Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128378
2005 Open-Class Shootout he 10000c Inllne four has come of age, and itls here to stIly. OYer the past couple of years, the Inllne-four 10000c Superblkes have made the world pay attention because of the ripples they'..,. m.de in both domestic and World Superblke racing. If the -mirl....IIIIio~"'M was fired a few years ago, the trigger was pulled on a fuIl-on Ihot. gun blast this year. The question now is: Will the V-twin Superbilces be able • survive this latest onslaught? Who can argue with the success of Mat Mladin and the Yoshlmln crew and their GSX-R I000, the team taking the AMA Superblke tide an bike in 2003 and 2004. And last year, Chris Vermeulen scored four.~l11011~ the Ten Kate Honda CBRIOOORR in the World Superbike - - . wIdl American Honda team of Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke also haYIJ1i-cess with six wins on their CBR IOOORRs. The pattern has been repellll8d flI both the British and Australian series, with John Reynolds taking the BI1tIllh title on his GSX-R I000 and Adam Ferguson winning the Australian IIlIies on a Honda CBRIOOORR. And this year has only gotten better for the ICOOs - especially for Suzuki. The GSX-RI 000 has won all six World Superbike races thus far In 200S.1I1d the team's American counterparts are also six for six. So, with the 10000c Superbikes beginning to rule the worteIln . . th~re's never been a more relevant time for an Open-dass shoolaut. Every single bike included in this shootout is ell&lble for ~ tion, and all of them are competing in the World Superbike series ._,_,CT":""'" if the AMA would just get its act together and combine the Super ••••11 Superbike classes, we could have the same diversity In the U.S. Three of the bikes in this shootout are largely unchanged, includlna the ~ Kawasaki and Yamaha. This year we used the "s· version of the Ducad 99t.lldfMI the MV Agusta F4 1000S to the mix and got hold of the brand..- SuIuId G8XRI000 that is kicking ass and taking names in racing circles. For this year's shootout, we spent a day at Buttonwillow Raceway ( Track Club track day) outside of Bakersfield, California, to set a feel for bikes are really capable of. The following day, we rode the bikes on _ California's twistiest roads, and then followed that up the next momJna with testing at LACR's (los Angeles County Raceway) drag strip. Then _ enIiIl8d at Area P in Anaheim, California, to dyno all of the bikes. We also enlisted the help of two former AMA National Champions. Chuck time 250cc Grand Prix Champion) and regular guest tester Tom Montano (2001 Pro Champion), to help us out. For the drag-strip portion of the test, _ wwe fortunIbt 10 help of larry laye, former NMRNProstar series regular, to rip off our fast tImeS clAQ\, were so fast that we even got shut down and had to wait for an ambulance show up! ~ group with five out of six bikes posting sub-I O-second runs. Will the GSX-R's success translate to the real world, or will last year's winner. d\e CBR IOOORR, be able to hold on to the title? What about the new kid on the block, the MY 1W1II\lI1,f. other bikes perform better at our new venues for the track and road testing? Read on to lind aut. T