Last year they had to beat back the American aircooled machines with sticks, there were tons of big twins and modified sportsters entering. So many that at COTA they had to run a 'B' main. This was a combo of two things, first that Roland Sands required that Moto A give all who entered a main, and that the aircooled rules were basically 'please show up'. Because AACT was scored separately, there was no expectation of having to build your machine to match an FTR or Pan Am, your goal was to try and keep Hawk Mazi off the podium on his Indian Chief.
For this year there is a distinct change in the feel of the class, for starters they've allowed triples in, no idea why. The Yamaha MT09 is going to be released as an 'R9' any day now in the world's worst kept secret, and the Triumph 765 is just the sportbike version with bars, both brands can slot their machines into regular classes. To get these in the class definition was tweaked to allowing 128hp at the brochure instead of the original 120hp cap the class started with. To get the Pan Am in last year, they required it run the Sportster airbox lid and velocity stacks to choke it down as it advertises too much HP out of the crate, this year, just the lid is required so almost no restriction? Again, HD has bikes that are legal for the class without rules bending, the Sportster, the Nightster 975, but instead tweak the rules to let the Pan Am in and raise the perf target for everyone? Hawk this year is on a Pan Am, and the class has a ton more FTRs and Pan Ams running than last year.
My read is Moto A is now exerting control over Roland's head, they want to see more brands, hence allowances to get Yamaha and Triumph's sportier machines in instead limiting them to say, their twin cylinder already legal machines. They're also hard enforcing qualifying times, and got rid of the AACT subclass to weed out the actual hooligan machines to narrow the lap time gaps. Opening round of 2024 had half as many entries as COTA at the end of last year, but they got their HD vs Indian battle with both companies fielding BIG MONEY factory teams. There is a good chance both HD and Indian also pushed for this, they don't want their riders getting 'held up' by slow traffic?
Looking at my lap time splits, 10 to 15 more MPH would have made up a ton of my qualifying time gap. On the flip side, I can't read the Dunlops worth a damn so I'm timid on the brakes on corner entry, I'm using engine braking for 50% of my stopping power. Roll speed, again the tires don't talk to me so I'm more just guessing with what appeared to work the lap prior, or tagging on with others as targets, so seem to be doing ok there. The dogleg I should have been flat out through, never got the courage, bit bumpy mid corner. Exit, again, no feedback from the tire so I'm slow to open it up. Suspension will go a long way towards fixing those deficits I think? I'm pretty horrible at figuring out new tracks, got spoiled by years and years of only running Loudon, fortunately Daytona isn't that complex a layout so I was starting to put it together in my head decently after 11 laps.
Got some thinking to do short term, cost wise I got through this pretty decently. My trailer needs some serious R&R from the **** roads in NY and FL shaking it to hell... With the way the rules are structured now, the XB's out of the crate advantages over even heavily modified Sportsters / Big Twins mean nothing vs built modern sporty bikes. To have a chance I'm going to need a radical perf jump. If I could find an XBRR motor I'd be throwing it in there in a heartbeat.
I'm half tempted to try and start the conv with Moto A / RSD to see what it'd take to just put an 1190 on the grid, have all three American MFGs with their current kit out there.
As far as local club racing, I've got no interest in racing my local series any more, and if I were to go back I'd honestly find a different machine. The XB amplifies all my riding weaknesses, I've never been good on heavy machines and much prefer ultralight class bikes or sumos. If I'm working seat time for MotoA that changes the calculous, but... gotta stew.
