Kinda sad competition in Moto America

[tsorfas]

I made a personal decision this year to try and follow and support Moto America as much as possible this year.
I typically dont watch anything besides moto gp.

Paying attention to results from COTA so far reached a sad conclusion.

12 Racers will start at the grid for the Supersport class.
5 of them are wild cards. Which shows only 7 Supersport racers for this year.
the time difference are extreme with only the top 4 within a second and the rest falling behind.

This is the "premier" racing championship in the USA and it is honestly not nearly as exciting as club racing (from the competition aspect).

Is it the cost that makes riders to stay out? I thought MA and Dunlop had very nice "pursue" and a lot of support.

What worries me is that with this amount of entries what is the point of a sponsors to want to get involved? why would a factory team even show up?

I have been to the last two Indianapolis Moto GPs that were with Moto America and AMA rounds. 99% of the people left and did not stick around to watch the American races, and they were ALREADY there.

not the direction I was hoping to see this going. I got happy to see the contract with BEIN being announced for coverage but even that will die if the excitement isnt there.

[odduc]

It really is sad that we can't have a respectable domestic series. Especially, given the involvement of former world champions. Even New Zealand has a domestic series with more competitors than Moto America.

I think the biggest problem with Moto America, at this early stage, is marketing. They either aren't doing any at all, or they don't have anyone on the payroll who knows how to do it effectively.

I'd love to see a domestic series regain the prestige that it once had when guys like Mat Mladin, Bostrom brothers and Hayden brothers were all on the grids together. I'm sure that we have plenty of domestic talent. But, to your point, corporate sponsors are reluctant to put up the kind of money needed to field a competitive superbike team.

[sdog30]

Pretty sure that was the whole reason fim is running Moto America and brought Rainey on to run it. The fact they are getting it televised again is big.

Probably take more than a year though. Lol

[tsorfas]

Sam I can agree that it will take more than a year and I don't kinks if it will ever be BSB (our 7 entries VS 46 in the same class there) but where are the privateers?? Look at CCS entries and top guys.

You would like to believe that the top 3/5 in MW and unlimited would be in MA.
Obviously finances don't allow that for scrutiny but still more than 7 full time riders.

[sdog30]

Sam I can agree that it will take more than a year and I don't kinks if it will ever be BSB (our 7 entries VS 46 in the same class there) but where are the privateers?? Look at CCS entries and top guys.

You would like to believe that the top 3/5 in MW and unlimited would be in MA.
Obviously finances don't allow that for scrutiny but still more than 7 full time riders.

BSB is sick! I would watch BSB over Moto America, Motogp and Wsbk. It's not by accident that Jonathan Rae, Tom Sykes and a few others have done well in wsbk.

[Paul_E_D]

One problem is our country is fucking huge and the population is spread out wide. TX is fucking far from anywhere. WHat privateer can take a week or more off for EVERY round? With a local series club racer spending 15k a year to race, it is just the rich guys left racing the national series. Johnny Rock Page is there! lol. Pay to play. A better idea would be an east coat and west coast series for moto america. Eff all those hicks from midwest.

[tsorfas]

I certainly agree with east west series. I mean they do it with so many other sports anyways.

[gixxer72]

That was some pretty good racing, and major respect to BeIn staying thru the flag. Awesome coverage, I really hope we're on our way to a resurgence of American road racing.

[Pittenger5]

Announcing TV coverage the day before doesnt exactly help ...
It'll get better as time goes on. But the economy is still shit, its going to be haves and have nots for a while yet.

[oVTo]

The TV schedule wasn't updated (on Verizon at least) so the MotoAmerica race didn't get recorded. Hopefully future races will be.

I was at COTA and Indy last year and both times most of the crowd left before the MotoAmerica race. Both times they were probably the best races of the weekend. If they were smart, they'd schedule the MotoAmerica Superbike Race 2 at the start of the day, or somewhere in the middle, not the end of it.

[Pittenger5]

Also, the majority of the grid wasn't included for this (superstocks). So, that cuts down on entires pretty hard.

[tsorfas]

The TV schedule wasn't updated (on Verizon at least) so the MotoAmerica race didn't get recorded. Hopefully future races will be.

I was at COTA and Indy last year and both times most of the crowd left before the MotoAmerica race. Both times they were probably the best races of the weekend. If they were smart, they'd schedule the MotoAmerica Superbike Race 2 at the start of the day, or somewhere in the middle, not the end of it.

That's a terrible idea. Imagine having to delay Moto gp because Moto America oiled the track. Fuck that. They are lucky they are even allowed to race with GP the same weekend on the same track.

[Kurlon]

Didn't Moto2 and MotoGP get pushed back because a MotoGP bike oiled the track yesterday?

[Pittenger5]

Didn't Moto2 and MotoGP get pushed back because a MotoGP bike oiled the track yesterday?

Most anyone can figure is it was a BMW car on the parade lap. Moto3 got delayed. There wasn't a bike on course for pretty much an hour before that.

[Kurlon]

Oh, lovely! They should put belly pans on those things! (Need a duck and cover smiley...)

[tsorfas]

Didn't Moto2 and MotoGP get pushed back because a MotoGP bike oiled the track yesterday?

You know how we get mad about the legend cars oiling the track during "our" events?
And legend cars is actually more popular and bigger series than LRRS.
Now imagine the most important motorcycle championship being delayed for (arguably) the worst professional RoadRacing championship in the world.

[Pittenger5]

Didn't Moto2 and MotoGP get pushed back because a MotoGP bike oiled the track yesterday?

Most anyone can figure is it was a BMW car on the parade lap. Moto3 got delayed. There wasn't a bike on course for pretty much an hour before that.

[Kurlon]

You know how we get mad about the legend cars oiling the track during "our" events?
And legend cars is actually more popular and bigger series than LRRS.
Now imagine the most important motorcycle championship being delayed for (arguably) the worst professional RoadRacing championship in the world.

To be clear, Legend Cars are likely bigger and more popular than all motorcycle road racing in the US. It's an international series remember. Just look at the number of events in just NH for comparison.

Moto America is operating with comparable tech requirements to other series around the world that share tracks with MotoGP, I see no reason to think they're a greater risk to oil the track than any other group.

[gixxer72]

That's a terrible idea. Imagine having to delay Moto gp because Moto America oiled the track. Fuck that. They are lucky they are even allowed to race with GP the same weekend on the same track.

I have to disagree with this. Fans deserve to see the MotoA races, the racing is most often superior to GP. You don't put opening acts on after the headlining band, because people don't know/care about them and would leave. Same logic applies here. MotoA needs the exposure, the great racing is there and just needs to reach fans.

Lucky to be on the same track with the GP primadonnas? I don't know about that. Elias was about 7 seconds off the GP pace, on a superbike. On a 3+ mile long track. I guess the GP guys wouldn't want them there if they were any quicker, might get embarrassing. (Kinda like WSBK lap times )

[Viper897]

So these are all good points...but...

There are a few problems facing moto America

1. where is the new talent coming from? Well not really much of anywhere since the laws in the US don't really allow much in the way of kids under what like 14 years old from racing. For f**** sake, let people not live in a bubble of safety.

2. DMG destroyed it

3. Its not a ball and stick sport or NASCAR so people have no clue whats happening out there.

4. The only people who know whats going on with this are the track day and club racer crowd.

5. lacks marketing and advertisement.

6. its on an obscure tv channel that some don't get, once its on a prime channel things will change

7. its a pay to race series with only the top few getting a free ride.

as for the letting the Moto America series preceed the Moto GP stuff, well they already have there preceeding races. That's what Moto 3 and Moto 2 are for. Not to mention unless you can convince the Spanish and Italians which Moto GP is marketed towards, and now Asia as well, to stay up later then your not going to get a US series to be racing on the same track prior too Moto GP. Just look at what one oil spill does in Moto GP warm up, delays by 15 to 20 minutes. So imagine if you have that but in Moto America before the worlds best go out there, all hell would break loose.

Just my .02 cents on this and Im sure Ill catch some flak but no worries.

[Paul_E_D]

7 seconds might as well be another planet. That's not embarrassing. What is shocking to me is how fast moto2 is compared to motoamerica...superbike! Hell, even moto3 was close to the back of the MA superbike field.

It's a big track, but it has several 1st gear corners and some flowing sections that kinda reduce the HP advantage. It's at the top of 5th and 6th where a gp bike has it over a superbike.

[tsorfas]

7 seconds might as well be another planet. That's not embarrassing. What is shocking to me is how fast moto2 is compared to motoamerica...superbike! Hell, even moto3 was close to the back of the MA superbike field.

It's a big track, but it has several 1st gear corners and some flowing sections that kinda reduce the HP advantage. It's at the top of 5th and 6th where a gp bike has it over a superbike.

I'm glad you responded because I wasn't going to sit and explain the 7 seconds in racing and what it means and the technicalities of the track.

Also after the comment that MA racing is superior to GP I have nothing else to discuss on that topic. I respect the persons opinion but clearly the disconnect is massive and there's no point to keep that dialogue going.

[Pittenger5]

7 seconds might as well be another planet. That's not embarrassing. What is shocking to me is how fast moto2 is compared to motoamerica...superbike! Hell, even moto3 was close to the back of the MA superbike field.

It's a big track, but it has several 1st gear corners and some flowing sections that kinda reduce the HP advantage. It's at the top of 5th and 6th where a gp bike has it over a superbike.

Im 30 off ... that makes me feel even worse.

[Paul_E_D]

30 off marquez? So 2:34?

[gixxer72]

7 seconds might as well be another planet. That's not embarrassing. What is shocking to me is how fast moto2 is compared to motoamerica...superbike! Hell, even moto3 was close to the back of the MA superbike field.

It's a big track, but it has several 1st gear corners and some flowing sections that kinda reduce the HP advantage. It's at the top of 5th and 6th where a gp bike has it over a superbike.

Correct, my example was pretty poor and COTA is not the track for it. Compare the GP vs WSBK lap time at Phillip Island. 2 seconds. And yes, that too is a world apart. But to make it sound like the MotoA guys cant share space at a GP event is pretty elitist, and wrong. It may be called MotoA now, but where did most of the great American GP stars come from? Once the series gets traction and rebuilds from the DMG bullshit it will produce more.