Although I was not at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for this year’s Red Bull U.S. GP this past week, I did manage to catch the AMA/DMG American Superbike race on my TiVo. And I have got to say, I have a very different perspective than Dave, and am amazed at what a joke that DMG has made the sport into.

It all started with a botched start by Tommy Hayden, when he jumped prematurely and then took off, after which the AMA held all the riders on the grid instead of turning the lights green as they should have.

Then, chaos ensued. Furious riders threw their hands in the air as their tires cooled to surely unsafe temperatures. After agonizing minutes, they were sent back around for another warm-up lap.

The second start was then marred by Ben Bostrom getting into Turn 2 far too deep, appearing to lock up the rear end as he low-sided and took out several riders in the process – Neil Hodgson and Larry Pegram included. But, it got worse.

In an attempt to “control the field”, as riders completed the first lap, the AMA hastily threw up a double-yellow flag. They then sent the pace car out, positioning it on top of the hill in the Turn 1 area, sitting at a dead stop. What the fuck, right?

Now remember, this is a point on the track in which the riders would first have seen the car gunning it at full speed on 200+ horsepower superbikes, bunched together. Not exactly a lot of time or space to get slowed down.

As the riders proceeded through Turn 2, the pace car made its way onto the track via the outside line, trying to merge in mid-pack as it veered onto the racing line, with two wheels still in the dirt and a pack of motorcycles flying past it at more than double the speed. Who the fuck was driving that thing?

The riders then slowed to a crawl, all looking at each other in confusion. Why was there a car in the middle of a fucking full fledged motorcycle race? Then, the AMA red-flagged the race, and called for a full restart. OMG, right?

By this time, the AMA/DMG and American Superbike race looked like such a cluster-fuck that when the third, and finally successful restart happened, no one seemed to even be paying attention. It’s a shame, too, as Mat Mladin made a heroic run from a poor start to take an awesome victory.

I’ve got one thing to say: Hey DMG, this ain’t NASCAR!

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