| Author | Message | ||
     Aeholton |
Good video. Should be a cool series. As they stated in the video, hope there is a good size grid. Looking forward to seeing them run (in person) at Barber later in the season. Would be nice if SpeedTV would broadcast. | ||
| Firstbuell |
your wish is SpeedTV's command [read last line of release] http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=40692 inaugural 10-lap XR race is 12:30pm Sunday, so it'll be shown somewhere during the 2 races broadcast late Sunday nite (Message edited by firstbuell on June 03, 2010) (Message edited by firstbuell on June 03, 2010) | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Says highlights of the race, which will be a one or two minute summary of the race. | ||
| Buell2001b |
If you guys really were pissed about what HD did to Buell then you would stand by Buell , apparently you guys ent yellow on Buell but go ahead and admire the crap that HD makes for futre generations and your son will be able to ride a XLR500 one day that is slower ten a 1998 Buell. geez | ||
| Trojan |
If you guys really were pissed about what HD did to Buell then you would stand by Buell , apparently you guys ent yellow on Buell but go ahead and admire the crap that HD makes for futre generations and your son will be able to ride a XLR500 one day that is slower ten a 1998 Buell. geez Yawn..... Rose tinted glasses are great aren't they? I had a 1997 Buell S1 (one of the first in the UK). It had less power (75bhp at the crank) than the XR1200, poorer build quality (frame rusty brand new), dodgy rear shock that was recalled three times and was never really any good because the rear suspension design was flawed, and a whole list of other recalls and problems during my time of ownership. However these problems were all addressed soon afterwards because H-D invested heavily in Buell. Without H-D investment Buell would not have been able tomove into a 'proper' factory or build bikes in enugh volume to survive as a manufacturer for as long as they did. This investment allowed Buell to actually build the XB platform (something that probably wouldn't have happened if H-D hadn't come along). So yes, we are all p*ssed because of the way H-D have treated Buell recently, but over the last 15 years Buell would not have got to the point it did without being in bed with H-D, so it hasn't all been bad news from H-D over the years. | ||
| Firstbuell |
Trojan, yeah !! what's more, any US dealers involved in & supporting AMA XR1200 racing are more likely to be: [a] active, successful, enthusiastic H-D stores who [b] may also be likely 'new Buell' parts outlets or [c] just plain, race-lovin' folks what's wrong with that? (Message edited by firstbuell on June 04, 2010) | ||
| Ezblast |
YAWN....... | ||
| Imonabuss |
Snore... | ||
| Bads1 |
Trojan, Your maybe partly correct. How about HD may have not shut Buell down if HD wouldn't have held Buell back for many years. Thems the facts. Enjoy those new HD's cause I won't purchase for that kinda money no how.lol | ||
| Court |
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz | ||
| Hughlysses |
Speaking of XR1200 racing, guess who was fastest in practice yesterday and is on the pole today at Road America? http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=40722 Go Danny! | ||
| Firstbuell |
Go Danny !! indeed..... [a] he rode an H-D ahead of time for familiarity [like he doesn't know how it'd feel...!] [b] he's astute enough to NOT mention "Buell" in an H-D-related press release - EZ, fellas, EZ....... [c] right now, he appears to be well ahead of even Holden, and moreso the small field so, yeah, Go Danny !! | ||
| Bads1 |
Actually thats great but I'm more impressed with Paul James and even Aaron Frank. They really aren't that far off from Eslick. | ||
| Svh |
They sure looked slower than the 2:39/40's they were running. Supersport(near stock 600's) run 2:29/30s for perspective. Hope the race is decent tomorrow. | ||
| Firstbuell |
bad, yes, Aaron's time are actually OK - a nice surprise wonder if Corad's times'll drop by the checkers........? | ||
| Bads1 |
I hope Paul James is ok. I was told he had a bad get off and was taken by Ambulance to the Hospital. | ||
| Slaughter |
James already posted on his Facebook that he wasn't going back out again. No further details.
Paul's Facebook (link) | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Last I heard from Mike (Coolice) the crew chief, is Paul was at the hospital having a cat scan. Then texted a few hours later he had a bad concussion but was back at the track. | ||
| Svh |
It was a nasty highside on the front straight on a restart. Another rider and him got into each other. Bike bounced on him it looked like from where I was. The race was ok. The "pro" racers, Eslick and Jake Holden, ran away with it but there was alot of close racing. They sounded good for sure. For the first round I think they did ok. 1 bike lost its engine spilling oil and highsiding the rider. Then they restarted and Pauls accident happened and they called it until after the other racing. 2 more bikes died during the race. Eslick broke his doing a burnout after winning. Lots of spectators making comments about the HD lack of reliability. Racers all said they are a blast to ride even off the record. | ||
| Slaughter |
OK... 1 blew up during the race, 2 broke IN the race, 1 blew up after the race during the burnout. 4 out of 16 possible entries: 1 out of four in the inagural race broke. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
them's good odds!!!!!  | ||
| Svh |
There were only 10 entries. If the unfortunate accident of Pauls wouldn't have happened only 6 bikes would have crossed the line due to accidents or dead bikes with Danny breaking after winning it would have been 5 out of 10 making it to pits intact. The inaugrial TTXGP of Road America had 7 entrants and all of them made it the whole race with prototype technologies. | ||
| Hurricaneleah |
Hey guys, let me correct some of the information being spread here. I built and crew Shawn Conrad's bike. I am also a a former/present Buell racer (both roadracing and drag racing). We had a blast participating in the inaugural XR1200 race. We had a challenging weekend and were on the steep portion of the learning curve making our bike work on the big track. to shawn's credit, everytime he got on the bike it was completely different as we made huge set up changes trying to find the best balance between stability and turn in/cornering feedback. Although we made huge advances, we still didn't quite have the bike set up to Shawn's liking (we need to go one more iteration on front spring rate). We also had a transmission issue i will touch on later. The bike set up we ended up with is quite radical: 75mm taller in than rear than stock. We qualified 5th on the grid, but Shawn was going faster everytime out. We were fastest in 2 split time sections final practice. We started having issues with the transmission popping out of 5th gear, eventually not even shifting to 5th. We think this issue is partly due to the radical rear ride height that the normal 1qt of primary fluid fills the front of the primary first, leaving the tranny 'dry'. By increasing primary fill by 1/3, we minimized the issue and were able to make the 4-5 shift, but the damage was done to the shift dogs, so it is still popping out. On to the race, on the first start,Things were going great for us, as Shawn was riding extremely well, briefly led, and was solidly in the lead pack of 5 bikes. The red flag was thrown due to a crash when an oil filter loosened on one of the lead bikes. I repeat, the engine did not 'blow up'. A second bike crashed in the oil from the first bike. The race was red flagged. On the second start, Paul made a great start and did nothing wrong, but was sandwiched between Shawn on the left and young supersport stand out Stump on the right when stump made a very aggressive move all the way from the right side of the track to the left. Paul and shawn got tangled with Paul going down hard and getting a concussion. We have it all on video and will post to you tube in the next day or so. It was scary looking and thank god Paul is ok. We have a handlebar mark on our rear numberplate and exhaust. 9 bikes made the 3rd start. During the break we were trying everything possible to improve our tranny performance and switched to a new/different primary fluid which gave the clutch a different feel and caused Shawn to launch poorly. He was soon up in the top 6 bikes again, and looking good, when he admitted he just screwed up coming into Canada corner and missed shifted up instead of down (our xr runs street pattern, while shawn has been racing for 20 years on GP shift). He lost the draft and it was effectively over for us at that point (plus the 5th gear issues returned). I don't think anyone would have kept up with the RMR duo of holden and Eslick, but i think we had a legitimate shot at 3rd if all things went our way. I don't know of any bikes that blew engines. I heard Eslick was running a light fuel load and ran out of gas (but that is not confirmed). Another bike besides us figured out the primary oil adjustment too late and lost 5th gear to (John Ashmead). So anyways, thats my perspective on the whole thing. It should be remembered that the race kits for these bikes wasn't even available until 4 weeks ago, and no one tested one of these bikes at road america prior to last Tuesday. None of the european set up works for us due to the differences in rules, so this was a bit of a 'pioneering race'. Anybody who has ever developed a race bike, even one as capable as an XB or 1125, knows that it takes some time to get the base set up right. I have personally never been involved in a bike that requires such a radical or challenge set up as an XR1200, but we had a blast doing and enjoy the challenge. It also should be remembered that the XR1200 engine is a very close cousin to the last iteration of the XB12: same tranny, same clutch, same cams, etc, etc, etc. We are admittedly on a steep learning curve with these things, but we will get it figured out. Those are the facts as I experienced them. Congrats to Erik Buell Racing for there awesome top ten in superbike. We send out our best to Paul James for a quick recovery, and thank god he was not injured more seriously. /congrats to RMR for a dominating performance, Hopefully we will be a little closer to the front next time! Regards, Wes Orloff | ||
| Blake |
It should be Buells racing and in competition with the world's best not a marketing ploy for a cruiser company that has zero interest in high performance sport bikes. It's a really petty slap in the face of every Buell racing enthusiast. Apparently HDI is all too eager to fund Wandell's racing hobby. Sorry Wes. I appreciate your clarifications, but I remain very bitter about HDI's killing off of Buell. Hope you understand. | ||
| Court |
I'm sure pulling for a quick recovery for Paul and hoping he is okay. His enthusiasm for the sport and the James Gangs' class make them a standout whatever they are racing. | ||
| Smoke |
Better luck next time Paul! glad you're ok!! thx Wes. tim | ||
| Trojan |
Thanks for the writeup Wes. The UK Xr1200 racers took some time to get the bikes dialled in and most went to Spain for extended tests prior to the first round, so I'm sure you will get it sorted in time for the next round. Unfortunately the US series appears to suffer from the same malady as the UK one in that the top guys will just clear off and leave a big gap back to the 'amateur' racers. maybe the organisers will address this by some kind of handicap system, but at least you got a close finish to your race  It should be Buells racing and in competition with the world's best not a marketing ploy for a cruiser company that has zero interest in high performance sport bikes. With all due respect Blake, Buell had plenty of years when they could have run a one make series in the US and overseas (The UK was supposed to have a XB9R series in 2003 but apparently couldn't be guaranteed enough bikes from Buell to run it). Buell heavily supported Thunderbike racing and other formats for years so they would have had the resources to support a one make series had they wanted to and had someone been interested in running it of course. | ||
| Hurricaneleah |
No apology needed Blake. I have great empathy for your point of view. The XR1200 series was formulated and originally pushed by Roger Edmonson/Vance and Hines. There was initially no support from H-D. My final comment is Harley-Davidson still has people at nearly every level who still support and believe in the tradition of racing, including those with very recognizable last names. As the slings and arrows come out after the closing of Buell, you might want to consider where they are pointed so there aren't any friendly fire mortalities, if you know what i mean... Regards, Wes | ||
| Aeholton |
Thanks for the update Wes. Great reading. Good luck at your next outing. I look forward to reading your summary after the next race. | ||
| Firstbuell |
yes, Wes, yours is the cool, informed voice of reason, from an actively-competing team leader please keep up both the postings & their deep details..... |
