end
up being a pretty shrewd move. One that takes advantage of, not only
Suzuki's dominance in SB, but also it's (perceived) weakness in FX to
split the so-called Nip block. Remember when they all walked on WSB?
They did so because of money for MGP and the power, or control that was
taken from them, *all* of them and with nothing offered in return
either.(they collectively lost face) It was a classic take it, or leave
it deal and it didn't surprise many that they all walked, though in the
end not as long as "some" claimed they would. Be that as it may, this
time things may be a little different.
As I'm sure you know the Yosh Suz team has totally dominated SB and
litre racing in this country for, well, lets just say, a long fuckin'
time. There's also little or no evidence that's going to change much
this year, or if the format remains as it is, the near future either
and if I know that, Honda, Yam and Kaw know it even better and with
those three being involved now in FX, well, you see where I'm going
here? With a few keystrokes Suz's SB reign not only goes away, BUT the
rest of their Nip "buddies", who are probably a couple years ahead in
FX type racing catch a break, a huge one too! Now, will it be big
enough to break the Jap cartel? That remains to be seen, but if DA
(Soup) is right and not just blowing smoke for web hits, DMG must think
so and watching the drama unfold is very interesting, as well as
entertaining, at least to me. So, if you're into chess and like drama,
stay tuned, as I think this'll get even better in the next few weeks...

Btw, big time racing? Who knew?

 

I found this one interesting.
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Apr/080415-brea.htm
Interview: Suzuki's Mel Harris

When he's talking about the problems of getting the factories to field
more bikes. There's an assumption that the *only* people who can field
competitive bikes are the factory supported importer teams.

"Well, would you put four guys on the grid in a Superbike?" And I said I
could do that. And I said I think one other manufacturer could do that.
But I said I don't think two (other) manufacturers could do that. So
then you don't have a 16-rider or a 20-rider grid."

Then there's fuel and tyres. "Because now, you get some benefits from
using a certain tire. But if everybody uses that tire, then those
benefits aren't going to be received. And the same thing with the fuel."

Well, yes, that is one of the points that gets used to justify spec
tyres and fuel. You can argue whether spec tyres is a good or bad thing
in this or that series. But his assumption is that it's all bad.

Which I guess is to say that he has an agenda just like everybody else
in this game. Not exactly surprising.

One thing puzzles me. What involvement does the AMA have in the
international races on American soil? If the AMA really do introduce
some radically different rules for the National series what does this
mean for the support races at the MotoGP and WSB events? Does the Laguna
round of MotoGP give up on anything from the AMA and run 125 and 250
like Indy? Does WSB bring over WSS600 and the Superstock classes? (or is
WSS600 already coming over?)

 

Fuel, I dunno, but as we do know tires are a much different animal and
while "one" here likes to claim there's been no favoritism involved,
people actually in racing will paint you a "little" different picture
and removing that issue can only help to level the playing field. Now,
if there's some kind of sweetheart deal like Flamini did with Pirelli,
that'll suck, but I'd be very surprised if something like that happens..

As usual it's all about money, or maybe in MN's case some weird fantasy
hatred of folks he really doesn't know anything about, not that he's
ever demonstrated much real knowledge about US racing to begin with.
What gets me is how it's ok with him for the OEM's to run the thing and
make all the money even though history has shown that doesn't work so
well, but the sky will fall if it's changed and more money is spread
around. It almost like he went to the Hillary, or McBush school of
bullshit and majored in talking out his ass. Stay the course, yeah,
where have we heard that shit before? Anyway, this is probably very
close to my last reply to anything he may try to add to this, or any
future thread on US racing. Over the years I've tried to explain in a
half-way reasonable fashion that the AMA suck'd ass and the OEM's were
ruining real racing here only to have the fool fight me tooth and nail,
well, guess what? By their own admission they suck'd and it's
overwhelmingly obvious to anyone without an agenda any formula with the
OEM's at the top will fail too. We don't have the tracks and in all
likelihood will never have enough to run a full litre bike schedule,
and if you don't believe me, ask a racer. However, we do have a lot of
places where we can run smaller stuff and while to me it's not ideal by
any stretch of the imagination, it's better than nothing and had we
continued that's pretty much what we'd have ended up with, nothing. One
could easily draw a parallel to our current political, or environmental
situation and the ongoing corporate predation here and just as that,
things must change, or we're fucked beyond our worst nightmare. Bottom
line, change is always difficult, but in this case change has to happen
in order to survive. Sure, it'll hurt a little for a little while, but
the reality is, there is no other choice..

I understand why Suz is pissed, hell, if I were them I'd be pissed too,
but if they were half the organization some claim they are they
would've seen this coming, doncha' think? I mean, give me a break, If I
saw this coming why didn't they? In any event it looks like they "may"
be caught out for their lack of vision, but, ya' know what? Oh well..

Continuing on the DMG gambit, discussing anything with Ducati before
the Japs was smart too. First of all, it saves the Nip's face, as well
as offering a cheaper way to proceed. Ducati wants back in and while
they might not get in the way they did in Europe, they'll get one, as I
hear Triumph will too. The drawback on the "rumored" downsizing is H-D,
had the litres continued they looked to be a shoe-in with the new
Buell, now it looks like that's not gonna happen and I wonder how that
will play out. One things for certain, DMG could've used some of those
guys..

I've heard more, but it's best for me to wait until someone else
brings it up, or in leu of that happening, till DMG releases their 09'
edict. Suffice to say, I'm told there's a little more going on than has
been seen so far and while I admit I do get a little satisfaction
seeing MN's bullshit knocked all to hell, I'm not endorsing anyone. Do
I believe the right guys got it? Yes I do. Am I gonna like everything
they do? Doubtful at best. Beyond changing channels is there anything
I, or for that matter, anyone can do about it? Absolutely not. These
guys are in the process of finalizing the near future of M/C racing in
this country and when they're done that's gonna be pretty much it.
Watch it unfold and deal with it is about all I can do, cryin' about it
ain't gonna change a damn thing..

They use to be involved to some extent, but I'd imagine those days are
pretty much history and if MGP, or WSB want to come racing here in the
future they'll prolly have to first get tacit approval from DMG and
then proceed on their own and with that in mind don't be surprised if
Indy ends up with the USMGP tag, not Laguna...

 

<snip>

Well, the trip seems to have changed things a bit:

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Apr/080417a.htm

Japanese OEM objections last week seem to have rescued Superbike for
now (relabeled LiterBike), but it's no longer the premier class,
that's "Daytona Superbike" as expected. But they have put a
requirement on participation at four bikes, which I assume will
somehow be applied to factory teams, and also an unspecified maximum,
which probably means all bikes. The rules will be those decided
previously between the AMA and the OEMs, which suggests how last-
minute this addition is - they didn't have time to do anything to that
but specify spec tires and fuel. And of course only one race per
weekend, perhaps shorter than the "feature" race. The intent is clear
- avoid a total OEM revolt, save face by allowing SB to survive, but
the plan obviously remains to get rid of it over time, likely through
attrition (will Kawi and Yamaha even bother, given a four-rider
requirement?).

"Daytona Superbike" is what I expected, a class with heavily-managed
power and weight that will not only allow in 675cc triples and
middleweight twins of some displacement (no doubt allowing in the
Ducati 848), but also things like Buell and BMW literbikes. No
question that Japanese 600s doing too much winning will result in the
rules being tweaked on the fly to stop that sort of undesirable
behavior, Nascar-style.

Then there's Moto-ST endurance, run Saturday afternoon, and two
regular classes racing on Sunday, along with a "specialty class", Red
Bull cup cited. Really shows how little serious thinking went into
this, that they added SB at the last minute and ended up with
essentially a TBD class. Of course the goal seems to be to send a
message to the Japanese factories, marginalize them, as much as to
actually start building a successful series. Certainly put in enough
thought to dump those nasty SS classes entirely.

What will be interesting to watch now is how the OEMs react. They have
been given a reprieve of sorts on 1000s, but it's hardly what they
wanted. So who will show up? Will Yosh run Mladin in SB and then watch
someone else win in the feature races? Will the Japanese factories
commit to the feature class knowing any serious success will result in
legislation against them? If no one shows up on the other bikes but
privateers, where does that leave everyone? They are allowing in BMWs
and KTMs, but not the bikes those OEMs are targeting at WSB in another
year or two. Is there any reason for Ducati to show up to do this
LiterBike support class, or do they just essentially ignore Craptona
SB as they have FX?

Jeez, what a f*cking mess...

 

One thing DMG seems to be overlooking here is that in Nascar there are
big money sponsors besides the OEMs to bankroll the teams. At present
not even the OEMs can afford to bankroll DMG's vision. And even if
they could, what's in it for them? Win too often and the rules will
change. So it ceases to be a way of showing they have the better
product.