Fixing Flat Track: The Michael Lock Interview

Sideburn’s editor, Gary Inman, interviewed Michael Lock, the CEO of American Flat Track, about his plans for fixing pro flat track. The interview lasted nearly 90 minutes, and was way too long to fit in Sideburn 27, but what was left over was too good to leave on the shelf, so we decided to publish the full thing on our new website - www.sideburnmagazine.com. It will be of interest to anyone with a love of, or investment in, flat track.

There is the opportunity to leave a comment below. We're looking forward to hearing what you think.

American Flat Track 2017 Schedule

American Flat Track (formerly AMA Pro Racing) has announced its official schedule for 2017.
What is interesting?

1. The first round is a TT at Daytona, within the enormous speedway on a Chris Carr designed track. Remember, the GNC1 (Pro, Experts, call them what you will depending on your age) will all be on TWINS!

2. The next round is a short track in Georgia, meaning there is no short track in Daytona.

3. Peoria is on. I'm most surprised about this. There must be some changes happening at the track because riders weren't happy about the safety there (Dominic Colindres was paralysed after a crash there this year). Brad Baker had a lucky escape. Now they're doing it on twins.

4. The Buffalo Chip TT. To appeal to the massive biker crowds at Sturgis, this race borders on exhibition. Again, it's going to be on twins. That makes three TT rounds in one season. The most there's been since I've been following GNC, I think (used to be Peoria and Castle Rock).

5. Perris is the final round. Not the tiny track, but the adjacent Auto Speedway. It's still regarded as a short track, so that's two short track races for the twins too.

6. There are 18 rounds. Santa Rosa dropped itself, after being on the preliminary list announced in September. California still gets three rounds, equal with Illinois.

March 16: DAYTONA TT – Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.
March 25: Georgia Short Track – Dixie Speedway, Woodstock, Ga.
April 1: Charlotte Half-Mile – Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C.
May 13: Arizona Mile – Turf Paradise, Phoenix, Ariz.
May 20: Sacramento Mile – Cal Expo Fairgrounds, Sacramento, Calif.
May 27-28: Springfield Mile I* – Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill.
June 3: Red Mile – The Red Mile, Lexington, Ky.
June 17: OKC Mile – Remington Park, Oklahoma City
June 24: Lima Half-Mile – Allen County Fairgrounds, Lima, Ohio
July 8: Rolling Wheels Half-Mile – Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, Elbridge, N.Y.
July 29: Calistoga Half-Mile – Calistoga Speedway, Calistoga, Calif.
Aug. 6: Buffalo Chip TT presented by Indian Motorcycle – Buffalo Chip Campgrounds, Sturgis, S.D. Aug. 8: Black Hills Half-Mile – Black Hills Speedway, Rapid City, S.D.
Aug. 13: Peoria TT – Peoria Motorcycle Club, Peoria, Ill.
Sept. 2-3: Springfield Mile II** – Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill.
Sept. 9: Williams Grove Half-Mile – Williams Gove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Sept. 23: Lone Star Half-Mile – Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas
Oct. 7: Perris Short Track – Perris Auto Speedway, Perris, Calif.

* AFT Singles will race a TT on May 27
** AFT Singles will race a Short Track on Sept. 2

Photo: Brian J Nelson

Dunlop Commit to American Flat Track

The bones of a press release from American Flat Track...

AMA Pro Racing and Dunlop Motorcycle Tires are excited to announce a renewed, multi-year partnership with the recently-rebranded American Flat Track series. Dunlop will hold the exclusive category rights as Official Motorcycle Tire Supplier for the series and will extend their support into the marketing, competition and broadcast efforts over the next three years. 

 'Dunlop has more than proven their dedication to motorcycle sport over the years, and we are proud to expand our partnership with them,' said Michael Lock, CEO of AMA Pro Racing. 'Starting in 2017, Dunlop will put more money into the paddock by substantially increase their contingency. This shows just how much they care about the paddock and how serious they are about joining us as partners as we build a bright new future for the sport.'

Starting in 2017, Dunlop will increase their per-race contingency payout to riders by nearly 300% and will pay contingency in both the AFT Twins and AFT Singles classes. At select rounds for the AFT Twins class, the tire manufacturer will begin to offer two rear tire options, giving each rider the opportunity to select their preferred compound.

Photo: Chris Hinkle/ AFT

Contingency - this is a fancy name for prize money. I spoke to Michael Lock at length recently, for an interview in the next Sideburn, and he says contingency is good for everyone. If Honda put in a load, for the GNC2 class, then other manufacturers are obliged to do the same. I'm not sure I see it that way, but Lock is far better informed than me.
The Dunlop contingency is different, because it is guaranteed. Honda might not win, but Dunlop will. G

Santa Rosa Deaths: Update from AMA Pro Racing

This email was sent from AMA Pro Racing, which I thought was now American Flat Track. Maybe that new name is being saved for next season, or perhaps they're using the old name, and header on the email, to keep the tragic accidents linked to that organisation's name. It was an AMA Pro Racing event, so I suppose it keeps it in the same house.

The stand out for me is that Santa Rosa has be dropped, only one week after it was confirmed on the 18-race 2017 schedule.

Here is the communication in full...

It is with great sadness that I find myself writing to you for a second time this month.

This week we have lost two of our athletes, Kyle McGrane and Charlotte Kainz, in accidents at the Santa Rosa Mile. Our hearts go out to their families and friends and they will be sorely missed in our paddock community. Both riders were popular figures at our events and many of you have special memories of them. In the coming days we will be working with the families to determine how AMA Pro Racing can best assist them in their time of need and honor their lost loved ones.

  

My staff and I are currently collecting all information and data from the weekend, speaking with staff and supporting Dirt Trackers who were hosting the event. During a time like this, everyone is eager for immediate answers and we live in an immediate and 24 hours a day news cycle. Staying in front of unfolding events is a sizeable challenge. Many of you have reached out to me and my team and I want to thank you for your feedback, observations and support.

While it is tempting to draw immediate conclusions, I feel that it is important to come together as a professional family. As the sanctioning body for the sport we have a duty to care for our competitors and this will be central to our thinking. I will report further to you once we have concluded. However, at this early point I can confirm that both races were red flagged immediately and motorized EMT's were at both scenes within a very short time. Our series chaplain and family liaison, Raymond Rizzo traveled to the hospital and remained onsite throughout the afternoon, only leaving to attend the AMA Pro Flat Track banquet and communicate an update to the audience on Sunday evening.

As we look forward, my team and I will be reviewing a number of areas touched on by this tragedy. You may well be aware that it had already been planned that from 2017 onwards the junior class of AMA Pro Flat Track racing, the GNC2, is going to be based exclusively on racing 450cc engined motorcycles. In addition to this measure we are considering further steps and, to assist in this process, I have asked some of our experienced members of the 2016 Advisory Group, including our new GNC1 champion Bryan Smith, Mike Hacker and Dick Weirbach to participate in the discussion and forming of conclusions.

After deep discussions with our partner and promoter, Steve Delorenzi, we concur with his decision to remove the Santa Rosa Mile from the 2017 race calendar.

The goals of our team here at AMA Pro Racing are to capture the opportunities presented to our sport, deliver value to all of our partners and work closely with our paddock community and Advisory Group to continue to deliver a safe and fair environment for all. Absolute safety is never assured within racing disciplines but maximum priority must always be given to delivering the safest possible racing. We remain acutely conscious of that and will be steadfast in our efforts to deliver that environment to our community.

Yours faithfully

Michael Lock
CEO. American Pro Racing

Photo: Brian J Nelson/ AMA Pro Racing

A New Dawn for American Flat Track...

At Sunday’s end of season awards banquet, just hours after Bryan Smith was confirmed 2016 champion in one of the most thrilling mile races of recent times, the company that runs professional flat track announced a new era for the sport. Sideburn was there to hear the announcement and below is our take, thoughts and questions about the changes.

THE NAME
Michael Lock, the British CEO of AMA Pro Flat Track, explained that they are changing their name. Why? Because AMA Pro Flat Track are nothing to do with the AMA. Confused, you should be. So was every potential sponsor, partner or new team Lock and his team approached. So the new name is American Flat Track. American Flat Track (AFT) writes the rules, sets the race schedule, runs the races that regional promoters host and organise to the AFT’s guidelines. AFT is to flat track what Dorna is to MotoGP.
The AMA will continue, we assume, as the licensing body.

THE RULES
Let’s be honest, the Bryan Smith wheel situation was a debacle and Lock admitted as much on stage, in an amusing way. He explained that there was too much ambiguity in the rulebook and that it was barely written in English, so, AFT say, it has been completely redrafted, simplified, clarified and will be released online in this week, six months before the season starts.

THE CLASS STRUCTURE
The twins rule, that was supposed to be implemented in 2016 but postponed after howls from teams and riders, will come into being for 2017.

The current GNC1 class will be the Twins class. The GNC2 class will also be renamed as AFT Singles and will run exclusively on DTX-style 450cc singles, where GNC2 currently mixes singles and twins. The GNC2 riders rode twins at Santa Rosa.

Any GNC2 rider who has scored 50pts in a season on twin machinery can enter the Twins class. If they regret that decision, for whatever reason, the rider can transfer back to Singles for the rest of the season, but then cannot move back to wins later in the same season.

The Twins class will compete the 18-race season exclusively on twins. That means miles, half-miles, two (I think) short tracks and up to three TTs all on twins.

Sideburn has been a big supporter of the twins rule since it was first mentioned. Speaking to Indian’s top brass this week they explained they weren’t interested in joining a series where their riders swapped between manufacturers machinery from race-to-race. If the status quo had continued, who could claim the title, if, let’s say, Baker wins next season, Indian for the twin he rode or Honda/KTM for the singles race points? An insane situation. One obvious downside of this new structure is the lack of opportunities,for singles riders to get experience on pure race machines, the kind of framer chassis used on twins, before moving into the top class. They build racecraft, but not the set-up skills a framer requires and responds to.

In MotoGP, riders in the Moto2 feeder class are riding bikes with a variety of custom chassis all using the exact same Honda CBR600-derived engine. So they’re learning what adjustments to make in different situations before the cream of the class move into MotoGP and race prototypes with twice the power.

If AFT followed the same thinking it could mean a return to framers, using a ‘spec’ stock 450 engine, supplied at a reduced price, and built into a chassis of the rider’s choice. This would be a return to bike that look like proper flat tracker, not motocrossers. I'm not hung up on DTX bikes, but they're no longer the future of the sport, but still an important stepping stone. Let’s face it, the OEMs didn’t get behind the DTX format in any significant financial way and the riders aren’t learning to race framers, which they need to if they want to be GNC1 champs.

The leathers rule, banning the wearing of motocross jerseys and trousers wasn’t mentioned in the presentation, but it’s still going ahead as far as we’re aware.

RACE STRUCTURE
At the moment each racer has two timed qualifying sessions before a heat race. The top qualifiers in the heat race transfer straight to the Main, the event 18-rider final, so the very best riders only have two races in a day. This is changing. From 2017 riders will compete in four heat races with last three (depending on entry number, I guess) in the heat race being eliminated and not taking part in the rest of the day. The qualifiers of the heat races will ALL go into two semis, no one will transfer directly to the main. The top nine finishers from the semis will make the main. There will also be, as there is now, the Get Out Of Jail free card that allows national numbers who don’t qualify to gain entry to the main once in a season if they fail to qualify. It wasn’t entirely clear if they can only use that from the semis or if they can do it from the heats too.

In the current, now old, structure, Brad Baker, who won at Santa Rosa, broke down in his heat race, so missed the automatic transfer and was put in the semi (which is really a last chance qualifier) and finished in the top three. In the new structure he would have been eliminated and not given the opportunity to race in the semi.

There was no talk of the Dash for Cash, but the reason for the new structure is for fans to see the top racers compete more often during a race day, so it might remain.

COVERAGE
AFT has negotiated with NBC sports network to show coverage of the sport in their Thursday night off-road Overdrive programme, shown in Thursday night primetime and available to 90 millions US homes. The highlights package will be shown every Thursday from June to September and will include full coverage of both mains, plus highlights of the semis and interviews with riders and explanation of tech. Fanschoice.tv will continue to livestream full event coverage online for hardcore and foreign fans. It wasn’t made clear if this coverage will be hosted on their website to watch after the event, but there is no obvious benefit, that I can see, to not doing this so we hope they do.

SCHEDULE
18 races, with 17 already confirmed in September of the preceding year will really help people get organised. This is much earlier than in any previous year in our memories. AFT has worked with promoters to try cluster races to minimise travel, and to give a real national spread to the races. There are new events on the schedule. These are the biggest changes…

The traditional Daytona short track double-header has been dropped. The season will still start in Bike Week, in March, but within the huge Speedway, that is undergoing an $500 million refurb. The race will be a TT on a track designed by Chris Carr. This will be the first time new generation twins will compete on a TT track. It’s going to be interesting.

For years there has been a massive wait for the next race, usually Springfield 1 at the end of May. Things changed for 2016 and 2017 follows the new format with three races between Daytona and Springfield. These are Atlanta: Charlotte and Arizona. There is a new race in Kentucky, a return to New York, but no Austin.

The enormous Sturgis Bike Week event hosts two rounds in four days, first is the Buffalo Chip TT, on a new track with two jumps, then the Black Hills Half-Mile. A hooligan and singles race was trialled at Buffalo Chip this year. The track looked sub-optimal, so it will have to improve for the AFT racers. The season ends on the big track at Perris, So Cal.

The only race of the 18 that is not currently confirmed is Peoria. Insiders say the track itself is not up AFT standards in terms of track width. The famous TT is pencilled in, so there seems a desire to host the race. There is also talk of modifying the jump, taking the top off it, to make it safer for twins to compete on.

PRIZE MONEY
The majority of OEM manufacturers have signed up to support AFT (Suzuki being one notable who haven't), with Indian being the big new name. Lock said there is a potential $500,000 worth of contingency for the singles class alone. I’m dubious of contingency figures. Sure, the potential might be half-a-million, but Manufacturer 1 could commit to paying $5000 to any rider who wins a race on their machine. If no one wins on Manufacturer 1’s bike then no one gets anything. So the manufacturer is in a win-win. They look like they’re supporting the series, but might actually pay out very little. But it’s better than nothing and the actual structure of the potential payments was not made clear, so I might be overly cynical.

Harley-Davidson paid Jared Mees a bonus of £25,000 for being top H-D finisher in the 2016 season, so contingency certainly is being paid in some examples.

ALSO… 
Dunlop has signed a three-year deal to supply tyres and have committed to improving grip. Not sure how this will pan out and what it’ll do to the racing or the level of tuning bikes are then subjected to in order to exploit the new grip, but progress shouldn’t be avoided.

Michael Lock spoke of his desire/dream to put the whole of AFT on a plane, fly them to Europe and race in a soccer stadium. Spain seems an obvious host country thanks to links with Marquez, the RPM organisation and their successful Superprestigio race.

Or what about an Italian soccer stadium or horse hippodromo? Let’s not consider potential flies in the ointment like potential rain-offs. I said let’s not! The Speedway GP make temporary tracks in sports arenas and have a flyaway race to Australia most, if not all seasons, so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility, but still is only a dream. It would be a very brave Euro promoter who invested the money needed to help make it happen. Superprestigio has shown some kind of precedent, but on a much smaller scale. Get Marquez involved, or Rossi, and it could grab the public’s imagination. Would 30,000 Europeans pay €25 each to watch a flat track race?

This is a time for optimism and excitement. We’re excited. Pro flat track was crying out for this revolution. There will be bumps along the way, but everything sounds incredibly positive.

We’ll put more meat on the bones of these developments as things progress.
Gary Inman
Editor