FEATURE I STATE OF AMERICAN FLAT TRACK: PART 3
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serve as a strong race-base.
That, combined with increased
Mission SuperTwins contingen-
cies from both H-D and Vance &
Hines, are positive indicators that
the fire still burns.
KTM is dipping a toe into twin-
cylinder racing by supporting
Wally Brown Racing's KTM 890
Duke-based Mission Production
Twins program, and both KTM
and Royal Enfield could conceiv-
ably step forward with official
premier-class efforts when the
classes merge in '23.
Unsubstantiated rumors have
even suggested that Indian might
even have that long-promised
roadgoing platform under
development—a development
that would pretty much single-
handedly solve AFT's intractable
problem that we've spent so
much space dissecting over
these last three issues.
All the while the series con-
tinues to examine ways to
more closely link its racing to
the manufacturers' products,
perhaps by allowing production-
based race bikes to vary from the
historic street tracker look and
take stronger visual cues from
their stock counterparts.
More immediately on the
horizon (and relevant to this
piece) is the potential for further
performance balancing for race-
only engines in 2023 by way of
rules that directly address the
FTR750's engine internals, its
last remaining inherent design
advantage.
If that has to happen, Indian
Motorcycle says bring it on.
"We want one rulebook for
everybody, and let all the manu-
Harley fans have
few to cheer for
in the premier
SuperTwins class
these days.
While restrictors are
an imperfect solution,
their implementation
at this point seems
necessary, and a huge
step in the right direction
for a series in need of
drastic correction.
