[lanbrown]

It looks like Suzuki was serious about not racing.

AMASuperbike.com: Official website of the AMA Superbike Championship

"December 07, 2008

Chris Martin


American Honda's Neil Hodgson didn't quite find the full second he was looking for on Sunday afternoon, but the Briton did manage to circulate over a half second quicker than his previous best at this year's Daytona tire test. Hodgson threatened to break into the '37s on his American Superbike-spec CBR1000RR, lapping with a fast time of 1:38.030 before closing the three-day affair, well over a second faster than any other rider managed this weekend.

Only three other riders took advantage of the Sunday session.

LeoVince Foremost Insurance Ducati's Larry Pegram clocked his fastest times of the weekend, pushing his Ducati 1098R to a best of 1:39.329 on Sunday.

Ben Bostrom guided the still-raw Yamaha USA R1 around the short course with a pace similar to that which he managed on Saturday, putting in a fast time of 1:39.996, compared with yesterday's 1:39.893.

Bostrom's teammate, Josh Hayes, also continued to work up to speed on the R1 development bike, lapping at 1:40.256.

Sunday American Superbike Times

1. 100 Neil Hodgson (Honda) 1:38.030
2. 72 Larry Pegram (Ducati) 1:39.329
3. 155 Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 1:39.996
4. 4 Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 1:40.256"

[gliberios]

I was glad to see Honda FINALLY doing something at the AMA Superbike level but where is Suzuki and Kawasaki? So far what the AMA has become sounds like a bigger joke than what it has been in the past. Looks like another year skipping going to the races and watching World Superbike guess we'll see...

[lanbrown]

Suzuki said they my sit the year out because they don't have the money for racing. The real truth, their biks was a POS and needed a lot of mods and cheating to make it win. Now the AMA can't turn their heads as DMG won't allow them to cheat, lay on the track to cause a red flag, etc. Suzuki probably knows they wouldn't be dominate and rather than having questions asked about their fall; they decided not to race.

[gliberios]

I completely agree with you in regards to Suzuki. Something had to be done about them and their domination. I am glad DMG did not fold to them as AMA has done in the past. However, the situation now is not any better. With limited competition and no tv contracts it seems like this year will be pretty dull if we're even able to view it. I would have liked DMG to adopt World Superbike rules. I believe Suzuki would have looked like fools then because these rules have been tried and proven, what I believe to be fair. Ultimately I will still watch if the races are on TV and might even go to Fontana just to see if and how it all works out. Speaking of Fontana, that track is on the AMA schedule however, the race is not being shown on Autoclub Speedway's website in their 2009 schedule.

[MACI4LIFE]

i think i may have watched only one race the whole year of ama. many more of WSBK though. it's such a better division than anything ama.

[gliberios]

Originally Posted by MACI4LIFE

i think i may have watched only one race the whole year of ama. many more of WSBK though. it's such a better division than anything ama.

Superstock, Supersport, and FX weren't bad but you didn't miss anything in Superbike.

[gliberios]

Seems as though Honda has pull out of AMA now...

[lanbrown]

Not seems like, they have. The DMG are clueless and Honda probably thought twice about being associated with them and bailed. It serves the DMG right. They screwed around and made everyone wait while they worked on the rules and when the date they provided came and went, they still didn't have it ready. You had teams, track owners, manufacturers, sponsors, tire supplier, etc. all waiting on them (DMG) and they failed to deliver. I guess DMG just expected people to jump through hoops when DMG was finally released the rules. AMA was a joke, but DMG will make them look like olympiads instead of the circus clowns they once were.