Dal Smilie is certainly not smiling this week. The Former American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Chairman was sentenced yesterday for embezzling $100,000 in fraudulent travel reimbursement claims to the not-for-profit organization. Smilie received a sentence of eight months in prison, and two years probation after pleading guilty for his misappropriation of organization founds over the course of years, ending in 2007. He was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and court costs.
The American Motorcyclist Association has announced its plan to reduce the number of corporate-elected seats on its board of directors. If you’re like this author, and don’t follow the politics of the AMA, you’re probably saying to yourself, “there’s corporate-elected seats on the AMA?” Yes, now doesn’t that explain some things? Previously there were six corporate-elected seats on the AMA Board of Directors, which meant that motorcycle companies controlled 50% of the Board’s voting power. This new measure, which was ratified on February 13th, will reduce that number to four seats, or 33% of the voting power.
We can finally retire the Hoppergate tag (saying this pretty much assures its continued use unfortunately), M4 Suzuki has issued a press release that confirms what Asphalt & Rubber already knew (hat tip to The Sparrow), John Hopkins will be riding in the AMA American Superbike team with Team Hammer. This news comes despite the fact that FB Corse has repeatedly insisted that the American rider was committed to them for the 2010 season, and they now chastise Hopper for backing out of the team at the last minute.
Something is up in the John Hopkins camp. First the American GP/WSBK racer was linked with MotoGP upstart FB Corse. A few days after the team announced a deal with Hopper, his manager said nothing was signed, and rumors about his involvement in the AMA began to ramp up.
While FB Corse continues to insist that Hopper will be riding with the Italian team next season, the American seems to be making every indication that he will be returning home with RoadRacing World is reporting that Hopkins will testing a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 with Team Hammer (aka Team M4 Suzuki) at Fontana on Februrary 2nd & 3rd.
Roger Lee Hayden, younger brother to former MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden, has signed with Team Pedercini for the 2010 World Superbike season. Roger Lee rode the Kawasaki ZX-6R to an AMA Supersport Championship, so theoretically he should feel at home again on Team Green satellite team in WSBK. However, the liter-bike class has proven difficult for the younger Hayden. In his three years on the Factory Kawasaki AMA Superbike team, two of those years were shortened by serious crashes.
In 140 characters or less, Mat Mladin has signaled that he won’t be jumping to WSBK anytime soon. Linked to Reitwagen’s satellite BMW racing effort, Mladin’s possible seat on the team went to Andrew Pitt just last week. Mladin created some buzz with his tweet two weeks ago, which hinted that the ex-AMA racer was considering making the transition to World Superbike racing.
Kawasaki has just announced that it will be leaving the AMA Pro Racing series. Citing the economy as it core reason for leaving the American racing series, Kawasaki says it hopes to return to road racing when the economic conditions in the United States allow the company to do so. For the DMG & AMA, this is the second manufacturer that has withdrawn from the now beleaguered racing series, and just a continuation of the momentum that has become AMA Pro Racing’s downward spiral.
A reliable source in the AMA has just tipped us off to the fact that Ben Bostrom has signed with Pat Clark Motorsports (PCM) for the 2010 season. PCM, which has been linked to Bostrom since the beginning of the month, is keeping the deal under wraps though as they try to sign both Jake Zemeke and John “Hopper” Hopkins to the team as well. If successful, this would mean PCM is building the Deathstar of AMA Superbike teams for the 2010 AMA season.
We here in the United States have a hard enough time dealing with the antics of the Batman and Robin duo that is DMG and the AMA, but our Canadian brothers to the north have their own issues to deal with as well. In a surprising announcement, Canadian Superbike Championship has announced that it has banned the the entire 2010 Yamaha line from racing in its various series, while any year Yamaha YZF-R1 has been banned from the Canadian Pro Superbike class. More after the jump.
After announcing his retirement from AMA Pro Racing, and what many assumed meant motorcycle racing in general, it didn’t take long for Mat Mladin to wind back up in the racing spot-light, this time with World Superbike aires around him. It would seem the recently retired Australian rider is at least musing over a possible World Superbike ride this week, as was revealed in a post on twitter earlier today. Citing a couple of offers, Mladin seems to be at least interested in one of them. More after the jump.
DMG has finally reached a deal with Laguna Seca that will see the coastal California track host the 2010 AMA Pro Racing series during the same weekend MotoGP will be using the facility. This news comes as a relief, as the provisional AMA Pro Racing calendar left the historic track, as well as Miller Motorsports Park and Topeka off its 2010 schedule.