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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em…
Larry Pegram's results following his switch from BMW to Yamaha equipment is worth tracking for a variety of reasons...
Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram (Photo: Evan Williams)
Okay, so Larry Pegram has switched from BMW to Yamaha for the 2013 AMA Pro Superbike season. Pegram will race a third R1 in the class, an interesting move on several levels.
It wasn’t so long ago that Pegram won races on a Ducati, notably beating Mat Mladin in a great race at Elkhart Lake and then doubling at Topeka. Pegram won four races in 2009 and 2010 after being shut out for a decade. Pegram’s hip replacement surgery meant he could train and ride the bike like he wanted again.
Over the years, Pegram learned how to put together his own team and built a good one with the help of his sponsors, notably Foremost Insurance.
Pegram then switched to BMW for 2011. It wasn’t bad, but Pegram wanted to win races. More often than not, you’re going to get fifth place -- as Larry told me last winter-- on a fifth-place bike. The big factory push to do well in AMA Pro wasn’t there.
So Pegram will race a Yamaha this year. Yamaha has a good history of late with their customer bikes, when Ben Bostrom rode one for Pat Clark Yamaha a couple of years ago. When that team went away, there was a hole for Yamaha they have filled with Pegram’s team.
If you ask other mechanics about Larry’s squad, the answer you get is the team is legit and very professional. They are experienced with fielding a Superbike and Superbike electronics. And they will get more technical support with Yamaha.
Some insiders wondered why Larry went with Yamaha over Suzuki. The Suzuki is certainly good and more familiar in the AMA Pro paddock since more teams race the bike. You can get the good parts hookup from Yoshimura if you are paying. But if Yamaha is backing this program like it appears they are, then it is a good plan as well.
Pegram on the R1 should be a good barometer for how strong the R1 really is. Of course the bike looks great when Josh Hayes is way out in front and even better when Josh Herrin is mixing it up in front as well. If Pegram can relegate the Jordan and Yoshimura teams, it’ll do three things: prove Larry can still get it done as a rider, prove the R1 is a good bike, and get tongues wagging about the technical allowances the R1 gets.
Yamaha is allowed to change some things on the R1 that the other manufacturers don’t necessarily get. Josh Hayes has pointed out that the allowances give the Yamaha a similar spec as Suzuki, which is why the rules were written the way they were -- to allow multiple manufacturers a fighting chance. Some of the others understandably don’t particularly like it.
Regardless, it puts another quality bike in the field, which is what the series needs.
It wasn’t so long ago that Pegram won races on a Ducati, notably beating Mat Mladin in a great race at Elkhart Lake and then doubling at Topeka. Pegram won four races in 2009 and 2010 after being shut out for a decade. Pegram’s hip replacement surgery meant he could train and ride the bike like he wanted again.
Over the years, Pegram learned how to put together his own team and built a good one with the help of his sponsors, notably Foremost Insurance.
Pegram then switched to BMW for 2011. It wasn’t bad, but Pegram wanted to win races. More often than not, you’re going to get fifth place -- as Larry told me last winter-- on a fifth-place bike. The big factory push to do well in AMA Pro wasn’t there.
So Pegram will race a Yamaha this year. Yamaha has a good history of late with their customer bikes, when Ben Bostrom rode one for Pat Clark Yamaha a couple of years ago. When that team went away, there was a hole for Yamaha they have filled with Pegram’s team.
If you ask other mechanics about Larry’s squad, the answer you get is the team is legit and very professional. They are experienced with fielding a Superbike and Superbike electronics. And they will get more technical support with Yamaha.
Some insiders wondered why Larry went with Yamaha over Suzuki. The Suzuki is certainly good and more familiar in the AMA Pro paddock since more teams race the bike. You can get the good parts hookup from Yoshimura if you are paying. But if Yamaha is backing this program like it appears they are, then it is a good plan as well.
Pegram on the R1 should be a good barometer for how strong the R1 really is. Of course the bike looks great when Josh Hayes is way out in front and even better when Josh Herrin is mixing it up in front as well. If Pegram can relegate the Jordan and Yoshimura teams, it’ll do three things: prove Larry can still get it done as a rider, prove the R1 is a good bike, and get tongues wagging about the technical allowances the R1 gets.
Yamaha is allowed to change some things on the R1 that the other manufacturers don’t necessarily get. Josh Hayes has pointed out that the allowances give the Yamaha a similar spec as Suzuki, which is why the rules were written the way they were -- to allow multiple manufacturers a fighting chance. Some of the others understandably don’t particularly like it.
Regardless, it puts another quality bike in the field, which is what the series needs.
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