Again, nobody directly involved in this will comment on the record, preferring to make cryptic statements like, "we'll see" or "ask John Farris" or "it's on the schedule" in regards to the Superbike race at VIR for 2005. Or in the case of VIR, not saying anything at all, not returning any of the seemingly dozens of phone calls we have placed to their office for comment.

However, VIR customer and 'Soup reader John Graves recently sent an e-mail to the VIR web site inquiring about the '05 AMA race. He received this reply:

John, Thanks for your inquiry re AMA in 2005. Unfortunately, VIR is not hosting the event this year although it appears on the AMA website as Sept 17 weekend. Perhaps they will be updating their website in the near future. VIR's schedule is currently in process & should be on our website within the next week or two. We do, however, have a list of spectator events already listed including 3 motorcycle events. Thanks for your interest in VIR. We hope to see you this season. Kevin Massey-Shaw

So, for reasons that remain a mystery, the series has lost an East Coast road course event on a fast and beautiful track, one with the potential to become a Road America-level event in this millennium. Wonderful, just wonderful.

The possible replacement round at Laguna Seca may seem like a remedy to some; assuredly just not to those thousands of local Superbike fans at VIR.