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AMA Superbike at a Crossroads

The AMA Superbike Championship is at a crossroads. It will either follow the tendency of the British Superbike Championship (BSB) toward tighter, much more restrictive technical regulations as a means of controlling costs and opening the championship battle to private teams, or it will, like World Superbike, continue to organize a championship for very expensive, production-derived but highly modified racing bikes. It is unlikely that the Superbike class will have strict technical limitations like those of the Australian Production Superbike, Canadian Superbike, and Spanish Formula Extreme, although, given the lethal nature of some of the American tracks, there are voices that call for reducing performance either by introducing restrictive engine regulations or, less likely (unless the series does follow NASCAR), a horsepower limit.

Roadracing has evolved differently in the three most successful examples, MotoGP, World Superbike and, most relevant of all, the British Superbike Championship. Two things that the professional prompters of all three series have done is to take charge of technical regulations and to impose restrictions on tire suppliers, adopting a single tire rule in World Superbike and British Superbike, and very nearly doing so in MotoGP.

But, before getting into these meatier matters, I propose in part 2 to look at one rule that has been almost universally criticized by riders, teams, journalists, and fans -- but one which, at least until a new promoter comes on board, has been stubbornly defended in spite of the fact that it runs counter to every major national and world roadracing championship: the strange AMA points system that gives inordinate importance to finishing and devalues the importance of winning.

Those in the inner circles of the AMA who have dismissed criticisms of the point system and many other things will need to understand that no promoter in his right corporate mind is going respect traditions and personal fiefdoms and will demand immediate change to things that don't make racing sense. A good litmus test for whoever this new promoter is will be determined by whether the AMA points situation remains unchanged.

Ask yourself if the following makes sense:

Under the current points system if an AMA Superbike rider went pointless in only two of 19 races and won the other 17 he would total 612 points and would be beaten by four points by a rider who won only two races, but finished second in the other 17 and gathered 616 points.

Think about it. In part 2 we will.