Eric Buell on Daytona Sportbike Competition

[Travman]

Eric Buell's opinion about those who didn't think Buell should have been allowed in Daytona Sportbike.
http://www.cycleworld.com/article.asp?section_id=43&article_id=2119&page_number=1

[superjohn]

Interesting point, but it still doesn't sit well. If a 1125cc Buell could compete in the class, why not a 1098cc Ducati?

[derby]

some of his points, historically, are due to the homologation requirements.

if he wanted more aerodynamic bodywork, he should've designed the bike that way.

the "tires for 600s" thing is silly, too. they're dot race tires. in production racing, especially spec-tire racing, you adapt your bike to the tires, not the other way around.

i do feel for him on the "we did what dmg told us to do" stuff... dmg made some really stupid decisions.

i don't care what the level of modification is, the "same" bike doesn't belong in "supersport" and superbike..

[gm2]

i stopped reading at "If you were one of the insiders who could get the trick factory stuff, you could always be assured of finishing near the top."

that's a tremendous amount of bullshit for such a short sentence.

the amount of punishment certain teams have been handed for their hard work and success is just amazing.

[gm2]

ok, i read a little more..

"Our Superbike version showed what a minimally restricted 1125 could do at New Jersey, running solidly in the AMA Pro Racing Superbike front pack even though it was down on power. To anyone who wanted to tell the real story, it was there and as clear as could be. But no, instead they said our Superbike was a cheater. No matter that anyone could buy one,.."

...IF that anyone had an AMA Superbike racing license. which is, like, anyone.

"No, since it was a Buell it was cheating."

or, since it was not a homologated bike, it was cheating.  DMG-sanctioned cheating, but cheating all the same.

[kopfjäger]

Interesting point, but it still doesn't sit well. If a 1125cc Buell could compete in the class, why not a 1098cc Ducati?

Send them an email and find out.

[EvilSteve]

I couldn't finish reading. I've always felt that Buell was making good bikes, if it wasn't for the HD motor, I may have bought one of them (CR is ugly, no thanks). The fact that the rules were massaged/ignored for the sake of Buell is just bullshit. There's enough crap on the first page to make me stop reading even though I do still support Buell.