MotoAmerica / Road America 2020 Round 2

Cam did a 2:10.9 and made it look like a 2:20

 

"And uh what is the...the...that is the record"

 

2.10.9!

 

I don't think many thought getting Richard involved would be a step backwards. On race tires too.

 

Finally got tv
https://motoamerica.com/watch

Y’all have a good time there!

 

When/where was this confirmed? I know there were a lot of rumors about this but a lot of people were also chastised for saying a team like M4 wouldn't have done any winter testing.

 

I heard their testing was minimal. Mostly at Talledega GP which is essentially a karting track. Barber was basically a wash. Bobby Fong and Toni Elias have also talked about how minimal their testing was... kind of hard to do any without them.

That said, not sure how much was their fault. Yamaha was preparing for a transition before the season even ended. From the outside it seemed seamless. I think Suzuki jerked everyone around for a while.

I don't recall them ever really doing any testing with Jake Lewis when they campaigned him for Suzuki. They had a ton of problems with Jake's bike... remember last year when it shut down on the warm up lap and the track safety people carted him back to the starting grid on a trailer? D'oh.

 

Wasn't Bobby and Toni doing track days as well as racing CVMA/AFM over the winter?

Side note- Doyle set a new lap record in jr cup so wonder if Rocco will protest again lol.

I feel bad for Burleson, such a good guy (he's local) and threw the bike down.. i got a tow off him on an R6 last month at a trackday and he was goon riding and making it look sooo easy. If he's anything like his dad he'll be super fast once he gets past the 2008 Lorenzo bike toss

 

Toni did one with a bike his dad helped him prep. Not sure about Bobby.

Rocco seems like he's got a bit of a temper or maybe he's just super animated. He lost his size advantage from last year so he's under more competition. He's a young guy and obviously supremely fast, but if I were Doyle, I would think Rocco could easily be rattled into a mistake at this point. He'll learn how to manage that for sure, but that takes experience

 

Escalante needs about 22lbs added to his bike too lol. Didnt the Kawi used to have a slightly higher minimum weight to equalize the additional 36cc's?

 

Same with Cam.

I'm looking forward to all the Superbike riders whine about his bike's unfair advantage after this weekend... lol

 

How much does Ten Kate need to run a second R1? Someone pay this kid some real money to race in Europe!

 

The thing about Road America is it’s not that hard to find speed there. We'll get a clearer picture about how far the Yamis are ahead or not of the M4 bikes when they go to the other tracks. But for sure, Cam is on rails.

 

Dude is making the field look like a bunch of Novices. Crazy shit.

 

Cam is the class of the field, but he isn't 2s faster than anyone else. They're just firing on all cylinders... rider/team/bike.

Scholtz needs a few more mph. Bobby and Toni are being held back by the bike, and Jake needs more seat time on a bike that Cam has raced for 5 years.

RAm is terribly hard to find speed at. It's a commitment track for sure. If Cam is fast here, his gap over the Suzuki's is going to be larger (as a % of the lap time) at other tracks. As i said, his 2:10 lap looked like a 2:20 lap. That bike is hooked up.

 

In Toni’s interview during QP1

 

The year I worked for JU at M4 the team tested once in the offseason. They still won a Championship (eslick).
I Guess what I am saying is it's still possible to win even with minimal testing if you have a motivated rider and the right people in place. A little luck is welcome too

 

I'd argue the bar is a lot higher now though and the bikes more complex. How many other teams were testing as much as Attack or even Westby was? Other than Bobby crashing into Mathew, it was going to be Attack / Westby 1,2,3 in both races last round. They came to race while M4 was still playing around with swingarms the first two days.

Again, I don't think this is as much as M4's fault as it could be Suzuki NA's. Attack Yamaha was testing before M4 probably even knew they were going to run the program.

There is a reason every pro auto racing series restricts testing. The teams that can afford it, do more of it, and have a huge advantage. Because of this, F1 and even NASCAR teams do virtual testing where they work out combinations in specially built simulators, and in F1's case, their test drivers do more car development in the sims than on track. This dials in the combination even more so they can make better use of the rules mandated limited on track testing (and wind tunnel testing).

 

Not at all, the guy is quite intelligent and truly understands motorcycles.

 

I know this was discussed last year, but anyone else still seeing some FZ/MT-07 with front to rear wheel visibly "off" alignment?