Cycle News

P28 IN THE WIND "My focus has been working with Chet [of Chet Burks Productions, who put together the television package for AMA Pro Road Racing], getting all the contracts squared away and managing the clients for Chet. That will continue to be what I focus on most this year and we've got two or three tracks we're looking at [promoting] for next year." Gray believes with a television package in place, the chances of M1 promoting races next year are greatly increased. He believes successful races could be held at Homestead Miami Speedway and NOLA Motorsports Park, but perhaps at different times in the season. "Miami could have some legs, but I feel the city would have to get behind that event," Gray explained. "I don't know if last year was a fair assessment of the race because of the bad weather. Being in the tropics it can rain anytime down there. That and we were trying to buy advertising during the election, which was a rude awakening. We paid six figures just in radio [advertising]." "New Orleans was a great track and great people to work with. They want us back. We would really like to have an event there in the spring. You just don't fight football down there. And that gives them more time to put in more seats or bring in temporary seating and covered seating. It's a big event town so I see NOLA as having very good potential for a return there." In addition to hoping to promote Road Atlanta and NOLA again next season, Gray said M1 has solid backing from sponsors to the point that they would like to expand in 2014 and perhaps add a few more races. "We want to get things going now and let people know where we stand and that we are coming back and getting things rolling early so we can get Road Atlanta and NOLA back on the schedule in 2014. We also have a lot of EFFENBERT OUT AGAIN T he saga of the Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati team in World Superbike racing came to an end after the Monza round, after appearances at selected races in 2013. The team, plagued by rumors and many dramas in 2012, issued a press release stating that, "We believe that the continuation of the adventure of the team in the WSBK 2013 is not of our further interest, as the sponsors and partners have decided to direct the promotional investment in other channels at this time to achieve the value economic effort/visibility more appropriate to the volume of investments. The team takes this opportunity to thank publicly all those who have shared this adventure and all those who have experience at VIR [Virginia International Raceway] and with the new management maybe there's something we could do there. That's one track where we have sponsors already telling us if we come back they're on board. I love VIR and we always had a great crowd there. Again, I'd have to get that passed by the AMA, but I would like to see that as an option. "And I know myself and AMA Pro Racing would love to go to the Northwest if we could find a track that would work. We came close to doing a test at Portland International Raceway. There are so many motorcyclists up there and they are hungry for an event. And there's a new track being built up in the area called The Ridge. You look at how the community up there supports the motocross race [Washougal] and the Seattle Supercross and you just have a strong feeling that a road race would be a big success." Larry Lawrence spoken and written of us, whether good or bad." Meanwhile, the team's rider, Mark Atchison, said that his own position was not looking good. "What I heard, by e-mail, was that they are looking to re-invest their spend outside of World Superbike because the promoter is not in a position to officially support them," the Australian said.

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