Near the start of the 2013 AMA Pro Road Racing season, DMG had yet to announce a TV package for America’s premier motorcycle road racing series.

The issue was of great concern to riders and teams, who had made sponsorship commitments, with TV exposure being an integral piece of consideration involved in those contracts. Luckily at the last-minute, a TV package was announced, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Fast-forward to the 2013 Laguna Seca round, and it became apparent that not all of the AMA Pro Road Racing events would be on TV, namely the AMA’s stop at Laguna Seca, which was being held with the now Dorna-control Superbike World Championship. Again the news was a shock, and sent the AMA Pro Racing paddock into a fervor.

Thanfully again a remedy was found at the last minute — albeit, an imperfect one — with a free online live stream being offered to two-wheel racing fans.

Moving into the 2014 season, once again it was revealed that AMA Pro Road Racing would see a downgrade in its exposure levels, as no TV contract would be produced for the season. Instead, the 2014 races would be broadcast solely on the FansChoice.tv website for free.

Laguna Seca has once again proved to be the stickler though, as DMG announced this week that the only AMA round west of The Rockies would not even be shown on the company’s streaming website. The reactions are predictable.

Bikes

Speculation for the 2014 trade shows is starting to trickle in, and the fine journalists at the German magazine Motorrad have for us the latest gossip regarding a new model for 2015. Confirming a great deal of speculation, Motorrad tips that we will see a Suzuki GSR1000 at October’s INTERMOT show. Call it a standard, a streetfighter, or a street naked, the GSR1000 is said to be without fairings and based off the Suzuki GSX-R1000, using the same 999cc four-cylinder engine as the superbike, albeit in an unfortunately detuned state — not to dissimilar from the Suzuki GSR750. Figures of 150hp are being banded about for power, and that might not be enough as the GSR1000, which will debut in a very crowded space, as seemingly every Japanese and European motorcycle manufacturer has a horse in this race.

Racing

Officially the fastest man around the Isle of Man’s Snaefell Mountain Course at 132.298 mph, Bruce Anstey is showing no signs of slowing down at the age of 44. Coming off his historic Isle of Man TT fortnight, the Kiwi will take part in the upcoming Isle of Man’s Classic TT as well. Starting August 23rd, Anstey will be hunting for another record-breaking lap on the course, this time aboard a very special machine: an ex-factory Yamaha YZR500 500GP bike. Smoke’m if you’ve got them, this 150hp two-stroke beast is sure to delight premix fans at the Isle’s other TT. Identical to the machine that Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson, and Randy Mamola rode to victory, the YZR500 is owned by Valvoline by Padgetts Motorcycle squad.

Bikes

Once again the folks at Wunderlich are readying themselves for another BMW model, and the German company has enlisted the services of French designer Nicolas Petit to render the upcoming BMW S1000F sport-tourer, which we are all eagerly awaiting. Based off the BMW S1000RR sport bike, the S1000F features an upright handlebar design with a more touring-oriented sitting position, to make for better long-road travel. It’s not clear if BMW will follow the lead of Erik Buell Racing, and choose not to detune its superbike engine, but it does seem that BMW wants a bigger piece for the sporty end of the touring market. We’ve caught the BMW S1000F out testing already, and expect the machine to debut at the INTERMOT show this October.

Bikes

We’re not too far away from seeing the Ducati Scrambler officially, but the good folk over at Motociclismo have managed to get their hands on a photo of Bologna’s newest model, looking almost ready for production we might add. Perhaps the clearest photos we’ve seen of the Scrambler yet (though, we did enjoy the emissions testing photos of the Scambler a few weeks ago), we can see how Ducati plans on reviving this motorcycle from the 1960’s. Designed to be a modern take on a classic machine, Ducati has been marketing the Scrambler with a sort of “Hipsters spending a day on the California boardwalk” motif.