COSTA MESA, CA, OCT. 12 – MotoAmerica has announced that its Superbike doubleheaders will now be run on separate days during the 2017 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Race Championship with Superbike race one scheduled for Saturday afternoon followed by race two on Sunday afternoon.
“With World Superbike changing to the two-day Superbike race format, it was something that was always of interest to us,” said MotoAmerica partner Chuck Aksland. “It was good to watch them do it for a year and get their feedback, which was positive on many fronts. They had increased Saturday attendance and better television viewership, among other things. We also had many requests from our fan base to make the change. Obviously, the two-day format was something that has been done here in previous years, but with our move to the World Superbike one-bike rule for 2017, it became more of a necessity as it gives the teams some flexibility and breathing space in the preparation from race to race.”
At the stand-alone MotoAmerica races, Superbike race one will be held on Saturday afternoon with Sunday’s race two on a similar schedule with a tentative 3:15 p.m. start time. The other classes (Supersport/Superstock 600 and KTM RC Cup) will continue to run the two-day format as they have in the first two seasons of MotoAmerica. The schedule will vary somewhat when MotoAmerica joins MotoGP at the Circuit of The Americas and World Superbike at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
“I like the two-day format for our races,” said two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier. “I’ve always liked the idea of being able to sleep on the results from Saturday and come back Sunday with some fresh ideas for improvement. Even if your results are good on Saturday, it’s nice to have some time before race two because you can always make things better and go faster. I also think the fans like having a Superbike race on both days so they can make a weekend out of it.”
In addition to the schedule change, MotoAmerica has also announced that the qualifying procedure for the Superbike class has also changed. Superpole will now consist of just one 15-minute session featuring the 12 fastest riders from Superbike Practice 1 and 2. Superbike Practice 3 will not qualify riders to the Superpole session.
The 10-round 2017 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Race series is set to kick-off at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, April 20-23.
