Thunderfest

[RC51DRAG]

I went to the Canadian Superbike races this past weekend @ St. Eustache, QC. While the superbike stuff was great it was a little disappointing since Crevier wasn't racing. Still I got to meet him and he is a great guy as expected. The highlights for me were of course the RC51's, the R1100S, and the new Firebolt. Having ridden @ that track I know that it isn't a great venue for twins. It doesn't allow them time to stretch their legs and the bumpiness of the track doesn't help the situation. The Rc51 has never done well at this track and the other local riders of RC's agree. Still the factory boys did alright with second place. The GSXR1000's are just too much down the straight. They easily pulled out 3 to 4 bike lengths but the RC's closed the gaps in the corners. they just couldn't get the drive off the corners like the GSXRs. The R1's weren't really even in it till the end.
The races I enjoyed the most were the Thunderfest series. The new firebolt is making headway with a newly ported head that now allows it to stay with the rival Ducati 900SS. I think once the power levels can be increased through Buell or the aftermarket that the new bike will outrun everyone else. Already there's word of hi-comp. piston kits and cam kits coming out thi fall. The firebolt has already come second in a BOTT race down in the states this year. Impressive stuff. At present the r1100s is having a difficult time keeping with the old buell sportbikes which don't have the out of the box handling that the new firebolt has. Despite being not built for the race track, in this company the firebolt is nearly on par with the ducati's in the handling department. The nice comparison was a side by side with the 900ss, the r1100s, and the firebolt. The bmw and ducati are resonably about the same size, with of course the bmw being heavier, but the firebolt looks like a 250 compared to the others. On this short bumpy track the bmw had the same problem as the RC51. Not enough time to stretch its legs and get the power down to the ground. The buells just took off unfortunately. Still it was great fun and being that this is my only year in Quebec and near enough to a race track to go on a regular basis. I'm disappointed that I didn't hear about this series revival earlier. It may have swayed my purchase of the bmw over my honda. It would have been nice to mix it up those guys riding a ohlins suspended, staintuned exhausted R1100S.

[Eron Flory]

Is that the same series as in the article last year where one of the magazines raced a Buell and a S? I was thinking about trying to make a round this year but heard that the series got cancelled...

I have found that my S puts the power down better than any other bike I have ridden on the track. It just has a lower power/weight ratio than most of the bikes it is on the track with and so it loses at the end of the straights.

Can you provide any more info. on the series?

Eron