After a tumultuous 2009 season, AMA Pro Road Racing is back for 2010, announcing a nine-race schedule in a recent press release. In the same statement, AMA Pro Road Racing confirms “negotiations are ongoing for a tenth race,” with notable omissions for the tentative ’10 schedule being Miller Motorsports Park and Laguna Seca.

The season will kick off at with its traditional start at Daytona, with the 69th running of the Daytona 200. Also tradition now, it would seem, the 200 will run under the lights. The prestigious race will be televised live on Speed Channel Friday, March 5.

Speed will televise the remaining eight rounds with “flag-to-flag same weekend coverage of the two premier classes.” We assume those “two premier classes” (a term which seems oxymoronic) are still American Superbike and Daytona SportBike. Without mentioning the race class names, the AMA release does promise the return, post Daytona, of the dual race weekend format from last year: a pair of 50-mile sprints on Saturday and Sunday.

After Daytona the series heads to the West Coast and the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, followed by Road Atlanta, then back to California at Infineon. The Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin marks the halfway mark, and the remaining schedule stays back East at Mid-Ohio, VIR, New Jersey, with the close slated at Barber.

While the Miller and Laguna absences are a glaring hole in the schedule, it is notable that the Topeka round is also gone. AMA fans will recall the Topeka circuit was boycotted by both Mat Mladin and Jamie Hacking due to safety concerns.

AMA Pro President Roger Edmondson from PR: “It is with great enthusiasm that we announce the continuation of a great partnership with SPEED. Their commitment to the growth of our sport and their unique ability to capture the excitement that the athletes and machines of our sport put on display every race weekend made continuing our relationship an easy decision. With our broadcast partner in place and our schedule visiting the best venues in the United States, we expect 2010 to be a great year and look forward to kicking off the season in Daytona."

2010 Confirmed AMA Pro Road Racing Events
March 3 - 5 Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Florida)
March 26 - 28 Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, California)
April 16 - 18 Road Atlanta (Braselton, Georgia)
May 14 - 16 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma, California)
June 4 - 6 Road America (Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin)
July 16 - 18 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Lexington, Ohio)
August 13 - 15 Virginia International Raceway (Alton, Virginia)
September 3 - 5 New Jersey Motorsports Park (Millville, New Jersey)
September 24 - 26 Barber Motorsports Park (Birmingham, Alabama)