Cycle World: A Spec Road Racing Future?

[MotoAmerica]

Photo by Brian J. Nelson

"All this means that racing has to be looked at in new ways," writes Cycle World Technical Editor Kevin Cameron, "and manufacturers have to be offered new roles."

Back in the 1990s, everything seemed okay. AMA Superbike had strong entries from most of the Japanese Big Four, and the 600 Supersport class was a hotbed of super-trick factory specials in the hands of paid pro riders, built to show the undecided which 600cc showroom rocketship to buy.

Privateers were supported by contingency programs, which paid them for wins and top placings in regional racing, and there were “gypsy champions,” living out of vans, who drove to wherever the next event was, stopping along the way to freshen up engine top ends.

The old doorway to racing had been Yamaha’s TZ250 two-stroke production racers, but as those had risen in price and more affordable 600s had risen in raceability, 600 sportbikes had become the new doorway.

Back when production-based Superbike racing had begun in the U.S., it took major resources and fabrication skills to make a Kawasaki Z1-based or Suzuki GS-based bike competitive. But a new structure of racing was coming into being. Nationwide, hundreds of capable riders were taking to 600 and 750 Supersport.

So when the AMA national came to town, everyone knew that factory Superbikes and 600s would take the top placings. But you could ride your “contingency bike” in its affordable Supersport trim and maybe pick up useful dollars from a lucky eighth or 11th place. Privateers knew that real Superbike technology was out of reach, so they raced what they had—Supersport bikes.

A Supersport bike was affordable to begin with, and adding suspension, tire, and brake-pad upgrades plus a five-angle valve job were all within reach. So that’s what most people raced.

Today, it seems efforts to revive US racing center on putting things back as they were. I think of this as “archaeology”—digging up the past and trying to reproduce it in the present. Sadly, so many things have changed that the past can no longer be a guide to the future.

Read the rest of Kevin Cameron's editorial here.

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