Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Despite the fact that one of the stated goals of AMA Pro Racing is “increased participation in Superbike” beyond the few factory teams currently fielding competitive machines, AMA Pro Racing has handed the rules-linked fate of the class over to the factory teams.

The Road Race Advisory Board, heavily stacked with representatives of factory Superbike teams, has been given the task of determining Superbike rules for 2003 in a meeting at VIR scheduled for Friday night, working within a framework pre-determined by AMA Pro Racing.

In a memo to members of the Advisory Board mis-dated August 7, AMA Pro Racing CEO Scott Hollingsworth stated “The future of AMA Superbike racing is in your hands tomorrow night.”

In a bizarre twist, rules proposals pre-determined by AMA Pro Racing to be “realistic suggested alternatives received during the 30-day comment period for 2003 Superbike Rules Proposals” include polished stock connecting rods or steel aftermarket rods but exclude the readily-available, reasonably-priced titanium rods currently used by competitive Formula Xtreme teams. Formula Xtreme teams have gone to titanium rods because they are competitively priced and are easier on the crankshaft than heavier steel rods, and are available from multiple suppliers. Teams that have experimented with stock or modified stock rods have seen those rods fly through crankcases with alarming regularity.

The Advisory Board will also decide the fate of proposed Supersport and Superstock rule changes to allow machining of gasket surfaces to increase compression (to eliminate the fast-enough vs. legal-enough tech-inspection game currently played out at AMA races), and, in a move that is beyond comprehension, one of the proposed alternatives to that proposal is allowing machining of the crankcases and cylinders only, and not the cylinder heads–and never mind that the latest high-performance machines incorporate the cylinders into the cases, and that cylinder heads are easier and cheaper to remove and replace than crankcases.

Details to follow.