Apparently heading off the possibility of another VIR cancellation debacle, AMA Pro Racing gets six facilities to sign 2012 event contracts early
AMA Pro Racing announced contract renewals with six racetracks for the 2012 schedule, with Daytona International Speedway, Infineon Raceway and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Northern California, Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, and New Jersey Motorsports Park all signing up for next year. Daytona will be the usual kickoff to the 2012 season on March 15-17, with Infineon occurring a few weeks earlier than previous years on May 4-6. The AMA Pro series will once again play a supporting role for the World Superbike event over Memorial Day weekend at Miller Motorsports Park on May 25-28, followed by Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin’s Road America circuit on June 1-3. Another supporting role with Superbike, Daytona SportBike, and Supersport classes will run in conjunction with the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which is being held later in the month of July than usual on July 27-29. And New Jersey Motorsports Park will also run a week later than usual, now on Labor Day weekend September 7-9.
The large seven-week hole in the schedule between Daytona and Infineon, as well as the other gaps, will likely be filled by to-be-announced events. AMA Pro Racing signed an agreement last month with M1 Productions (who were responsible for the well-attended “Big Kahuna” events at Road Atlanta and VIR—as well as the races at Miller Motorsports Park and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca—in the past) to help promote several events in 2012, and the press release stated that “AMA Pro Racing is working in conjunction with M1 Powersports for promotion of additional events” that weren’t listed in the release. Notably missing from the list of tracks that signed contracts for 2012 are Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Barber Motorsports Park, along with Virginia International Raceway (the facility that abruptly cancelled its AMA Pro event just weeks before its scheduled date, resulting in some last second changes to the Supersport points schedule and altering the Superbike championship’s outlook going into the final race at NJMP).
That AMA Pro Racing is announcing the signing of these contracts and releasing part of the 2012 schedule so early in comparison to past years is an indication that AMA Pro Racing is looking to prevent a reoccurrence of the VIR debacle, where the facility’s management was claiming that AMA Pro Racing had not delivered the event contract until weeks before the scheduled date, resulting in some last-second disagreements that caused the cancellation snafu.
Photo Gallery: AMA Pro Racing announces contract signings with six racetracks for 2012 - Sport Rider Magazine
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