The 2009 season is shaping up to be one of the greatest battles for the AMA Grand National Championship in series history. Sammy Halbert, Jared Mees and Kenny Coolbeth are separated by just six points and JR Schnabel Joe Kopp and Jake Johnson are all still very much in contention for the crown.

In 2007 Kenny Coolbeth made the split championship a mute point when he won both the Grand National Twins and Singles Championships. So far he is the only one who has been able to pull off that feat. (Larry Lawrence photo)

There’s only one problem – there is no “AMA Grand National Championship” and the points battle I just described to you is the mythical Grand National standings (as tracked by veteran photographer Dave Hoenig and his wife Kathy on the awesome website www.flattrakfotos.com).

In case you missed it the AMA Grand National Championship (which included road racing through 1985) was split even further in 2006 and now we have two AMA Grand National Champions – a Twins Champ and a Singles Champ. Kenny Coolbeth solved the problem in 2007 when he won both titles to become the undisputed AMA Grand National Champion. Other than that year though we’ve had split champions. In 2006 it was Coolbeth in GNC Twins and Jake Johnson in GNC Singles. In ’07 Coolbeth won them both and then last year it was Coolbeth and Johnson again.

The original idea for the split series was that the manufacturers would all get behind the Grand National Singles class, since they essentially run 450cc motocross bikes, and it would bring factory money and teams to the series. It hasn’t quite worked out; in fact there is so little money in the GNC Singles side of things it really is a bit of a joke.

When the DMG took over AMA racing one of the first things they promised was to reunite the series into a single championship, but it didn’t happen. After talking to officials what it basically boils down to is the manufacturers involved like the split series. Harley-Davidson certainly doesn’t want to take the chance of another manufacturer winning the title on their playground. It’s unlikely, but if a rider had a spectacular Singles campaign it’s possible they could win the overall Grand National title and this would be a disaster.

The Japanese makers enjoy winning the GNC Singles title. It’s another national championship to boast about, even though they put very little money towards winning that title.

Joe Kopp racing at the famous Peoria TT. The race is one of the all-time classics in AMA racing, but it's been diminished somewhat since it's now just an AMA GNC Singles event. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Another factor is a GNC Singles race is much cheaper to a promoter and theoretically could be an entry point for additional promoters, though it hasn’t worked well either. Besides Daytona and Peoria, a GNC Singles only weekend has not been successful. The bottom line is the real hardcore fans of Grand National racing could care less about watching motocross bikes. They want to see, feel and hear the real thing, the big Harley XRs.

Almost everyone in the sport hates the split title. That includes fans, riders and even the sanctioning body.

To me the solution is simple: reunite the Grand National Championship… period. If you want to ensure Harley will win the crown, pay fewer points at the GNC Singles rounds, but, the last thing flat track racing needs right now is more fragmentation.

Now this is a totally different subject, but I’ll throw it in. This may sound crazy, but I always thought a cool way to bolster AMA Supermoto, would be to select a few rounds that would count towards AMA Supermoto and AMA Grand National points. It would benefit both championships and bring in new riders to both series, even if only for a few rounds.

Of course the Supermoto course would have to be old school, meaning no real motocross section and definitely no urban jumps. To me this would create some much needed excitement in both championships, and who knows maybe rider like Jeff Ward and Mark Burkhart would come and do Peoria or the Springfield TT, and maybe JR Schnabel and Jake Johnson would do a few Supermoto rounds.

But back to the point – it’s time to give us back a single AMA Grand National Champion. Going to one of the premier events in the history of American motorcycle racing this weekend in Peoria magnifies the need to get this done. While still important as a stand-alone event, Peoria’s long-term reputation stands to lose if this split championship continues.

Give the title to the rider who can do well on all four types of flat track venues – Mile, Half-Mile, TT and Short Track. That’s what the “Grand” in Grand National is all about.