Official 2019 MotoAmerica silly season thread.

Are we not going to discuss K.W. on a duc???

 

Even dragged his mom in on that one.

 

A Grom should be next....

 

Come up think of it, he hasn't made any announcements of his plans.

 

Listened to the Off Track with Carruthers and Bice podcast and he does mention a potential switch to BMW, but nothing final.

 

I highly doubt anyone is going to campaign a new V4 Duc in MotoAmerica until it's been thoroughly developed overseas first and there's significant financial backing to foot some of those bills.

 

His instagram post says otherwise unless he is trolling like Herrin. It doesnt look that way though.

 

How do you figure that?

He only has 1 post from earlier today and all it says is that he took a V4S (which is the 1100CC's model not legal for MotoAmerica anyway) for a spin courtesy of a local dealership and the Inde track. I don't see him making any replies to any of the commenters asking him if he has plans to ride a Duc next year.

Knowing how expensive and finicky Ducs are to setup and make competitive out of the gate I can't imagine he'd want to campaign a blank sheet motorcycle seeing as how the only data out there on the V4R is the stuff Chaz/Redding and Co. are compiling right now and methinks getting hands on any of that (or the corresponding hard parts) is going to cost MUCHO $$$.



.....having said all that, I sincerely hope I'm wrong

 

He said he matched his R1 lap time on the Duc and it was bone stock. And also his first time riding it. He said he will most likely be changing brands for next year and he'd love to race the Ducati.

 

But it’s not a 1000cc bike and in a higher state of tune than the R1 (better electronics, engine development more refined, etc), so take away displacement and probably not realize as many gains from stock in Superbike trim.

By all means, it should be faster, just think you’re comparing apples to oranges.

 

He said his lap times were identical to a stock R1....he didn't say that he turned the same lap times on the V4S as he did on his MA R1 Superbike

 

Impossible. It's the fastestest thing ever.

 

I'm sure some of that was due to the fact the R1 (even in stock trim) is a very familiar platform to him obviously and he literally just slung a leg over the Duc. But again, looking at things historically, unless you are taken under the wing of Ducati Corse it's going to be difficult making that bike competitive against Yosh and Yamaha factories. And I don't think KW wants to just be out there as a product ambassador for Ducati, he wants to win and I think he's got the skills to do it. And as mentioned, he was riding the 1100cc bike which isn't what would be legal for SBK class anyway. He'd have to be competing on the 998cc V4R which no one in this country has started any development yet....hell I don't think there are any even on this side of the pond yet (aside from the ones shipped around to the IMS shows).

Like I said, I HOPE I'm wrong and he does bring the Duc out there and makes it competitive. I just don't see it as a realistic fork in the road to take....at least not for 2019, too soon I'm thinking. Maybe after the bike's been out for a season and developed and there's some usable data (especially on US Dunlop slicks) for it.

 

I think it's a fair comparison. I listened to it again and he said stock R1 (I thought he said "his" R1). Anyways it's Stock vs. Stock. He has years of seat time on the R1 and he matched that lap time at a track day his first time riding the Duc . Not to mention the V4R is faster than the V4S. I think he'd be faster on a SBK Ducati than SBK R1 (barring any Dunlop induced problems ).

 

The point is the ducati can clearly put the power to the ground (more relevant than 100cc), Wyman is faster than shit, and isn't the v4R going to be more powerful anyway?

I'm excited to hear what his final decision is. I hope he gets some sort of factory support, even if it's small

 

History shows us racing a Ducati without a level of factory support is a futile undertaking. You need both $ and technical support.

 

Who was last to try over here? Pegram in 2010?

 

Where is the fun of that... I am still waiting for someone to say he is switching to Kawasaki or Suzuki.

 

There were some privateer wildcards at a few races since on the Panigale R. I know Taylor Knapp rode one, and there was also the one with the FDNY tribute bike at NJMP a couple of years running.