AMA 2009: The Weirdness Continues

After being prompted to do so by a couple of other things I read on the net I went and looked at the 2009 AMA Pro Racing Official Rule Book and discovered something strange. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, given that the DMG has been proposing this all along, but the homologated motorcycles for the new Daytona Sportbike class is strange to say the very least. I guess I kind of thought this would change and it didn't. So next year we're going to have a class where the allowed motorcycles are mixed up to say the very least. That was always a bit of the case with the old AMA Formula Extreme class but at least there it was broken up in such a way that it made sense. Basically, Formuala Extreme allowed the following:

• Liquid-cooled four-cylinders up to 600cc
• Liquid-cooled three-cylinders up to 675cc
• Liquid-cooled two-cylinders up to 850cc
• Air-cooled Desmo-valved, two-valve, two-cylinders up to 1100cc
• Air-cooled four-valve, two-cylinders up to 1200cc
• Air-cooled two-valve, two-cylinders up to 1350cc.

That's a pretty big spread of bikes but it keeps the horsepower ratings in the same general area, probably in the 115bhp range. Some bikes would have made more, some less, but it was generally fairly sane. Very broadly, liquid cooled bikes make more power per cc than
air-cooled, more cylinders generally equals more horsepower (albeit usually less torque) per cc, and more valves per cylinder equals more power per cc. With those very broad rules in mind the logic behing the 2008 rules is pretty clear: different but roughly equitable engine
configurations competing against each other.

The 2009 rules for Daytona Sportbike, on the other hand, and much weirder. The following bikes are homologated right now to run in that class:

• Aprilia RSV, a 1000cc liquid-cooled four-valve V-twin
• BMW HP2 Sport, a 1170cc air-cooled four-valve boxer twin
  
• Buell 1125R, a 1125cc liquid-cooled four-valve V-twin
  
• Ducati 848, a 849cc liquid-cooled four-valve V-twin
• Honda CBR600RR, a 600cc liquid-cooled four-valve inline four cylinder
• Kawasaki ZX-6R, a 600cc liquid-cooled four-valve inline four cylinder
• KTM Super Duke, a 999cc liquid-cooled four-valve V-twin
  
• Suzuki GSX-R600, a 600cc liquid-cooled four-valve inline four cylinder
• Triumph Daytona 675, a 675cc liquid-cooled four-valve three-cylinder
• Yamaha YZF-R6, a 600cc liquid-cooled four-valve inline four cylinder

Should be a strange class to say the very least...