Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 P25 of Rob Dingman throughout the process." The AMA will staff officials at each round of the series and develop an enforcement, appeal and rider license procedure. The AMA will be responsible for is- suing professional road racing licenses for the series. MotoAmerica, in consultation with the AMA, will develop class- es, the rules of competition and event procedures. While details of the rulebook are still in devel- opment, classes and events will conform to prevailing internation- al standards, the release states. "The structure of our partner- ship with the AMA serves the goal of developing riders to be successful on the world stage," Rainey said. "It allows a frame- work that supports advancement from youth competition to novice, from novice to Pro-Am, from Pro- Am to National Championship contention and, for the best of the best, an opportunity to race for a world title." Three-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes also com- mented on the new series last week. "It's probably very, very cau- tious optimism for me," Hayes said of how he views the new se- ries. "We've kind of gone down this road before and it didn't go well the last time. This is a good group of people and even if it's the right group of people, we're still about to go through a pretty major change. Need it or not, anytime there's a major change it's hard. Right now there's not a lot of information out there about what it's going to be. There's an idea, but there's not a lot of structure in place just yet. I have high hopes for it and hopefully it all goes smooth and well and the reputation and the names involved can bring together the right groups and the manufactur- ers can work together and we get some more involvement." Paul Carruthers tainly rule Aprilia out as a con- tender if Superstock results are anything to go by, Aprilia can still be competitive in superbike rac- ing. Aprilia would also still own their electronics, supplier sup- port and an ability to tune their latest engines to a degree. It seems at this point that Aprilia would like to stay in World Superbike. "We are trying to do this (keep a big effort in World Supebike in 2015) to build the conditions to remain here," said Aprilia rac- ing boss Romano Albesiano. "But probably our focus will be on MotoGP so we have to find a solution. Focus means bud- get, means workforce, means engineering. Everything. If you consider that here in World Su- perbike we start from a top situa- tion, so to remain competitive is not a huge effort. Some, but not huge. We are trying to under- stand if we can keep this level." There was also talk of Alstare taking over as an Aprilia team, but Aprilia would want some budget from the team to make the move. Althea is another pos- sibility. The same goes for the Red Devils Aprilia satellite team - if money can be sourced. Gordon Ritchie HERRIN OUT! A merica now has no riders in Grand Prix racing after it was announced on Friday that Moto2 racer Josh Herrin has been released by AirAsia Cater- ham Moto Racing and will be re- placed by Ratthapark Wilairot for the remainder of the season. Herrin, the 2013 AMA Super- bike Champion, had what could only be described as a dreadful showing in Moto2 in his debut season. Herrin crashed out of four rounds of the Moto2 series and missed two rounds due to injury. He failed to score a single World Championship point in the 10 races he contested. Herrin's best result came at Catalunya where he finished 16th. His best qualifying effort of the season was 23rd at Indianapolis. Herrin, however, did have a two-year- deal with the team. continued on page 26

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