While at Daytona Bike Week, I was lucky enough to be invited up to Michael Jordan Motorsports private box to watch the first AMA Superbike race of the season, along with the Daytona 200. We had some exciting sponsorship projects to talk about with AllAboutBikes and MJ Motorsports.
Michael’s passion for motorsports was very evident; as he bounced around the room with excitement when his Jordan National Guard rider, Jake Zemke, took both wins. Jake won the second race by only 400 hundredths of a second, it was a very exciting finish.
This is a long way from the Chicago Bulls, and Basketball. I asked him was he able to ride the race bikes and he said, “Oh no, keep me on my Ducati 999 custom, or my Ferrari’s, these machines are real rocket ships.” At 6`6, you can understand why he doesn’t ride them.
With the shortage of factory teams in the paddock this year, organizations like Michael Jordan Motorsports have the opportunity to pick up podium positions, and maybe even the championship. The last two seasons the AMA paddock has seen a shortage of Factory teams in both American Superbike and Supersport, with Honda, Kawasaki and Ducati all boycotting due to money and the economy.
It’s exciting to see some new corporate sponsors coming into the sport like Nestle. The time is right to get in on the ground floor as the economy improves, and the factory teams come back, which I predict will be next year. As a result, more TV coverage and overall excitement of a solid national sport will be revived.
That evening while watching the Daytona 200 race I had the chance to talk to Jake Zemke about the state of the AMA Pro Racing Series, and the injection of new management, heading up Daytona Motorsport Group. With David Atlas at the helm and Dave McGrath as race director, Jake said that “there is a different feel in the paddock this season, even at the riders meeting David talked about safety first. Eliminating the pace car within a race has been the best change; last year’s debacle was horrific so this year there is no pace car apart from the warm up lap”
At the press conference after the second American Superbike Race, Ben Bostrom said some similar words. Hopefully this is the year of change. The Daytona Motorsport Group is making in-roads that will bring some major sponsors back to one of the most exploding motorsport series in the United States.
Keep an eye for race two on March the 26th weekend in Fontana California; AllAboutBikes will be keeping you up to date with everything in the paddock.
