Roger Lee to Jordan Motorsports

I've been wondering what Roger Lee would be doing next year. I won't lie, this isn't what I was hoping to see for him...oh well.

L8Braker said:

I've been wondering what Roger Lee would be doing next year. I won't lie, this isn't what I was hoping to see for him...oh well.

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Americans are basically banned from M2. So having him back in the States, backed by a man who takes competition seriously (rather than some filler team in Wsbk) is a step in the right direction buddy.

Jumkie said:

Americans are basically banned from M2. So having him back in the States, backed by a man who takes competition seriously (rather than some filler team in Wsbk) is a step in the right direction buddy.

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Maybe Suzuki will treat Jordan better. If not MJ should be in Moto2. Jordan can really help with the attention he can bring, and needs to be out their on the world market to open USA eyes to motorcycle racing. AMA is not cutting it and limiting MJ. The man is still more popular than Rossi on a world scale!

Pov, Jumkie..I agree, I was hoping maybe another year in WSBK on a possibly better Kawi in 2011 would have been in the cards. I know it had to be frustrating for Roger Lee, but I would say he got some nice Euro tail this year so it can't be all bad.

povol said:

Do you think its a lack of interest in the American rider, or, is it a lack of interest from the American rider who wants to get paid for his services.

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I wonder if the American distributors (e.g. American Honda) will start funding American talent in Moto 2? In the wake of the AMA feud, Yamaha has been promoting Spies a lot over here, even though he doesn't race full time in the states. I also seem to remember hearing American Honda paid a chunk of Nicky's salary when he rode for team Repsol, is that right?



Racing is important to the US divisions, which can be seen in the amount of support they have poured into the AMA pre-DMG. Instead of returning to AMA racing, does anyone think it is possible the American factory divisions will adopt talent from the AMA series and back them in WSBK, WSS, Moto 2, Moto GP, etc.? Hoping to find their own American star to promote as competitive on the world stage?

povol said:

I have said it before , and i will say it again. Jordan is as responsible for the clusterfuck known as AMA Superbike racing as anyone. His world wide reputation was not ignored when he was bitching and moaning that Yoshimura would not supply him with their R&D. Faced with losing the most recognizable image on the planet, the wheels were put in motion for what we call Superbike racing in the US.

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I think AMA racing was going to be de-tuned regardless of what MJ said. Parity and close racing at the expense of technical sophistication is Jim France's/Roger Edmondson's philosophy. It's clear to see in their sports car series and even in the short-lived Moto-St. They spent millions on the series and they sure as hell weren't going to maintain the status quo.



There may be hope for change, though. Grand-Am is re-working the DP class to allow for more attractive cars and a wider variety of engines. They are also going to allow more sophisticated machines in the GT class. So, if the factories continue to hold out and DMG is not pleased with the crowds, they may try to bring the product back around to fans, or at least what they think fans want. I think Edmondson's absence is key too.

povol said:

Do you think its a lack of interest in the American rider, or, is it a lack of interest from the American rider who wants to get paid for his services.

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Both

Traverser said:

Maybe Suzuki will treat Jordan better. If not MJ should be in Moto2. Jordan can really help with the attention he can bring, and needs to be out their on the world market to open USA eyes to motorcycle racing. AMA is not cutting it and limiting MJ. The man is still more popular than Rossi on a world scale!

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I think MJ is more concerned about US market. Yes, hes more popular that VR in world stage, but ask any of your neighbors who is Rossi, nobody will know or care, ask anybody at the MotoGP even who is MJ, few will care but can tell you highlights of Rossi career. Now ask fan at an AMA event about M2, and you will probably get a blank stare. That's all you need to know about the possibility of MJ taking his marketing genius to M2.

povol said:

I have said it before , and i will say it again. Jordan is as responsible for the clusterfuck known as AMA Superbike racing as anyone. His world wide reputation was not ignored when he was bitching and moaning that Yoshimura would not supply him with their R&D. Faced with losing the most recognizable image on the planet, the wheels were put in motion for what we call Superbike racing in the US.

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And as a result, the racing has got better. The first year of DMG was a clusterfuck, but its unraveling in a positive way. Fact is, that "superbike" racing as Wsbk is unsustainable here, its not cost effective. So we got a fair product with good racing, so far this season.

Mr. Shupe said:

I wonder if the American distributors (e.g. American Honda) will start funding American talent in Moto 2?

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I doubt it. The distributors need to sell bikes, Moto2 doesn't fit the bill. American Honda went into Moto2 b/c Ray Blank is clearly a megalomaniac. Besides his desire to compete at a very high level, we know he was interested in forming a breakaway championship that would kill the AMA. The FIM sided with AMA/DMG and Blank was unable to rally any of the other distributors to his cause. Long and short, Ray Blank is racing in GP b/c he wants to run USGP in the US, imo. In other words, Moto2 has a profit motive for him. If he gets the distributor rights, he preps all Moto2 bikes, and he owns/operates the GP racing classes in the US; he becomes a very wealthy and powerful person in US racing. AmHon becomes wealthy as well.



The other distributors do not have this same motive, and as much as they have disagreed with DMG, they have not shown any interest in following Ray Blank's "leadership".



I don't like classifying certain people as absolutely good or absolutely bad, but I've never read anything about Ray Blank to convince me that he brings anything (other than buckets of Honda cash) to American motorcycle racing. I hope that the distributors get on the same page with AMA competition, and that they utilize what DMG have to offer while resisting DMG's attempts to make everything as cheap and generic as possible. Someone in the AMA paddock must understand that parity and high-performance (or technical sophistication) are not mutually exclusive?

L8Braker said:

I've been wondering what Roger Lee would be doing next year. I won't lie, this isn't what I was hoping to see for him...oh well.

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Imo, this is the best thing for him. The US has got too many talented riders who've spent more time daydreaming about the next level than accomplishing things in the AMA. Roger Hayden is the poster-child for this phenomenon. He is super-talented, but the only thing he's ever won is an AMA Supersport title. It's not really any of my business, but it bothers me that names like John Hopkins and Roger Lee Hayden do not appear amongst the AMA Superbike champions. Many other great riders are missing from that list as well.



Some of America's talent has been victimized so to speak by terrible rules that made Yosh Suzuki an unbeatable powerhouse (not trying to take anything away from Mladin and Spies), but more often than not, they've simply daydreamed, flaked, and politicked themselves into a career that is devoid of any major accomplishments. I hope DMG is able to stop the Euro-centric daydreams, and give these guys the opportunity to race in the US and build a serious career (ala Spies and the other AMA greats) before they make the jump to series that favor European-riders.

povol said:

The racing was going to get better by default after Spies and Mladin left, regardless of what they were riding. The closer racing is a result of a bunch of guys with similar talent that used to fight tooth and nail for 3-6 position. Now they fight tooth and nail for wins. If you want to give the new rules some credit for closer racing, they bored Mladin into retirement,which led to close racing.

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I don't think you give the control tire enough credit. Mladin and Spies were the best by far, but no one was going to give Yosh any serious challenges unless another company created a superior product or unless all manufacturers had access to the Yosh "A-spec" Dunlop that came from Birmingham, UK.



I've heard they are considering a ban on traction control via spec ECU or ECU homologation or something. I hope they go for it. AMA tried to lead the way by banning it in 2004, but the AMA didn't have enough control over the series to ban it successfully. Maybe DMG can make it happen. If they get rid of traction control, DMG won't be able to mess with the results (as some allege) by changing the tuning rules or playing favorites with min weight and other such. If TC is banned, the best rider will win no matter what they do.