MotoAmerica rides for 2018

And yet there's two ZX10s in the superbike championship chase. Along with a Ducati, a Yamaha, a BMW, and a Honda. Is this an indication of rules parity?

 

Yes, that is what I meant (at least racing in North America). And wait, are you accusing Japanese companies of being pro-Japanese!? I never...

 

Which is irrelevant. That comes down to who will offer them the best bulk deal; and those aren't even the "real" thing.

Tire manufacturers make a cheaper OEM variant. That's why you see the little or "s" or "sp" or "f" after the tire name "BT-016f" (for example, I can't remember which particular letter BT uses).

That has been a common thing at least as long as I've been into bikes. That's why you could buy an "aftermarket" version of the exact same tire that came on the bike and get an improvement.

 

NEVER!

 

You know I can't help but feel like he liked that bike better tho. His laptimes were more consistent over race distance the entire time he was racing that bike. He doesn't seem to jive with the new bike as well. I mean hell he did the total race at New Jersey within 1 second of the year prior when he was racing that bike.

 

Ok, that comment is being twisted way out of context. I wasn't taking anything away from Scholtz or anyone else. Dude is an amazing rider (IMO, so is Wyman).

My point was that the series is dominated by 4 bikes (Yosh and Graves). I can't remember them being beaten heads up, in the dry, when nobody ran off track, had a mechanical, etc. I'm talking about a heads up battle to the end, where Yosh and Graves finished something like 7th and 8th.

I'm not saying it has never happened. Like I said, not all the races are on YouTube yet so I might have missed it. But on any given weekend the odds are like 100-1 or some shit that one of those 4 bikes is going to win (under normal circumstances, meaning a dry race with everyone staying on track).

That wasn't a slight on the other riders, I was simply saying it would be great if we had more Factory-level support (Kawi, Ducati, etc), or if the rules were setup where Factory support is almost irrelevant. That way on any given weekend someone might win, or finish 12 (as is the case in BSB).

 

Exactly.

 

I think that is certainly a factor. You take away rider aids (and the bazillion dollars a year to manage them) which is all the spec ecu is really doing it helps. The spec ecu is dumming down the bikes to make them more equal i.e. Say Yamaha has a better Magnetti system than a Ducati it brings it to more mechanicals of the bikes and riders vs mechanicals plus electronics / rider. I don't agree with a 200hp bike with no tc or wheelie control but it's damn fun to watch.

 

I've speculated on that a bit as well. It almost seems like the first gen crossplank was really his baby after they put so much work into making it a competitive bike.

 

Not always. Sometimes they develop a special model bike in conjunction with a particular tire. You'll see it in the marketing. If Kawasaki was publicly stating a fondness for Pirelli like someone posted, I thought maybe they'd set up an arrangement with Pirelli for their top bikes like the KRT ZX-10 and the H2. The other thing that may factor in is whether there's a tire brand sticker on the race replica bikes!

 

I didn't even read yours actually, just replied to Sean's. you however do suck and I hope your day is filled with mis placed non symmetrical items.

 

So for less than a decade...

 

OK ,
Sorry guys, I said NO because I was driving down the road. The shitty fact of the matter is that NO means there isn't any support available to anyone in the U.S.A. from Kawi. I was told this by a senior at Kawi in a meeting, I was told that they are under Japan's guise and will make a move when instructed to do so unfortunately. So for me there is no one more deserving of great Kawi support than George Latus and the Latus team with Bobby Fong.
In other news as you know Mat Scholtz will be racing for us again in 2018 and we will start testing the first week in October with various parts. Brian Livengood will again for the 4th year be building and tuning the Yamalube Westby Racing R1's. We are extremely grateful to everyone who supports us and to , MotoAmerica for announcing a clear path towards the future. I feel that a lot of times the BBS is a sounding board for frustration and BS talk along with speculation, that being said it's always fun to watch. In 2018 we are going to bump up our activation at track and on social media. With that being said we would also like to be as transparent as possible with our fan base so..............ask away and we will do our best to answer questions about MotoAmerica, the series and of course Westby Racing's past, present and always future.
Respectfully,
Chuck Giacchetto

 

Any chance you guys are going to do anything outside of superbike? Maybe somebody on an R6 or even an R3 or FZ-7 in the newly expanded little bike classes?

 

Even a Shinko?

 

Cmon Chuck, don't post and drive.

 

I'm pretty sure the BSB spec ecu has all the rider aids. They prob aren't as sophisticated as WSBK Kawi, but still good. They finally got an auto blipper this year too.

IMO, the closer BSB grid is from parity in manchinery AND budgets. Without factories spending huge amounts in that series, the reasonable amount needed to win is smaller. Teams afford that, look better, and get sponsorship easier. Riders get paid, the series is healthier, etc. The parity is just better for everyone.

 

Nope, rider aids are disabled on the BSB ecu.

ETA: outside of the blippers which you just mentioned.

 

I know this is the beeb and all, but I'm surprised at the number of folks that seem to be dismissing Hayes as a possible championship contender for next year. I know he didn't have the best year and that other guys have stepped up, but I' pretty sure Hayes still has the drive and ability to get it done.