Eric Bostroms next excuse will be....

Actually someone said the 850 Raptor would get beaten by a Supersport GSXR750. I was clarifying the point that they were wrong and stating that the bored out FXtreme GSXR were fairly evenly matched with similarly prepped Raptors. Both bikes, Kawi and Suzuki could be brought under the FXtreme minimum weight limits so when they hit the track they were the same weight.

 

well its a small world its one of his(grigg's) bikes that i'm talking about....I just changed the frame and a couple things hear and there.

 

LOL Very cool. I can assure you that those bikes were no pigs. We(mostly Steve Sr.) lightened the shit out of them and didn't even use carbon fiber bodywork. Those were very good machines and Steve was good on them. They had A LOT of money in those bikes.

Did you get the 96 or the newer one(I beleive it was a 98)?

 

I claimed that I felt as though the 835 CC Raptor would have difficulty beating the same spec year GSXR in Suspersport livery.

You can check the times here:
http://www.amaproracing.com/00rr/daytonabeach/

I took the most difficult race of the year to win and compared the times.

KAW SBK: 1:50 - 1:50 - 1:55 = AVG LAP of 1:52:30

GSXR SS: 1:53 - 1:54 - 1:55 = AVG LAP of 1:54:00
_________________________________________________

Difference = 01:30:00 - AVG LAP

I compared the Kawsaki SBK's because those are as close to the Raptor's as possible without going into the years where the KAW's were allowed a significant overbore. In comparison, the GSXR SS bikes were only 1:30 off the pace of the KAW SBK's. A second and a half as opposed to Full Superbike motor, Ohlins front suspension, etc... As well, the Raptor's didn't have all the bits of the SBK's so this presents an interesting argument...

Your thoughts?

 

I have the 98 ......Also for hyper this is the list:
"RR" Frame not the Raptor frame..it is heavier
Ohlins Superbike Front end Q/C
Ohlins Rear
Mychron3+ Dash
Muzzy brackets
Akropovic Evo2
Marchesini's
Q/C REAR
835 motor....gear driven you name it....
Carbon Fiber bodywork
SBK spec W/Raptor motor

 

Interesting argument but I know that the Raptors we raced hit the FXtreme track with significantly more horsepower than the Superstock GSXRs... were never beaten by one in FXtreme and the bikes had weight added to meet minimum weight requirement. Also, we occasionally beat the Valvoline overbore FXtreme bikes we raced against and when we did get beat it was with similar times. I'm going with the thinking that if Superstock GSXRs were as good then Mr. Perry and JU would have opted to run the Superstock bikes in FXtreme.

I would look up other race tracks in 2000 AMA racing and compare the Raptor's FXtreme lap times to the times of the Superstock bikes at that track. Could also use 99 but Steve's(aka the Raptor's) best year was 2000 up until the crash at Brainerd.

What's also interesting is how close in lap times all classes in AMA have been over the last 5 years. 600SS times aren't all that much off of Superbike when you look at factory guys.

 

One thing I never understood is what happened to Grigg. He was one of the strongest runners and always ran a Kawasaki. But seemed as though he just disappeared...

 

He certainly was a very strong runner. One of the best there was on a Kawi and that includes the factory Muzzy boys. Steve is actually doing quite well. He of course did a little bit of endurance racing with Opie Caylor's team so he bought a GSXR750 and did a couple of AMA Superstock races that year but then retired for good the next season. When Steve broke his left femur for the second time in 2000 at Brainard it got him to thinking about the future and pain(my thinking, not something he's told me) plus they were spending a ton of money each year and Steve Sr. is wanting to retire at some point from their business. Biggest factor was he married his girlfriend during this time and they have a child. So basicially Steve Jr kind of settled down and is doing quite well as a Dad. Did I mention the guy is a very accomplished scratch golfer as in close to PGA caliber? So you can just guess what he does now. I do talk to them every few months and go out to lunch with them when I'm in the Asheville area.

I owe the Grigg's alot with regards to my motorcycling. I travelled throughout the US with them during Steve's entire pro racing career and worked with 4 of the top tuners in the AMA during this time. It taught me a huge amount about racing.

 

Second in Practice!

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2005/Apr/y042905d.htm


David

 

So maybe this is the race this year where he just decides to stop worrying and ride the bitch

 

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. E-Boz will shine at Fontana and Pike's Peak.

Get him a damn inline-4!

 

Hopefully Sears, Laguna, and VIR too!

David

 

EBoz is at home and this may be his chance to shine... But history shows that Mladin and Hodgson can both pull .25/.50 out of their pocket... If practice is this close, I would imagine race pace for a few laps could hit in the 1:24's...