Lee's Performance Center to Sponsor 1000 SuperSport Class

Prostar locks in Heads-up racing for big bore street bikes in 2004

After an overwhelming reply from racers and an impressive response from prospective new racers seeking involvement, Keith Kizer, President of AMA/Prostar, officially announced that Prostar will replace Formula Superbike with a 1000cc SuperSport class based off the popular 600 SuperSport rules.

The new class will debut at the second race of the season, the MTC Elmer Trett Nationals in Atlanta, April 5-6, 2004. Reason being, that some of the new one-liter models will not be released in time for the first event, but Prostar will showcase the class as a non-points exhibition at Gainesville.

When AMA changed Supertbike rules to include 1000cc, AMA/Prostar had numerous requests to do the same. At that time Prostar had no interest in adding any new classes. Now one year later, and liter bikes being all the craze, '02 Funnybike Champion, Chip Ellis, approached Kizer at the World Finals to push the idea again due to Formula Superbike being fazed out. By the end of the weekend, 1000 SuperSport was the talk of the pits.

Prostar kept the class news relatively quiet on their own Web, but Kizer requested replies from those interested in a class through a form system on dragbike.com. From those comments an official survey was posted with
amazing results. In all, over two hundred and fifty replies were posted. Careful analysis was applied weeding out obvious bogus replies and names that could not be accounted for, a realistic one hundred and fifty replies were used for consideration.

75% of those replying to the survey were in favor of a stock 1000cc class similar to 600 SuperSport rules with some variations. 100 racers, amazingly would be purchasing new motorcycles.

Kizer stated, "With the great positive response, we almost feel comfortable with forming two classes, based on our feedback, but the stock version is where we will start." Class sponsor, Lee Shierts of Lee's Performance Center was the first person to throw his hat in the ring as the sponsor. Shierts, along with Joe Marasco, was leaning towards an overbore class that would better represent the bikes already on the street, but Shierts said he would support the class either way.

Although the class would be based mostly off 600 rules, Prostar will offer a two-race exhibition deal sometime in the summer to test the feasibility of having an outlaw 1000cc class starting in 2005.

A complete set of rules will be released by the second week of January. Notable changes from the 600 class will include the use of front-end tie down strap, 600 lb minimum weight with restrictions to where weight can be placed, 56" wheelbase and possible clutch modifications. See the front-page news on www.amaprostar.com as more develops.