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55-575: AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned by the AMA American Motorcyclist Association since its inception, and the promotion of the series has been licensed to several organizations over the years. Since 2015

110-429: A global trend of Superbike racing that by 1988 would lead to the development of an FIM-sanctioned Superbike World Championship in 1988. The loss of Grand Prix machinery meant that fewer international competitors were interested in entering the race and, began a slow decline in the event's prestige. By the late 1990s, even the production based Superbikes were overheating the tires on the banking. To keep Superbikes in

165-399: A number of checkpoints in diverse geographical locations while still obeying road traffic laws (not to be confused with car rallies such as WRC ). Speedway is a motorcycle sport in which the motorcycles have one gear and no brakes. Land speed is where a single rider accelerates over a 1 to 3-mile (4.8 km) long straight track (usually on dry lake beds) and is timed for top speed through

220-448: A paved area. The winner is the competitor who completes the course in the shortest time. Time penalties are incurred by putting a foot down, hitting a cone, or going outside the designated area. Similar to football, but all players (except goalkeepers) are riding motorcycles, and the ball is much bigger. Motorcycle Polo first began as an officially organized sport in the mid-1930s. In France , there are organized motoball competitions, and

275-420: A square tube steel perimeter frame which wrapped around the outside of the engine, rather than the older hidden round-tube frames. It was a water cooled V4 with four valves per-cylinder. Originally Honda had planned only to make enough to meet the requirement for production racing, but the bike was extremely popular, even at the price which was higher than the older CB-750, and it went into full production. Honda

330-415: A trap at the end of the run. The rider must exceed the previous top speed record for that class or type of bike for their name to be placed on the record books. See— [1] for an example. Enduro, not to be confused with Enduro (mountain biking) , is not exactly racing, because the main objective is to traverse a series of checkpoints, arriving exactly "on time" in accordance with your beginning time and

385-426: Is a motorcycle sport involving racing motorcycles . Motorcycle racing can be divided into two categories, tarmac-based road disciplines and off-road . Track racing is a motorcycle sport where teams or individuals race opponents around an oval track. There are differing variants, with each variant racing on a different surface type. A road rally is a navigation event on public roads whereby competitors must visit

440-516: The MotoAmerica Road Racing Series beginning in 2015. MotoAmerica chose to align the multiple racing classes closely with those used by FIM, which simplifies the work that manufacturers must do to compete in both series. The most successful riders included Doug Chandler , Scott Russell , Ben Spies , Miguel Duhamel and Mat Mladin , who holds several series records including seven championships. Five non-Americans won

495-512: The Imola 200 and the Paul Ricard 200 . As motorcycle engine technology transitioned from the 60 horsepower four-stroke motorcycles of the 1960s, to the 100 horsepower two-stroke motorcycles of the 1970s, it became apparent that motorcycle tire technology was lagging behind engine performance on the track's banking. In an effort to slow the fastest bikes down and save on tire wear, a chicane

550-678: The Rudy Gobert incident took place during the Wednesday of the race meeting, and officials moved the entire race meeting to Biketoberfest with the Fall Cycle Scene at the Speedway. When the city cancelled Biketoberfest, the feature was cancelled, but not the remainder of the fall race meeting. Conducted despite the pandemic, the 2021 race saw a thrilling finish line victory by rising star, American Brandon Paasch. Coming out of

605-651: The AMA Superbikes series. This increased the visibility of Superbikes even further, and cemented in the minds of many Americans that the Superbikes were now the de facto premier motorcycle racers, eclipsing the FIM 500cc series, with their unavailable two-stroke racing machines. In late 2002 AMA Pro Racing, the promoter in charge of the AMA Superbike Championship at the time decided to open up

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660-557: The AMA. The AMA, not pleased with motorcycle counts and participation in their events, stripped the DMG organization of the sanction and awarded it to a new organization led by Wayne Rainey , KRAVE, with assistance from Dorna (which organises the FIM MotoGP and World Superbike Championships). KRAVE organized multiple championship road racing series for the AMA, which are collectively known as

715-454: The Daytona 200 as his father, Floyd Emde won the 1948 Daytona 200 beach race on an Indian . When the popularity of motocross surged in the United States in the late 1960s, France added a professional motocross race to the 1971 Daytona Beach Bike Week schedule. The 1972 race was held at Daytona International Speedway on an artificial track on the grass surface between the main grandstand and

770-846: The Daytona 200 began in 1932 when the Southeastern Motorcycle Dealers Association organized a 200-mile dirt track race held on the old Vanderbilt Cup course in Savannah, Georgia . Competitors raced on Class C motorcycles typically used in the AMA Grand National Championship . Following a second Savannah race held in 1933, the 1934 event was moved to the Camp Foster Work Camp located on the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, Florida . The competition quickly outgrew

825-496: The Daytona 200, the West Banking was eliminated to reduce the tire issues that had been plaguing the motorcycles. However, the owners of Daytona International Speedway were unsatisfied with the banking being omitted from the course so, a compromise was reached after the 2004 season reducing the size and power of the bikes by going to a Supersport-based class (known as " AMA Formula Xtreme "), and putting both bankings back into

880-562: The Daytona Beach area. France looked for alternatives and negotiated with the city of Daytona Beach to purchase a site near the Daytona airport. He arranged financing and in 1957, construction began on the Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) paved, oval-shaped circuit with steep bankings that permitted higher speeds. The track opened in 1959 and France convinced AMA officials to move

935-473: The Fall Cycle Scene autumn events at Daytona, agreed to sanction the Daytona 200 with Supersport motorcycles racing 57 laps on the full motorcycle layout. Steve Rapp 's 2007 victory was the first win for Kawasaki since 1995 and the first win for a privateer rider since John Ashmead won in 1989. The race was cancelled in 2020 for the first time since World War II because of the COVID-19 pandemic after

990-471: The Second World War. In 1948, a new beach course was used because of urban developments along the beach forced the race organizers to move the event further south, towards Ponce Inlet . The new course length was increased from the previous 3.2 miles to 4.1-mile (6.6 km). By the mid-1950s, it became increasingly complicated to run the race on the beach course due to the rapid urban growth of

1045-581: The Superbike class to 750cc. Honda, which had been competing in the series on their CB 750F was ready with a new bike in 1983, initially planned as a "homologation special" that is, a bike which is built in just enough numbers to satisfy the production rule. (Typically 5,000 units sold worldwide). That bike, the Honda Interceptor VF750F was a huge departure from the air-cooled, four valve per cylinder CB-750F launched in 1979. It featured

1100-453: The UK are events for road-registered motorcycles. A course of typically 80 to 120 miles is plotted by the organiser, taking in roads, lanes and Byways Open to All Traffic (known as BOATs). The event is not a race and riders are required to follow the course by using a RoadBook compiled by the organiser. Similar to car Autocross , Motorcycle Gymkhana is a motorcycle time trial sport round cones on

1155-470: The US as Observed Trials, it is not racing, but a sport nevertheless. Trials is a test of skill on a motorcycle whereby the rider attempts to traverse an observed section without placing a foot on the ground (and traditionally, although not always, without ceasing forward motion). The winner is the rider with the least penalty points. Time and observation trials are trials with a time limit. The person who completes

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1210-438: The beach in 1935, and had moved to the asphalt auto-racing track in 1961, switched to Superbikes. The race had been one of the few venues where FIM style Formula 1 500cc machines raced in the United States, but by 1988 the speeds the machines were reaching on the high-banked tracks were simply too high for safety given the tire technology of the time. In 1985 the race format moved from GP bikes to Superbikes, and it became part of

1265-421: The beach itself before moving to a paved closed circuit in 1961. The Daytona 200 reached its zenith of worldwide popularity in the 1970s when the race attracted the largest crowds of any AMA race along with some of the top rated international motorcycle racers. The race is currently promoted by MotoAmerica and run in their middleweight Supersport Class. The race is typically held in early March. The origins of

1320-466: The beach race to the Speedway in 1961. Competitors adapted to the new, paved track surface by switching from dirt track motorcycles to road racing motorcycles similar to those used in Grand Prix motorcycle racing . Safety concerns kept motorcycle racers from using the daunting 31 degree banking at the Daytona International Speedway for the first three years so, a race course was created using most of

1375-433: The beginning of the two-stroke era in AMA road racing competitions. Don Emde became the first competitor to win the Daytona 200 on a two stroke motorcycle when he won the 1972 event riding a Yamaha TR3. His victory marked the beginning of thirteen consecutive Yamaha victories at the Daytona 200 including nine consecutive victories by the dominant Yamaha TZ750 . Emde's 1972 victory marked the first father and son winners of

1430-433: The early 1970s, chartered airliners were used to bring race fans from Europe to Daytona Beach. In 1969 Yvon Duhamel riding a Yamaha TD3 rode a lap on the speedway oval (which at the time was used for qualifying) to become the first rider to lap the oval on a motorcycle in under one minute (average speed over 150 mph). Duhamel's pole position on the tiny 350cc Yamaha motorcycle against the larger 750cc four-strokes marked

1485-403: The event took on international prominence. The race became the centerpiece of what became known as Daytona Beach Bike Week , featuring motorcycle competitions besides road racing such as motocross and dirt track racing. Attending the annual event became known as a rite of spring for thousands of motorcyclists seeking to escape the colder northern climes. At the peak of the event's popularity in

1540-652: The final pit stop six seconds behind race leader Sean Dylan Kelly, Paasch made a thrilling charge to catch the leader, with a daring pass at the line to win by .03 second. For the 2022 edition, MotoAmerica replaced ASRA as the sanctioning body, with the race becoming a non-points race under updated Supersport rules. The race has been one of the toughest in American motorcycling because of its endurance-like qualities of pit stops for tires and fuel, and safety car periods, and nine FIM world champions, including seven 500cc/MotoGP World Champions—six Americans and one Italian—have won

1595-622: The first half of the 1977 series, but after two seasons of work the Team Racecrafters Kawasaki KZ 1000, again piloted by Reg Pridmore, won the first race for the Japanese. With the advent later that year of the better handling Suzuki GS 1000, the less powerful twin-cylinder European bike's race domination was over. As the series gained more and more attention in America the factories took note, and in 1980 Honda entered

1650-497: The guidance of the FIM, or Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme , had a much more developed motorcycle road racing world championship, but it didn't include any American venues in the series. In 1986, the AMA recognized the changing nature of motorcycle racing by making the Grand National Championship into a dirt-track-only series; road-racing rounds were branched off into a separate championship which

1705-513: The less marks on observation but the rider who balanced these competing demands the best. One of the most famous time and observation trials is the "Scott" trial held annually in North Yorkshire . Indoor trials held in stadiums (not necessarily with a roof) which by their very nature use human-made artificial sections in contrast to outdoor trials which rely heavily on the natural terrain. Long Distance Trials (often shortened to 'LDT') in

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1760-662: The machines used for competition being similar to those used for other road disciplines . Daytona 200 The Daytona 200 is an annual motorcycle road racing competition held in early spring at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach , Florida . The 200-mile (320 km) race was founded in 1937 when it was sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). The original course used

1815-599: The more experienced teams racing European twin cylinder bikes, which included the BMW R90S, Ducati and MotoGuzzi motorcycles and the teams racing the more powerful Japanese inline fours from Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha. While the Japanese bikes produced more horsepower, the European bikes tended to have superior handling. The inaugural series in 1976 was won by rider Reg Pridmore on a BMW R90S owned by Team Butler and Smith. European machines won every race in 1976 and

1870-673: The narrow, Jacksonville course and after the 1935 race, the event returned to Savannah in 1936. Daytona Beach had been used by land speed record competitors since 1902 however, by 1935 the rutted beach course began losing its appeal in favor of the Bonneville Salt Flats . In an effort to boost the local economy, race promoter Bill France Sr. arranged for the Savannah 200 to be moved to the 3.2-mile (5.1 km) Daytona Beach Road Course in 1937. There were no races held between 1942 and 1946 due to wartime restrictions during

1925-424: The pit lane. The event paved the way for artificial, stadium-based motocross events known as supercross to be held in major league sports stadiums across the United States and Canada. In 1973, the reigning 250cc world champion, Jarno Saarinen , became the first European rider to win the Daytona 200. The 1974 victory by 15-time world champion Giacomo Agostini helped cement the Daytona 200's reputation as one of

1980-618: The premier Daytona race. The changes also meant that the top factory backed riders would be excluded from the race. The race's future was clouded with the circuit's inability to negotiate with the Dorna-aligned Wayne Rainey KRAVE organization that organizes the MotoAmerica motorcycle racing series in the United States beginning in 2015 when MotoAmerica decided not to place Daytona on the 2015 schedule, considerably important since Daytona's 200 mile format

2035-468: The race course. The Supersport class race kept the 200 miles (320 km) distance, but the Superbike race was converted to a standard 100 kilometers (62 mi) round of the national championship. In 2009, the Supersport class for this was renamed AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Championship . The changes left spectators confused as to why the most powerful motorcycles were replaced by a lesser class in

2090-464: The race. Of recent American world champions, only Kenny Roberts Jr. did not win the Daytona 200. Finnish and Venezuelan FIM world champions in smaller classes have also won the 200. Scott Russell and Miguel Duhamel are tied for most Daytona 200 wins at five each. Russell, known by the nickname "Mr. Daytona" because of his achievements at the famed track, won all his Daytona races in the Superbike class (750-1000cc). Duhamel's fifth victory came in

2145-401: The route the quickest sets the "standard time" and all other competitors must finish within a certain amount of time of the standard time to be counted as a finisher (they received penalty points for every minute after the quickest finisher). This is combined with the penalty points accrued from the observed sections to arrive at a winner, who is not always the quickest rider or the rider who lost

2200-419: The same time had been phased out for road use in many countries. The American Superbike Series was suddenly more relevant and appealing to manufacturers. The speeds that the 1000cc four cylinder bikes producing up to 150 horsepower were able to achieve were overwhelming the stock frames, suspension and tires of the era. Thus for 1983 the AMA, working with the top teams, decided to reduce the maximum capacity of

2255-432: The series has been run and promoted by MotoAmerica , who also manage several other AMA professional road racing championships, including the popular 600cc Supersport class. The AMA Superbike Championship was created in 1976 as a new motorcycle road racing series taking advantage of the newest large displacement production road-going motorcycles of up to 1000cc's that were increasingly popular with American riders. The series

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2310-402: The series to 1000cc production bikes. Their plan called for allowing near-stock 1000cc machines to compete against the then-current state of the art 750cc Superbikes that were the incumbent series competition machines. In addition, they would be allowed to increase their capacity to 800cc. The complicated rules allowed "claiming" of the 1000cc stock machines, a technique where competitors can buy

2365-493: The series with a factory team and brought a top rider from their stable, Freddie Spencer, to compete on their behalf. Up until this point Honda and the other Japanese manufacturers were more focused on the International Grand Prix and in particular its premier 500cc Series, which was run on purpose built 500cc racing motorcycles. By 1980 the 500cc class was completely dominated by two-stroke machines, which at

2420-410: The sport was included in the inaugural Goodwill Games . In the United States the completions are usually held on off-road courses, where one competitor at a time attempts to ride up a very steep hill, often 45 degrees or more. In some cases, few riders actually complete the course and results are judged on the distance that they manage to achieve. Of those that do complete the course, the rider to reach

2475-456: The time it is supposed to take to arrive at each checkpoint. The courses are usually run over thick wooded terrain, sometimes with large obstacles such as logs, ditches, and sudden drops. A competition based upon points for acrobatic ability on an MX bike over jumps. This activity evolved from Motocross a continuing popular form of racing at both the Amateur and Professional levels. Known in

2530-430: The title – Englishman Reg Pridmore , Australians Mat Mladin and Troy Corser , Canadian Miguel Duhamel, and Spaniard Toni Elías . Television rights are held by MotoAmerica, but can currently be seen on FOX Sports 1 & 2, MAVTV Network, MotoAmerica's Facebook page, MotoAmerica's Youtube Channel, and MotoAmerica's LIVE+ App. Motorcycle sport Motorcycle racing (also known as moto racing and motorbike racing)

2585-556: The top with the shortest elapsed time wins. The motorcycle of choice in the early decades was the Harley-Davidson 45 cubic inch model due to its high torque at low rpms, similar to farm engines. For years the national competitions was held at Mount Garfield near Muskegon, Michigan . In other countries, notably the United Kingdom , completions mostly take place on tarmac courses, occasionally closed public roads, with

2640-407: The track infield along with the tri-oval section where the finish line is located in front of the spectator stands. Initially, the traditionalists who favored the old beach race stayed away from the new race at the Speedway and attendance in the early years suffered. However, France continued to promote the race and by the early 1970s, the Daytona 200 attracted the largest crowds of any AMA race and

2695-498: The winning machine from the owner for a set amount of money, and intended to keep modifications down in near-stock racing classes. Ultimately this complicated mix of machines and rules was not liked by many of the competitors. In 2006 Ducati withdrew factory support from AMA Superbike racing, and in 2008 Honda followed suit. From 2009 to 2014, the Daytona Motorsports Group was the organizer under supervision of

2750-455: The world's most prestigious motorcycle races. In 1975, an unknown rookie rider named Johnny Cecotto accomplished one of the most impressive performances in the history of the event when, he rode from last place on the starting grid to finish the race in third place, passing half the field of competitors on the first lap alone. The success of the Daytona 200 spawned imitations in Europe such as

2805-465: Was added in 1973 at the end of the Daytona back straight. The dangers that motorcycle racers were exposed to was highlighted in 1975 when a documentary crew were filming as Barry Sheene crashed on the banked track at over 170 mph when his rear tire failed. As speeds continued to increase, organizers eventually moved away from high powered Grand Prix-style motorcycles to highly modified production motorcycles known as Superbikes in 1985, which led to

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2860-637: Was going against the grain of typical 110-km (68 mile) races that are typical of most Superbike races in the world, as MotoAmerica's future plans to adopt the Spanish CEV championship format of FIM Moto3 and Moto2 classes (the Spanish championship is also a Dorna-promoted championship, and most recent riders come from CEV to Moto3), went against the traditions of American motorcycle racing. On December 1, 2014, American Sportbike Racing Association, parent company of Championship Cup Series (CCS), which sanctions

2915-554: Was initially called "Superbike Production" and was initially modeled on a regional series that had been run in California in the previous years. Up until this the most prestigious racing series in the United States was the AMA Grand National Series which required competition in five different formats 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 1 mile and TT courses, which were all run on dirt ovals, and pavement racing. Europe, under

2970-404: Was named the AMA Superbike Championship. The fact that the rules were set up to compete using the same large displacement production bikes that people saw in the showrooms quickly made the series popular with fans, racers and after several seasons motorcycle manufacturers took a direct interest and began sponsoring teams and riders. At the inception of the series there was stiff competition between

3025-467: Was unsuccessful in winning the championship with the new bike in 1983, as Wayne Rainey riding on Team Muzzy Kawasaki GPz 750 won the inaugural 750cc Superbike championship, but Honda went on to win the next five years in a row of series championships with the Interceptor. As the popularity of the series grew the long established Daytona 200 motorcycle race, which had begun on a course constructed on

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