Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128385
By CHICANERY HENNY RAY ABRAMS Status Quo them spend precious little time. A few of them I couldn't pick out if you put them in a police lineup with the Village People. Last week the AMA PR BoD announced that the status quo would be maintained in 2006: four classes, redundant times two, confUSing to all but the most enlightened. How they came to this decision isn't known. What is known is that they don't listen to the men who run the race teams, one of whom is in the employ of one of the board members. Earlier this year, interviews with the managers of the four japanese road race teams produced a near consensus: They believe there are too many classes and that they're too similar. The upshot of the decision is that it allows companies such as Yamaha and Kawasaki to duck the Superbike class like a dinner check. Kawasaki's Mike Preston expects an answer soon on the wishes of his japanese benefactors. But why should he go to Superbike? Tommy Hayden is leading the Supersport Championship and within striking distance in Superstock. Roger Lee too dangerous. I voted with the whimsical 15 percent who believe the AMA should remove Daytona from the calendar. Dream on, my fellow utopians. Asked what he'd like to see for next year, Preston said, "Two classes, one of them 1000, one of them 600." And if Kawasaki decides to stand pat, Preston will get the heat. But make no mistake that decision, like the motorcycles he races, is made in japan. And as long as they're given a choice to stay away, they can. American Honda's Chuck Miller's preferred structure in 2006? "I'd like to cut out one class myself. It'd be nice to have three classes." Which one would he cut? "If there was a class to combine, I would probably suggest the Superbike and Superstock class." Yamaha hasn't said what they're up to in 2006. Team manager Keith McCarty hinted that they may take on Honda in the Formula Xtreme Daytona 200. "Well, we're certainly looking into it," he said back in April. And they could also be in the Superlbike class. But how many classes can one company run? More than two is a burden. Yoshimura Suzuki is involved in three this year, though not all successfully. They own the Superbike class, and aging results before the program was shelved. But for how long? What would McCarty like to see? After a fashion, he said, "I think in a perfect world, we would do it with two, one IOOOcc class of some sort and one 600cc class of some sort, and there would be a variety of support events, where it wasn't necessarily a points thing." Yoshimura Suzuki's Don Sakakura didn't give a clear answer to the question. He wants to retain Superbikes and said there was a need for an entry-level class, though he wasn't committing to a displacement. Whatever it was, it wouldn't draw factory interest. "The 600cc Supersport as well as the 1000, I think they're both important classes for the manufacturers to showcase," Sakakura said, without specifying Superstock. Whatever the answer, it doesn't suggest maintaining the current defective structure. Since the AMA PR BoD thinks so little of the tearn managers, I called around to find a sympathetic voice. Didn't happen. No one could imagine why a change wasn't made. Nor could anyone think of a reason to keep the current program. Do the promoters think their patrons are mesmerized by endless droning? No fan I've spoken to is Hayden is third in Supersport. At the Red Bull U.S. Gp, his riders will be racing in front of a packed house on Sunday, not on Saturday with the Superbikes. Still, it's better than Formula Xtreme, the redheaded stepchild that was given the weekend off while being reconfirmed as the headliner in Daytona. How has that decision gone over with the fans? like a chunked tire, according to the results of a poll done on www.cyclenews.com: "It's whacked," 76 percent said, against the 9 percent who thought the big bikes were Aaron Yates is leading Superstock. Ben Spies is a revelation on a Superbike, but the underdog GSX-R6oo makes him look ordinary in Supersport. McCarty has said his team's decision has been made. It's just a matter of the timing of the announcement. The Daytona FX 200 is looking more likely, according to his comments and those of others on the team, and if they do Daytona why not the whole FX series? Superlbike is the real question mark. Pascal Picotte tested a Yamaha Superlbike last year with encour- in favor of the current approach. And without a title sponsor for the series, a disgraceful condition that shows no sign of improving, there can be no pressure from the sponsor to do the right thing. "I didn't see any change from what we have now, so all I hear is complaints," Preston said. Unlike the AMA PR BoD, he can see and hear, and isn't so dumb that he doesn't understand the problem. But CN can he play pinball? That deaf dumb and blind" kid sure plays a mean pinball. Who, copy" Pete Townsend. TheLtd. 1969. right Eel Pie Publishing "Forgive me, father, for I have sinned." "What is your transgression, my son?" "Father, I've spoken badly of the less fortunate, the visually, mentally, and aurally challenged." "How was that my son?" "I made fun of the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors." "That's not a sin." "Yes, father, but I didn't know they were deaf, dumb or blind." ':.\nd what leads you to that conclusion, my son?" "The very evidence is that I asked all the team managers what they'd like to see in the AMA Superbike Championship in 2006, and the majority favored consolidating the 1000cc classes into one class so that all the top riders would have to race each other." ':.\nd..." "...and the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors ignored the wishes of the very teams they're meant to look out for. I can only guess it's because A) They're blind, and they didn't read it when it was written in Cycle News; B) They're deaf, because they didn't listen when they were told; or C) They're dumb." "I'd go with c." A confession. ConfeSSing isn't part of my tribe's culture. We're more into guilt. So I apologize in advance if I've offended anyone with an inaccurate portrayal of the process. Can the AMA PR BoD play pinball? Or are they - unlike Tommy of The Who's seminal rock opera - deaf, dumb, and blind... and unskilled in the ways of the flippers and bumpers and high scores? Anyone with more than a pair of firing synapses in his brain agrees that the unsponsored AMA Superbike show needs to be tightened up. Only a truly committed nitwit would dispute that the best riders need to be in one class, that the fans deserve the best show, that the television audience deserves the best show, that the title sponsor - that whimsical but elusive beast - would mandate the best of the best going head to head. All of which makes it that much harder to get into the minds of the AMA PR BoD. These aren't dumb men; they just make stupefying decisions that show a comprehensive ignorance of the wishes of the race paddock and grandstands, places most of eYe' F NF"'S • ""¥ (a90S '02