In the wake of last week’s amendment to Michigan’s helmet laws, we take a look at another recently enacted piece of motorcycle-related legislation. Virginia has now joined 48 other states in allowing two motorcycles to travel side-by-side in the same lane.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell actually signed House Bill 97, on Feb. 28 but the legislation won’t go into effect until July 1, well into the riding season. The Bill amends section 46.2-857, removing motorcycles from the text designating lane sharing between two vehicles as “reckless driving”. It also adds text to state the section does not restrict motorcycles from sharing the same lane. Continue Reading »

Virginia International Raceway has issued a statement explaining the cancellation of a scheduled AMA Superbike round, contradicting some of the statements made by David Atlas, AMA Pro Racing chief operating officer.

Explaining that there are two sides to every story, the VIR release claims AMA Pro Racing did not deliver a proposed contract for the 2011 event until early June 2011, leaving VIR without enough time to finalize the contract and begin promoting the event before the scheduled Aug. 12-14 date.

Atlas had told several media outlets including SpeedTV, the series’ broadcasting partner that terms were finalized in December 2010.

We’re not going to pick sides on this “he said, she said” issue, but VIR may be losing the public relations battle by not explaining its side of the story sooner. AMA Pro Racing has to tread carefully however, as the management at other race tracks is no doubt keeping a close eye on how things unfold.

Read the full press release from VIR following the jump.

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VIR Pulls Itself from 2011 AMA Pro Racing Schedule

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In a surprising move, Virginia International Raceway announced it would not host its scheduled AMA Pro Racing round, just a month before the event was to take place.

The Alton, Va., circuit was set to host AMA Pro Racing on Aug. 12-14 but VIR officials have now decided against hosting or promoting the event. VIR released a brief statement to the media on July 11, reading:

“No AMA Pro Racing event will take place at VIR in 2011. If circumstances are conducive in 2012, VIR looks forward to renewing its relationship with AMA Pro Racing.”

No other explanation was provided by VIR.

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