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/1545842
I Ene IJSA rs a counrry already ! *",,-r.aur,omed to dorng I things drfferently, especially I *h.n it comes to anythrng I with wheels on ir. But even by Arnerican standards. the debut offour Buell XB-RR V-twin road race6 in the 2006 Day- tona 200 was an improbable challenge to the established order of high-rewin8 lapan- ese in-line fours that uniformly dominate AMA road-race grids, in all classes (with the exceptron of a Ducati here and there in Superbike), irrespective of capaci+ And lhey came with a rider of the caliber of Ulster's Grand Prix star, Jeremy McWilliams (sponsored by British dealer Warr's of Lon- don), guaranteeing serious development expertise and lots of media aftention - as BuellXB'RR well as, just maybe, a shot at taking a trip down Victory Lane. The fact that it didn't work out that way - with Mcwilliams' motor breaking a $20 timing wheel while running in the top l0 past the 1oo-mile mark, and all three of the other bikes, entered by Buell dealers in Canada, Ger- many and the USA, retiring with primary drive problems - was a disappointment. The FormLrla Xtreme class was re-cre- ated in its current guise three years ago as what seemed at the time to be a direct sop to American Honda, whose serial World title-winning CBR600RR is apparently uncompetitive under the AMAs supposed- ly box-stock 600cc Superspoft rules. lndeed, to beSin with, only Honda came to play with works machinery in what was essentially a slick-tired World Supersport category - but, although Yamaha has now joined them with their new R6, the oppor- tunities offered by the diflerential capacity limits put in place from the very first (which permit 600cc liquid-cooled multi- valve fours to run against 750cc twins of a similar persuasion and l340cc air-cooled twin-cylinder two-valvers) hadn't been exploited by anyone else but Buell. However, with the USAs most iconic race, the Daytona 200, switching to Formula Xtreme in response to tire conaerns sur- rounding l000cc Superbikes running on the Florida bankings, the way was open for Erik BLrell to produce an American .acer offering to the Formula Xtreme grid. Oq indeed, to Sive the ltalians a hard time in BY AraN Crrncenr PHoros BY RrcH CHTNET Pro Twins events around the world. which is surely where most of the dozen-plus XB-RR customer bikes heading to Europe and Australasi4 as well as Japan (out of the lirst batch of 56 machines constructd in the Buell factory in Wisconsin - and selling for $30,995), will be raced. As pan of that strategy, Buell doesn't have an actual factory race team, instead preferring to work closely with selected dealer-team customeB in developing the bike via the advice of the experienced rid- ers assigned to such seats - men such as l'lcwilliams on the Warr's machine. or Steve Crevier on the Canadian Deeley entry both of whom have their XB-RR rac- ers cosseted by the Buell factory as part of the R&D process, with the fruits of such ,,'AMTBIGAlI 64 AUGUST 2, 2006 . CYCLE NEWS I I I I '@ t,, ,-'$1 0 f,'-ff r I ::l sr.Nlq I B l \ I \ \ I d .I lo ttt f! The Buell XB-RR in o(lion ot Blockhowk Forms.