December 22, 2009: Mountain View, CA.

I had a chance to talk with Ed Kuhlenkamp recently about the prospects of a national supermoto race series for 2010. For those of you who do not know Ed, he is the host and part owner of Pit Pass Radio (the extremely popular online motorcycle-racing focused talk show) and also the founder of Build-Momentum, a successful sports marketing agency. Ed is one of the new principals involved with constructing and directing the vision and strategy for the future of professional supermoto racing in the USA. He is joined by Mark Burkhart, a supermoto champion and veteran and Myron Short of 2x Promotions.

Despite the imperfect situation of a current economic resession combined with a motorsports series that has seen its share of challenges the last few years, Ed and his team are determined to do everything they can to transform professional supermoto racing in the USA from where it is today into a successful, motorsport entertainment product that can live up to fans’ and sponsors’ expectations.

That said, the communication that can be broadcast right now is that there are currently diligent efforts to pull together a national supermoto series for 2010 operated with the expressed intent of constructing a “motorsports entertainment product" that will not only be a fantastic show for the fans but a product that the motorcycle industry and sponsors will WANT to be part of.

“After many years of broken promises and the near death of the series, supermoto needs to get back to the basics and put in place a structured, well thought out program that targets the right regions of the country; entertains a large, national fan base; as well as sells motorcycles and motorcycle accessories. All of these elements are critical to the future success of supermoto,” commented Ed Kuhlenkamp.

“During the past few years, supermoto got ahead of itself and overpromised what it could realistically deliver. I believe that happened because the racing product is so good that people thought everything else would just take care of itself, but unfortunately that is not how things work. No matter how great the entertainment product is, growing any business requires a vision, a strategy, capital, a disciplined approach and lots of hard work, “added Kuhlenkamp.

In addition to providing entertainment and a sales platform, the series also must build a solid fan base, business infrastructure and credibility with the fans, sponsors and racers. Of these three, rebuilding credibility is the most important in the near term and that is going to take time. As much as we all want things to move quickly, it will take time and creativity to rebuild the credibility of the supermoto series, especially given our current economic environment.

Projecting how long it could take, Ed said that any it usually takes about 12 to 18 months before you see the benefits of all the initial efforts/planning and work that goes into a turnaround, but after that things tend to move more rapidly because you have momentum. As far as turning around the sport ofsupermoto, a reasonable expectation would be three years to see the series emerge from where it is today into a well-organized, professional motorsport that can consistently deliver to sponsor, racer and fan expectations. Year one will obviously be the toughest given the current financial circumstances and late timing, but the good news is that the race product is already amazing, so the core building block of the series is strong.

These next two weeks are down time in the motorcycle industry, but as we start the New Year there will be more information forthcoming about the national series and the efforts being taken by Ed, Mark and Myron. In the meantime, if you are a fan, a racer, a team, a track owner, or a potential sponsor that can offer some support, or some suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact Ed Kuhlenkamp directly- he can be reached through email at either of these web sites www.build-momentum.com and www.pitpassradio.com or you can call his office directly at 336 293-9103

Dennis Anderson/SuperMotoOnline.com