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Is it true that they got lost?
First off, the AMA Pro series was never managed properly and they never "Invested into the sport" for long term growth.
Red Bull was a big part of it and and AMA Pro Racing took big sponsor money and instead of taking that money and investing it into a brand new series - they left it up the private promoters to do - which cost a lot and most lost money that first year.
If the AMA would have invested the Red Bull money into the sport for the first two years broke up the sponsor money over 4 years - and partnered up with the promotes of the nationals - the sport would have kept growing and maybe would have weathered the economic storm.
Then when the AMA sold AMA Pro Racing to DMG - they left Supermoto hanging that year - XTRM tried to step in but they had no idea what they were doing and had never promoted a racing event - needless to say it was a train wreck and races were canceled - riders and teams were pissed and interest fell.
Then XTRM tried to do it again in 2009 and it was again not good - then the economy was in the tank - teams pulled out and said they would no longer put so much effort into a series that put on crappy events
The rest is history
Lots of people still ride and race supermoto but there is no longer a Pro Series = just a few selected big non-sanctioned events like the Stateline Supermoto Challenge and events like the Xtreme Outlaws that took place last year in Reno Nevada
The Shop
America doesnt take very well to high dollar, high tech sports.
Look at Moto GP, its not all that popular considering millions ride street, and Supermoto is like F1.
The Amateur side is still doing well in the North East with www.ESMRA.com and the Florida scene seems to be doing well.
Street Supermoto's have been growing ever since Suzuki & Yamaha started building them.
Like a lot of motosports, SM priced itself out of the working class market by allowing expensive modifications.
Require stock size wheels, run a spec tire, and slow the coarses down and it has some potential.
Try some in the winter months when wet weather makes moto harder.
integrate youth racing.
Unfortunately AMA mismanagement doomed it and made it look like what a lot suspected all along.
that Supermoto was a last ditch effort to try to save Class C (or Grandnational) racing.
There is still potential for some kind of combination of Moto, TT, and road racing.
BTW, when I ride at Pat's I skip the dirt section, too much fun riding on the pavement
I suggesting to the promoters for years to add a low cost 2 stroke class. That way people could start out by putting some street tires on then if they liked it get the wheels and front brake. Then if they wanted to go to the 4 strokes the wheels would bolt on to them too.
Somebody mentioned the one's they had at the X-Games. They put on some great shows too. The race where they jumped back into the stadium and the following year with the pit stop. Some good stuff.
As far as racing goes the stuff I saw was much closer and more fun than the one rider displays SX has had lately.Hate to see it go away.
I love SM, I smile everytime a SM guy pulls up nxt to me on my sportbike. But wasn't xgames "the" money and exposure race of the year?
Pit Row
People knocked supermoto in the beginning because they never tried it. I used to take out skeptics and let them ride my supermoto bike and after a few laps they came back and were all smiles. Supermoto is motocross with 100 percent traction on pavement and almost no traction in the dirt.
I used to take my supermoto bike out to tracks like Starwest and pass most of the people out there riding with knobbies.
Supermoto is more expensive (tires) then motocross but way cheaper than road racing.
People forget that with just a set of tires on stock rims, a 310-320mm front rotor kit anyone can go ride supermoto. It is way more affordable to go ride supermoto compared to buying a full Ti exhaust. Just pad up with better upper body padding, street gloves and ass pads and go ride.
It is too bad the pro series went into the crapper -
I would guess you are young, if not chronologically then maturity wise.
I could go on and on about various mistakes made by many people involved (myself included) but that won't change the fact that the pro racing is gone.
A lot of very hardworking, smart people tried to make it work. Too many factors worked against what might have been a truely entertaining form of racing. Troy, Marche,Scott ,Kurt, and so many others threw themselves into it headfirst.
Everyone who raced Supermoto loved it. Nearly every spectator loved watching.....but that was not enough.
Scott - Did you ever meet someone in all your travels that said they didn't like racing Supermoto ??
Maybe next time it will be built from the ground up instead of a pro series down.
Happy Holidays to all.
I miss those days Alph.....good memories.
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