VOL. 52 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 P75
doing work in Misano, Italy. What was his
assessment of the series' first season?
"The atmosphere has certainly im-
proved," he said. "It's got a positive vibe
going but the reality is there's not a lot more
factory bikes. I think some people expected
it to just overnight look up and all the manu-
facturers would be back; it's not that easy.
Manufacturers need time to plan.
"I think everybody respects Wayne
[Rainey], so nobody will point out any of
the negatives. People are still talking only
positives in public, but you hear people
having some problems. They've got some
teething issues to work through.
"The weather didn't help them this
year. They had unbelievable bad luck for
weather—I have never seen an AMA sea-
son like that. Also the timing [and scoring]
has had a few problems and the T.V., still
I don't think people are too happy with
that, but there's been some good racing—
some good Superbike racing, some good
Supersport racing. So I think that's really
important. It's going in the right direction,
just needs a bit more time and hopefully
will be real nice to get a few more manu-
facturers in there and get going. It seems
like some young guys are getting some
opportunities. The boat's back pointed in
the right direction.
"I'm sure they've learned a lot in one
year, I would hope. I'm not saying that
in a negative way, but any time you do
something the first year there's a lot to be
learned. You learn from mistakes, things
you do right, and hopefully next year you
can keep going. I think the events with
World Superbike and MotoGP were suc-
cessful and got some riders in front of big
audiences and sponsors, so I'm still very
optimistic." CN
(Left) Hayden
still keeps
up with
championships
of his roots—
AMA Pro Flat
Track and AMA
Superbikes.
(Above) The
former World
champ is looking
to be back on
a competitive
ride, in any
championship.
