I am, by reputation and my own admission, a motorcycle racing tragic. If it’s got 2 wheels (or 3) and it races on tar (or grass, or dirt, or even ice), I’m interested. So the recent developments in American road racing have been interesting, to say the least.

After many years of administering road racing in the USA, the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) decided to face the commercial reality that they no longer had the money or the clout to do it properly. AMA’s reputation for amatuerism on the administrative side had seen it lose the confidence and support of competitors, sponsors and promoters, so the decision was made to pass administration over to a professional body. Tenders were called for and the process concluded with the winning bidder being the DMG (Daytona Motor Group). This is the body that is run by the France family, long-time promoters and owners of the Daytona Motor Speedway and close allies with NASCAR, America’s foremost form of motor sport.

Howls of protest immediately arose with the new administration almost immediately being referred to as “Nasbike” and all parties holding their collective breaths waiting to see what changes the new administration would institute.

Now it needs to be said that AMA Pro Racing, at the top level, is languishing, despite intense competition on the track. For many years the Superbike class has been the exclusive preserve of the “works” Suzuki team and Australia’s Mat Mladin. Together with new team-mate, Ben Spies, the two official Suzuki riders have won every championship and almost every race since anyone can remember. And even the “semi-works” Suzuki teams, like that owned by multi-millionaire ex-basketball legend, Michael Jordan, have complained that they still don’t get the best of the hot bits that the Yoshimura team uses.

The lesser classes, FX, Supersport, and Superstock are also fully subscribed as far as entries are concerned, but, together with the Superbikes, the whole series is almost invisible to the 250 million residents of the USA who, if they are interested in motorsports at all, know their NASCAR intimately and practically nothing else. Live TV coverage doesn’t exist and we get to see more of the AMA races here in “package” versions on cable TV than what the average American motorcycle enthusiast gets.

So there was a barely-concealed hope that the new administration would be the one that could lift the low profile of the sport in the USA, that breeding ground of past champions such as Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Eddie Lawson, Kenny Roberts and Freddie Spencer. Sadly it needs to be noted that the above luminaries, as well as modern-day stars like Nicky Hayden, John Hopkins and Colin Edwards, all succeeded in Europe in spite of, and not because of, encouragement and standing from the AMA series. Indeed, it’s probably fair to say that they would have succeeded anyway.

Sadly, the enthusiasts’ hope were dashed almost immediately, when DMG announced a complete overhaul of all the existing road racing classes, significantly axing altogether the factory Superbike class, the blue riband of the whole competition. While many could see the reasoning (a transparent attempt to neuter the Suzuki juggernaut and level the playing field) and many applauded the idea in principle, it soon became clear that DMG’s new classes would succeed only in throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Instead of the factory Superbike arrangement, DMG proposed a “Daytona Superbike” class, made up of a mish-mash of 4′s (limited to 600cc) and “factory” twins, like BMW’s. Now the punters should have realised that this was one of the first things that DMG would do. After all, it was the Daytona Group who had, ostensibly on safety grounds, emascualted the Daytona 200 and made it a 600cc race some years before, a “home town’ decision if ever there was one. Under the new arrangement, then, the Superbike class would now be limited also to 600cc bikes. Several other classes were dropped or modified to leave the new arrangement looking very little like a true racing series and more like a vehicle for DMG to make money and a direct attack on the Japanese manufacturers, whose goodwill is vital to keeping the sport going in the USA.

To say that the excrement hit the fan is to put it mildly. Roger Edmondson, head honcho of the DMG and the public face of the new administration, is being widely pilloried on overseas forums and the state of play looks to be that the Japanese manufacturers have decided to boycott the AMA series altogether in 2009 and run their own “Factory” Superbike series in conjunction with the WERA (Western Eastern Roadrace Association – the promoters of amateur and club racing in the USA).

Compromise is not a word in the DMG’s vocabulary and, despite talks of conciliation and compromise, the best that DMG have been able to offer so far is a 1000cc Superbike series, under the existing Superstock rules, a compromise as silly as it is specious. The manufacturers are hanging tough, refusing to attend meetings convened by the DMG to try and solve the impasse and are now basically taking the line that now is the right time to align the USA Superbike rules with the rules in the rest of the world, and especially WSBK, and that, if the DMG won’t condone this, then they will run their own series, under the WERA banner, for WSBK-spec, factory Superbikes.

Should they choose to do so, the rest of the AMA-based competitors would have to follow suit and port their racing to the WERA also, or risk being seen as a “backwater” series, (despite all of DMG’s money and clout) to the “main game” where the “big boys” will be playing.

And DMG? Well, they look like being left as the promoters of a series in which there are no competitors. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of people, in this writer’s opinion.

Let me continue..

1. Hayden to Ducati. Everyone is saying that this is a done deal, but no official confirmation from any source is forthcoming yet. Honda is notoriously persnickety when it comes to contracts (remember when they insisted on the “letter of the law” when they prevened Rossi from testing with Yamaha until his contract had fully expired?) so Nicky may have to wait quite a while longer until he can announce the deal as being done.

2. Melandri to Kawasaki. Announced by Marco; not yet confirmed by Kawasaki.

3. “All change” at Pramac. The Pramac Ducati team are set to announce a complete change of rider roster, expected to announce that they will sign Finnish rider, Mika Kallio and, hopefully, Marco Simoncelli. The 250 star, however, is apparently anxious to spend one more year in 250′s and, if he does, their fall-back position looks likely to be Nicola Canepa, last year’s WSBK Superstock 1000 Champion. Canepa has already tested with the team and has impressed. The sticking point here is likely to be that the talented Italian is also being touted as a possible replacement for Troy Bayliss in the WSBK team having tested favourably there too. I personally believe that Nicola is too young yet to assume such an onerous task, so this one looks like a long shot.

4. Where to for Ben Spies? Just about everywhere if reports coming out of both Europe and America are to be believed. First it was Grand Prix Suzuki, but that door looks to have closed with the probable re-signing of both Vermeulen and Capirossi. Then it was suggested that he would sign with Gresini Honda with financial backing from American Honda. That one looks like a lost cause too with AMH announcing overnight that they have no plans in that area. The next one looks far more likely. Spies to replace the underperforming Yukio Kagayama at Suzuki in Francis Batta’s WSBK Suzuki squad. This would be a good move as it would allow him to learn the European way of doing things and the tracks while waiting for a suitable MotoGp seat to become available.

Next idea is the possibility of Spies taking Troy Bayliss’s place at Ducati WSBK. This one looked really good until it became clear that Spies, enormously well-paid at American Suzuki, is asking a HUGE salary at Ducati and that this has become a sticking point.

5. Chris Vermeulen to stay at Suzuki at half-salary. Despite his stunning performances at Suzuki this year, there is widespread talk that the hugely-talented Aussie is going to be cut loose from Rizla Suzuki at the end of the year. I find this quite bizarre, but anyway, it seems that his recent form has changed the team’s mind and they are prepared to keep him on, but at 50% of his 2008 salary. So much for gratitude and loyalty and for giving the team its only MotoGp victory. If Vermeulen decides not to stay under such humiliating terms, he also has some options. One is WSBK as a replacement for Troy Bayliss, a “plum” assignment, but not one for a rider who plainly still feels that his career is on the “up”. CV would be crazy to give up any sort of MotoGp ride, no matter how much a WSBK team could offer. And, apparently, he has some other options, at Gresini Honda and at Kawasaki. The first one seems ideal for the rider who was spurned by Honda after his final WSBK year. Kawasaki would be a very BAD career move, in my opinion.

6. Dovizioso on the loose. Despite all the talk about Andrea Dovizioso being a “sure thing” at Repsol Honda, it now appears that Dovi and his manager are less than happy with the prospect of playing second fiddle to Pedrosa. Dovi’s manager feels that Pedrosa’s manager, Alberto Puig is already too strongly entrenched at Honda and that his charge wouldn’t get a fair shake there. Should CV decide not to demean himself at Suzuki, it now seems that Dovi is on Rizla’s shopping list. Just who Repsol Honda would then replace him with is moot. Could Chris Vermeulen be on the shopping list?

7. And now the “biggie”. Reports out of America tonight are no suggesting that Repsol Honda are set to switch to Bridgestone in 2009.

I’m not claiming to be the instigator of this idea, but I did tidy it up and add the details.

Since the Olympics are now over, I am proposing the Motorcycle Olympics as a viable (and much more entertaining) alternative.

The World MotOlympics.

Would include a World Championship round (or a stand-alone event, doesn’t matter) of the following motorcycle disciplines.

MotoGp
WSBK
WSS
World Endurance Road Racing.
World ROAD Racing (on public streets)
Speedway
Trials, both outdoor and indoor
Enduro
MotoX
Supercross
Stunting
Ice Racing (perhaps better kept for the Winter MotOlympics)
Supermotard
Hillclimb
Freestyle MotoX
Short Circuit
Where appropriate, sidecar events of these as well
Motorcycle Soccer

PLUS, where appropriate, Junior versions of these classes.

All of these events would take place, as the Olympics do, in one city, or metropolitan area and would be organised in such a way as to allow spectators to take in all of their favourite events without having clashes. Now if that isn’t the recipe for the best 2 weeks of sporting exhilaration, I don’t know what is.

Can be fun, but it can also be incredibly frustrating. After making up a short list of “possibles” during the week, Paul and I went to Sydney today to look at them. Some observations, then.

1. Success depends entirely on supply. Last time I was in the market, the chance of finding a suitable bike seemed almost nil. I scoured every ad, ebay, and tapped out every favour from friends and acquaintances that I could think of, and it seemed fruitless. Eventually, the BlueBayou turned up on the forum as a part of a completely coincidental advertisement for a CBR250R! Looking back on it now, the main reason was probably that the search was taking place at the peak of Summer time, prime bike-riding (and buying) weather.

Looking for a bike now, in the dead of Winter (well, near the end of Winter) has highlighted what we all know and that is that it’s better to buy when people aren’t riding much. From the ads at which I looked, there was a list of 8 bikes that I could have looked at (although some were in Victoria).

2. Advertisements rarely ever tell the whole story. D’uh! While some of the bikes we looked at today promised a lot (and asked a lot in terms of price, too), several of them failed to deliver when the bike was seen in the metal. Owners nearly always tend to think that there bike is better than it really is. We all do this, often becoming semi-blind to our bike’s faults and failings. And some advertisements actually downplay how GOOD a bike is too. Owners sometimes have no idea really, of how to price their bikes.

3. Inspecting a bike pre-sale, is so much easier than when buying a car. D’uh, again. With a few, simple checks it is pretty easy to determine whether a bike is the grain or the chaff. Because a bike is really “up front”, it’s hard to disguise faults, even if you want to. Faired bikes do present a little more of a challenge, obviously, but there’s not that much in it, really.

4. It’s really worth travelling if you’re serious about getting the best deal. It took us most of the day on the road today to look at our candidates, but there is no substitute for it. There’s simply no other way of ensuring that you are getting the deal you want.

5. There’s safety in numbers. Mostly I’ve bought bikes entirely by myself, and mostly it’s been OK. But there is definitely something to be said for taking someone with you who knows the subject so that there are two sets of eyes doing the examination. And, there’s also a considerable advantage to having someone with whom you can sit down and discuss the pros and cons of what is on offer. Having someone with you who isn’t laying down any money on the deal can provide you with a dispassionate opinion that can mean that you’re buying with your head and not just with your heart.

6. Be open to other possibilities. There will always be bikes.

It was a tiring day, but a necessary one. Bike shopping CAN be frustrating, but it CAN be fun, too.

My recent difficulties have highlighted a situation that wasn’t immediately apparent. A friend was just talking about an almost-new ZX10-R that fell over in the driveway and did $4500 worth of damage. That seems pretty fearsome, but bearable in a bike that is worth $16k or so.

But, if you own an older bike and have it comprehensively insured, then that $4500 worth of damage might be close to what the bike is worth as far as the insurance is concerned, and you’re looking at a write-off.

It does make you wonder if it is worth comprehensively insuring an older bike.

And, while on the subject, why is it that the insurance companies are very quick to TAKE your money, but very lethargic when it comes to RETURNING it. Despite having all of my paper work in order and submitted, I have been told that it could be 2 to 3 WEEKS before my claim is settled.

Damned if you do and damned if you don’t, I guess.