Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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FEATURE I STATE OF AMERICAN FLAT TRACK: PART 3 P102 way it's actually going to happen is by slowing the Indian down rather than speeding the compe- tition up. AMA Pro Racing Technical Director Dave McGrath said, "For the last four years, we've done everything we could to not penalize the people who got it right. We did all these things that were requested from teams with production-based bikes in an effort to bring them up and not shoot at Indian." Among those attempts to boost the production-based bikes was allowing the use of re- designed cylinder heads, larger throttle bodies, "twingled" big- bang firing orders, and finally, advanced electronic aids. Ultimately, it wasn't enough, nor were the limitations placed on the Indian halfway through the '21 season. With little additional margin for error, AMA Pro Racing set out to avoid a guessing game for the 2022 rule changes and to begin to identify the changes that would be needed in 2023. That required carefully controlled comparative testing to eliminate as many variables and collect as much data as possible. The day after the '21 season fi- nale, the series invited some key equipment and personnel back out to Charlotte Motor Speed- way's half-mile dirt track. With a number of the sport's most influ- ential teams either participating or observing, Progressive AFT A-B tested two potential options for reining in the FTR and had the Estenson Yamaha MT-07 DT and Latus H-D XG750R on track alongside for direct comparison. The recently retired Smith served as the series' primary test rider extraordinaire, while Estenson ace JD Beach and Latus-linked Joe Kopp were on the scene to throw national championship-winning legs over the bikes as well. A little more than a month later, AFT then rented the Red Mile to host an expanded field which also included existing Su- perTwins and Production Twins from Harley-Davidson, Yamaha and Royal Enfield, along with the intriguing inclusion of a pair of KTM 790 Dukes. This final test allowed the se- ries to gauge how well any pro- spective balancing efforts would hold up on a wide-open race track where the impact of the intake restrictors being evaluated would be most evident. Indian's dominance nearly drove the Yamaha- equipped Estenson Racing away from AFT racing last year. AFT's goal is to attract more manufacturers into flat-track racing, not chase them away.