VOL. 50 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 5, 2013
- Kreig Robinson
competition a long time ago, but
due to the fortuitous situation of
the National Guard coming on
board with us, that meant that we
needed to participate in domestic motorcycle competition. We
had been looking at international
motorcycle competition, but the
National Guard kept us around
here in AMA."
But that's no longer the case.
"We've done that and that's
run its course and now we're
looking at international competition again more honestly," Robinson said. "With that, comes situations where we have to change
our business model in order to
be able to consider that. We're
looking at both
World Superbike
and MotoGP and
we're going to
take our time to
figure out what's
the best way to
go. Anyone who
has been paying
attention realizes
that we do these
Michael Jordan's
AMA Superbike
team won't be in
the AMA Superbike
paddock next year
and National Guard
will no longer be a
series sponsor.
things on our own time. We don't
get pressured to go here, there
or anywhere else. We do those
things on our own time."
Obviously, the pullout from
AMA racing has a wide-ranging
affect on the paddock. At least
for now, it puts racers Roger Lee
Hayden, Danny Eslick, James
Rispoli and Corey Alexander out
of work. Ditto for the crew at
Gemini Technology Systems, the
company Jordan contracted to
run the racing portion of his business.
"We hope in the future, the
very near future, that we will be
able to call those guys [Gemini]
and utilize them on what we're
doing – as it pertains to international competition," Robinson
said.
Although none of this is good
news for AMA Pro Racing, at
least it doesn't mean the end of
the road for Michael Jordan's involvement in the sport.
"Michael and Michael Jordan
Motorsports certainly remain
committed to motorcycle racing,"
Robinson said. "There's been no
loss in the level of passion that
Michael [Jordan] has for motorcycle racing, but this has to make
business sense as well. This is
how motorsports works. Sponsorship is the lifeblood of motorsports and when that goes away,
you're forced to make hard decisions. We concluded five years
of sponsorship with the National
Guard and we are extremely
proud of what we've been able
to do with them. We've made a
continued on next page
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON
" Michael and Michael Jordancommitted
Motorsports certainly remain
to motorcycle racing.
"
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