Should the GSXR565 (and similar bikes) be outlawed?

[LWT Racer]

TOBC with Brian Kcraget and Curtis Murray.   They DNF'd Bruce.  It was stupid fast and both TOBC riders say its insanely fast, not lightweight material.

[lwtracer473]

I did say at Summit the 565 is not a lightweight bike as we have always determined bikes to be "lightweights" but that includes the monster air cooled 1000/1100 Ducatis in their different frame configurations.

CCS left TOBC with no choice. Build/Buy one of the Ducatis or build the GSXR565. TOBC has GSXRs with spares that interchange, so they decided the best plan would be to build the 565. And they did one hell of a job building it. Rick Matheny and the TOBC crew put together one of the best bikes I have ever had the chance to ride. As witnessed during practice and the race...it is fast. It does not have the grunt off the corners the Ducatis have but up top, it screams. I have a bit of learning curve on how to best ride it though. I was going ok on it but Curtis was a little faster than me.

And then I destroyed it.......and am sick to my stomach over it. I made a huge miscalculation on overtaking a much slower bike during the Team Challenge Race. On SVs, I don't catch many people so fast. I have raced over 3 years in the Endurance (WERA and CCS) with many, many laps at a winning pace and this is my first race crash in that time period. Still I can't believe I screwed up. We were out of the hunt in the race and I still messed up. I am so glad I didnt knock the lapper down and I am thankful I am not in the hospital. I thought I would never stop tumbling.

I think I am the definition of a Lightweight club racer. I have raced FZR400s, Aprilia Cup bikes, RS125s, TZ250s, RS250s, and of course years on the SVs. I want the Lightweight classes to be for "Lightweight" bikes. But I understand why CCS allows the Ducatis and now the 565......entries means $ for them. And if you look at the grids, it is working for them.

So, even though the 565 is not a "Lightweight" bike as we used to define it......if you outlaw it, they must also outlaw the big air cooled Ducatis. They are not "Lightweight" bikes either.

Brian Kcraget
TOBC Racing

[Dragon]

Even though I get beat by them in every race, I'm all for it. They are only allowed in GP grids so you still have a few other classes that are just for the traditional lightweight bikes. I can tell ya that if I get good enough money for my 750 then the 565 will be my next bike and if someone asked me to race one then I'd say hell yeah!

[bruce71198]

TOBC with Brian Kcraget and Curtis Murray.   They DNF'd Bruce.  It was stupid fast and both TOBC riders say its insanely fast, not lightweight material.

Oh...CCS doesnt show a bike for them, just the results. According to the rule book that is a light weight bike. Perhaps all the other bikes are NOT light weight material any more  and and should be reclassified as something else, hmmm, Ultra light weight? Evolution....

[LWT Racer]

I have no issue with the 565 in LW GP.  It's a GP class after all.  But for the team challenge I would like to see it be SBK rules.  565 and $$$ ducs are right there with the middleweights.  So that tells me they aren't lightweight material, they are middle weight material.

[sdiver68]

Swiest...remember earlier in the year when I said you might be surprised about the connections between my 565 and TOBC, but I did not respond with details?

Now that it's out in the open there are 2 connections.  The first is that my 565 was Curtis Murray's AMA SS bike until I bought it from him last year and told him what our plans were for it.  Thus the worlds first GSXR565 was born.

The second is I knew they were building a 565 I just didn't want to spill the beans. We modestly assisted in their build with parts and they assisted in ours with a very special part as well.  I'm hoping their experience with it might trickle back to me.

That's all, just connecting some dots.  And I might add that BK is now echoing all the reasons we built it.  Outlaw the AC Ducs and I'm happy to see the 565 merit only a footnote in the history of lightweight racing.

[LWT Racer]

Yes I remember, but it was never a concern of mine because the bikes are bollocks. :)


Why the bikes were built doesn't need to be discussed, it's clear.



Performance index is what needs to be discussed.

[SVbadguy]

Brian, any luck finding the lap timer and transponder in the bike somewhere?

[lwtracer473]

Transponder was still hooked to the bike but beneath the triple. I didn't see it until I checked again later.

No on the laptimer. You can see it flying through the air in a pic posted to the TOBC facebook page. It is out there somewhere. I looked again at the end of the day walking from Turn 2 to Turn 3 including looking in the tires. It is the high dollar AIM GPS one......sucks big time. I did a lot of damage to that bike with it be the worse crash ever for me in terms of bike carnage.

And I am ok on the 565 not be legal in the Team Challenge. I prefer the SVs. However, the TOBC crew does not  agree with me. They do not like working on the SVs and have tired of them over the last few years. They now prefer the 565 since they are used to working on GSXR600s and 1000s. If they do not let the 565 run in the Team Challenge, they must not let the air cooled Ducatis. I do not think CCS will change the rules though..if you take out the Ducs and the 565s(with more being built as I type this)...this LW TC grid will be tiny. Summit had 31 Team Challenge teams...the least amount was in the LW class though as the rules stand today. 

[LWT Racer]

I think issue with removing both 565 and Ducs is that you're removing people from the grid. This is why I propose the rules to be changed to SBK.  That still allows the production models.  So Hanig and Mavros can still run their Paul Smarts.  It removes the Hybrids and 565.  The guys who want to spend big $$$ can still do that with SBK rules. SV guys don't need to pee their pants over hybrids and 565.  IS there still a problem with crazy fast lightweights? Yes, but this at least minimizes it.

[Capitalview]

Since the big air cooled ducs are allowed in LW classes with claimed 95 hp, why not allow the new 696 monsters in too.  Claimed 80hp from Ducati.

[SVbadguy]

Since the big air cooled ducs are allowed in LW classes with claimed 95 hp, why not allow the new 696 monsters in too.  Claimed 80hp from Ducati.

What do you mean allow it.  The rules don't restrict it from LW.