Don't get me started.............
Buell have hardly covered themselves in glory in their previous attempts to race at the D200. Their last bike was touted as a potential winner but never even saw the leaders all day, and their pit crews were frankly amateur hour. Whilst I know that everyone gave their time freely and that they were volunteer dealer teams blah blah, that doesn't cut it at the sharp end of professional racing. Pit stops are one essential part of Daytona and the buell pit stops were a shambles.
Either run a professional 'factory' team (although the XBRR at Daytona were actually factory bikes anyway, despite Buells strenuous denials) or get off the pot, because it only makes Buell look bad when the inevitable mistakes happen and the bikes fail to finish.
The AMA have gone to great pains in order to allow the buell to race against the 600 IL4 Jap bikes in the 'Daytona Sportbike' class, which is a poison chalice for Buell if only they could see it.
If they win, then people will say 'Of course they were going to win, they were racing an 1125 Superbike against castrated 600 supersports bikes!'. If they lose, then the cry will be 'Can't even beat a bumch of castrated 600 supersports bikes with a superbike'.
Either way Buell looks bad and gains no credibilty at all.
If you look at the performance of the 1125 against 'true' Superbike (or actually superstock spec) bikes then it doesn't look quite so rosy unfortunately.
This is the result of the 'American Superbike' race and the only Buellto finish is in 25th place 1lap down of the leaders after just 15 laps!.
AMA Pro Racing
AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike Presented by Parts Unlimited
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida
March 5, 2009
Provisional Race Results (2.91-mile course, all on Dunlop tires):
1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), 15 laps
2. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), -1.027 seconds
3. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), -1.028
4. Larry Pegram (Duc 1098R), -10.117
5. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), -16.008
6. Ben Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), -16.213
7. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), -16.363
8. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), -28.358, ran off track
9. Michael Laverty (Suz GSX-R1000), -28.433
10. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), -31.584
11. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R1000), -47.201
12. Aaron Gobert (Hon CBR1000RR), -57.270
13. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz GSX-R1000), -58.857
14. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), -58.950
15. Jeff Tigert (Hon CBR1000RR), -58.970
16. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), -67.586
17. Barrett Long (Duc 1098R), -67.622
18. Scott Greenwood (Suz GSX-R1000), -67.942
19. Shane Narbonne (Suz GSX-R1000), -68.046
20. Mark Crozier (Yam YZF-R1), -71.556
21. Brett McCormick (Suz GSX-R1000), -77.907
22. Brad Hendry (Duc 1098R), -79.440
23. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), -93.973
24. Reno Karimian (Suz GSX-R1000), -93.944
25. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), -1 lap
26. Johnny Rock Page (Yam YZF-R1), -1 lap, 17.135 seconds
27. Josh Graham (Yam YZF-R1), -1 lap, 27.725
28. David Loikits (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 41.847
29. Davie Stone (Hon CBR1000RR), -2 laps
30. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), -7 laps, DNF
31. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000), -11 laps, DNF, mechanical
32. Jake Holden (Hon CBR1000RR), -12 laps, DNF
33. Ryan Elleby (Suz GSX-R1000), -13 laps, DNF
I would love to see Buell do well, but until they jump in with both feet and run a full on factory team they are almost doomed to failure. Unfortunately H-D management are haunted by the VR1000 debacle to allow another full factory team involvemnet in top class racing methinks
