VIR Race Cancellation, Premature AMA Championship End A Possibility

VIR Race Cancellation, Premature AMA Championship End A Possibility

© 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Think AMA Pro Racing would never end a season prematurely by canceling the final race of a Championship? Think again, because it’s been done before–last year, in fact.

The 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championship ended prematurely with the cancellation of the final round at Kenworthy’s Motocross Park in Troy, Ohio due to rain and flooding.

The race at Kenworthy’s was originally scheduled to take place in the middle of the season, July 12-13, but rain and flooding forced that event to be postponed until September 12-13. More rain and flooding plus other commitments for the AMA motocross riders and teams, however, led AMA Pro Racing to cancel the event and end the season one round short.

Grant Langston was awarded the 125cc AMA Championship even though he would have had to defend a seven-point lead over Ryan Hughes at the final round.

If the 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike series were to end without the race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), Mat Mladin would win his fifth AMA Superbike Championship by 42 points over Jake Zemke, Tommy Hayden would take the AMA Supersport Championship by 11 points over teammate and brother Roger Lee Hayden and Aaron Gobert would gain the AMA Superstock Championship by five points over teammate Jamie Hacking and Tommy Hayden. Miguel Duhamel has already clinched the AMA Formula Xtreme title.

The last AMA Superbike series event AMA Pro Racing cancelled was the September 14-16, 2001 event at Willow Springs International Raceway, the penultimate round of that season, following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the resultant grounding of all civilian aircraft.


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