AMA Pro Racing has changed plans. Leading up to the Suzuki Superbike Showdown Presented by Rockstar, AMA Pro Racing announced that it would use a newly-constructed chicane in the Esses section of Road Atlanta. To improve safety a new, first-gear Turn Four chicane was constructed to provide a bypass for the existing Turn Four, which is a third-gear sweeper with a wall relatively close to the outside of the turn. When promoter practice started at Road Atlanta Thursday, the new Turn Four chicane was utilized. AMA Pro Racing officials closely monitored how riders used the revised section and made changes throughout the morning, like adding traffic cones for reference points, but at lunch time AMA Pro Racing officials decided to change back to the old Turn Four, which will be utilized for the remainder of the event. “During the lunch hour I went around and talked to as many of the riders as I could find,” said Bill Syfan, AMA Pro Racing Special Projects Manager. Syfan said he spoke to Chaz Davies, Aaron Gobert, Josh Hayes, Larry Pegram, Ben Thompson, Cory West, Blake Young and Jake Zemke. “The majority of them liked the new Turn Four,” said Syfan. “As a single-bike/single-line portion of the course it’s fantastic. It does what it’s supposed to do. But for full-competition racing we feel the old Turn Four is going to be safer.” “He asked how it [new Turn Four chicane] was, and I said the corner is fine for a rider by himself,” said Zemke. “I like it, the technical aspect of it. But it has a huge, huge potential for a really bad accident there. It’s blind at the entrance, and you’re coming in at an angle to T-bone riders at the exit. And I saw a lot of riders run off there. Some ran through the grass [in the middle of the chicane] so fast that they came through the exit and ran off again at the exit. “Obviously there’s issues with the track. That’s why they made the change. I’ve seen bikes go down and hit that wall [outside the old Turn Four], but you don’t want a bike T-boning someone else going around on the racing line. Either way it’s not a good situation.” Syfan added that Road Atlanta officials, including President Geoff Lee, also observed riders using the new Turn Four chicane Thursday morning, and plans to improve the new section for competition are already in the works. “We’ve already discussed some things that could be done to the new Turn Four to open it up and ease it so it’s not quite as tight, especially at the exit,” said Syfan. “So I see us using it in the future once a little bit of work is done to it. The track’s aware of it. They’re behind it. They’re supportive of that. So as early as next year we could be back to using the new Turn Four in a slightly different configuration.” Riders said the new Turn 12, a low-speed, 90-degree corner, is a safer alternative than the Turn 12 it replaces, a very fast sweeper with a concrete wall very close on its outside.