Honda Out of AMA for 2009

Hi All,

I have not seen this posted here and I searched, hopelessly, for any mention of it here.

But Honda announced, back in December, they are not participating in the 2009 AMA season. At least not with a factory team. They will continue to support the Erion and Corona teams, but that's it.

The AMA series is in serious trouble.

American Honda withdraws from AMA roadracing for '09 | Sport Bike News Blog & Opinions at Sport Rider Magazine


P.S. Is there a "how-to" on how to properly use the search feature on this website because I NEVER find anything using it. :unsure:

 

The demise of the AMA series is a bit hasty...

This past week Aaron Yates and Geoff May re-signed with Jordan Motorsports, Mat Mladin indicated in an interview recently that Yosh/Suzuki will race. Tommy Hayden resigned with Yosh a couple weeks ago, while attending a Yosh test at CA Speedway.

Yamaha is definately going to run, fielding Josh Hayes, Ben Bostrom and Josh Herrin. They will also be supporting an increased number of riders outside of the factory team.

Corona and Erion Honda are racing. It is rumored that Neil Hodgson will ride for one of those teams.

Kawasaki confirmed yesterday that the will be racing in all other series, except for MotoGP. That is good news for Jamie Hacking and Roger Lee Hayden.

I'm not convinced that the season is ruined, or in ruins.

 

re-signed, not resigned(quit) just to clear up

 

Don't make me get on the malcster bandwagon........FIXT

 

I'm glad Norcal jumped in on this, figurerd he would have the skinny.

Also, Honda pulled out of the Isle of Man races just like this in the 90's, but continued to provide bikes and parts to riders. Seems like they are going to do something similar with AMA for the up coming season.

I'm glad Team Green is staying. Jamie Hacking has been fun to watch race. One of the best races last season was at mid-Ohio in August. Hacking chased Mladin hard! Great race.

BZ

 

This could all make for a good season. If the riders feel they need to be that much better to keep their sponsors, then the competition could be pretty intense. It would be nice to see different riders on the podium this year instead of the same 3 or 4 every race.

 

I hope you boys are right but I can't say I share your optimism for the 2009 AMA season.

Yamaha is the only team to "unofficially" state they are submitting a factory team in the AMA for 2009. Honda is the first to officially announce they are out for 2009, yet they still participated in the recent tire test. Both Suzuki and Kawi refused to take part in the tire test and I don't see them submitting factory teams for 2009 either. When factory teams pull out of racing, so do sponsors. When sponsors start leaving, so does the money. No racing series can survive with no sponsorship money. The factory teams attract the large sponsorship money.

I know a lot of this is political and who knows, it just may all blow over and we may end up with a much better AMA series. I too would love to see a more competitive AMA series with more than 3 or 4 riders winning all the time. Maybe you guys are right, maybe the AMA would be better and more competitive if it only had privateer teams with the factories providing parts and some funding.

I really hope you folks are right. Time will tell.

 

I cant give exact dates but i am pretty sure this is not the 1st time honda has pulled out of AMA. They will be out a year or two and yhen come back and kick every bodys ass again.
:cheersaf:

 

American Honda has had a hard time hitting it's own ass with both hands the last few years, except for a couple formula extreme wins with Erion Racing and a couple superstock wins with Corona Extra Honda last year.

That team hasn't had any teeth since they decided to show HRC what it was all about and started building their own bikes, brilliant tactical decision. All of the experienced folks have gone off to other places, they won't be back and competitive any time soon.