Motourage

AMA Pro Flat Track will conduct a milestone event this weekend with the AMA Pro K&N Filters Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com Hub City Classic at Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, MD.  This will be the 1,100th Grand National event conducted by AMA Pro Racing.

Of the many different types of motorcycle racing disciplines sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, the oldest and most traditional is the Grand National Championship.  This is a uniquely American style of motorcycle racing that competes on four types of tracks: quarter-mile, half-mile and one-mile specially prepared dirt oval tracks as well as TT events that use a track configuration with right and left turns along with a jump.

Latus Motors Ducati's Joe Kopp holds a six-point lead heading to Hagerstown

Prior to 1954, the fast and smooth Springfield Mile determined the winner of the coveted AMA Pro National Dirt Track Championship.  In 1954, the 18 points-paying race season was introduced.  The series was made up of flat track and a number of road race nationals to showcase the versatility of the machines and their riders.  As the two disciplines grew, they were eventually split into two distinctly different series.

Leading this year’s AMA Pro K&N Filters GNC Twins Championship coming into the historic Hagerstown event is Ducati rider Joe Kopp, the 2000 AMA Pro Grand National Champion followed by 2006 and 2008 Grand National Singles Champion Jake Johnson and 2009 Grand National Champion Sammy Halbert.