Reacting to reader complaints, we sent this message to FGSport, promoters of the World Superbike Series: Can FGSport Group explain why the World Superbike Championship series is televised live on “89 television networks covering 170 countries” but it is not shown live in the United States, the single largest motorcycle sales market in the world? Our readers are very excited by the 2005 World Superbike Championship and are quite upset about the fact that SPEED Channel has/will shown/show the first two rounds of the 2005 World Superbike series on the Tuesday following the actual races. This is the response we got: FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Unfortunately this is a choice of Speed Channel. They take all the races live on satellite and then because of the time difference (expecially for the European races) they prefer to delay the races, unfortunately until Tuesday local lunch time usually. Only you in the USA can push with Speed Channel for a better coverage, we give the feed LIVE to them. Best regards, Daniele Sanò TV and Marketing Dept. FGSPORT Rome, Italy And now, some reader feedback: FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Thanks for trying to push the series promoters to do something to move their coverage from NASCRAP TV, oops, sorry…SpeedTV…to a network that might actually provide coverage, and *AIRING* to a series that is far superior to TURNLEFT TV. Although, I was surprised to see the response given by the promoters of World Superbike. Apparently, it is up to the US to write to TURNLEFT TV and get the races shown live? Wait just one Nashville second here…. Don’t you – WSBK – own the rights to your series?? Didn’t you sell the rights to air World Superbike in the US to REDNECK….sorry….TURNLEFT….sorry…SpeedTV? Can’t you put a little pressure on the intellectually challenged ones that run TURNLEFT TV to at least show the races on the same day, if not live? There is only so much rhetoric we can stomach from the inbred wonders that are running the channel that shows motorcycle racing before we just tune out. How about if the promoters of “World” Superbike racing put a little pressure on the brain dead executives at TURNLEFT…er…SpeedTV to show the races on the same day. Or, better yet pull the series, bite the bullet and take less money to show it on a network that WILL show it on the same day, and which might *gasp* show it in reruns during the following week. I mean, supposedly, the WSBK series is all for breaking new ground in how it competes. How about jumping out on the limb and breaking new ground on how it markets itself in the US. We, as motorcycle racing fans, have been fighting a losing battle in the US for the past two years (since NASCRAP took over SPEEDTV) to get our races shown on the network that owns the rights, and that network has been living up to its inbred nature by denying us, more and more, the ability to see real brain power racing. So, my plea is to you WSBK, you step up to the plate, pull your rights, and show real racing on a network that will show WSBK, on the same day, and maybe even a couple times in the next week in repeat. Once upon a time, TURNLEFT racing was nothing in the US. But they marketed themselves well, and gained a fan base. Which most likely meant taking some sort of loss for the payoff in the end. It is really hard for you to market yourself in the largest market in the world, when you are not being shown until two days later. Bite the bullet, give your series to another network, at a loss even, and see if you can grow revenue to the point where it pays off. The way your series is being shown here now, it is no better than badminton, or retiree bingo. And it is so much better than that, and deserves so much better than that. You have shown that you are not averse to taking risks, well try another. 300 million potential fans are waiting for something better than TURNLEFT TV. Start another cool trend in the US. Show real racing! Steve Sturm WSMC #98 Glendora, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: For what it’s worth, I have complained several times to SpeedTV about their motorcycle road racing programming. Even “Two Wheel Tuesday” has become lame – who wants to see some mediocre sports car racer ride a chopper sans helmet? I can’t even watch Two Wheel Tuesday any more without fast forwarding the TIVO through all the fluff. What can we as U.S. road racing fans do to persuade SpeedTV that not everyone eats/sleeps/drinks NASCAR 24/7? Thank God for your magazine! Michael Ludes Sacramento, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Unfortunately, SPEED aka NASCARvision, gives the impression that the 2 wheel market needs to take a backseat to NASCAR. They’d rather show “NASCAR this morning”, NASCAR edition Speed News”, and “NASCAR Victory Lane” on a daily basis rather than broadcast WSBK the same day. Of course, when they do decide to show WSBK it’s right in the middle of the day when most people are at work. We may not make up the same demographics as NASCAR, but I think the consistently repeated NASCAR news could take a back seat for 1-2 hours on Sundays when motorcycle roadracing is live. However, I have found that sending e-mails to SPEED regarding our racing has proved futile. They simply do not care. Amazing how when I lived in England last year, I could watch every AMA event live and without commercial interuption. Ever wanted to see WSBK and MotoGP Superpole? Yeah, that’s broadcast live too. But you won’t hear about that through SPEED. Lloyd Magruder WSMC #716/USGPRU #716/AFM #862 Lemoore, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Although SPEED has cut down its coverage of motorcycle racing in the past two years. I do not put any blame on them for not backing WSBK with live or same day coverage. Last year WSBK lost alot of fans with the changes they made to the rules. I am pretty sure SPEED locks in their schedule months before the racing season starts and probably could not risk having another Ducati cup. When motorcycle road racing decides to get their act together and some longevity in the rules then I am pretty sure it will make its way back into our living rooms on sunday. Carmen R. Centennial Fort Knox, Kentucky