T


en years ago, you couldn’t have gotten me interested in motorcycle racing if you dipped the bikes in chocolate and paved the track with gold. Race bikes were so far removed


from the riding I did (and still do) on a day- to-day basis that I just couldn’t find any connection. Then I met Nate Kern. Nate made his reputation racing BMW


motorcycles, especially the R 1200 S. My former local chartered club, BMW Bikers of Metropolitan Washington, had a number of N8! fans, and we organized rides out to Summit Point, West Virginia, to cheer for Nate and watch the races. It was the club’s enthusiasm and Nate’s infectious passion


for the sport that got me paying attention to racing. On the rare occasions I could find motor-


cycle racing on TV, it was MotoGP or World Superbike (WSBK). Great races, but very few Americans. It was fun to cheer for Loris Capirossi, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch the rise of Marc Marquez the last few years, but those circuits lack that hometown team to root for. Enter MotoAmerica. Legendary motorcycle racer and AMA


Hall of Fame inductee Wayne Rainey decided a few years ago that the USA needed a premier racing circuit. He and some colleagues set about working with the AMA to establish such a circuit and make it


work. After the demise of the AMA Super- bike Series and the unwillingness or inabil- ity of World Superbike and MotoGP to stage more events in the United States, MotoAmerica—now in its second season— has stepped up to run a premier profes- sional motorcycle racing circuit populated primarily with American riders and staging all of its events in the U.S. One of the appeals of MotoAmerica is


that it serves as a funnel to push America’s best and fastest riders on to international competition. When more American riders compete in World Superbike and MotoGP there will be more of a home team to root for and who knows, maybe even another Wayne Rainey someday.


September 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS 85


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