Cycle News Staff | July 14, 2021
Earlier today, Progressive American Flat Track issued “AFT Technical Bulletin #2021-02” and briefed the Mission SuperTwins field on a series of rule changes directly impacting its field of all-conquering Indian FTR750s that will go into effect beginning with July 24’s Port Royal Half-Mile.
Specifically, those changes are:
- The minimum weight for Mission SuperTwins bikes based around a “race-only engine” will increase from 310 to 330 lbs, while production-based machines will remain at 310.
- The base flywheel for race-only engined bikes must be fitted and cannot be modified in any way, conforming to the approved weight and dimensions with no mass added or removed.
- The maximum wheel assembly for bikes with race-only engines has been limited to 35 lbs compared to a 43 lb maximum for production-based bikes.
The changes appear to be an initial attempt to address the overwhelming dominance of a single platform — the Indian FTR750 — both in terms of numbers and success, even as the premier class has seen decreased entries while the production-based alternatives have largely fled to the AFT Production Twins category.
The areas of focus, such as flywheel mass and the related circuit-by-circuit adjustability, are those in which Indian’s dedicated racebike cannot be realistically matched by production-based machinery as the rules previously existed.
When reached for comment, Progressive AFT CEO Michael Lock said, “Close and competitive racing across multiple brands is a hallmark of the American Flat Track series. These small amendments are designed to impact the inherent advantage held by race-only developed machines versus those that have been adapted using a street bike engine. We will continue to monitor the data in order to deliver the best race action for our fans and partners.”
The actual impact of these changes in terms of lap times and race results for the remainder of the 2021 season remain to be seen. In fact, it’s possible they could prove to be relatively limited, especially considering the actual weight and spec of the leading FTR750s compared to the theoretical limits.
However, at minimum, these changes seem to be about sending an unmistakable message — both to Indian and the other manufacturers (those already participating at some level and others who may be tempted to)—concerning a very real commitment to create a more balanced battleground that will lead to a larger, more diverse field and less predictable results.
Below is Chris Martin’s article Leveling the Playing Field in issue 28 Cycle News magazine that provides a more thorough examination of these rule changes, paddock reaction and speculation on what this could potentially mean for Progressive AFT moving into the future.
AFT announces a mid-season rule change to address the overwhelming dominance of a single platform—the Indian FTR750.
By Chris Martin | Photography by Kristen Lassen and Scott Hunter
By any number of measures, Progressive American Flat Track has been basking in a new golden age as major initiatives to increase the series’ profile and raise its overall level of professionalism have paid off handsomely.
2021 has furthered that trend in large part. The latest chapters of the rivalry between Grand National Champion friends-turned-foes Briar Bauman and Jared Mees are being written as the season evolves. And all the while, the ascension of Brandon Robinson has made for a captivating, three-way Mission SuperTwins heavyweight title fight.
And yet, some critical foundational issues are glaring enough that it was deemed necessary to address them mid-season. It became impossible to ignore the fact that, in the fifth year of Indian Motorcycle’s overwhelming domination of the premier class, all but three bikes in a numbers-depleted field are represented by the all-conquering FTR750.
In an attempt to directly address the issue, Progressive AFT announced the following three integrated steps starting with the Port Royal Half-Mile at the end of this month: 1) The minimum weight for Mission SuperTwins bikes based around a “race-only engine” will increase from 310 to 330 pounds, while production-based machines will remain at 310 pounds, 2) the base flywheel for race-only-engined bikes must be fitted and cannot be modified in any way, conforming to the approved weight and dimensions with no mass added or removed, and 3) the maximum wheel assembly for bikes with race-only engines has been limited to 35 pounds compared to a 43 pounds maximum for production-based bikes.
Despite the news of restrictions being imposed upon the bulk of the Mission SuperTwins teams, the need to do something—anything—was obvious enough that the immediate reaction was relatively muted.
2016 Grand National Champion Bryan Smith brings a unique perspective. He’s been around long enough to have raced through numerous rule adjustments and balancing attempts. He’s also has been on all sides of the Indian war, going from a works Indian to a Howerton-framed Kawasaki to a factory Harley-Davidson to a Howerton-framed Indian the last four seasons alone.
Asked for his initial thoughts, Smith said, “It’s a part of racing. In any form of racing, you level the playing field so the racers can determine it rather than a bike. I get where they’re coming from.”
The FTR Conundrum
So how did it get to this point?
Recall that the FTR750 was designed to a rules package that existed to simultaneously ease the impending retirement of Harley-Davidson’s venerable XR750 racer while laying the groundwork for a long-term transition to a production-based premier class.
Indian’s arrival was a boon to the series on several fronts, representing the return of a historic marque in a huge way while boosting attention and resources for the paddock.
Developed essentially as a modern-take on the decades-old XR design, the FTR750 proved wildly successful in short order. That became true to the point that any team or rider who hoped to have a realistic chance of competing felt compelled to make the not-insignificant investment in their own FTR750, which only entrenched the emerging issue.
The few holdovers that have tried to battle against the Indians have suffered largely similar fates, most visibly when the Vance & Hines/Harley-Davidson Factory Racing Team ended the manufacturer’s high-profile involvement as a works effort following a(nother) difficult season in 2020.
Team owner Terry Vance said, “We tried everything that we could possibly try to make our bikes competitive at the top level, and we never solved the mystery. The Indian is just a very well designed and balanced motorcycle. And what happened was, when they get 20 guys out there racing them, they get a lot of feedback. When you’ve got two or three guys, it’s almost impossible to catch up.”
As a result, a class intended to become production-based is now the opposite due to the dominance of a single platform.
More than one insider has recently made the comparison to a MotoGP bike dominating what was essentially intended to be WorldSBK on dirt. And in fact, Progressive AFT even had to introduce an entirely new class, AFT Production Twins, for dirt track’s World Superbike analogues to flee to.
Delicate Balance
There’s a very simple solution to this, and it’s also the only one currently off the table: banning the FTR750 outright.
Indian has shown to be deeply committed to the sport and a dedicated series stakeholder. No one wants to see them pack up their trucks and take their money out of the paddock.
Unduly punishing them for designing an outstanding race bike and investing heavily in flat track is not something Progressive AFT wants to do. Yet at the same time, that must be weighed against the overall vitality of the series, which Indian stands to directly benefit from as well.
Further complicating the matter is the fact that, even though the FTR750 was initially viewed as having a finite shelf life, Indian doesn’t have a realistic path toward building a production-based racer in the foreseeable future considering current market realities. Unlike the Japanese and European manufacturers, the Indian brand is not particularly well positioned to capitalize on the trend toward middleweight twin-cylinder sport nakeds and sportbikes that make for ideal flat-track bases.
In terms of Progressive AFT’s dealings with Indian, Vance said, “I’ve never seen a successful business model where you fire your customers. You’ve just to figure out how to make everybody equal.”
The only way forward seems to be finding a way to effectively balance the FTRs with production-based race bikes.
Vance continued, “You see what’s happened with the Yamaha team and what’s happened with the Latus team. I think they were thinking that maybe the Vance & Hines guys didn’t know what they were doing, but the fact is that I’m really proud of what we accomplished with what we had to be honest.
“This is the first step toward making that happen. I hope it makes a difference. All I care about is the end result. I’d love to see close racing between multiple brands at AFT’s top level. I just wish they had done this years ago.”
Series Technical Director David McGrath said, “All of us in the sanctioning body side of things, we’d rather not have to balance performance. You’d rather not have to do such things because there is always scar tissue that’s attached to it, and the sanctioning body is typically viewed as the bad guy. However, everybody, including Indian, sees that competition is what the fans want to see and we need more competition.
In fact, there’s been an ongoing dialogue on the matter between officials with the series and Indian that’s gradually become less acrimonious and more in alignment with the acknowledgment that something needs to be done.
The Rule Changes
“We evaluated the strengths of the FTR, which are many-layered,” McGrath said. “The biggest one is that it can put the power down. It’s not necessarily the most powerful bike, but it’s a very rideable machine that everybody seems to be able to adapt to.”
The three rulebook changes can actually be viewed as one interrelated initiative that’s all about reeling in the FTR’s “engine moment of inertia” advantage, while keeping the monetary costs and effort required to execute them extremely minimal.
The overall bike weight increase may stand out among casual observers, but McGrath explained that one is effectively about eliminating a variable as the vast majority of FTRs that go through tech actually come in a few pounds above the new 330-pound minimum as things stand now.
The massive, adjustable flywheel is considered the centerpiece of the FTR’s inertial supremacy. Furthermore, it allowed the FTR to fine-tune traction from circuit to circuit while heavy rear-wheel assemblies only further magnified its edge.
This is an area where production-based engines can’t hope to compete, as the basic heavy flywheel/crank design that makes for a nigh-invincible dirt track racer also makes for a less-than-inspiring street bike.
How Will It Play Out?
Asking around, most think the outcome of these three changes will be relatively restrained on track—possibly providing the Yamahas and Harleys a minor helping hand (the exception being at the TTs, where the JD Beach/Yamaha MT-07 DT pairing is already the class of the field and the new weight disparity is likely to have the greatest impact).
Of the changes, Smith said, “You’re bummed if you’re an Indian owner or racer. But the Indian is so good, I don’t think these rules changes are going to affect the results too much.”
Interestingly, there’s a feeling the intra-Indian battle could be more heavily impacted by the changes, although speculation differs on how exactly.
There are suggestions that by limiting some setup options (the bolt-on flywheel rings in particular), the Indians will run closer together.
Smith, however, thinks the opposite could happen, instead shifting the balance of power in favor of the old-school riders. He explained, “Guys like myself or Jared Mees, who have ridden a lot of stuff and have a lot of experience, have a better throttle hand than some of the younger guys—even the champion Briar Bauman.
“It might be tougher for, say Brandon Price, who is super aggressive and super talented, but after twenty years of doing this, you learn to develop a good throttle hand and you’ve got to be more precise when the motorcycle is harder to ride. And 100%, at half the tracks, the rule changes are going to make the bikes harder to ride.”
Commitment to Balance
The field is so Indian-biased at this point that gauging the effectiveness of the changes will be tricky with just the two Estenson Yamahas and sole Latus Harley-Davidson serving as basis for comparison. It doesn’t help that, while champions in their own right, the precise premier-class potential of Beach, Kolby Carlile, and James Rispoli has yet to be fully proven.
If it were possible to put known quantities such as Bauman, Mees and Robinson on each of the bikes at a variety of tracks, it’d be a lot easier to understand the impact of the rule changes, but, alas, that simply isn’t possible.
The next question is whether these changes will prove substantial enough to tempt in a larger collection of production-based bikes in 2022 to further drive the evaluation moving forward.
But perhaps more important than the specifics of the rule changes is the symbolic commitment they represent at finding the proper balance, no matter what it takes.
Smith said, “Just seeing that AFT has identified the problem and is being proactive (is important). It’s hard for a lot of the younger guys to afford an Indian no matter how good it is. So, if there is another alternative that makes them feel like they’re not just showing up to a gunfight with a knife, at least they can afford to do it and know their bike is good enough to give them a chance.”
Underlying that commitment, McGrath indicated the series may not be done tweaking the 2021 ruleset just yet.
“Everything is on the table. Everything is being evaluated.” CN