Main goal of MotoAmerica ?

[Greg Gilstrap]

Am I the only one confused by the conclusion of the Superbike races this weekend?

Perhaps I am wrong, but it was my understanding that the foundation and basis of forming MotoAmerica, was to get American riders prepared for world-class racing competition, and to promote the skills of American riders, to the world racing audience.

So, team Suzuki has an injured American rider, and proceeds to fill his spot with a Moto2 Champion (Tony Elias), who then comes in and wins both races at CoTA this weekend!?
This really makes no sense to me, of how this helps to promote American riders!

It can be appreciated, that bringing a rider of this skill to MotoAmerica, is a showcase of what they can be up against in world-class racing, but in it's second season, is this the direction that the organization is already / really going to go?
Is this American-based racing league, created to promote and give experience to American racers, going to be inundated with foreign riders coming in, and completely defeating what is my understanding to be the purpose and creation of MotoAmerica..?

[Brad Wilcox]

I think that the first goal is to stay in business. I assume that the thinking is that if they can bring in some established Euro riders that some fans will follow. Following the same model set forth by the AMA wouldn't seem to smart of a business plan. You can't up the level of the US riders without a rabbit to chase I guess. Unfortunately I think Josh Herron's performance in Moto2 put a big hurt on people's willingness to take a chance on a US rider. I am not saying it was all his fault. Throwing him into Moto2 was probably asking too much. I don't mind them filling a few grid spots with Euro talent. It helps give a gauge of the performance level of our riders. My main concern with MotoAmerica is the viewing being on BEIN. It needs to be on a major channel so that people that aren't into it can get some exposure. DMG did a great bit of damage to American motorcycle racing.

[Michael De Simone]

There were 10 Superbike bikes on the grid. Of which, only 4 finished in front of Superstock 1000s. I didn't see too many up and comers in the group either. If they can get bikes on the grid at all I think they are doing good.

[Brandt Dillon]

I'd rather see Toni Elias out there than some mid packer paying for his ride. Too bad Cam had a rough day.

[Christopher Corder]

Locking "foreigners" out of MotoAmerica sounds great until the euro and other series do the same thing to Americans. Racing is not exempt from the global economy.

[Yorke Oldfather]

Ya I agree with Brandt, I think Tony spiced up the series and will elevate the field if he gets to continue in the series after Lewis comes back. If these guys hope to compete against Europe's best, I think MotoAmerica should have some Europeans in the mix. Seemed to me the wrong riders were on the superbikes, guys like Herrin, Eslick, etc. should be on the superbikes not the superstocks. The series is assbackwards right now.

[Michael De Simone]

Ya I agree with Brandt, I think Tony spiced up the series and will elevate the field if he gets to continue in the series after Lewis comes back. If these guys hope to compete against Europe's best, I think MotoAmerica should have some Europeans in the mix. Seemed to me the wrong riders were on the superbikes, guys like Herrin, Eslick, etc. should be on the superbikes not the superstocks. The series is assbackwards right now.

With a grid so small, I think they should flatten it.

[Chase Eason]

Hopefully he forces everyone to step their game up. I think the yamahas will come out swinging in Atlanta, especially Cam.

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[Yorke Oldfather]

I agree with Chase, Michael I don't think Graves or Yoshi would stick around for a Superstock class. They do a lot of developement in the race series for their own line of race products. I think the wrong riders are on the wrong teams right now, it seems scrambled.

[Neil Klein]

I enjoyed the SBK races this weekend and was genuinely happy to see Elias win those races. I was however a little surprised to see the Graves boys struggle as much as they did. Overall I have to think it is good for the MA to have Elias do what he did, especially on the Suzuki to break up the Yamaha dominance, even if it ends up being short lived. The real question in my mind however was: if the Americans that are running in the series cannot beat Elias with the benefit of a season of riding the bikes/tires/setups/etc then what hope do we have of one of them stepping over to Europe and beating them on equal or lesser terms.