MotoAmerica 2018 Preseason Interview with Paul Carruthers, Communications Manager

Spring is here, and racing is in the air. MotoAmerica, the nation’s premier motorcycle road racing organization, returns for its 4th season. Helmed by racing legend Wayne Rainey, 3-time World Grand Prix champion, MotoAmerica is returning the sport to its former glory days of the 1960s-1990s. With race weekends spanning the country (3 of which run here in the South), the season kicks off at Road Atlanta with great fanfare, including exhibitions by Tony Hawk & Friends, the infamous American Motor Drome Company “Wall of Death,” a Kid’s Zone, and the “Caffeine & Kickstands” custom bike show. I talked with Paul Carruthers recently, MotoAmerica’s Communications Manager, about the 2018 season.

Rob– 2017 was such a thrilling season: The epic battles between Toni Elias, 2016 defending champion Cameron Beaubier, Roger Hayden, and veteran Josh Hayes; Toni taking the Superbike title in the end; Garrett Gerloff winning his 2nd consecutive Supersport title, etc. After watching the preseason testing, who’s looking strong to threaten for the titles this year?

Paul– The preseason has been a good one and has shown just how close we expect the racing to be in the Motul Superbike class. Cameron Beaubier has been impressive in coming back from injury to lead all the tests and you can tell that he’s full of confidence and wants that number one plate back! We all know now how strong Toni Elias can be, so counting him out would be silly talk. There’s also a lot of fast young guys jumping up to Superbike this year, riders like Mathew Scholtz and Garrett Gerloff.

Rob– There’s been some realignment of the classes this year, and the introduction of Super Twins, which I think will be thrilling to watch – definitely to hear!

Paul– We think the Twins class has a good future. It’s normally a big class in club racing and we think we’ll see a lot of local guys showing up to race. It’s an interesting class, and we might see a lot of different things out there on the track. Should be fun to watch and, as you say, listen to!

 

Rob– What can fans expect to see in the racing this year?

Paul– They will see great racing in every class. The Junior Cup will be loaded with talented kids this year, now that it’s open to all the manufacturers. Superbike will be a thriller at every round and Supersport will be closer than most people think.

Rob– What can fans expect to experience at a MotoAmerica event this year?

Paul– We are making a big push to make our events truly “events.” While our focus will always be the racing, we are ramping up the other activities so that our fans will have plenty to do every single day at our races. At Road Atlanta, for example, we’re having Tony Hawk and his team come in to give the fans skateboarding exhibitions on a giant ramp that will be in the paddock. We will have musical acts at most of the events, so I think people will be impressed with MotoAmerica in 2018.

Rob– beIN Sports network will be carrying all the races this season, right?

Paul– Between beIN Sports and beIN Connect, all of our races will get live coverage. It might switch around as to what races are on what platform, but they will all be covered.

Rob– Road racing has a long history here in the States. What do you see as its future? A return to the glory days of the 60s-90s?

Paul– It’s a different time, but we’ll get it to where it needs to be. We want competitive racing, a chance for our riders to race internationally and we want to provide events that our fans can enjoy from morning ‘till night.

 

Rob– Can viewers also find and follow the action on MotoAmerica’s website?

Paul– Yes, we’ll have timing and scoring on the site from every event so people at home can follow the action. We are also packing the site with quality content about our series, our teams and our riders with both the written word and video content.

Rob– Born To Ride will be there, covering the Southeastern rounds, and running regular updates on the standings as the racing progresses. It’s going to be an exciting season.

Paul– As always, we look forward to seeing you guys there, and we can’t wait to get started!
Don’t miss the speed and roar of American motorcycle road racing – visit MotoAmerica.com for tickets to every championship weekend and catch the races on beIN Sports and beIN Connect all season.

Rob Brooks