Airbox modification rules for CCS/ASRA and WERA

[Michelle]

Hey guys! Sorry for all the questions being posted by me haha. I'm going to be new to racing next season and just have so many questions. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in my town who does the kind of riding I do (track and racing) so I have to resort to forums most of the time. 

I'm confused about the airbox rules for CCS/ASRA and WERA. If I put a Hordpower airbox on my 2016 fz07 would I have to run modified classes? Meaning racing with bikes that have modified engines? Can someone explain the airbox rules for both clubs and if I can still run in stock classes (non-modified engines) with the Hord filter? 

Starting my first racing season I want to run in stock bike classes because I'm just trying to get my feet wet and not hurt the wallet too much. 

Thank you! 

 

 

 

[M, Hausknecht]

You cannot use the Hordpower intake legally in Superstock classes with WERA or ASRA/CCS. For both orgs, the airbox must be unmodified, or you run under Superbike rules. For what it is worth, most of the competitors in the Superbike classes are running Superstock-legal bikes, or nearly so, especially in the novice classes. And then there is cheating, but I won't advise on that.

For your first season racing, I wouldn't worry much about whether you're competitive with the fastest riders in your class. Although there have been, and are, first-year racers who excel, they are rare and typically come with prior racing experience of some kind. You want a reliable bike that you enjoy riding, and you want to run as many races as you're able. You'll see at least 10 seconds per lap difference between riders on like bikes, between the slowest and the fastest. At some point, you may feel, "wow, I'm pretty good at this and I could run right up front if only......" At that point, but not before, would i suggest you worry about horsepower. 

[Michelle]

5 hours ago, M, Hausknecht said:

You cannot use the Hordpower intake legally in Superstock classes with WERA or ASRA/CCS. For both orgs, the airbox must be unmodified, or you run under Superbike rules. For what it is worth, most of the competitors in the Superbike classes are running Superstock-legal bikes, or nearly so, especially in the novice classes. And then there is cheating, but I won't advise on that.

For your first season racing, I wouldn't worry much about whether you're competitive with the fastest riders in your class. Although there have been, and are, first-year racers who excel, they are rare and typically come with prior racing experience of some kind. You want a reliable bike that you enjoy riding, and you want to run as many races as you're able. You'll see at least 10 seconds per lap difference between riders on like bikes, between the slowest and the fastest. At some point, you may feel, "wow, I'm pretty good at this and I could run right up front if only......" At that point, but not before, would i suggest you worry about horsepower. 

Do you think superstock is a bit more of a "friendly" class to begin with? 

[M, Hausknecht]

19 minutes ago, Michelle said:

Do you think superstock is a bit more of a "friendly" class to begin with? 

As I said, in the novice classes most of the bikes running in Superbike classes are just Superstock-legal bikes, so neither class is more or less friendly because the same people and bikes are in both. So, for example, if you run with WERA, you should enter Lightweight Twins Superstock Novice and Lightweight Twins Superbike Novice, and you can and should also run in Formula 2 Novice. For a fourth class, you should enter Heavyweight Twins Superbike Novice. You'll race with mostly the same people, on the same bikes, in all four classes except for the few bigger twins you'll see in Heavyweight Twins. 

Things are a little different in the Expert classes because although many riders will use a superstock bike in superbike, there are also some people running legitimate superbikes. A very good rider on a superstock bike will outperform a merely decent rider on a superbike, but with closer to equal riders, a well-built superbike should be at least a few seconds a lap faster. At this stage of your career, I advise strongly against building and racing a legitimate superbike; it costs a lot more, you'll likely break more stuff, and set up can be much more complicated because of all the freedom the rules allow.

[Michelle]

17 hours ago, M, Hausknecht said:

As I said, in the novice classes most of the bikes running in Superbike classes are just Superstock-legal bikes, so neither class is more or less friendly because the same people and bikes are in both. So, for example, if you run with WERA, you should enter Lightweight Twins Superstock Novice and Lightweight Twins Superbike Novice, and you can and should also run in Formula 2 Novice. For a fourth class, you should enter Heavyweight Twins Superbike Novice. You'll race with mostly the same people, on the same bikes, in all four classes except for the few bigger twins you'll see in Heavyweight Twins. 

Things are a little different in the Expert classes because although many riders will use a superstock bike in superbike, there are also some people running legitimate superbikes. A very good rider on a superstock bike will outperform a merely decent rider on a superbike, but with closer to equal riders, a well-built superbike should be at least a few seconds a lap faster. At this stage of your career, I advise strongly against building and racing a legitimate superbike; it costs a lot more, you'll likely break more stuff, and set up can be much more complicated because of all the freedom the rules allow.

Ok, that makes a lot of sense thank you. By no means do I have anywhere near enough money to build my fz into a superbike at the moment so I'll keep it qualified for Superstock and try and run as many classes as I can for the experience. I'd much rather use my money towards race days than building the bike into a dream setup. I'd probably eat it and break everything haha. That would really suck!