This quoted from Roadracerx, Mark Gardiner....
"One of the most interesting changes in the structure of AMA Pro Racing has been ignored, because we’ve been too distracted by a “final” set of class/technical rules, political sniping, and the uncertainty over which factory teams will even participate next year. The new licensing rules create a whole new class of license, for “entrants.” Beginning next year, entrants—not riders—will be assigned numbers, will register bikes, and win purses.
One friend who I think should remain anonymous—I’ll call him The Source—phoned me to point this out. The Source explained that the rules created the opportunity for an entrant to enter a bike, get a race number, and use any rider he (or she) could bring in, hired-gun style, to accumulate points.
The Source envisioned an entrant (like Yamaha, in this example) entering a bike and, over the course of the season, running Scott Russell at Daytona, maybe luring Eric Bostrom up from Brazil for a couple of races, and getting Colin Edwards or Ben Spies to ride in races that didn’t conflict with their MotoGP or World Superbike obligations.
This rule is reminiscent of NASCAR, where if a driver’s injured, the team drafts in a replacement and runs the same car, with the same number, to accumulate season points. It’s a big emotional change for AMA Pro Racing. I frankly can’t imagine anyone other than Miguel running #17, or Mladin running #66."
Very interesting....
"One of the most interesting changes in the structure of AMA Pro Racing has been ignored, because we’ve been too distracted by a “final” set of class/technical rules, political sniping, and the uncertainty over which factory teams will even participate next year. The new licensing rules create a whole new class of license, for “entrants.” Beginning next year, entrants—not riders—will be assigned numbers, will register bikes, and win purses.
One friend who I think should remain anonymous—I’ll call him The Source—phoned me to point this out. The Source explained that the rules created the opportunity for an entrant to enter a bike, get a race number, and use any rider he (or she) could bring in, hired-gun style, to accumulate points.
The Source envisioned an entrant (like Yamaha, in this example) entering a bike and, over the course of the season, running Scott Russell at Daytona, maybe luring Eric Bostrom up from Brazil for a couple of races, and getting Colin Edwards or Ben Spies to ride in races that didn’t conflict with their MotoGP or World Superbike obligations.
This rule is reminiscent of NASCAR, where if a driver’s injured, the team drafts in a replacement and runs the same car, with the same number, to accumulate season points. It’s a big emotional change for AMA Pro Racing. I frankly can’t imagine anyone other than Miguel running #17, or Mladin running #66."
Very interesting....
