AMA Superbike 2014 - DUCATI!

Contrasting with the frustrating and somewhat pathetic announcement that AMA will only be running 5 rounds this year, here's a bright spot that may perk up the interest: Ducati is homologating the 1199R for AMA Superbike this year! And the way it's being done is something that I thought I'd share because it shows how Ducati IS a much different manufacturer than all the rest, and it's what I love about the brand! This started by one of my customers saying he'd like to put an 1199R in AMA Superbike this year, if Ducati would homologate the bike. One e-mail to the appropriate party at Ducati later, and I had a response that "Sure, we'll homologate it so your guys can race!". It's not a trivial matter to homologate a bike, there is a cost, and either an entire bike or a collection of most of the major components of a bike need to be shipped to AMA tech and remain there during the homologation period. So essentially it costs Ducati an 1199R to get the homologation done. And they did it with no hesitation just because I asked. That's pretty cool I think, and I can't imagine it happening that way with any other major manufacturer! Viva Ducati in AMA Superbike 2014!

P.S. - the team will be making a public announcement regarding the team structure and rider at the appropriate time soon, it's not my place to spill the beans on that.

I'm a huge fan of pro-racing! That's great news and motivates me more to watch AMA

That's awesome. I guess I'll be watching AMA racing this year.

fantastic

Well we'll have to read about it as I have no idea if any of the races are going to be broadcasted. But that is awesome news!

AMA is definitely a fun and exciting series.... Much better than MotoGp Imo...

Last One

Ljuice26 said:

That's awesome. I guess I'll be watching AMA racing this year.

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Brother you should try to come up to New Jersey for the last race of the year! I can take you with me as a VIP and personally introduce you to ALL of the racers and stars with MarkNYC as my wing man can attest to! You can hang out and eat with us inside the Graves Yamaha hospitality tent and have lunch with Josh Hayes and crew, walk the hot pits and get to shake hands of every AMA rider and get photo bombed shots with them all without waiting in line. I can honestly say without any doubt its the highlight of the year for me - What do you say Mark?

Thankfully, Scott Russell made my year by playing my videoclip of Russell (my Service Dog) getting the water bowl presentation from Josh Hayes and Keith McCarty of Yamaha- and playing it live on CBS Sports while Mark and I sat inside the call booth with Scott! AWESOME experience man!

Not sure if I told you Juice- but be on lookout for Jan/Feb issue of Next Moto Champion if you ever read that magazine. The extremely talented and beautiful Danielle Teal came up with a shocking thought and idea to include me in this issue which absolutely blew my mind! Anxious to see it myself!
So look at your calendar and plan on a trip to see the last AMA race of the year in person my friend! I cant tell you how unreal it is to enjoy!

the nj race is a fantastic event to go to. you can't believe how nice these guys are and their family's too (for the younger racers). The organizers of the event all know gunny, russell and now me (thanks gunny). lifetime of friendships from this single event a few years ago.

gunny don't offer such things... some of us will be knocking at your door...

That's pretty impressive, I had wondered why the Panigale hadn't ever been homologated previously.

Sounds good Gunny. Count me in. I just checked the schedule and that the weekend before I leave for Dubai. I'm still a go.

Ahhh, now I understand the text Mark.

Tre' Cool Bud

can somebody educate me please. what is the homologation period? also what does it take to homologating the 1199R. i mean i know basically its to get approval from the ama but what does that consist of

The homologation period is however long the bike remains in production. To get a bike homologated, it has to meet the minimum production criteria laid out by the AMA as certified by the manufacturer, and either the entire bike or all of the major components of the bike have to be sent to AMA tech headquarters in FL so they can be inspected and documented. All of those parts (or the bike) remain there as long as the bike is homologated to use for comparison if there is ever a challenge made indicating that a bike being raced does not match the homologation specimen. And a $500 inspection fee is paid at the time the parts (or bike) are supplied.

Hmmmm.... I might have an idea who thus racer is. Very cool! Thanx jarel!

wow that's awesome. id love to attend an AMA race as I feel there will be zero tv coverage

Awesome news, thanks for your personal efforts and sharing this.

The season starts just around the corner in Daytona in early March. I hope they can get the program together as that's really no time at all to build an AMA-competitive Superbike if the team hasn't done it before. And even if they have, they're going to need a crap-load of data help from the BSB teams and STK teams that have been running the bikes, if they have those connections. Even then, they'll be running on AMA-spec Dunlops made in NY, which no professional team that has run 1199Rs has any data on. Lastly, I hope they can get a very competitive rider and experienced crew chief, those 2 items will make a huge difference as well. I'd love to see Jake Zemke back in Superbike and with his experience he could help develop the bike very quickly.

I wish them the best of luck and will be rooting for them but think they will be seriously behind the 8-Ball for the stupidly-short season.

No worries, it's a serious effort with an experienced team and they already have the bike done for Daytona and completed some testing. They have the ties directly to Ducati Corse that are necessary for an effort like this to succeed. But it will definitely be an uphill battle bringing a new bike into a class that has been pretty much status quo for several years.

When is the team announcement coming?

jarelj said:

No worries, it's a serious effort with an experienced team and they already have the bike done for Daytona and completed some testing. They have the ties directly to Ducati Corse that are necessary for an effort like this to succeed. But it will definitely be an uphill battle bringing a new bike into a class that has been pretty much status quo for several years.

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Great! As long as they can be the "top twin" team and beat the KTM RC8R's, I'd consider that a win. That will be harder than most think given KTM and Mitch Hansen have been racing the platform for 3 years in AMA already.