Bombshell New AMA Series!

This...

 

How many of the bikes racing SBK are actually SBK spec?

How many of the bikes on the DSB grid aren't SS spec?

 

Multiple spec tire vendors wouldn't work. It sounds great from a racers' perspective (believe me!), but from a business/tire supplier perspective, where's the benefit if I'm not the sole tire supplier? Where do I make my money? Where are the logistics/infrastructure to ensure special tires aren't being made?

 

Sounds like the one-bike rule and two-day format to me ..

 

mongo, has WERA had any contact with the motoamerica at this point? any updates on the pro series?

 

well that's great to hear. at least there has been some discussion. good stuff.

 

Not really, actually. In 2014, SBK had more entries compared to 2013, one time. DSB, one time. Supersport, three times. Otherwise, 2013 had more entries before those rules were implemented.

Granted, other variables were potentially at play, such as not having a TV deal.

 

You asked if the one-bike rule and two-day format increased entries. I joked that multiple spec tire suppliers would be similar to those rules - seems good at first, but not really in the end.

With multiple tire vendors, I'm not so sure. Costs go up, ROI goes down for them. Effort to police spec tires goes up. Difficulty in riders switching between classes increases costs, setup time, etc.

Now if we're talking personal agendas, I'm all for it.

 

The two day format is ridiculous. No practice straight to qualifying?

 

It doesn't seem like multi-brand spec tire enforcement would be that much harder than the current enforcement. They are already enforcing that you can't just run any Dunlop, you have to run the tires approved for that round. They already randomly pick tires from the stock of tires, or at least so the rules say. You would just need a a tire picker for each vendor instead of one for Dunlop. Each vendor would to pay a fee that would pay the sanctioning body for their tire picker, which would be much cheaper than what Dunlop was paying to sponsor the series. To keep it on the level, you rotate the tire pickers between the brands (assuming the pickers travel with the series).

 

You're underestimating how critical it is to Dunlop to be the spec tire and what they'll spend to retain the rights to continue to do so.

 

$$$

If you have 3 brands instead of 1 you just cut the earnings for each by 2/3. At what point does it become a loss to go sell tires and none of them show up?