Superbike Racing is Modified Production - But How Modified?
By now every Superbike championship in the world except World Superbike has either drastically limited freedoms to modify the production engines of homologated Superbike machines or is, as is the case with AMA Pro Racing, on the verge of doing so. Therefore, worrying that AMA Pro Racing might fall into the hands of a promoter wanting to restrict preparation and modification to 'production racing level' is bucking a worldwide trend that is encouraged by the FIM.
It seems that all national Superbike championship promoters, from Europe to Australia to Japan and Canada are now pushing hard to cut costs and power to prevent factory teams from having too many advantages over the satellite and private teams, and to prevent rising straight and corner speeds from making existing circuits obsolete.
The Istanbul Park circuit in Turkey is probably the best track in the world today for motorcycles: fast, challenging, wide, and with deep runoff areas, but there are not going to be a half dozen super road courses built in the USA (or anywhere).
MotoGP is eventually headed toward smaller capacity still, with even smaller fuel capacity in an attempt not to grow out of some fine tracks that are already at their limits for providing escape areas.
The other main reason that national Superbike promoters, the MSMA, and the FIM want to 'dumb down' Superbike racing is to control costs. The MCRB, promoters of the British Superbike Championship, understand that a healthy, sustainable championship needs a family of self-supporting teams and the only way to achieve this is by introducing rules that prevent factory teams from enjoying an unassailable advantage.
Why Alex Barros is Not Racing in the AMA
When Alex Barros lost his opportunity to ride with the Ten Kate Honda team in World Superbike (Carlos Checa was prepared to ride for less because he has a second contract with HRC to ride the Suzuka Eight Hours), the veteran Brazilian, one of the world's top riders (he won a World SBK race on a private Klaffi Honda with rudimentary traction control in 2006, and, riding a satellite Ducati Desmosedici, beat Casey Stoner in a battle for third at the Italian GP at Mugello), made contact with Michael Jordan's team and offered his services at a very nominal cost.
The reply from the team was frank. They could not offer a competitive bike because, to quote a part of their reply, "It would be unfair to put a guy like Barros on our bike to ride for us and not be able to provide him with 'factory' equipment like the Yoshimura team has. It would reflect badly on Barros and on our team because everyone assumes now (and would assume) that we have 'factory' connections, and wonder why Barros isn't winning races. But without the availability to the 'factory' electronics packages and expertise, etc... I think that it would be very disappointing for racers of his status."
A top American specialist journalist assured me, in relation to Barros, that "no factory team would want a rider who was not a native English speaker because they need their riders to promote the brand." In other words, only native English-speakers need apply.
If Supercross promoters thought that way AMA SX would never have enjoyed the worldwide popularity that came from Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle. Besides Barros speaks English well enough, and, in addition to Portuguese, speaks fluent Spanish, the tongue of a demographic that any motorcycle manufacturer would be foolish to ignore in today's USA.
