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250 ninjas in V5?

Discussion in 'WERA Vintage' started by grady anderson, Jan 10, 2015.

  1. grady anderson

    grady anderson Well-Known Member

    I was just looking over the RRW article on the GNF and noticed a bunch of 250 Kawasakis in the results for V5
    Looking in the rulebook I am missing how they are eligible for that class
    Are they being classified as small bore EX500s?
    Just curious.....they seem a little current for Vintage
     
  2. r6boater

    r6boater Logged out

    Silent acceptance.
     
  3. V5 Racer

    V5 Racer Yo!

    This. I've been on both sides of the fence, racing a 250 in V5 and racing legitimate V5 bikes in the class. They can't keep up with the front of the V5 pack if the heat is on, I was the tail end of the front runners at the GNF and there was one 250 that kept up with me (and that was also the very first day I got to ride the FZ where it was actually running properly, now that I am getting accustomed to the machine I don't envision a 250 being a problem again). I kept a swarm of them behind me at Road Atlanta this summer on my ratty ex500, even managed to piss off a few of them. If they are going to race in a vintage class they need to understand some of this vintage stuff still has vintage brakes. All that said, they fill out the grid and make tire money available so I see it as a good thing.
     
  4. WERA33

    WERA33 Well-Known Member

    Legal for V6lw also. Gives you two classes on Sat.:up:
     
  5. Mongo

    Mongo Administrator

    I'll have to fix the rules, been allowing it for a while.
     
  6. cajun636

    cajun636 Honda Junkie.

    Yep. I wasn't sure why we moved to V5 instead of V6LW where I believe Kurt and the original sippy cup crew ran.
     
  7. El Skwid!

    El Skwid! Old guy, old bikes

    I thought they were indexed in due to low hp, & there was no E class then?
    Time to move them out, yes?
     
  8. Mongo

    Mongo Administrator

    Why move them out?

    Are they causing some issue I don't know about?
     
  9. El Skwid!

    El Skwid! Old guy, old bikes

    What was the original rationale to put them in?
    I think the EX500 is a stretch for that class; build a strong motor for one & run away with it.
    Just look at the last two GNFs, if not more.
    I'm only a part-timer to 5, let the 'real' guys weigh in.

    Just the difference in braking/cornerspeed mentioned above. It gets a little hairy, but the 250's & their riders are light so they bounce off the 500's.
     
  10. Mongo

    Mongo Administrator

    Rationale was grid filler and the old ones fit the rules if I remember correctly so it was a case of allowing the updated version in a class the older one could already run since the update didn't make it much if any faster.

    More than just the 250's causing the same kinds of issues when it comes to corner speed etc... in vintage racing. They may stand out because they're green but you guys have that kind of stuff happening every race and every practice.

    As for the EX500 - it's not a dominant V5 machine if someone really wanted to make one that fits the rest of the rules. Even a Stroman level hand grenade.
     
  11. El Skwid!

    El Skwid! Old guy, old bikes

    Leaving them in is acceptable for just the grid filler reasons.
    The corner speed etc is just part of racing/practice to me; they probably complain about us braking too much, as Kurt mentioned.

    It's a simple case of, "It didn't bother me enough to complain, but since someone else brought it up, I'll gladly pile on." :D
     
  12. cajun636

    cajun636 Honda Junkie.

    The proper bike would be a old GS1000's which can put out as high as 110-120ish. Those are the real V5 bikes. But no one shows up with one.
     
  13. M Aderholdt

    M Aderholdt Active Member

    Keep the first gen ninja 250, with 16s, in V5.......cause I got one....:D
     
  14. El Skwid!

    El Skwid! Old guy, old bikes

    Some Honda fan in the SE should build out a CB750 like that guy up north did.
    Hmmm, who could do that?
     
  15. t500racer

    t500racer Never Fails To Fail

    I tend to agree with you, and I actually race an EX500 in V5. While I understand the performance indexing and grid-filling, it would be nice to actually see vintage bikes in their proper vintage classes. But until the vintage racers come out/come back and fill the grids, that probably won't happen.
     
  16. V5 Racer

    V5 Racer Yo!

    The Hawks skeert us away from V6LW? To be honest I don't recall why, I imagine someone said "let's do V5 instead" and everyone else followed.

    Guy brought a big GS to Barber a few years ago, I had a lot of fun racing with him for a couple of laps on my 97 250 (complete with 16" bias ply tires). That thing was a fearsome beast in a straight line but wouldn't go around a corner worth anything. He said it was their drag bike and their roadrace prep was to stick a stock swingarm on it and load it on the trailer, I would believe it because the vapor trail it left was very busa-esque.

    Neat article. http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/suzuki-motorcycles-gs-papers-gs-to-gsx-r
     
  17. rk97

    rk97 Well-Known Member

    I have said it a few times before, but I would love to see separate scoring for 16" wheel 250's.

    I would defer to others for the best way to accomplish that, be it 16" wheels means SuperStock and 17" means SuperBike, or simply moving the 16" 250 into V5, etc.

    The pre 2008 models are just so disgustingly cheap, it's a shame that they're no longer competitive in E class. I'd really love to see a "stock 250" class that only allows springs, brake levers, etc. Run stock rearsets and the like. It's not like it's hard or expensive to find replacement stock pegs, even if they don't crash as well as woodcrafts.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2015
  18. dickie doo

    dickie doo Well-Known Member

    Leave V5 alone. I can hang with some of the 500s at tracks like Road A on my 250. I don't see an issue.
     
  19. V5 Racer

    V5 Racer Yo!

    I have thought the older 16" wheel bikes could/should slot into V4.

    No longer competitive? Here is Parrish on his way to 3rd place at the '12 GNF riding a truly ratty old '97 ex250. How ratty? That bike blew puffs of blue smoke on gear changes and had a stock 1st gen SV650 shock on the rear, stock rearsets, stock handlebars, stock bodywork, even had the grab handle on the back. It did have 17" wheels on it, though.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2015
  20. rk97

    rk97 Well-Known Member

    How much does the 17" wheel conversion cost?
     

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