HOOOLY SHIT! I would be FAWKING FURIOUS!!!!!!!!!
SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing Withdraws Chip Yates from the 2010 World Supersport Race at Miller Motorsports Park
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, May 26, 2010 -- SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing announced today that rider Chip Yates (AMA #89) has withdrawn from the World Supersport race at Miller Motorsports Park because the Suzuki GSX-R600 motor and ECU package purchased and imported from Hoegee Motortechniek Suzuki of The Netherlands has proven woefully inadequate for world championship racing.
SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing paid $12,000.00 by wire transfer to Marc Hoegee of Hoegee Motortechniek (aka “Hoegee Suzuki Tuning”) who promised to provide a Suzuki motor making 140 hp to the rear wheel equal to motors he had provided former WSS rider Barry Veneman before the Hoegee Suzuki team ran out of money and disbanded halfway through the 2009 season.
But the motor Marc Hoegee shipped to SWIGZ.Com Pro Racing produced only 127 hp with a race tire fitted, and 130 hp with a street tire fitted on Mach-1 Motorcycle’s DynoJet Dyno. In addition to the overall power deficit, the motor proved to be so peaky that Chip’s 123 hp motor from last year is actually more powerful throughout most of the RPM range and turned a faster laptime at Miller than the $12,000.00 Hoegee Suzuki setup.
SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing spent over a month of time and thousands of dollars trying to identify and rectify any problems with the motor. The MoTeC 880 ECU that Hoegee sold as part of the deal was found to be damaged and had to be repaired by MoTeC USA at SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing’s expense. Once fixed, the ECU was remapped on the dyno, compression and leak-down checks were performed and then two weeks ago the bike was delivered to Lee’s Cycles of San Diego for their additional inspection and expert advice. Lee’s DynoJet dyno confirmed Mach-1’s dyno results at 131 hp on a street tire and Lee’s then pulled the motor, removed the head and reported that there were no obvious problems that could be fixed, concluding that the motor never made 140 hp and could not be made to without a completely new build up and different design.
Not one to give up easily, Chip then tested the motor at California Speedway and again at Miller Motorsports Park on May 21, 2010 in a last ditch attempt to see if the bike could be set up to compete at the World Supersport level, but the peaky motor didn’t drive well out of corners and its poor straightaway speed saw club racers draft past as the bike lapped at 2 seconds slower than Chip’s 123 hp bike from last year’s WSS race. With top WSS Honda and Yamaha teams claiming 145-148 hp at the rear wheel, equipment is critical to a good result on Miller’s long straightaway.
CHIP YATES: “We are obviously upset that Hoegee Suzuki would do this to us and when we asked them for our $12,000.00 back, they laughed and called us “naive” and have since become non-responsive. We will be pursuing legal action against them and advising Suzuki Motor Corporation of the situation but I really just feel terrible for our team, our sponsors, Infront Motorsports who believed in me and gave us the wildcard, and the folks at Miller Motorsports Park who always welcome me to their facility so graciously. In the mean time, our 194 hp electric superbike program is progressing very well (see:
www.chipyates.com) and we will be on track mid-year with it and expect great results!”
This is not the first time SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing has been treated unscrupulously by Suzuki affiliates. In 2009, the team contracted with a now defunct Suzuki AMA satellite team to build a “130+ hp” motor for Chip’s 2009 World Supersport appearance. When the Suzuki team failed to deliver any engine on the agreed date, SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing turned to a moonlighting employee of Yoshimura of America, Inc. to build a motor using Yoshimura cams and other engine work promised to be “130-135 hp”. That motor was delivered on time by the Yoshimura employee but produced only 123 hp on the DynoJet dyno and Chip was easily lapped by the leaders during the 2009 Miller WSS race.
After the 2009 Miller WSS race, SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing sued the Suzuki AMA satellite team in Orange County Superior Court and the defendants later settled and SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing officials dismissed the case.
too bad it dont show faces