AMAfan At Infineon

The wisdom of life distilled into less than a dozen words.


(Damn good thing you're not still bein' paid by the colmun inch...)

 

no rotax inside though

 

Rocky, I ask you as both a friend and a race fan: please stop Chaz from tucking his ears into his hat? It makes me angry. LOL

 

Thats not the point, racing in the years past Supersport was very good,very tight ,very competitive and very entertaining. To be honest,it was my favorite race of the weekend with FX 2nd, Superstock 3rd and Superbike last. With what little has been said and reported, im assuming,like everyone else, that it was the Buell that had the 1 hp to every 2.65 lbs advantage. Either that or someone has a 140 rwhp 600. If that is the case, [ and they are getting it without [special competition allowances], so be it.I have not heard 1 person say M4 has an unfair advantage during your current run, not 1. Most fans are happy to see a 600,any 600, win in what was traditionally a 600 class. I said before the last 2 races, the tracks would not favor the Buell, and i will go on record as saying i believe the next track will. You guys definatley know more about this than i do,you live it,literally.Tell me where i am going astray on the Buell controversey. My main hang up is the philosophy of the DSB series itself. Basing rules and rules changes on lap times and rider ability and adjusting bike performance accordingly with competition allowances seems well, not pro like. Educate me. Right now WSS has the best racing of any series, so it is possible to have a cracking race series with professional rules. Hey,they can always bring back the Pro Thunder class

 

Silent? I'm guessing Chip's just gripping and ripping.

 

You're saying she's never had an Austrian?

-jim

 

Instead of making a set of rules and having a bunch of manufactures build bikes around those rules (600SS). You take a bunch of bikes with relative performance (600's, BMW's 1150cc, Triumphs 675cc, Aprilia's 1000cc, Buell's 1125cc, and Ducati's 850cc) and you adjust the rules for somewhat equal performance.

This allows a bunch manufactures to compete and spend money in the paddock. This is a good thing and has been done in Sportscar racing for EVER because the car dudes aren't all going to make the same displacement/configuration production cars, just for racing.

Why is this so hard to understand?

 

This is what I know: I have no control over what the organizers do. But having Buell come into the paddock meant more badly needed jobs for riders and mechanics, and more economic activity in racing, which is good. They are not unbeatable. I also know that in a good year under the previous regime, my team would win one or two races no matter what we did, and we did win the final old-AMA Supersport round last fall at Laguna. Now, we are doing nothing different, yet for whatever reason, we have been competitive at every round, and that is an amazing difference. Steve Rapp leading an old-AMA Supersport race and finishing third on a private Yamaha? Not gonna happen, yet it happened Saturday at Infineon.

We're still racing, we're competitive, other people are competitive, and there is no alternative because we can't control what the organizers do.

So, I choose to take what's good and run with it, enjoy the tight competition, and continue to race.

Your choices may vary, but at least show up at a race and look around before condemning all change.

 

Now do us all a favor and go kick the crap out of the Buells at Road America so everyone will shut up about their horsepower.

 

Can I do that?

 

Yes.

And, unlike DaveK, I have never ruined a rider's career with my endorsement.

Man, Road America is going to be awesome. I love that place!

 

Why let the buell 1125, the ape 990, and NOT the Ducati 1098?

Anyone running an 848? is it competitive at all?

 

I think it's too good to be legal.

Well, I am kind of joking. I don't know if it's legal.

 

Relative performance.....

A Ducati 1098 (or 1198) would smoke the field....A Buell is about the same overall performance.

No....nobody is running an 848 and that is a very good thing because I believe it would be very competitive....but what do I know.

Stop getting hung up on displacement......motorcycle performance around a race track has a tremendous amount of variables beyond displacement.

 

Please do. Everyone can tell you guys are ready and it's only a matter of time until Chaz wins one. No better time than now.

 

Then people will ask why the 998cc Aprilia is legal and the 990cc Honda RC211V is not!

 

Well, Pegram ran an 848 last year. It looked like it had about $317,000 in bolt ons and he did not win. What was his best finish? Third? To me it kind of backs up what JU was saying about not being able to beat certain 600s until the deck was shuffled this year. I honestly have never looked so much at the makes and models being the same as I have always just cared about lap times.

I don't know...perception is an interesting thing. I did not see many people picking us at the beginning of the year to do much of anything. We have now finished top five at the last three events. If we win, would people now say it's because we have a 400cc advantage?

It's interesting, before the AMA invented Superbike racing, you had Formula 1. Many people said the sky was falling when Superbike replaced it. For quite a while, 750s ruled the AMA racing roost. After 1000s became popular, 750s died out. Now many seem to have that same staunch affinity for 600cc inline fours. Ducati went over a liter to 1098 and a year later 1198 to keep pace with the 1000cc fours. It's about performance, it's not about a sentimental love for a certain displacement or engine configuration. Im sure people will have knock down drag out fights when electric or fuel cell vehicles replace internal combustion engines in motorsports. That is, as long as we haven't killed ourselves by then.


Rocky Stargel

 

And how much will you care while you're celebrating in victory circle?

 

That will be me....I'm going to be pissed.