Round 5 |Komatsu MotoAmerica Superbikes at the Ridge | Aug 28 - 30

I'm kind of surprised by the sentiment and logic on here regarding the 636. Personally, I've never understood why there's one bike with the same engine configuration that's allowed a 6% displacement advantage. It also shouldn't be surprising that the cries of complaint are higher, now that the bike is winning. I also don't care that the lap times are slower than past seasons. The question should be: "are the homologated bikes for the class on equal footing?" I could ride Beaubier's bike in the JR cup and I'd still lose. It doesn't mean the bike should be allowed in that class.

I agree that Richie is a top talent and was more and more commonly running near the podium in the past few years. He'd surely be winning races on a 600 as well. That isn't the point. The point is making a fair racing class. As it is, it's a class with two sets of rules.

 

I hope the OEMs all go to 636, and then the next year someone releases a 700, and then the next year . . .

we get back to the greatest sportbikes ever made, the 750s.

 

I loved my GPz750 so much, I could have kissed her. I'm not the only one who felt that way.

 

Yessssssss.

 

So they pushed BP's regular guy to the side? The guy responsible for Martin Cardenas' bikes for his Championship years?
For Robert Ward, name brand tuner?
The results were massive? Where?
Same results, Ken..

 

I get your points.

Kawasaki's decision to go with the extra 36ccs was more of a marketing move to sell more sportbikes than it was to gain a competitive advantage in racing. When they went back to the 636 motor in 2013, they made the chassis a little more 'street friendly' as well. MotoAmerica didn't have to homologate it for racing. It's a legal bike, and if it were such a formidable weapon, we'd see way more guys on it.

Also, I'll be damned, but having watched all the races, I'm not seeing that bike pull away on horsepower.

Here are some top speed figures. I know it's just one data point that doesn't tell the whole picture, but it does lend some context.

Road America 2, race 2:

• Paasch: 156.7mph
• SDK: 155.2mph
• Escalante: 154.9mph

Road Atlanta, race 2:

• Paasch: 159.8mph
• SDK: 158.6mph
• Escalante: 160.7mph

Pittsburgh, race 2:

• Paasch: 149.3mph
• SDK: 147.9mph
• Escalante: 149.3mph

The Ridge, race 1:

• Paasch: 146.1mph
• SDK: 146.0mph
• Escalante: 146.7mph

For perspective, go look at the speed differences in Superbike. These Supersport bikes are very evenly matched.

 

the 636.. Escalante has impressed me for the past 2 seasons, but this year he's simply incredible. The first couple rounds, I mentioned to many "you gotta see what this guy does on the bike, it's almost unreal".. The guy can RIDE a motorbike. Another integral part of the team success is D.Keys. He's clearly the right guy for the job, having won back to back superstock championships, having his guy win nearly every supersport race this year, and he himself, having raced and doing testing since, forever. I also get the bike is dated, that it hasn't been updated, it doesn't have secondary shower injectors (i think), etc.
SO.. IF the 636 it's such a disadvantage, such a turd...honest question here... why did the choose this bike ? Why didn't they go with the same 600cc used in WSS ? just wondering.

 

If the rulebook says I can run a 636 in the 600 class, I'm certainly going to look into it. It has not set the world on fire previously, so I'm also going to consider that.

 

Blame Kawasaki, not the rider or the team. If someone wants to get a 600cc ZX6R now, you can't...unless you get a 2009-2012 model, which doesn't pay contingency and is simply an old bike. Kawasaki made a 636cc bike and that's all they have now, take it or leave it. Lots of racing organizations have deemed this bike to be equivalent, and no advantage has been found so far in any of the series that allowed it to race against R6's, GSXR600s, and CBR600s. So why all the fuss? Let 'em race. Nobody's talking about the Triumph or the MV, which are 75cc more and make more power and torque. Nobody cared about the Ducati 848 being allowed to race against 600s in some series in the past which had a significant power advantage. And nobody cared about the 636 until this year. Everyone that's not winning always wants to complain about the winning bike because that's the easiest thing to do, when in fact maybe it's a simple matter of the rider being better.

 

You may bitch pop yourself. I'm on vacation.

 

To be fair, there was a great deal of complaining when Buell ran a one million cc bike against the 600s.

 

Guess the line of ridiculousness has to be drawn somewhere, like when you double everyone else in displacement

 

What is the big deal? That phrase is hardly anything but mainstream.
Richard Chambers was saying it a lot the last two times he was in NH announcing the USCRA races.
LRRS announcer Nick Huff says it frequently.
Nobody complains.

 

Could this possibly be an act, like George Burns and Gracie Allen?

 

Remember how you felt when you heard "OK boomer" 28 times a day? Feel the hate. Let it flow through you.

 

Hi Dave! Robin of course does an amazing job and is still there. In my opinion, RW has a deeper understanding of the data and what to do with it. Massive as he was now getting to race with the front 2, instead of trailing them.

Ken

 

This is pretty much playing out in the ultralight class as the once-250s are now up to 400s.

I look forward to the Yamaha R5 and Suzuki’s response with a 650 twin.

 

Buell had a significant disadvantage, though, to equalize the playing field.

The front wheel weighed as much as the entire rest of the field.

 

I considered it to be very sporting of them to give up any semblance of front brakes in a voluntary attempt to achieve parity.

 

I thought I heard on one of the broadcasts that Chuck Graves was analyzing the team’s data between sessions as well via email or some electronic media. That probably doesn’t hurt either.

High level team effort for sure, but that still doesn’t get you a championship without a top rider.