VOL. 55 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 28, 2018 P109
Meanwhile, KTM rider
Alex Dumas—despite see-
ing 1000 rpm knocked off
his maximum redline—won
both races at a canter, with
Yamaha riders filling out the
podium in both races.
"We had some situations
with overcompensating at
VIR where we took too much
out of the Kawasaki, where
they really couldn't find the
correct gearing for the bike,"
Morse said. "We've kind of
gone both ways on it since
then. At this point, we feel
like we have a pretty good balance."
The MotoAmerica rules differ from the
FIM World Supersport 300 rules by one
important factor, that being using just a
machine weight (see table) as opposed
to a combined rider and bike weight
as used in Europe, which is something
Morse feels is unique to the field racing in
America.
"Looking at our field, a combined rider/weight
format wouldn't be correct," says Morse. "You
have riders like Ashton Yates that would ultimately
be able to remove a lot more weight from his bike,
simply because his body weighs more. He's already
leading most races. Some of our heavier riders are
going faster already, so giving them more weight off
the bike, wouldn't necessarily affect their balanc-
ing."
Does this unfairly target
larger riders like Ashton, or
help lighter riders such as
Jamie Astudilo?
"Ashton and Dumas are
definitely riding at a very
high level," says Morse.
"Ashton Yates did very well
in the KTM RC Cup also,
and all those bikes were
equal. So, it's hard to say. I
don't think he's at a disad-
vantage by any means right
now. I think it is a lot easier
for the bikes to just say that
the bike must be X weight.
It's easier to control."
KTM is in a different boat. The Austrian
manufacturer committed a large amount
of time and resources into building a spe-
cific homologated motorcycle for the FIM
World Supersport 300 Championship,
and young French Canadian Alex Dumas
has been putting it to good use by leading
the championship by 27 points after the Sonoma
round, despite crashing in race one.
At Laguna Seca's round five (four for the Ju-
nior Cup), KTM was hit with the largest weight
increase yet seen in the series of six kilograms
(13.2 pounds), bumping them up to 142kg (313.1
pounds), although it didn't seem to matter as Du-
mas and fellow KTM Orange Brigade rider Sean
Ungvarsky went one-two after several Yamaha
riders crashed out.
For MotoAmerica
CEO Wayne Rainey,
the transition
from the RC Cup
to the Junior Cup
has been far from
smooth, but there's
light at the end of
the tunnel.
ROAD AMERICA LAGUNA SECA UTAH MOTORSPORTS CAMPUS SONOMA RACEWAY
Weight: 145 kg/Max revs allowed: 10,000 rpm No changes No changes No changes
No changes Weight: 142 kg/No changes to max revs No changes No changes
Weight: 138 kg/No changes to max revs Removal of restriction on igntion No changes No changes
timing adjustment
