Features 28 Aug 2014

The Point: Road racing's divide

Rider input on the split 2015 ASC and ASBK national series.

Last Friday Motorcycling Australia issued a brief media release that effectively ended months of speculation about the future of road racing, for the short term, at least. MA has decided to forge forward with its own efforts, run by state-based clubs, effectively ending any hope that many had of a merger with the rival Australasian Superbike Championship. The issue and ultimately this outcome has been met with mixed opinions. Many are supportive of MA’s stance, others believe that not pursuing the merger represents a missed opportunity. We polled a handful of riders on the topic to get their initial thoughts. It’s also worth noting that we did contact more, some of which believed it was such a contentious issue that they rather not offer input.

Image: Keith Muir.

Image: Keith Muir.

Cru Halliday (Superbike):
Honestly I’m not certain how things play out from here. It could work out to be better, but going back to two distinct championships could be a bit of a down side. We don’t really know what factory teams are going to go one way or another. Hopefully everyone stays together. I’d rather the one championship, it’s naturally where we get the biggest crowds and the most riders competing. The championship we’re in at the moment is good, it just needs some fine-tuning, but then you have people saying it’s not the number one championship because it’s not under the MA banner. It’s a touchy subject really and tough to speak about. I’m not real pumped about having two championships, that’s my view. The choice of tracks is affected a lot. With two series certain tracks are excluded from each and you see repetition across the rounds. But that’s just fine-tuning, like I said.

Wayne Maxwell (Superbike):
First of all, I’m disappointed that there isn’t a merger because I want all the best riders to ride under the one championship banner with the same regulations to stop there being this divide. That would show who are the current best domestic riders in Australia. In saying that I think MA are only in the infancy of their project and I’m sure it can be good, but they’ve still got to confirm things like the dates, TV, and so on. If they’re smart they’d probably look at what the ASC does well and take the best of that and then work with the competitors on their own feedback and thoughts. Another thing and something that’s probably topical is the fact that there’s no real drug testing or code under the ASC, whereas MA is obviously government-affiliated so it does have those measures there. But like I said it’s early in the piece. There’s lots of things we still don’t know and hopefully MA is working forward with their strategy as we speak.

Ben Henry (Superbike):
It’s not good that they’re going forward with two. The racing this year is definitely the best it has been in my racing career, I reckon. Although people are carrying on about parity, the people that are squawking the most are doing the most winning. The bike that was meant to be the least competitive is doing the best. They’re all my mates, and I tell them that every time they like to have a sook about it! For someone like me, where I run my own team and do all my own sponsorship, well, I don’t know how it will affect me. It will dilute things. My results might have been shit house for the last 12 months or so, but the series itself is starting to get that strong commercial value behind it – something you can’t argue with. There’s a few big hitters in the sport, that want the big picture stuff, the corporate V8 Supercar support and the like, and yeah, I want the same because of the commercial value it brings. But I don’t think the sport can support that at this moment. If we chop it in two again then you could potentially end up with reduced grids. For a privateer’s point of view, MA needs to offer a good package. It’d be good to get some more info, really. We need some specs, or something. I hope they don’t go back to the previous specifications because we’ve all made this change. I don’t understand why MA haven’t approached Terry more sincerely. Ultimately I wish MA would support Terry’s series which would allow us to race on the tracks which are out of bounds, so to speak, at the moment. And honestly, I can’t say a bad word about Terry. When I lived in Western Australia and came over to race, I never paid an entry fee. He knew it was costing me a fortune to get there. He’s never done wrong by me. It’s things like that, dealing with people on that personal level, that make a difference. In my view, the ASC has the momentum, and we haven’t had momentum in road racing for a long time. Who knows where we’re headed now.

Image: Andrew Gosling.

Image: Andrew Gosling.

Daniel Falzon (Supersport):
I think it’s clear that neither series is going to budge on their format, so then it has to remain two series and I’ve said it before I personally prefer ASBK format, regulations and tracks. It’s not ideal but competition between the promoters could be a benefit to the competitors. I personally would race in either, anywhere, but for our team the ASBK is the one we take more seriously, racing at Phillip island is a must and I prefer the longer duration races and national status events. RACESAFE is another tick for ASBK, studying paramedics I understand the difference, also as a team we like to be clear on all rules so having a governing body such as MA for clarity is important. I wasn’t racing back  when the clubs ran ASBK but I think it could work, the clubs, certainly in the eastern states are really strong and capable of running big events, as long as each round is run consistently with the others it should work. Club racers will get more involved and bring numbers up which helps out with the cost of running the events. I’m against a one tyre rule, we will have no bargaining power with tyre manufacturers and this is where most of the costs are, so for me ASBK is ahead. It may take ASBK a couple of years to get back to strength but I think it will happen.

Mason Coote (Supersport):
It’s a tough one. I’d like to see one series, but, I think the best way forward is to be with Motorcycling Australia, and the only way for that to happen is for them to come back and… obviously they can’t stop Terry from running his series, so they’ve got to make theirs more desirable. There’s enough tracks in Australia to run a good series without visiting all of them. Terry’s series doesn’t go to all of the premier tracks, which is disappointing, but then MA goes to the larger circuits and the smaller ones get left out, which is a shame in itself. I’d like to see it go to as many states as possible, but then there’s the financial factors to consider. I’m only relatively new to the series. I know the clubs have run the Motorcycling Australia series in the past, and whether that’s going to be the best solution, well, the time will tell. It’s a wait and see game.

Mike Jones (Superbike):
I’d be happy to see there be one championship, which I suppose is what everyone wants. Basically I think that we’re going to end up in the same boat that we were in before this year, where you’ve got some good riders racing in one series, and some good riders racing in another. That’s just the downfall. We’ve only got a limited amount of competitors, limited amount of teams, limited amount of resources, funding and so on. We just don’t have the population to split it up. That’s just my opinion. For me, it’s not too much of a big deal. I’ll do races and rounds where I can, in both the ASBK and the ASC, which is what I’ve done in the past. But as a competitor, when I race in the ASC, this year when I finish in a position I know that I finished against the best Superbike riders that there is. Whereas next year if I’m in the ASBK and if there’s only five of the best riders there, well you’re missing some of the competitors. Either way, I’ll be racing. It’s seat time for me.

Matt Walters (Superbike):
I think it’s good that there’s definitely more riding around. All of the top competitors would obviously prefer the one series, the Superbike and Supersport guys. It makes for better racing, and a better sport in general. But I think if they could make it affordable to do both series I’d definitely do it. I’ve done both before and we had great success doing it, so I can’t see why it’s a big drama not to do both. I think definitely tracks are a big part of it. Tracks like Winton and Wakefield aren’t bad, but they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. And certain tracks suit different bikes better than others. It’s what you want to race, and where you want to race, really. As long as everything keeps moving forward then I’m all for it.

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