Teams racing in the Superbike World Championship pay 40,000 Euros ($48,331) per Superbike rider for tires, and pay 20,000 Euros ($24,165) per Supersport rider for tires. When the spec tire program was implemented in World Superbike and World Supersport, teams with existing tire sponsorship deals lost those deals, and had to start paying for all their tires. American riders who wanted to enter as a wild card in the World Superbike races at Laguna Seca in 2004 were told that they had to pay $5000 for tires for the weekend. As a result, no American wild card riders entered. Using the $5000 wild card fee as a basis for double-header weekends and half that for single-race weekends, a similar spec tire program in AMA Superbike could cost teams $45,000 per Superbike rider and $22,500 per support-class rider. Under such a plan, Yoshimura Suzuki could be charged $135,000 per season for tires for Superbike riders Mat Mladin, Aaron Yates and Ben Spies and another $45,000 for Superstock and Supersport riders Yates and Spies, for a grand total of $180,000 not including tires for testing. Kawasaki would be charged $90,000 for tires for Tommy and Roger Hayden in Superstock and Supersport; Yamaha would pay $180,000 for Damon Buckmaster, Aaron Gobert, Jamie Hacking and Jason DiSalvo in Superstock and Supersport; Honda would pay $135,000 for Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke in Superbike and Formula Xtreme; Erion Honda would pay $67,500 for Kurtis Roberts in Superbike and Alex Gobert in FX; Lion Racing would pay $135,000 for Jake Holden and John Haner in Superbike and Superstock; KWS would pay $112,500 for Lee Acree and Blake Young in Superbike, Superstock and Supersport; Hooters Help You Ride would pay $135,000 for Eric Wood and Jimmy Moore in Superbike and Superstock; Corona would pay $135,000 for Tony Meiring and Brent George in Superbike and Superstock; and Hotbodies Racing Honda would pay $90,000 for Larry Pegram and Jeremy Toye in Superbike. Superbike privateers like Scott Jensen would pay $45,000 and Supersport/FX privateers like Chris Peris would pay $22,500 per class. The cost to the AMA Superbike paddock alone would be about $3.6 million, not including support classes. Full implementation of an AMA Superbike Series spec tire program (involving all four classes) based on the World Superbike model could cost participants $9 million a year, assuming 40 riders entered each class. At 50 entries per class the cost could be $11.25 million and at 60 entries per class the cost could be $13.5 million. Again, not including tires used in testing…