World Superbike: Laguna Seca Talks Date Conflict

Paul Carruthers | December 13, 2013

Photography by Gold & Goose
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s CEO/general manager Gill Campbell was as surprised as anyone when she saw that AMA Pro Racing had announced that the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course would be running an AMA Superbike race on the weekend of July 12-13 – the same weekend Laguna is slated to run the U.S. World Superbike round, an event she believed would have AMA road racing classes as its support races.

Now the situation gets a bit sticky: A date change has to be worked out for either Laguna or Mid-Ohio.

“AMA is working to try and resolve the situation,” Campbell said. “Mid-Ohio has obviously already announced its date as far as selling tickets. We are in a situation where we already have events scheduled around our date and so it is very complex to try and change anything on either part. I was hoping to have had an answer today. The last conversation I had with Michael Gentry earlier this week was that he was going to know any day now. I’ve got the FIM working on it, I’ve got Dorna working on it. The AMA federation is reluctant to support a date change for Mid-Ohio. However, we’re hosting a World Championship and I think there is a difference. I believe that it’s not going to be good for anybody to collide on things. We have never wavered from our date since World Superbike in September. That’s my story.”

Campbell says running World Supersport as a support class for World Superbikes at Laguna isn’t an option as the cost is too high.

“I can’t afford World Supersport because it would be too costly to bring them over, “Campbell said. “I am looking at other options, but it’s always been my philosophy to feature the best in American road racing and the best in European road racing, however if the best in American road racing becomes WERA, I’m there. It’s AMA’s loss in my opinion, but I’m hoping because it has been admitted by the AMA that they knew, that they resolve this situation. It’s frustrating. We’ve worked damn hard to make it all happen.”

Paul Carruthers | Editor

Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.