'05 Daytona

External Since: Sep 19, 2003 Posts: 95

The long whispered rumor comes true. The '05 200 will feature FX, SB's will
continue as a 100k or so sprint race. Good -bad news? Sure, it'll slow
everybody down for a year or two but will reducing engine size make it any
safer, doubtful at best. Good news for Honda, not much good news for
everyone else. Maybe the AMA should start looking for a safer venue, not
necessarily a slower one. Lighter bikes and removing turn 2 will help but
the heat the g loads generate on the banking will always make it a crap
shoot for riders. I fear that we've all grown too accustomed to the deaths
associated with bike week, not to mention the yearly carnage at the track.
As much as it would bother me personally to see it go, maybe it's time. Or
not..?

Regards,

T3

External Since: Jun 23, 2003 Posts: 411

"T3" <T3 DeleteThis @nospam.com> wrote
> The long whispered rumor comes true. The '05 200 will feature FX, SB's
will
> continue as a 100k or so sprint race. Good -bad news? Sure, it'll slow
> everybody down for a year or two but will reducing engine size make it any
> safer, doubtful at best. Good news for Honda, not much good news for
> everyone else. Maybe the AMA should start looking for a safer venue, not
> necessarily a slower one. Lighter bikes and removing turn 2 will help but
> the heat the g loads generate on the banking will always make it a crap
> shoot for riders. I fear that we've all grown too accustomed to the deaths
> associated with bike week, not to mention the yearly carnage at the track.
> As much as it would bother me personally to see it go, maybe it's time. Or
> not..?

For a historical perspective, Daytona switched the 200 to SBs in '85, when
only Honda had a factory effort in the class. A year later the AMA made SB
the premier class in the series and Daytona dropped F1; in '87 F1 was gone
completely. So it's the bigger picture that interests me, particularly as an
advocate of middleweight SB.

Honda's there, Ducati's there, so FX only lacks Suzuki to equal SB at the
moment, and there are a few fast Suzukis anyway. Given how Suzuki has done
in SS this year, they look like making the move anyway. So that leaves
Kawasaki and Yamaha (and Triumph, I suppose), and why stay in SS if Suzuki
jumps? Seems to me there's a pretty fair chance that we'll see all five of
the factories in SB/FX next year.

Then the question becomes, what happens to SB? Does it hold firm, bolstered
by even a moderate WSB comeback? Do some of the factories reconsider their
investment in MotoGP and start looking elsewhere? Do they shift their
interest to the middleweights?

Anyway, I would think that Daytona is making this move to avoid all the
high-profile issues with tires, and the track changes will help there as
well. I think they have to figure the competitive field will be bigger in FX
than in SB, and that seems quite possible. And rather than talking about the
dwindling field of factory SBs, people will be talking about the new class
in town.