Buell's 1125R motorcycle marks first North American win
The Staff of Clutch and Chrome
June 11th 2008
Buell reached a
milestone last week when the company's 1125R motorcycle won
it's first North American professional road race.
The No. 8
Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing Buell 1125R ridden by Shawn
Higbee and Steve Crevier clinched pole and took the overall
and Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins class wins at
the MOTO-ST Road America 500K in Elkhart Lake, Wis. June 7.
Unpredictable and rapidly changing weather conditions
delayed the start of the originally scheduled 3-hour race by
more than an hour and ultimately reduced its length to 1
hour and 40 minutes. Tire choice was a gamble, with the
formation of a dry racing line hampered by sporadic light
drizzle throughout the race that favored teams that chose
intermediate or full-wet Pirellis. But the Buell pulled to
the front on Lap 17 of the 36-lap race and pulled away to a
31-second lead over the second place No. 6 Aprilia USA/Lloyd
Brothers Motorsports Aprilia Tuono 1000R.
“I don't have a lot of rain experience at this track,” said
Higbee. “We were a little conservative early and after about
10 laps a dry line started to appear. Then it started
drizzling just as I was getting happy with the track and I
think that was a defining moment. I backed it down a lot and
from then on the race seemed to go our way.”
Canadian Steve Crevier, who joined the Bruce Rossmeyer’s
Daytona Racing team at the Road America round, echoed his
teammate’s comments about the weather: "It was crazy out
there," the six-time Canadian Superbike champion said. "We
thought about going to a slick tire on the final stint, but
didn't want to take the chance in case we got downpour.”
In the BMW Motorcycles GrandSport Twins (GST) class, the No.
70 James Gang/Hoban Brothers Racing Buell XB12R sponsored by
Harley-Davidson/Buell of Appleton and ridden by Paul James
and Jeff Johnson took third place and jumped to the lead in
the GST class standings after the first three rounds, taking
over the points lead from the No. 7 Ritchie Morris
Racing/Hal’s Harley-Davidson/Buell XB12R ridden by Clint
Brotz and Dan Bilansky, which retired early with a rear
wheel bearing failure. The No. 70 now leads the GST class
with 92 points followed by the No. 7 with 88. The James
Gang/Hoban Brothers team also earned the Roaring Toyz Best
Looking Team award.
“Tire choice was critical,” said Paul James. “We made the
call to switch to DOT tires during our final pit stop, but
the Pirelli rain tires the class leaders used appeared to
hold up for the whole race distance, and in hindsight those
were the better choice. But it’s great to have a solid
finish on our home track, and I always knew we had the
best-looking team!” |
