AMA 1000 class is dead. At Barber and it's just sad

Huh?

 

Lots of unusual ideas in this thread.

Pro Racing is a team sport, something Josh will certainly confirm. You win championships when everything clicks, bike, rider, rider with his bike, team, setup you name it. The Yamaha team is clicking and that makes it unstoppable, even Herrin is out front although Josh is certainly on top.

The attention to resources is very misguided in my opinion. Given something like WSBK rules, then why yes, resources are everything. The AMA rulebook is now relatively limited and additional resources won't automatically buy more competitive parts. Dumping 10X funding in name-your-team isn't going to necessarily even put them on the podium.

My opinion (take it for what you want) is that deficiencies in a motorcycle are unrecoverable in the current rules environment. The bikes are a pros & cons scenario when they're fresh out of the box. If the rules support me fixing my cons, then great. If they don't....

Perhaps two examples would help:

1) The BMW S1000RR needs a new transmission to be competitive. This is against the rules, even subbing in a different 1st and 2nd gear are against the rules. Even though it's relatively inexpensive. If you want to race a BMW, you're stuck and sorry about your bad luck.

2) The Yamaha R1 needs extensive frame modifications to be competitive and - you guessed it - the rule book supports adding material to frames, just what the doctor ordered! If you want to race a Yamaha, add your frame parts and have many different frames for different tracks, luckily you don't need new gears though - 'cause that'd be too expensive.

Now take the BMW team and quadruple their budget, guess what, you're still not getting a new $1000 dollar 1st gear. Take the Yamaha team and halve their budget, they're still racing with their frames.

I'm not taking anything away from Yamaha, quite the opposite, I'm just trying to illustrate why resources aren't really the issue. In this case, Yamaha has a great rider, on a great bike with a great crew, and that's how Championships are made.

 

Good post.

The '12 BMW is supposed to be a lot better, is Pegram running the '11 model due to financial reasons?

I think the Gixxer is on the short end of that stick also. It isn't far from being the same bike since '06 and there just isn't much else they can do to get anymore out of it.

And the 2012 is essentially the same bike again.

Im curious to see what 2013 will bring. Not just for the Gix, the R6 is supposed to be new for 2013 and the 675 is too. Supposedly, the 675 is going to be all-new from the ground up with major changes as is no more undertail exhaust, drastically different geometry etc.

 

A couple years ago , ( even last year) the GSXR was faster on the straits. Allowing Blake and Tommy to follow then blip for the win on the last strait.. Now they have the about the same top end.. So it is fair.. Even when Blake was wringing his arm on the trottle at Road America.. He was actually inching past the R1...... The Yosh rider is just spoiled.. He does not having the dominate fastest bike on the track anymore in my opinion...But still might have the fastest bike on the track ( barely)

 

Howdy,

My "I don't know a fucking thing" take on it is that Graves went from a one rider team to a two rider team (twice the data) and Yosh went from a two rider team to a one rider team (half the data). Well, and plus a privateer with deep pockets.

And yeah, this one too.

Mark

 

Don't worry Josh, we won't tell your bosses what Mongo said! Make what you can and love what you do... Watching you is awesome from where I'm sitting!

 

Mladin used to complain that his 2009 GSXR-1000 was down on power too. But he still went out and won the championship, albeit not in the same dominant fashion as he lost a couple races to Josh and Larry that year......but that also could have been because he was sick of racing in the DMG by that point.

 

That was just talk. MM liked to get in other people's heads.

 

If you look at May's results on a well funded GSXR and the Buell, it leads me to think that there is not that dramatic a difference in the equipment... Danny is every bit as capable as Herrin IMO (and has the Championships he won against Herrin to prove it), but is not on as well a funded/developed machine. If they were both on the current level R1's, I wouldn't bet against Danny. If he was on a privateer GSXR, my money would ride with Herrin.

 

So if you "claim" the electronics, it doesn't come with a Geek in a Box? WTF?!

 

Without electronics is an understatement... Anyone see that wheelie Danny carried while he was dicing with the 2nd Yosh bike? That was impressive!

 

I've been saying for years that TV needs to tap into the new understanding and appreciation expressed here to grow the sport. One more time... stick and ball sports (except baseball) were nowhere until TV figured out how to make them appealing enough to attract the sponsorship. It grows exponentially from there with the sportsmen and teams themselves reaping the benefits of TV success. M1 seems to be going in the right direction. Hopefully they will be able to help facilitate the breakthrough that has threatened to happen a few times over the years. It is an extremely exciting sport that most don't get from most of the American TV coverage.

 

You could put Hayes on any of the bikes out there and he would find a way to win. Imo from listening to him on the track walk at Barber, he wants it more and is doing the WORK required to make it happen. THAT is the difference between a champion and someone who can win a few races. Natural talent can only get you so far. The rest is up to the individual and the work it takes to make it happen and keep it happening.

 

Agreed...and fixxered. :up:

The guys "behind the scenes" deserve some credit also.

 

Exactly.

:up:

 

He wouldn't have if he hadn't ridden his 08 bike for the first part of the season.

As all of us know there is more to roadracing than power. fast down the straights doesn't = better bike.

 

Graves runs the 600's

 

Couldn't have been said better. Hayes works his ass off and it has payed off. The R1 is a great bike, but so is the GSXR, Buell, and the others. But the team and rider on that R1 have the formula. Yes Yamaha have deep pockets, but as others have said money doesn't insure a victory. It takes the rider and crew communicating and working in the same direction to get wins. I am extremely happy that a guy like Josh Hayes is the champion. He is an absolute top notch rider and one hell of a guy. What better person to be the face of AMA SuperBike.






And watch out for the EBR. They will be a force next year IMO. The speed at which they have been developing that bike has been nothing short of amazing.

 

Jealous......he did one up here at NJMP but unfortunately I missed it.

 

Kinda off the subject, but I will tell you who gives excellent track walks...Brian Stokes.

I have done a few track walks with him (alone and with the JDSA) and his attention to detail, explainations/reasoning and ability to describe track strategy in a manner that makes sense is incredible.