Valdosta updates ?

[Twistedspeed]

I never said he was caught cheating, did I? Kent was caught cheating through his courtesy is what I said. Kent just got caught is the only difference!! Read the post again! It is what it is!! What I stated are facts of things that have occured over the years in prostreet!! Do your research and then dispute it if you can!! My post addresses cheating, bending rules and playing in the grey area as a whole!!! This is not the first nor will it be the last.

Yes Kent was caught with a illegal front hub not wheel..So no facts were stated. Barry and Kent weren't even a team when Kent was caught with the illegal hub.
Alot of ppl have been in the grey before. It's ppl that pushed the grey area that have help the sport become so interesting to watch low 7sec passes.

[blackhawk01]

where do I start.

FRONT SUSPENSION & WHEEL ASSEMBLY: No ballast may be mounted to any portion of the front suspension, brake system, fender system, or rotating assembly.( I had no ballast mounted)

No parts of the front suspension, brake system, fender system, or rotating assembly may be remanufactured from exotic heavy materials, including tungsten steel, HD-17, or Mallory metal.
(I had none.)

No portion of the front fork leg assemblies may be replaced with a heavier replacement component. Aftermarket or custom forks may not be heavier than industry-standard OEM sport bike forks.
(so what this is saying is that I can run any year any make and any model forks that I want even custom forks as long as they don't wight more then industry-standard OEM sport bike forks.so what are industry-standard OEM sport bike forks wight.that is the big thing,I have wighted ten difrent forks this week and they are from 7 pounds to 15 pounds.so if I want I can make my own custom forks up as long as they wight less then industry-standard OEM sport bike forks.or I can run 95 zx9 forks that wight 14 pounds on my bike as long as I don't replace component with heavier parts but if I start of with heaver forks I will be replacing them with ligher parts.so now you know what happen to me.)so you can run custom forks they just have to wight less then industry-standard OEM sport bike forks just no one know what that is.

You are right Ronnie. EXCEPT, that ZX-9 forks were not OEM on the haybausa... Just like if you decided to purchase a custom Trac front end or have a set of completely "custom" forks made. They cannot weight more than the Hayabusa forks. So if Hayabusa forks weigh 10# each, and the ZX-9 forks weigh 14#, thats 4# HEAVIER. Now, if the ZX-9 forks are 10#, you are good to go...

Pinky looks unreal!! Just put the 1000/Busa forks on it and go racing...

[Profile]

You are right Ronnie. EXCEPT, that ZX-9 forks were not OEM on the haybausa... Just like if you decided to purchase a custom Trac front end or have a set of completely "custom" forks made. They cannot weight more than the Hayabusa forks. So if Hayabusa forks weigh 10# each, and the ZX-9 forks weigh 14#, thats 4# HEAVIER. Now, if the ZX-9 forks are 10#, you are good to go...

Pinky looks unreal!! Just put the 1000/Busa forks on it and go racing...



X2 that Blackhawk01

[Ronnie Mitchell]

Show me where is says I have to run busa forks or that they have to wight no more then a busa fork it says no more then a industry-standard OEM sport bike forks.That's where the problem is.

[NCTWINGEE]

Yes Kent was caught with a illegal front hub not wheel..So no facts were stated. Barry and Kent weren't even a team when Kent was caught with the illegal hub.
Alot of ppl have been in the grey before. It's ppl that pushed the grey area that have help the sport become so interesting to watch low 7sec passes.

If you want to be exact, hub then! What was the intent of the hub and or heavy forks in either case? This is the reason the world is filled with so many lawyers!! I hope the correct decision is made and a good example made as well. Obviously the cost for getting caught doesn't hold enough weight. This is not fair to Victor, Darren, Rob, Taylor, Flood and anyone else in the class!! Should they loose points, rounds, races or championships because of such behavior? It would be a different thing if the rulebook didn't address the issue at all. Luckily the AMA tech has final say so at the end of the day. Let's see what happens. Good luck to all!!

[EXTREMEFUN1300]

And there inlies the dreaded... "grey area"

If tech considers it illegal, then it should specifically state the forks on the bike cannot weigh more then the OEM forks for that MAKE AND MODEL BIKE....which I'm sure it will state in the not to distant future.

[Jason Miller]

I can see the perdiciment. And I can see how it can be argued on both sides (tech side and Ronnie's side).

If the rule is worded that forks can't weigh more than the OEM forks on that bike, then bikes like Brad Mummert can't run GSXR forks on his bike because they are hevaier than the GS forks.

Maybe it would be best to just give a maximum weight for each fork leg, just like they do for the front wheel assembly. Then its crystal clear.

[outplayn]

Isnt there a bike (Busa) running Honda Forks out there?

This is some great reading.....DANG GREY AREA!

[blackhawk01]

Show me where is says I have to run busa forks or that they have to wight no more then a busa fork it says no more then a industry-standard OEM sport bike forks.That's where the problem is.

Well OEM is OEM... So if you are running a Busa, you have to run Busa forks(aka OEM) OR, any other fork as you see fit, as long as they are not heavier than a set of Busa forks.

If you WANT to read/interpret it as a "grey area" like you did, that's fine. You did, and you got DQ'd. I don't think of that as cheating. Cheating would be adding lead to your forks, etc. You just read the rule the way YOU thought it should be interpreted... If the rule was written that way, guy's would be retro-fitting M109 forks onto the front of their Busa's... Come on...

[Twistedspeed]

Maybe it would be best to just give a maximum weight for each fork leg, just like they do for the front wheel assembly. Then its crystal clear.

I agree 100% Jason. To acused ppl of cheating and having all this non sense going on when Ama/dragbike knew there was a problem since last year with weighted forks you think they've would have been a little more clear with the rules.

[Twistedspeed]

Well OEM is OEM... So if you are running a Busa, you have to run Busa forks(aka OEM) OR, any other fork as you see fit, as long as they are not heavier than a set of Busa forks.

:

Then why can't the rules just say that? There not very clear on the wording. It's to late now to say you gotta run oem busa forks look how many guys run the 1k forks to use a ligther fork.

[NCTWINGEE]

Then why can't the rules just say that? There not very clear on the wording. It's to late now to say you gotta run oem busa forks look how many guys run the 1k forks to use a ligther fork.

[Twistedspeed]

Not the answer I was looking for..

[d3coy]

I didn't say he got caught, now did I? Is it only when you get caught doing something wrong that you are cheating? Or is it. So I can go get some Harley Road King forks and put them on a bike and be legal? C'mon man!! This kind of crap hurts the sport, Period!!! I can bet that Mirock follows the same route on rules as AMA so no need to beat up on any sanction that enforces it's rules. It's simply not fair to those who play by the rules! The funny thing is guys always play dumb as to the intent of a rule and then feel as they are the victim when they get caught!! Out of bounds is out of bounds!! Some need to look up the definition of the word "cheat"!!

i'm speaking purely as a fan of the sport and am in no way trying to jump head-first into a pissing contest, cause God knows my stream ain't strong enough. a Harley Road King is NOT a sport bike. as such, their forks would be illegal. so that argument is invalid. after hearing Ronnie's side of the story, he seems to have a reasonable interpretation of the "intent" of the rule, but that is not a call any one of us to make. it's the job of the governing authority of the sport to determine what's illegal and legal and if there needs to be a rule clarification, etc., etc. it's the job of the race teams to push the envelope and take chances to get faster. hate to use the old cliche', but as they say, that's racing.

[sportbikeryder]

Show me where is says I have to run busa forks or that they have to wight no more then a busa fork it says no more then a industry-standard OEM sport bike forks.That's where the problem is.

If they were in fact zx9 forks that had nothing more than normal mods done to them, I applaud you Ronnie for building an excellent bike. There is absolutely no way that the bike should have been disqualified.

There is no unsportsmanlike intent to doing research and finding alternatives to make a bike perform better within the rules.

Quite frankly, if tech is going to disallow grey area interpretation then they need to have a pre-qualifing tech session prior to the event start and start sealing parts similar to what is done in alot or harley racing. I am not saying it should be done this way, but tech and the rule book writers need to step it up.

The tech inspector obviously knew what the max weight of the forks should be prior to weighing the forks or they woudl not have known they were illegal. Since AMA dragbike had knowledge as to what the maximum weight of the parts was, all of the criterion for which a bike can be disqualified should be disclosed in the rulebook, plain and simple. If anything, AMA dragbike and the tech officials are working in the grey area by NOT disclosing the information to which they obviously know about the bikes.

Lets assume Suzuki does what was done by US auto manufacturers in the 60's and 70's and releases a handful of "special" hayabusa's throughout the world. Lets also say these bikes had 54 lb forks on them, altered rake, altered swingarm pivots, etc. Can everyone make their bike's forks weigh 54 lbs, so long as it is a hayabusa? Seems it should be legal...

Anyone checking bike frme numberrs to be sure the headlight and bodywork is representitive of the proper year bike?

What if someone built a zx-10....could they use 1989 zx-10 forks? After all, they came from a zx-10....