Superbike World Championship races into Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with uncertain future.

Before you see them, you hear them – like you can hear the hooves at the running of the bulls in Pamplona before the beasts have rounded the corner. Then the riders roar over the horizon of Ramal Straight, in excess of 120 miles per hour, on $275,000 machines.

As quickly as they appear at full speed, they’re biting hard on their brakes and flinging their bikes from left to right, dragging knees and elbows as they plunge five stories downward.

Exiting the corkscrew, the bikes rocket into Rainey Curve at 100 miles per hour, with riders tucked in behind tiny wind shields, completely one with their motorcycles.

Tens of thousands of spectators come to Laguna Seca every year to watch motorcycles take the dramatic dive through the corkscrew. They will again this weekend to see Jonathan Rea battling Kawasaki Racing teammate Tom Sykes for round nine of the Superbike World Championship. But after this year, the prospects are less certain.

Rea has the clear points edge after dominating the year to date, taking 11 of the 16 races so far – and finishing second in the other five. With 10 races remaining, someone else would have to sweep, and he would have to take an extended vacation, to knock him from the top spot.

“I have a comfortable gap,” Rea, who is Irish, told the Belfast Telegraph, “but I’m not naive enough to think it is wrapped up.”

The battle heats up for second place, with Sykes a slim 16 points ahead of Leon Haslam. Rounding out the points race is Chaz Davies, trailing Haslam by 13. (A podium finish translates to 25, 20 and 16 points, respectively.)

Another race follows as part of the MotoAmerica Superbike series, featuring Josh Hayes and Cameron Beaubier trading the number-one position all year.

Hayes has seven wins, Beaubier five. A win by either gives him the lead.

MotoAmerica is managed by local motorcycle racing icon Wayne Rainey, who lives within earshot of Laguna Seca. The U.S.-based motorcycle racing series’ stated goal is to reinvigorate motorcycle racing in North America, while grooming a new generation of domestic and international racers for the world stage.

Meanwhile, Laguna Seca and World Superbike are trying to settle on a contract for 2016 and beyond. Neither party offers too big a hint of what’s to come.

“It is a bit early for this infomation,” says Superbike spokesperson Valentina Conti.

“Of course we want to keep them here,” says Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca rep David Hart.

The negotiations happen after MotoGP left the Monterey Peninsula in 2013 and the local economy lost an estimated $100 million. World Superbike’s economic impact amounts to $40 million.

So the stakes are high, both on the track and off.

The ENI FIM Superbike World Championship. 11:30am and 2:30pm Sunday, July 19, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. 1021 Monterey-Salinas Highway. The MotoAmerica Superbike races run at 4:45pm. For tickets and full schedule, visit www.mazdaraceway.com