Filed under: Motorsports, Honda, Motorcycles
Honda pulls out of AMA Road Racing
Just about a week ago, Honda announced that it was dropping out of Formula 1, but in subsequent reports Honda confirmed that it was not planning to pull support from other motorsports endeavors. That doesn't quite seem to be the case. Yesterday, Honda announced that it will be removing factory support from AMA road racing. The only Honda factory rider already contracted for the '09 season is Neil Hodgson. Jake Zemke, winner of last year's AMA Formula Xtreme Championship, now seems likely to race for the Erion Honda team, which Honda will still be offering support to, along with the Corona Honda team. Motocross and Supercross will not be affected by Honda's decision.Honda cites the "current global economic situation and its impact on Honda" for the change, but we wonder if the ongoing dominance of Mat Mladin and Ben Spies' Suzukis may have made AMA Superbike an easy series to drop -- a move last made by Ducati in 2006. We're also left wondering if the ongoing conflict with Daytona Motorsports Group, the new management for AMA Pro Racing, had anything to do with the withdrawl. In any case, we won't be seeing any Honda Factory teams in AMA road racing for 2009.
[Source: Honda]
PRESS RELEASE:
Torrance CA: American Honda announced today that it will withdraw Team Honda from participation in the 2009 AMA Roadracing Series. This was an extremely difficult decision to make as the racing spirit reaches to the very core of Honda.
The primary factor contributing to this decision is the current global economic situation and its impact on Honda. Although Team Honda will not be in attendance, Honda will continue to be represented in AMA Roadracing through our ongoing support of both the Erion Honda Racing and Corona Honda Racing teams.
Entering the second year of our partnership with Red Bull Energy Drink, the Honda Red Bull Racing team will return for the 2009 Supercross and National Motocross season with a full roster of factory riders.
American Honda¹s factory and support teams have earned more than 100 national titles in U.S. Road Racing, ATV, Supermoto, Supercross, Motocross and off-road competition, and we would like to extend our deepest thanks to all the sponsors, supporters and fans of our racing efforts over the years.
We ask that you continue to support the Honda Red Bull Racing team, the Erion Honda Racing team and the Corona Honda Racing team along with all the other Honda Red Riders as they chase the championships and battle for each victory.
While it is unfortunate that the current economic conditions led us to take this action, rest assured that Honda¹s deep-seated passion for racing has not been, and will never be, diminished.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bob 12:56PM (12/14/2008)
I would imagine Honda is the tip of the iceberg. Wait until all manufacturer support is pulled from NASCAR and other series.
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KLR 1:05PM (12/14/2008)
This is a little surprising. I wouldn't have expected them to pull out of the bike racing.
Perhaps they aren't as healthy as is generally believed?
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Temple 5:09PM (12/14/2008)
I doubt they would pull-out of MotoGP.
Problem with motorsports is that there is little evidence that winning on the track really sells cars like Civics and Accords. It makes sense for Ferrari and Porsche when their winning, but ROI involved is unrealistic for most manufacturers. It comes down to how much input of money they put into the sport versus how much they get out.
Its estimated that Honda spent over $5 billion in F1 during its recent tenure, the opportunity cost of that money could have been better spent investing new technologies like hybrids, diesels, HCCI, etc. (how many NSXs could it have brought to the market). Billions of dollars gets you pretty far in traditional marketing as well- how many Superbowl ads or World Cup ads would that money have paid for?.
Now you think about this economy. 2009 is going to be much worse then 2008. Recovery isn't expected until late 2011. Its probably the absolute worst time to be in motorsports right now, it might be better to just return when the economy recovers. Expect more teams to bail, especially for motorsports with lower viewership.
tankd0g 3:49AM (12/15/2008)
Well they pulled the factory out of the USA so logically they should pull factory support I guess.
2007RC46SP2 1:41PM (12/14/2008)
i spoke with a privateer this past summer at a track day and he was pissed about the new regulations, saying that the 3 formula xtreme engines he built the year before are no longer eligible for the class.
he had 3 07 CBR600RR's and 6 Engines.
thats a lot of money for a privateer to just throw away.
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RMc 1:59PM (12/14/2008)
Heartbreaking. I can understand the huge cost of F1. I can't understand the relative bargain price of a factory AMA team even though the Superbike series was dominated by Suzuki and a little bit of Yamaha sprinkled in. Supersport proved pretty good for Honda, however.
As long as they don't dump Motogp or World Superbike, I guess that it isn't so bad.
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pmiddle5 2:30PM (12/14/2008)
So Honda is only pulling out of series they are having difficulty in?
I think this is separate from the other Honda pull outs since this was done by Honda America and not the big daddy
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IOMTT 2:57PM (12/14/2008)
I am not totally suprised. Personally, I have found AMA Superbike to be hard to watch the last few years. WSBK and MotoGP are a much better show. If I were a manufacturer, I would put my resources there.
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airswingman 4:45PM (12/14/2008)
japanese is foxy
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Ian 5:51PM (12/14/2008)
Whatever happened re Suzuki setting up US Super Bike (USSB) series for 2009?
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Tracy Hrach 7:58PM (12/14/2008)
I agree with IOMTT, I have been racing motorcycles in the US for thirty years but if I watch road racing these days I prefer WSB or MotoGP...both better packaged shows.
I will say that Honda had its best chance this year as the new rules worked more for them then some of other teams....they may have had a chance against Yoshimura. Too bad for their sole '09 Superbike racer Neal Hodgson...truly a good guy and great racer.
As for F1...Honda isnt getting results even though its changed personal a few times. Add to that the engineering insult of having to run a common CPU and another manufactuer's engine(future) and the tipping point is at hand....the'll be back.
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Nicko 9:24PM (12/14/2008)
I'd say the recent DMG takeover of the AMA series (and the subsequent pissing off of the manufacturers save for Yamaha) combined with the economic situation has likely caused this more than the Yoshimura team's dominance. Heck, the Yosh team isn't even running this year. AMA racing is gonna blow in 2009 sadly. WSBK is going to be awesome however.
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gearhead18 11:54PM (12/14/2008)
I wonder how far companies cutting back on expenses by leaving motorsports is going to go, could get bad in a hurry.
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Dave 1:07PM (12/15/2008)
WSBK is going to be SICK!!! 7 different makes, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, BMW, Ducati and Aprilia are going to battling it out in 09 and rumor has it that even MV Agusta is going to run a few dates in WSBK!!
THAT will be the series to watch next year and as a fan Nicky Hayden on the factory Duc in MotoGP. FINALLY that boy gets a decent ride after being snubbed by Honda after winning a Championship for them. Hope he does well and beats the short pants of the Pedrobot. Grew up racing with him(Hayden, not Pedrobot).
As for Honda's choice to pull out, I would bet dollars to donuts that it has to with DMG. The owner is a we-todd and has a desire to turn it into a NASCAR spectical which will lead to injured riders because lets face it, close riding with less than spectacular riding is going to lead to crashes and thats what sells NASCAR right? All the top pros are leaving or are gone. Spies is already gone to WSBK, BBoz, Ben Bostrom is also gone and that leaves the 2 Hayden Bros, Tommy and Roger, and Mladin. Honda has been sticking to AMA even when Suzuki was dominating so its not that. It has everything to do with the DMG.
The correct thing for DMG to do to respark AMA was to begin the institution of British Superbike, Spanish Superbike and Japanese Superbike rules. These are feeder series for World Superbike and the rules reflect as such. Then you could have a "Race of Champions" so to speak with the top finishers from BSBK, JSBK SSBK and ASBK. That would have been cool. They could even do some over seas races where they travel maybe a couple races a year to showcase around the world. THAT would be the best way for WSBK to take over from MotoGP which, in all fairness has be come a boring race between, Rossi, Stoner and maybe a couple other guys. Here is hoping it changes next year. But as Ozzy says. Im just a dreamer... I dream my life away....
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