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The AMA Superbike Championship was created in 1976 to provide an affordable, level playing fields for professional race teams, and as a platform for motorcycle manufactureres to showcase their production sport-performance models. The model was internationally adopted by the FIM and subsequently implemented around the world.
Californian Steve Mc Laughlin won the first-ever US Superbike National at Daytona in March of '76 riding a BMW. Kawasaki was the first of the Japanese manufacturers to win a US Superbike National in 1977, and Japanese machines (especially Honda and Kawasaki) would go on to dominate the National series until Doug Polen finally broke their stranglehold in 1992 riding a Ducati.
In 1986 the road racing program was seperated from the overall Grand National Championship. Prior to this racers accumulated points across a variety of race formates, dirt, oval, TT etc. 1986 also saw the end of Formula One (primarily 500cc two-strokes) which the Superbike series previously played 2nd fiddle to.
The AMA Superbike Championship now tours with the support classes of Supersport and Formula Xtreme.
From 1989 onwards Kawasaki's AMA Superbike Results included numerous single event victories, overall championship wins by Doug Chandler in 1990, 1996 and 1997, an overall win by Scott Russell in 1992, and more recently a 2nd overall by Eric Bostrom in 2002.
Wayne Rainey owns the longest winning streak in US Superbike racing history with six consecutive victories for Kawasaki in 1983.
In 1999 Aaron Yates spent a season racing for team Muzzy Kawasaki (with Doug Chandler) in what would be Muzzy's last year as nominated official factory supported team.
AMA United States Superbike Champions
year rider bike 2003 Mat Mladin AUS Suzuki 2002 Nicky Hayden USA Honda 2001 Mat Mladin AUS Suzuki 2000 Mat Mladin AUS Suzuki 1999 Mat Mladin AUS Suzuki 1998 Ben Bostrom USA Honda 1997 Doug Chandler USA Kawasaki 1996 Doug Chandler USA Kawasaki 1995 Miguel DuHamel CAN Honda 1994 Troy Corser AUS Ducati 1993 Doug Polen USA Ducati 1992 Scott Russell USA Kawasaki 1991 Thomas Stevens USA Yamaha 1990 Doug Chandler USA Kawasaki 1989 Jamie James USA Suzuki 1988 Bubba Shobert USA HondaLinks:
- http://www.ussuperbike.com/article.php?sc=1146&aid=1169
- http://www.amaproracing.com/archive/00rr/YRBYYR/SBYRYR.HTM
- http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcmail/superbikestats.html
See Also: K Index | World Superbikes | British Superbike | Moto GP
