Last weekend saw the running of the annual Daytona Festival of Speed. Did you notice? I did, because I inhabit the excellent superbikeplanet.com website, but, if you don’t, then the event could have passed by completely without even raising a ripple.
Which is such a shame for an event that has such a prestigious history. All the greats, not just American, but international, have raced there over the years, and the winner’s list is filled with those names. But, since the takeover of the AMA Pro Racing Series by the Daytona-based DMG consortium, AMA racing has slipped from its pedestal to become widely reviled and mocked by enthusiasts all over the USA.
It began a little earlier than that, however, when the banner event, the Daytona 200, was downgraded from a Superbike event to one for 600cc bikes. This was done on the basis of “safety” , the claim being that the Superbikes were too fast and that the tyre companies could no longer guarantee theire tyres to be safe at the excessive speeds and loads generated by racing on the high banking of DMS. That was the thin end of the wedge, so to speak, and the arrival of DMG accelerated the slide into oblivion.
Let’s look at the figures. The Superbike race double-header, held on Thursday and Friday of Speed Week, drew a field of privateer bikes apart from the “works” Suzuki and Yamaha teams. No Honda, no Kawasaki, no “works” Ducati. In Supersport it was even worse. Less than 20 riders faced the flag and the race was whitewashed by the “works” Yamahas. Of the top ten finishers, the only name that I recognised (and bear in mind, I follow American racing reasonably closely) was Cameron Beaubier, back from an unsuccessful tilt at World Championship glory in 2009.
The “200″ was held as a night-time race, still limited to Supersport-spec bikes with a few “ring-ins” like the Buell, was, apparently, the only really exciting race all weekend, though it was stopped and restarted a number of times before Yamaha’s Josh Herrin finally prevailed late in the evening.
It’s such a shame to see the country that produced Roberts, Spencer, Lawson and Rainey, and dozens of other “greats” struggling to attract any interest in a meeting and a series that has been completely gutted by commercail interest and mal-administration. Quite what it bodes for the future of racing in the USA is anyone’s guess, but I’m not holding my breath for any improvement any time soon.