I'm cautiously optimistic about this season b/c I see a lot of positive operational changes happening. The manufacturers no longer run teams directly so Yamaha and Suzuki hired private tuning companies to coordinate race preparation and data management (Yosh & Graves). Centralizing race preparation creates economies of scale for privateers and tuners, and it improves parity. In the long run, centralizing race prep should improve racing and get more people onto the grid.
If Ray Blank would quit pouting, and Kawasaki could sell some bikes, both of them might come to play as well. Honda could probably prep bikes and provide personnel to support another 5 or 6 SBKs. American Honda could probably outsource 600 race-prep and development to Erion. Same goes for Kawasaki and Attack. Under the current rules, I think it would be quite easy for the manufacturers to support 20 SBKs and 20 SS bikes. Additional participation from BMW, Aprilia, Triumph, or Ducati could see that number reach 30.
John Ulrich also mentioned that David Atlas is listening to the remaining AMA teams. According to Ulrich, Atlas has agreed to postpone/eliminate several changes that were in the works for the upcoming seasons. Ship-to-shore radio communications was one notable change that has been canceled. Ulrich also said that $10M dollars for Pro Racing was one of the best offers on the table. I'm starting to believe Ulrich's reputation is at stake in the latest sale to DMG. I believe he recommended DMG b/c they had the best business operations arrangement, but I think he jumped ship as soon as he realized that people despised the crew that Roger Edmondson assembled for the 2009 season.
