Erik Buell Racing 1190RS and KTM RC8R Make AMA Superbike Debuts

The July 8-10 Mid-Ohio round of the 2011 AMA Superbike series featured the debut of two new superbikes, the Erik Buell Racing 1190RS and the KTM RC8R Race Spec.

Chris Fillmore (11) finished an impressive seventh place in a red-flagged Race One for KTM-HMC Racing while Geoff May (99) placed eleventh on the Amsoil EBR 1190RS. The second race saw both riders finish in the top ten with Fillmore in ninth and May in the ten spot.

In the first race, Fillmore finished 13.620 seconds behind the winner, Blake Young of Rockstar Makita Suzuki and just 0.072 seconds behind Larry Pegram’s BMW S1000RR. His fastest lap was 1:26.639 on lap 17, nearly a second behind Young’s teammate Tommy Hayden who set the fastest overall lap at 1:25.718.

May was 31.192 seconds behind the winner and fell 0.895 seconds short of tenth-place finish JD Beach of Cycle World Attack Kawasaki. May’s fastest lap was 1:27.225, set on lap five before the red flag.

In Race Two, Fillmore finished 26.602 seconds behind the winner, Hayden, with a top lap time of 1:26.966, compared to Young’s top overall lap time of 1:25.557. May finished 17.238 seconds behind Fillmore in tenth place with his fastest lap time at 1:27.252 set in lap 7.

So far it appears the KTM has the advantage between the two 1190 Twins, but the RC8R does have a longer race resume. The EBR 1190RS is a relatively untested machine, and did well, finishing in the top half of the field in its debut. According to a post on Erik Buell Racing’s Facebook page, the team underestimated the difficulty of setting up with an extra 25 pounds of ballast to meet minimum weight limits. May also encountered problems running a soft rear tire in the second race.

[Source: AMA Pro Racing, EBR Racing]

By Dennis Chung