AMA schedule? Anybody?

[wfooshee]

So digging around for an AMA schedule, to see when they actually plan to be anywhere, I've found very little real information other thatn what the track sites have themselves. For example, Barber's web site shows AMA Pro Racing there May 1-3, Road Atlanta shows them there April 3-5. The AMA Pro Racing site itself has nothing!

Chatting with my brother about it, he explained some deal Speed had about a weekly Saturday night show, every week, including race coverage when there's racing, and other stuff when there's not. So I looked around, and here's the Speed announcement of the show: Clickificationalization

So every Saturday there's going to be some kind of show about AMA Racing. They promise flag-to-flag coverage of American Superbike and Daytona Sportbike, along with selected coverage of other selected events. All late enough that anybody with an Internet connection already knows all about it.

The large crowd of people who don't know (or care) what's going on in American motorcycle racing just got much larger.

 

[ShawnKing]

The large crowd of people who don't know (or care) what's going on in American motorcycle racing just got much larger.

I love the way they describe showing some races up to *2* weeks after the fact as "innovative and unprecedented". SPEED is doing its best to completely kill off watching motorcycle racing on TV...

 

[BIODSL]

I love the way they describe showing some races up to *2* weeks after the fact as "innovative and unprecedented". SPEED is doing its best to completely kill off watching motorcycle racing on TV...

I am so looking forward to the day I can just stream the race, live, via and internet and kiss SPEED good bye forever.

Paul Peloquin

Monmouth OR

 

[Bike Effects]

2009 AMA Racing Schedule

March 4-6: Daytona International Speedway

March 20-22: Auto Club Speedway

April 3-5: Road Atlanta

May 1-3: Barber Motorsports Course

May 15-17: Infineon Raceway

May 29-31 Miller Motorsports Course

June 5-7: Road AMerica

July 5-7: Laguna Seca Raceway

July 17-19: Mid-Ohio

July 31-August 2: Heartlenad Park, Topeka

August 14-16: Virginia International Raceway

September 4-6: New Jersey Motorsports Park

 

[squeezer]

Jeff's got it, though the schedule is still listed as "tentative" and the Heartland Park & New Jersey races are still listed as "pending Rider Safety Committee evaluation." You can find that info at https://amaproracing.com/. Click the "Competitor Information" link.

And, I agree with the general tone here. The new Saturday night thing sounds stupid. I know their hope is to build an audience, but that's useless if you're not trying to hang on to the audience you already have.

I had a lot of hope for the DMG guys. It's been awfully disappointing so far.

 

[wfooshee]

Ah, well, that's why it was so hard to find. I'm not a competitor, so I didn't bother clicking the link, assuming it would take me to a login page where I could try to pretend to be Matt Mladin or Aaron Yates.

Another example of well-thought-out distribution of public information.

This delayed coverage reminds me of when I was in high school, looking forward to the Wide World of Sports episode every year that covered highlights of the Grand Prix of Monaco, the one F1 race Americans got to see on TV.

I just thought of a "legitimate" reason for the delayed coverage. With the history of post-race juggling of results, all that would be settled out before the TV show! B)

 

[Randy]

I had a lot of hope for the DMG guys. It's been awfully disappointing so far.

There has been disappointment, but, I think there has also been good that is being masked by the tough financial times. People fear change. Many said that the old system didn't work and, now that the new AMA is trying to change things, they're getting knocked around. If a new group would have come in and done the same things the old AMA was doing, well, as they say, you can't polish a turd. Change was needed. Did they do everything perfect? Doesn't appear as though they did, but, I think they did some things right. There hasn't been a wheel turned in competition yet - we'll see how this weekend goes.

 

[squeezer]

(snip)This delayed coverage reminds me of when I was in high school, looking forward to the Wide World of Sports episode every year that covered highlights of the Grand Prix of Monaco, the one F1 race Americans got to see on TV.

Yeah, I lived through that, which still makes me think we're in the Golden Age of televised racing. I won't get to see Phillip Island Race 2 until tonight, but for most of my life, I'd only be able to read about it in a magazine. So I try not to bitch too much. But a 2 week delay... I'm gonna bitch about that. On the plus side -- I'd been hoping for a motorcycle racing highlight show for a long time. We'll see how that side of it works out.

I just thought of a "legitimate" reason for the delayed coverage. With the history of post-race juggling of results, all that would be settled out before the TV show! B)

:lol: :lol:

Maybe "Mladin bike inspection update" will be a regular program feature. (Or maybe that's gone with the new regime.)

Change was needed. Did they do everything perfect? Doesn't appear as though they did, but, I think they did some things right. There hasn't been a wheel turned in competition yet - we'll see how this weekend goes.

Fair enough. Let's see how they do.

 

[Randy]

.... I won't get to see Phillip Island Race 2 until tonight,

Unless you go here

 

[GunMD]

CAUTION: RANT AHEAD. If you are offended by foul language or are a stake-holder in DMG or SPEED, stop reading now.

Well holy-jesus-****, SPEED! WTF? Let me get this straight. You're going to ONLY show races on Saturday nights? Uhhh, did it occur to anyone over there that exactly half of the races take place on SUNDAY? So are we supposed to stay away from every source of racing news for six full days in order to avoid a spoiler until we can watch a nearly week-old race? Screw SPEED. Those ******' idiots.

"We can't recall a previous example of such a multi-faceted motorcycle program and we are honored to move forward with this innovative offering in partnership with our colleagues at SPEED," Edmondson said. "They obviously share our dedication to AMA Pro Racing and we want to thank them for the support as we work together to build the profile and audience of major league motorcycle racing in this country."

**** me with a spoon! This is just insane.

Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.

Survey says? BZZZZZZZZ! Nope, you won't learn **** on that website either. Well actually, to be fair, you will learn that they're not really showing the Daytona 200 live like this article indicated. It's "semi-live" I guess. It'll still be going on when they start airing it. Fuckers. Both of 'em. Edmonson and SPEED. Cock-blowers.

 

[Auburn]

Gunny on Gunny's rant!

for what it's worth - There is something called Daytona bike week - no description as to what will be on it at 5 PM Pacific today on Speed.

EDIT it actually starts at 5:30 PST. (help if I could read the schedule) It is the Daytona 200

 

[mtnhigh]

I believe the delayed airing of the races is due to the accident that killed a rider on live TV(Speed) at VIR. I was at that race and the Speed guys were all talking about lawsuits from the family.

 

[wfooshee]

The delayed coverage is {probably} because NASCAR qualifying was on in the earlier time slot. Nothing more. :angry:

 

[Stephen]

Tonights race was absolutely one of the worst race productions in history. 2 wheeled NASCAP. What a farce. :angry: I bet the whole world is laughing it's ass off.

Thank God for World Superbike. :clapping:

 

[mtnhigh]

The delayed coverage is {probably} because NASCAR qualifying was on in the earlier time slot. Nothing more. :angry:

That's a possibility. Just heard a conversation among the TV officials in the control tower later in the evening after the race. But with the popularity of NASCAR in this country, you are probably right. Noone should be bothered by a rider getting run over on live TV. I'll STFU now.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Tonights race was absolutely one of the worst race productions in history. 2 wheeled NASCAP. What a farce. :angry: I bet the whole world is laughing it's ass off.

Yep....

"Turn out some lights or something so we can get the pace car out there so the Buells can catch-up and maybe have a chance at winning this thing."

It's illegal for riders to work on bikes in the pits (except Buells).

Same old, same old.....(only worse).

:angry:

 

[wfooshee]

I really didn't see anything that bad with the coverage, other than the timing of a couple of commercial breaks. A long yellow period, and then they break on the second green lap, with 4 to go??!?!?!??!

Some facilities problems with the lights, and I don't know what the hell was going on at the end of the back straight, with some bikes slow and some bikes full tilt boogie.

Then there was waving B-Boz by the pace car when he was actually the leader, then having to wave the whole damn field by to correct it. That was a bit of a farce. and wasted a couple of laps.

Except for the ill-timed break at the end, none of that was Speed's fault. The organizers and race control had a rough day, though.

Speed's announcers may have had a rules familiarity issue, I'm not sure. All the hoopla about Danny Eslick working on his bike: I don't find anything in the rules that says he can't, but the Speed announcers apparently think he can't. Perhaps a change from previous years? 7.24 is the section on scheduled pit stops, and the only mention of the rider is that he cannot be on the bike during refueling.

As for the racing, there was some very good running up front, with the front 3, then the front 5, and sometimes the top 6 or 7, coming down side by side off the banking to the line. I enjoyed the actual racing quite a bit.

 

[Randy]

It's illegal for riders to work on bikes in the pits (except Buells).

That is not true. You can have 5 people working on the motorcycle. Nothing in the rules says a rider can't be one of the people working on the bike. You can have 6 people over the wall as long as one of them is holding a fire extinguisher and not working on the bike.

 

[Auburn]

Given a new format, there were significant challenges they had to overcome (the factory BS). I thought the racing was really good. There were four bikes with 2 laps to go that had a legitimate chance to win. Better than many past 200's where the leader has lapped all but three or four of the field. Or the Mladdin/Spies run away that usually happens.

I will admit (even though I can't stand Harley's) that the Buell package was pretty good. I did see that Danny Eslick was DQ'd due to passing under the pace car yellow flag.

Daytona 200 results

From what I hear the Superbike race was a barn burner. And yes I will watch it even though I know the results. I do wish it could be better and more timely coverage, but at least I will get to see it, albeit delayed.