Motorcycling 4. Varieties
of Racing
The FIM conducts more than 40 world championships in five disciplines: Road racing, track racing, enduro and cross-country, trial, and motocross. The AMA oversees two additional disciplines, hill climbing and drag racing.
Originally the American Motorcycle Association, the AMA in 1976 became the American Motorcyclist Association to underscore the fact that it offers services to the riders rather than the machines. The association currently has more than 260,000 members, most of whom are recreational motorcyclists, not racers. However, racing has always been an important item on the AMA's agenda.
In 1995, the AMA formed AMA Pro Racing as a for-profit subsidiary to operate the business of professional motorcycle racing. AMA Pro Racing currently manages national championship series in drag racing, flat track, motocross, superbike, supercross, and supermoto. Another division, AMA Sports, standardizes rules and sanctions events for amateur, pro-am, and youth competition in just about every type of motorcycle racing.
And there are many types. Below are brief descriptions of most of them.
Road Racing
Despite the name, almost all road races are now run on paved tracks, not public roads. One major exception is the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, established in 1907. However, because of a whole series of fatal crashes that led to a boycott by the world's top riders in 1973, that race is no longer in the FIM Grand Prix series.
The top level of road racing in the United States is the Superbike series, for modified versions of motorcycles originally sold for street use. The series begins with the Daytona 200, but most other races in the series are 100 kilometers (just over 62 miles) in length. Superbikes currently have engine displacements of 1000 cc.
The AMA also conducts national road racing championships in the Supersport, Superstock, and Formula Xtreme classifications. Races for those classifications are 60 kilometers (37.28 miles) long. Supersport bikes have two- or four-cylinder engines with up to 600 cc displacement. Superstock bikes have 745 to 1000 cc multi-cylinder engines. The Formula Xtreme includes three types of bikes: 450-600cc multi-cylinder, 595-750cc liquid-cooled twin-cylinder, and 850-1350cc air-cooled twin-cylinder.
The FIM conducts world championships in Superbike, Supersport, and Superstock categories. In addition, there are world championship road series for endurance and sidecar racing. Endurance racing includes tests of 6, 8, 12, and 24 hours for teams of two or three riders sharing a single bike.
For top club-level riders, the AMA stages the annual Road Race Grand Championships in July at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The champion receives the Horizon Award and often goes on to a professional racing career.
Flat Track and Speedway
"Flat track" is the AMA's phrase for the classic American style of dirt track racing. "Speedway" is the international version, which developed primarily in England and Australia during the 1920s.
The Grand National series, the top American motorcycle championship, was made up mainly of flat track races but also included some road races when it was established in 1954. However, road racing and track racing became separate AMA disciplines in 1986. Since then, the Grand National series has been made up entirely of dirt track races for custom-built racing bikes on one-mile, half-mile, short-track and TT courses. (A TT course includes a jump and at least one right turn.)
Grand National motorcycles use engines with 1000 cc displacement. The AMA also conducts a national championship series for motorcycles powered by the Harley-Davidson 883cc Sportster engine, racing on the same tracks used for the Grand National series.
Since 1997, the AMA has operated the National Hot Shoe Series for riders working their way up to the Sportster or Grand National series. The Hot Shoe Series features 505cc Expert and Pro Sport classes, as well as 750/1000cc and 883cc Expert classes.
For amateurs, the AMA sanctions the annual Dirt Track Grand Championships at the Springfield Mile track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Speedway races are run over dirt tracks of a quarter-mile or less. Racers ride on specially-built, lightweight, single-gear bikes. A race is usually just four laps.
Ice racing, considered an offshoot of speedway racing, began on frozen ponds in the Scandinavian countries during the 1930s and has since spread to other northern countries. The motorcycles use off-road tires, typically studded with a thousand or more sheet-metal screws.
Trials
Motorcycles are so thoroughly associated with speed that it seems odd there's one type of "racing" that has nothing at all to do with how fast they travel. But in observed trials, commonly known simply as trials, the motorcyclist's goal is simply to cross sections of very difficult terrain without ever putting the feet on earth. Penalty points are assessed for mistakes, and the rider with the fewest points at the end of the trial is the winner.
The Trial des Nations is a major international event in which national teams compete for the championship. The FIM also conducts individual world championships for both men and women, as well as indoor trial championships for national teams and individuals.
The AMA conducts the National Observed Trials Championships for amateur riders.
Enduros and Rallies
An enduro is a time trial over rugged terrain. The course is divided into stages marked by checkpoints. Riders start at one-minute intervals and try to maintain a designated average speed for each stage. A cross-country rally is a similar type of competition but the course is less demanding.
The International Six Days' Enduro (ISDE) is the major world championship event, inaugurated in 1913. AMA Sports conducts a National Enduro Series for the nation's top amateur riders.
Two related types of competition are hare scrambles and hare and hound races.
A hare scramble is a cross-country race over a closed course through rugged natural terrain. A race is run for a designated number of laps or a specific length of time, typically two hours. A hare and hounds race is run over a natural terrain course 40 miles or more in length. This type of race is particularly popular in desert areas of the American Southwest.
Motocross
Motocross is essentially cross-country racing over natural terrain, but several varieties have evolved, most of them in the United States.
Supercross is a form of motocross run on artificial courses in major sports stadiums. Arenacross is similar to supercross, but the courses are in smaller arenas, resulting in very tight tracks that put the emphasis on technique.
The newest form of motocross, called supermoto, is actually a hybrid run on a track that combines dirt sections, paved sections, and jumps.
Hill Climbing
The hill climb has been a popular American motorcycle sport since 1904. Usually, each rider is usually given two attempts up the hill. The winner is the rider who does it in the shortest time or, if no one succeeds, the one who gets the farthest up the hill.
The AMA conducts a national championship meet for many classes of motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles.
Drag Racing
Motorcycle drag racing began in the United States during the 1950s as an offshot of automobile drag racing. The Prostar sanctioning organization was acquired by the AMA in 2002 and now operates as the AMA Prostar Championship Series.