Motorcyclists are ready for spring. That’s always the case, but in talking to my friends it seems more pronounced than ever. As a whole we’re ready for warm sunny days after a harsh winter throughout most of the country. After a season of discontent and a turning away from American road racing, I also sense we are ready to get past the ugliness and rapid devaluation of the AMA Superbike Championship (and its support classes) last year and look forward to a rebuilding time.

MotoGP and World Superbike are great, but by and large they are removed from us. We want to enjoy our domestic championship. We want to root for our own riders, we want to ride to the races, rub shoulders with the stars of the series and watch some good racing.

A statement by a friend of mine, a longtime fan of sport, summed it up best. When responding to my pre-season Superbike preview he said “I’m actually looking forward to this year’s AMA Superbike season. It’s too close to call and there could be a lot of different faces on the podium.”

Of course it’s just as conceivable that “Josh Hayes could run away with every race,” another reader said.

Attending the dealer show a few weeks ago there seemed to be a better mood in the Indiana Convention Center than there was the year before. At the beginning of 2009 dealers could sense the market was in freefall and the main chute had already failed. This year the feeling was more akin to the emergency chute has opened. Relief. It’s going to be a hard landing, but at least we’re going to come through this thing – maybe not unscathed (i.e. Buell), but there will be motorcycling and racing after this recession.

Daytona Bike Week is underway. A lot of racing fans aren’t there, but the races go on. We’ll be watching on the internet and TV. The fans will come back, gradually, but they will come back.