What is a Fooshee?
#1
07-13-2007 | 10:00 AM
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What is a Fooshee?
Latest issue of Cycle World...reader writes in...complaining about the AMA series...
Steven Fooshee
Questions I have:
1. Who the flying ****, and what the flying ****, is a Steven Fooshee?
(In my book, you are either better than, or you keep your mouth shut.)
2. Can someone explain the main differences between WERA, CMRA, CCS, etc.?
I would like to see the AMA go back to 3 classes only:
AMA Superbike (750 cc)
AMA Supersport (600cc)
AMA Open Class/Extreme (1000 cc and very light rules as to modifications)
Steven Fooshee
...the AMA field is filled with people who can't podium a WERA or CCS race.
We don't need people who get lapped before half distance!
We don't need people who get lapped before half distance!
1. Who the flying ****, and what the flying ****, is a Steven Fooshee?
(In my book, you are either better than, or you keep your mouth shut.)
2. Can someone explain the main differences between WERA, CMRA, CCS, etc.?
I would like to see the AMA go back to 3 classes only:
AMA Superbike (750 cc)
AMA Supersport (600cc)
AMA Open Class/Extreme (1000 cc and very light rules as to modifications)
#2
07-13-2007 | 10:48 AM
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From: Meridian, MS
RE: What is a Fooshee?
Superbike won't be going back to 750cc what would be the point? and people say its a suzuki class as it is, if it were a 750 class Suzuki would be the only bike out there literally
WERA, CCS, etc are club racing organizations, meaning they are a step below AMA racing. The guy is just saying there is a really huge range of riders in AMA Superbike. The Superbike class is supposed to be a great show, a battle between riders and all that but many times they have to deal with lappers way too early and it affects the racers and the spectators. Lapping riders is a very difficult situation. The speed difference can be huge even at that level, obviously the faster rider is probably battling for position and can't waste time getting around them so it usually ends up very very hectic and has changed the outcome of races many times.
watch a MotoGP, WSBK, or any other major series. How often do lapped riders affect the outcome of the race? pretty much never. How often does it happen in AMA? pretty much every weekend in one race or another
for spectators, its very difficult to distinguish bikes as it is, but when your watching the lead group go by and there are 3 lapped riders amongst them its even more difficult to figure out who is who and what position they're in.
The idea that "don't complain unless your that good" is great and all if the issue doesn't affect the sports spectator/media coverage but this does. There have been quite a bit of major disasters that have affected how the media, fans, and racers themselves viewthe AMA and their officials so the "leave it alone" approach probably isn't the best method, there are problems and they need to be addressed. The AMA is trying to get their **** together, hopefully the coming years will get better. Michael Jordan did an interview a couple weeks ago, expressing his views on the AMA and the rules of the classes and pointed out that a lot of it was very unfair to the non-factory teams. He said he would be glad to do some stuff to promote the AMA if they would come up with something fair but at this point he and the other non-factory teams are basically being screwed by the AMA because the factories basically do whatever the hell they want
personally I would be fine if they kept the classes like they are now but kept the factories out of Supersport/Superstock
Superstock is out as of 2009, so it will most likely be 3 classes unless they add a spec class or a 125 or 250 class
and about superbike rules, its a tricky situation. Its nice to say that modifications should be nearly unliminted at that point your assuming that there are two types of teams, dirt poor that will run the lower classes and the factory teams that will run in Superbike. Unfortunately there are quite a bit of teams that are in between that. They've got a good bit of sponsorship and want to run in superbike but the factory teams are spending millions in parts that nobody else could get even if they can afford them. Obviously the middle teams (mostly factory support teams like Jordan Suzuki, M4/EMGO Suzuki, Corona Honda, and Graves Yamaha and Erion Honda to some extent) are screwed because they're big enough teams that their sponsors want them in Superbike but no matter how much money they have or how good their riders are they can't be competitive in Superbike, and worse yet the rules support it? back to Jordan Suzuki, here is a guy that came into this world excited and loving it, ready to spend the money and put together a team capable of winning, yet he gets in there and realizes that it doesn't matter what he does or who rides his bikes, there is not going to be any winning in the premier class for them because the rulebook says so. What does AMA do? not a whole lot of anything
WERA, CCS, etc are club racing organizations, meaning they are a step below AMA racing. The guy is just saying there is a really huge range of riders in AMA Superbike. The Superbike class is supposed to be a great show, a battle between riders and all that but many times they have to deal with lappers way too early and it affects the racers and the spectators. Lapping riders is a very difficult situation. The speed difference can be huge even at that level, obviously the faster rider is probably battling for position and can't waste time getting around them so it usually ends up very very hectic and has changed the outcome of races many times.
watch a MotoGP, WSBK, or any other major series. How often do lapped riders affect the outcome of the race? pretty much never. How often does it happen in AMA? pretty much every weekend in one race or another
for spectators, its very difficult to distinguish bikes as it is, but when your watching the lead group go by and there are 3 lapped riders amongst them its even more difficult to figure out who is who and what position they're in.
The idea that "don't complain unless your that good" is great and all if the issue doesn't affect the sports spectator/media coverage but this does. There have been quite a bit of major disasters that have affected how the media, fans, and racers themselves viewthe AMA and their officials so the "leave it alone" approach probably isn't the best method, there are problems and they need to be addressed. The AMA is trying to get their **** together, hopefully the coming years will get better. Michael Jordan did an interview a couple weeks ago, expressing his views on the AMA and the rules of the classes and pointed out that a lot of it was very unfair to the non-factory teams. He said he would be glad to do some stuff to promote the AMA if they would come up with something fair but at this point he and the other non-factory teams are basically being screwed by the AMA because the factories basically do whatever the hell they want
personally I would be fine if they kept the classes like they are now but kept the factories out of Supersport/Superstock
Superstock is out as of 2009, so it will most likely be 3 classes unless they add a spec class or a 125 or 250 class
and about superbike rules, its a tricky situation. Its nice to say that modifications should be nearly unliminted at that point your assuming that there are two types of teams, dirt poor that will run the lower classes and the factory teams that will run in Superbike. Unfortunately there are quite a bit of teams that are in between that. They've got a good bit of sponsorship and want to run in superbike but the factory teams are spending millions in parts that nobody else could get even if they can afford them. Obviously the middle teams (mostly factory support teams like Jordan Suzuki, M4/EMGO Suzuki, Corona Honda, and Graves Yamaha and Erion Honda to some extent) are screwed because they're big enough teams that their sponsors want them in Superbike but no matter how much money they have or how good their riders are they can't be competitive in Superbike, and worse yet the rules support it? back to Jordan Suzuki, here is a guy that came into this world excited and loving it, ready to spend the money and put together a team capable of winning, yet he gets in there and realizes that it doesn't matter what he does or who rides his bikes, there is not going to be any winning in the premier class for them because the rulebook says so. What does AMA do? not a whole lot of anything
#3
07-13-2007 | 11:05 AM
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RE: What is a Fooshee?
ORIGINAL: woodyracing
Superbike won't be going back to 750cc what would be the point? and people say its a suzuki class as it is, if it were a 750 class Suzuki would be the only bike out there literally
WERA, CCS, etc are club racing organizations, meaning they are a step below AMA racing. The guy is just saying there is a really huge range of riders in AMA Superbike. The Superbike class is supposed to be a great show, a battle between riders and all that but many times they have to deal with lappers way too early and it affects the racers and the spectators. Lapping riders is a very difficult situation. The speed difference can be huge even at that level, obviously the faster rider is probably battling for position and can't waste time getting around them so it usually ends up very very hectic and has changed the outcome of races many times.
for spectators, its very difficult to distinguish bikes as it is, but when your watching the lead group go by and there are 3 lapped riders amongst them its even more difficult to figure out who is who and what position they're in.
The idea that "don't complain unless your that good" is great and all if the issue doesn't affect the sports spectator/media coverage but this does. There have been quite a bit of major disasters that have affected how the media, fans, and racers themselves viewthe AMA and their officials so the "leave it alone" approach probably isn't the best method, there are problems and they need to be addressed. The AMA is trying to get their **** together, hopefully the coming years will get better. Michael Jordan did an interview a couple weeks ago, expressing his views on the AMA and the rules of the classes and pointed out that a lot of it was very unfair to the non-factory teams. He said he would be glad to do some stuff to promote the AMA if they would come up with something fair but at this point he and the other non-factory teams are basically being screwed by the AMA because the factories basically do whatever the hell they want
personally I would be fine if they kept the classes like they are now but kept the factories out of Supersport/Superstock
Superstock is out as of 2009, so it will most likely be 3 classes unless they add a spec class or a 125 or 250 class
Superbike won't be going back to 750cc what would be the point? and people say its a suzuki class as it is, if it were a 750 class Suzuki would be the only bike out there literally
WERA, CCS, etc are club racing organizations, meaning they are a step below AMA racing. The guy is just saying there is a really huge range of riders in AMA Superbike. The Superbike class is supposed to be a great show, a battle between riders and all that but many times they have to deal with lappers way too early and it affects the racers and the spectators. Lapping riders is a very difficult situation. The speed difference can be huge even at that level, obviously the faster rider is probably battling for position and can't waste time getting around them so it usually ends up very very hectic and has changed the outcome of races many times.
for spectators, its very difficult to distinguish bikes as it is, but when your watching the lead group go by and there are 3 lapped riders amongst them its even more difficult to figure out who is who and what position they're in.
The idea that "don't complain unless your that good" is great and all if the issue doesn't affect the sports spectator/media coverage but this does. There have been quite a bit of major disasters that have affected how the media, fans, and racers themselves viewthe AMA and their officials so the "leave it alone" approach probably isn't the best method, there are problems and they need to be addressed. The AMA is trying to get their **** together, hopefully the coming years will get better. Michael Jordan did an interview a couple weeks ago, expressing his views on the AMA and the rules of the classes and pointed out that a lot of it was very unfair to the non-factory teams. He said he would be glad to do some stuff to promote the AMA if they would come up with something fair but at this point he and the other non-factory teams are basically being screwed by the AMA because the factories basically do whatever the hell they want
personally I would be fine if they kept the classes like they are now but kept the factories out of Supersport/Superstock
Superstock is out as of 2009, so it will most likely be 3 classes unless they add a spec class or a 125 or 250 class
And yeah great idea of having Supersport be basically all stock machines, like the ones you can get off the showroom floor. I mean that is the whole premise behind the 600 class no? To race on Sunday what a customer can buy on Monday.
As far as lapping riders...Formula 1 had lappers for years, with Minardi, Arrows, and Sauber backmarkers sometimes deciding the outcome.
If a team has a much better bike and rider, and is on pole week in and week out, it adds something when you see how well they lap through traffic. I think it throws something into the mix. But, I'm no racer...just a spectator.
Even as it stands now, I'd much rather watch an AMA race than a WSBK race. Even if it seems like it's a Mladin vs. Spies two man race 90% of the time.
The 250 Moto GP class, (still 2-strokes isn't it?)...haven't caught much of it on Speed Channel.
#4
07-13-2007 | 11:18 AM
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From: Meridian, MS
RE: What is a Fooshee?
lets not forget Suzuki didn't come out with the GSX-R750 since Superbike went to 1000s, they're just the only manuf to keep it around this long.
F1 isn't a sprint race, in motorcycle terms its an endurance race. Their races are around 3x longer than AMA Superbike races so lapped traffic will play a bigger part, as will pit stops (DEFINITELY not something I want to see in Superbike racing)
F1 isn't a sprint race, in motorcycle terms its an endurance race. Their races are around 3x longer than AMA Superbike races so lapped traffic will play a bigger part, as will pit stops (DEFINITELY not something I want to see in Superbike racing)
#5
07-13-2007 | 11:34 AM
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RE: What is a Fooshee?
ORIGINAL: woodyracing
lets not forget Suzuki didn't come out with the GSX-R750 since Superbike went to 1000s, they're just the only manuf to keep it around this long.
F1 isn't a sprint race, in motorcycle terms its an endurance race. Their races are around 3x longer than AMA Superbike races so lapped traffic will play a bigger part, as will pit stops (DEFINITELY not something I want to see in Superbike racing)
lets not forget Suzuki didn't come out with the GSX-R750 since Superbike went to 1000s, they're just the only manuf to keep it around this long.
F1 isn't a sprint race, in motorcycle terms its an endurance race. Their races are around 3x longer than AMA Superbike races so lapped traffic will play a bigger part, as will pit stops (DEFINITELY not something I want to see in Superbike racing)
Thanks for answering my post with some class WR.
#6
07-13-2007 | 11:37 AM
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RE: What is a Fooshee?
ORIGINAL: woodyracing
lets not forget Suzuki didn't come out with the GSX-R750 since Superbike went to 1000s, they're just the only manuf to keep it around this long.
lets not forget Suzuki didn't come out with the GSX-R750 since Superbike went to 1000s, they're just the only manuf to keep it around this long.
I remember Doug Polen on a Ducati 888 nearly losing in it in a patch of oil while Thomas Stevens wiped it on his GSXR 750...circa 1993.
Ducati in 1992-93 took advantage of an old rule allowing V-Twins to have a larger displacement than in-line 4's...
#8
07-13-2007 | 11:51 AM
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From: Meridian, MS
#9
07-13-2007 | 11:54 AM
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RE: What is a Fooshee?
ORIGINAL: woodyracing
my wording sucked, my point was that the 750 isn't a new thing that nobody else hasn't caught onto yet, its an old thing that everybody but Suzuki stopped doing
my wording sucked, my point was that the 750 isn't a new thing that nobody else hasn't caught onto yet, its an old thing that everybody but Suzuki stopped doing
By bringing back the 750 class, you'd lose the need for slipper clutches, traction control etc.
Anyway...good talk.
#10
07-13-2007 | 12:28 PM
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From: Meridian, MS
RE: What is a Fooshee?
my only point is that, the manufacturers aren't going to want to go back to 750s, for everybody but Suzuki it means creating an entirely new bike just to race in AMA. Considering motorcycle racings lack of popularity over here, the chances of them doing that are virtually one, and honestly I like the 1000s as superbikes. Anything less than 1000s wouldn't really seem like "Superbikes" to me
Slipper clutches aren't going anywhere and TC is being used on the 600s in the FX class. Doesn't matter what type of bike your on, anything over 50cc will spin up the rear if you give it enough throttle in the corners. Ed Bargy (has raced pretty much anything and everything with wheels at just about every level) tells a story of a student of his that raced a Ninja 250 just a few years back. One of the things he was working with her for was controlling wheel spin on corner exits.
Slipper clutches aren't going anywhere and TC is being used on the 600s in the FX class. Doesn't matter what type of bike your on, anything over 50cc will spin up the rear if you give it enough throttle in the corners. Ed Bargy (has raced pretty much anything and everything with wheels at just about every level) tells a story of a student of his that raced a Ninja 250 just a few years back. One of the things he was working with her for was controlling wheel spin on corner exits.