brian -bumed kawi fan  February 21, 2010 09:23 AM
this stinks i have been following kawasaki since the lawson days. very dissaponted in mean green. i have given kawasaki a loy of support in the past years as have many fans thanks for the kick in the bum.!!! get your act together green machine .

AJN -LOL...The bickering  January 6, 2010 10:10 AM
I thought this article was about Kawi getting out of US racing? I suppose that is ultimately Buell's fault, and that's why all your misinformed discussion is relevant?

RE: Weight - Buell was absolutely not permitted equal weight in Daytona Sportbike. Go read the rules...4cyl=365#, 3cyl=375#, 2cyl=385#
http://www.amaproracing.com/assets/RR_Rules_2009.pdf

RE: GSXR750 - I love that bike, but have to disagree with your perception of its performance. I've ridden both, and the Buell gets that win in my opinion. The 1000cc have the Buell for sure, but the 750 takes a close second.

RE: Displacement - Do you have any concept as to how the series was designed? You do know that Daytona Sportbike is not a "600cc" class, right? The class was designed to pit bikes against each other that would be competetive. Did the Buell wind every race? Did multiple Buells achieve top 10 for even 50% of the races? Methinks the rider (Eslick) and the bike were a good pairing, and ultimately came out on top (and barely at that). Was the Ducati 848 displacement advantage fair over the 600cc? How about the Aprilia RSV1000R Factory? Oh, those don't count because they didn't win?

Let's all take a close look at the factual content of our posts.

Brody -Tim B  December 21, 2009 11:18 AM
“Therefor, you can't compare a V-Twin and 4 cylinder of equal displacement and expect them to perform the same. Through the years V-Twins were allowed displacement advantages in racing series because of this. You need to do some reading about internal combustion engines”. You obviously did not read my post very carefully. Is a GSXR750 equal displacement Tim B…NO. Has any other racing series in the history of time ever allowed one make of bike to have an 88% displacement advantage…NO. Even other twin powered bikes in DMG’s rules where not allowed to have such an advantage as the Buell had. Tim B YOU need to do a little research, actually a lot of research.

“If you believed anything that came from Buell's advertisting deparment, or any other advertising department for that matter, you need to step back into reality”. Nine out of ten people would have been able to see the sarcasm in my post in regards to the Buell advertising but you have already proven that you haven’t read my post carefully. Obviously the ZTL brakes are just a gimmick to help sell the bike and the “own the corners” tag line is stolen right from Suzuki’s tag line “own the race track” but at least Suzuki can back up their words.

“Yes, Buells are supposed to own the corners. They do turn well and you can hold high corner speeds with them despite their weight”. Really is that why the Buell got passed in the corners in every race but always made up the difference on the sweepers and straight a ways because of its power advantage.

Now if you post back Tim B, read my post carefully first, then type your reply.

Brody -Tim B  December 20, 2009 12:00 PM
“What's funny is that all the Jap bike fans said Buells were a joke and couldn't hold a candle to the inline 4s yet when they got beat by the Buell it was suddenly unfair. Make up your mind hypocrites”. Ahhmm…the Buell never did hold a candle to an I4 sport bike, that is a I4 sport bike at least 50% or more of the Buell’s displacement; that Tim B is what is funny.

It doesn’t even take 1000cc to beat a Buell 1125R because a stock GSXR750 would slaughter it.

“I agree the Buells had an unfair power advantage, but they are also heavier and have worse brakes”. Really! I thought Buell’s tag line was “own the corners” I guess that was just a bunch of crap that only Buell lovers would eat up. And the Buell wasn’t heavier the DMG rules allowed the Buell to weigh the same as the I4. Plus wasn’t the ZTL braking system on the Buell supposed to be “superior”. So Buell hypocrites make up your mind does the Buell (or did) the Buell own the corners and have “forward thinking” brakes or was it just a rolling turd that needed 88% more displacement just to be competitive?

“Horsepower alone does not win races”. Yeah but LOTS of extra HP and torque sure doesn’t hurt either. Besides if the Buell was allegedly heavier and had worse brakes and it wasn’t the EXTRA hp alone that helped the Buell win then what did help the Buell win?

Talk about hypocrites…

Woodman West -need info  December 20, 2009 04:55 AM
Riders, excuse my ignorance, I am a cruiser guy (Stars), who clicked this link. I never rev my motor past 5500rpm!! Where is a good website I can learn about the differnt series. Good, bad and ugly.

I go to the races at Daytona, but I really do not understand all the different classes and series. I came up with Fast Freddie and King Robert. I am mostly looking to follow the liter bikes. Off to polish my chrome. Ride safe, Woodman.

bikerrandy -road racers  December 19, 2009 11:01 AM
Becoming a pro-road racer has become an endangered species in the USA. Truly sad.

RIP: Jamie Hacking, Geoff May, Roger Hayden, Ben Bostrom, Eric Bostrom, Mat Mladin, Neil Hodgson, Jake Zemke, who else ? 8 ^ (

greg -chumps  December 18, 2009 06:23 PM
the DMG chumps are resetting the US racing program alright - it's all going to be club level soon. I'm up for blackballing DMG after such an arrogant and poorly managed intervention of our sport. AMA mgt was not perfect, but WOW talk about out of the pan and into the fire

I've got money to spend on new motorcycles, going to races, etc, but I'm not giving it to DMG - I'll go to INDY, SALT LAKE & LAGUNA - spend probably $5K along the way and get my fill of racing. Then I'll go to the bike shop and look at the new 1000's.

sorry Sonoma, Fontana, Mid-Ohio.....you guys are going to have to hold your breath for awhile until we extract these guys

Steve -DMG got it coming  December 18, 2009 05:31 PM
The economy is a good excuse for DMG to blame for the poor way its running the series. Look at World Superbike. I don't see any major motorcycle manufacturers pulling out of that series next year. Fact is that the stupid rules changes such as rolling stars, allowing homologated motorcycles to run in the Superbike class, trying to get rid of the Superbike class by lowering the purses, safety car then a safety bike, the nearly 2x double displacement advantage they gave Buell in the Sportbike class last year, having a starter fly the flag from the flagstand instead of where the racers could see it, and not to mention the safety debacles at Laguna Seca and Heartland Park. If DMG thinks Harley is going to save them they got another thing coming, in fact they just pulled out of the flat track racing.

Linus -DUHMG  December 18, 2009 04:06 PM
Yup, new ownership is the only solution. DMG had their chance to improve the series and all they did was implode the series. Kawasaki is smart to ditch the AMA series. Why would Kaw or any OEM want to pay all the money needed to be a major player in a racing series when the series had some of the poorest TV ratings and ticket sales last year due largely to DMG. Using the economy as the reason is a nice way to not look like you made a decision but where forced to make a decision because of circumstances out of your control. If the DMG series was a success then regardless of the economy Kaw would be in the series because it would be money well invested. What better way to advertise and promote the race bikes and brand name but if the series is junk then so is the opportunity to sell bikes.

DMG is thick headed and it will take a while for them to finally “give up” and sell the series to somebody who may at least do an average job of running a racing series. Rest assured DMG won’t change their ways so it is mainly a waiting game; waiting for DMG and its partners to run out of money.

Vince -Bad timing  December 18, 2009 02:08 PM
It's amazing. AMA Superbike racing might be in for it's biggest season in years in terms of fan numbers and TV coverage. Yet, with big name pulling out and bad management by DMG, the sport could be doomed. What a shame.