Features 5 Feb 2014

Cycle Central: 5

An all-access view of Australian road racing, presented by Alpinestars.

Has this week been the most defining in Australian road racing history?

Team Suzuki’s out of the sport, Next Gen Motorsports has gone to a non-Motorcycling Australia series alongside the factory Yamaha team, ASBK champion Wayne Maxwell is vying to form his own team, Team Honda Racing will be in the “ASC or nothing” and a raft of private teams are following suit.

The ASC mentioned above is of course the AASA-sanctioned Australasian Superbike Championship, which this week made the timely announcement that Swann Insurance would be coming on board as title sponsor for 2014.

And then there was the post by International Entertainment Group (IEG) general manager Yarrive Konsky put on his Facebook that the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) will have free entries for superbike and supersport, plus rounds will no longer conflict with ASC events. That post has since been deleted.

Sources say that the series will be reduced to three rounds in Queensland, Darwin and Phillip Island spanning from April through July, but according to Konsky, IEG is dotting the Is and crossing the Ts before releasing anything officially.

Image: Keith Muir.

Image: Keith Muir.

That can be understood considering the history and recent state of the series, but it’s an urgent situation that the ASBK is facing and people need information if they’re going to commit. That information hasn’t been forthcoming and competitors are putting all their faith in the ASC at this point.

It’s instances like these and a lack of urgency in response from either MA or IEG that has put them in the position they’re in. From the outside, the flexibility of Terry O’Neill with the ASC series being his sole focus under the AASA is proving a winning formula.

I have a lot of respect for the presentation skills of IEG and no doubt the company has taken a variety of hits over the past 12 months, but when it comes to attracting racers, communication is everything in such critical circumstances. Dealing with MA and then relaying final information to the public is becoming a stumbling block of major proportions amongst all their other issues.

Not so long ago the strength of having Suzuki, Honda and Next Gen in the ASBK paddock was huge, but without that, it will be very difficult to leverage its star riders – if there are any at all. That was previously one of IEG’s strengths, albeit inconsistently in the past year or more in my opinion.

The fact that Suzuki has closed its doors altogether sends shockwaves throughout the sport. The manufacturer reduced its support, that was the first blow, but when you have no concrete series or media package to sell sponsorship with, you’re essentially selling promises. And that’s for a team with direct input to the series – real deal privateer teams have had no hope.

The updated calendar has no clashes with ASC rounds and features just one V8 Supercars event instead of three. What we will see here is select people will either commit to the entire series in search of a title, or some may just do the 2+4 round. Others will ignore it altogether.

Problem is, that lone 2+4 event is in Darwin so it’s a fairly involved exercise to travel all the way up there to be an undercard if you’re not going for a championship, so one-off appearances from major (now) ASC teams may be slim. Still, the live television time if it happens is a great asset to the event and entire sport.

Right now the momentum is on the ASC’s side, ASBK is backed into a corner further than it has ever been before, so each reaction from here will be pivotal. Has the tide finally turned? It definitely looks like it and MA/IEG’s decision not to merge may see them lose control of the sport’s most recognised national series altogether.

That’s it for this week. Check out CycleOnline’s social media profiles for more updates and news from the domestic and international series’. Just search ‘CycleOnline’ on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to follow us.

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