not sure if posted yet - you can sign up for the Moto America Newsletter - hopefully the sponsors/teams see the demand when the numbers start going up... http://motoamerica.com/
And not lead anywhere! Formula 450 (stock 450 MX motors) bikes would be just as cheap and fairly similar to Moto3 speed and weight wise.
Outstanding! Hope for success. "If you are an amateur or professional motorcycle road racer in America, if you are a fan of road racing or if you are a company that does business in this industry, this is an exciting day," said AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman. "Our goal has always been to entrust the promoting and commercial rights for professional racing to a talented, dedicated, well-capitalized professional entity, and the KRAVE Group certainly offers all that and more." Is it just me or does Dingman seem like a snake oil salesman? They missed their goal with DMG.
And paying himself several hundred thousand dollars per year as well. He converted the AMA to his own company. Not unlike all the mutual insurance companies that went private and enriched those that took them over. The AMA is small fry, in comparison. John Hancock Life is probably the most egregious. Made that guy a billionaire and he promptly left after making his killing.
OK, its been a whole week since the new series was announced and still no Mladin comeback rumors. What the Hell has Dean Adams been doing all week?
I'm no fan of Dingman, he appears to be the definition of an empty suit, but do you have a link to where he privatized the AMA?
A mutual insurance company is owned by the policy holders. Not stock holders. Policy holders have a stake but no control. That allows an outside to come in and take over managing the insurance company. The second step is to start a process to convert the mutual to a corporation. This effectively reallocates ownership and control of the company from policy holders to stock holders. Of course the policy holders get a little stock in exchange. In the middle of all this transition, senior management are given massive amounts of stock and options as part of their compensation. The last step is to take the company public through an IPO. The team that took over the mutual company can now cash out making billions of dollars and move on. Think John Hancock and David D'Alessandro 2000. The AMA isn't privatized technically, and I don't have a link, but it is essentially owned by the members and supported by membership dues. All together, that amounts to a lot of cash flow available to anybody who is successful in taking over the club. Like mutual company policy holders, AMA members provide all the revenue, but have no control over it, other than to stop paying dues. So a slick Washington lobby lawyer worked his way into the executive position of running the AMA. And guess what, he gets to pay himself and decide who his team is. He can sell off assets and spend the proceeds however he wants. Those inside that might object are fired. Of course I am speculating, but that seems to be exactly what Dingman did. He took over the business, eliminated his opposition, and redirected company funds for his own benefit in the form of high executive compensation.
I understand mutual vs. publicly held companies, but the AMA being a non-profit would likely preclude that transition from happening. There is a board of directors, some of whom are elected and some appointed from manufacturers. Interestingly, you need to have a college degree to be a director. Strange. http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/Libraries/About_Documents/AMA_Code_of_Regulations.sflb.ashx - Article VII I agree Dingman seems to have free reign from the board. I haven't seen them stop him from doing much, especially when Stan Simpson was in charge. Soup had an article about Dingman's compensation a few years ago, and I think it was around $300k, which is pretty generous for a group with a shrinking membership. Looking at the financials, the AMA's balance sheet is shrinking. Another good reason to have an overcompensated CEO. Also, the latest financials are from 2012. Since their year end is September 30th, they are almost two years in arrears for annual reports. http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/Libraries/About_Documents/2012_AMA_AnnualReport.sflb.ashx AMA must stand for Another MF'ing Abortion.
Brief interview on RoadracingWorld.com in three parts with MotoAmerica's Chuck Aksland about the new series. Summary: They have some financial backing but won't mention specifics. Nothing concrete on schedule, class structure or a TV package. Part 1: The Concept Part 2:The Schedule Part 3: The Class Structure and TV Package
Congrats to Josh Hayes, Jake Gagne and Dustin Dominguez for winning the final AMA/DMG races this weekend. Now on to the new guys' series. WTF they still want to race at Daytona? Why? Looking to maintain the Harley class? Why? Will there be races in Canada, or will that still be a separate series, as it is now? How about Mexico races?
If they were to race at Mosport in June or July or August, my respect for the series would go through the roof.
hell yeah!! and maybe get Brainerd fixed up and back in action so we can see the best 1st turn anywhere!!!! I can see rounds at Austin and Indy, possibly as a support show for the motogps, maybe the weekends or during the week before the big races. how about keeping the Harleys, but turning it into something like bmw did years ago, a legends series. There are a bunch of superbike guys from the 80s,90s, and 2000s that folks would love to see at the track again! for the first time in years, I'm started to get excited about our national roadracing!
RW: Can you talk more about classes? Do you have any idea of what the class structure might be near-term, mid-term and long-term? What existing classes might carry over? What classes might not carry over? And theres been a lot of talk about a Moto2 element. Can you address that? Aksland: Obviously, we have a Superbike class. The numbers on the [Superbike] grid, I think the average for last year was about 14-15 bikes, maybe more sometimes, maybe less. We would like to add another 1000cc element into that class by maybe introducing a stock 1000cc [class], much in the way that MotoGP and the CRT class ran with the separate scoring. Again, its about having a stepping stone for the rider. Right now a rider goes from a 600 straight onto a Superbike. So we want to give riders a chance to step into a 1000 without having to spend the money and go straight onto a Superbike. Thats one of the ideas being considered. Wed also like to introduce a Moto2 element, but much like they do in the [Repsol FIM CEV] Spanish Championship. Their Moto2 and Superstock 600s are a combined class and theyre scored separately. So maybe something like that as well for those two categories. Were talking with the other classes. The Harley[-Davidson] class, weve had some discussions with them. The 600cc Supersport class, I dont really see any changes there. And then if we could find the right opportunity for an entry-level-type [small-displacement] class, then were looking at that as well. RW: You guys want to develop young talent. Youre talking about an entry-level, small-displacement class. Are you guys going to stick with the 16-year-old age limit thats currently in place for AMA Pro Road Racing? Aksland: The goal is to reduce that by a couple of years for the entry-level class. RW: The entry-level class, are you guys considering all options or more of a one-make series, like a Ninja Cup or KTM Cup? Aksland: I think the easiest option and probably the most economical for riders would be a one-make-type series. Were open to anything that will work economically for riders and work for the series, but theres going to be a lot of things going on next year with the transition. Wed also like to keep things simple, too. Generally, if you have a one-make-type series its a little bit simpler to govern than opening something up to a lot of manufacturers and variations on rules and so forth.
Some of the language in the opening press releases suggests this, but I'm wondering if any of the Canadian tracks are up to spec?
That would be my concern about Mosport but I haven't been there for 25 years so something might have changed. I like how the Vance&Hines XR1200 series (which pays very good money for a support series) is never considered a one-make series by the press or fans.
By up to spec, I mean not any nastier than Mid-Ohio. Peaking of which, Aksland says that they want tracks where a race could be held in the rain. Mid-O wouldn't qualify.