With the recent AMA announcement that next year’s Daytona 200 will be a Formula Extreme race rather than the traditional superbike-class format, speculation has begun as to how the manufacturers not currently fielding competitive FX machinery (pretty much everyone but Honda) will respond.
The fact is that the factory Honda CBR600RR of Miguel Duhamel and the near-factory Erion Racing CBR600RRs of Jake Zemke and Alex Gobert have dominated the Formula Extreme season this year. In fact, the only rider other than Duhamel and Zemke to win a race was Ben Bostrom, guest-riding the Laguna Seca round aboard another factory Honda machine.
With only two rounds left in the season, it seems unlikely that any of the other Japanese manufacturers will step in with a full factory effort, or put more resources behind any of the existing privateer teams. This leaves the OEMs in the difficult position of having to develop, build and test an all-new Formula Extreme racebike during the off-season if they want to have a chance at winning next year’s Daytona 200 (widely considered the most prestigous event in American road racing).
Honda is well known to have more resources than its Japanese competitors, and a consequently larger racing budget. Nevertheless, Big Red struggled at first with its FX machines. Remember, these are like 600cc superbikes, with near-unlimited engine tuning and full-factory chassis fettling, running on superbike-style racing slicks. Nevertheless, in preseason testing and at the first few races, many of the Formula Extreme 600s posted lap times inferior to those of the near-stock Supersport 600s!
This shows that the Formula Extreme class has a steep developement curve, and at this point Honda has climbed past the hard part and seems to be near the top. This decision by the AMA will force the other manufacturers to climb the curve fast if they want to match Honda at the ’05 Daytona 200.
