Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION

Via e-mail:

The new rules may indeed give an unfair advantage to the Twins, we have never tried to set one of those up. I’m not the last word on this by any means, but by hamstringing any development by the factory teams I don’t see any advancement happening.

This new year all of the Japanese teams will be on four-cylinders anyway and as shown this year, massive horsepower gains will damage tires sooner than later.

Our motors have been LEGAL from the first race this year, Micheal Barnes leased motors from us 2-3 times and was happy with the power delivery and output. Our trap speed at most tracks was in the top five and no one saw fit to protest. We did test 2-3 different airboxes and saw no reason to run anything but the stocker.

Our pistons (Wiseco), cams (Web-cam) and rods (Crower) are available to anyone. We did make our own version of the kit swingarm (2 inches longer than the stock) to allow Shawn to get on the gas earlier.

Again, there can be no greater praise than to have the 4-time Champion complaining about the speed of Shawn’s bike. And we never got our weight below 382 all year–and we tried!

Kevin Hunt
KWS
Charleston, South Carolina


More, from a press release issued by Shawn Higbee:

Higbee Responds to Mladin’s Comments from Barber

I got a chuckle out of reading what Mladin said in Saturday’s Superbike press conference at Barber. I couldn’t resist responding to his comment about how fast my bike was. I’m sure I could talk Kevin (Hunt) into trading some horsepower and/or larger rear sprockets for a few of those trick Yoshimura pieces that Mladin uses.

You know, the kit swingarm, carbon fiber parts, narrow charging system, slipper clutch, swingarm pivot inserts, shock linkages, steering head inserts and the rest of those nice pieces that most privateers can’t afford. If the faster privateers could get enough sponsorship for a full Superbike instead of a Supersport bike with a fast motor, then Mladin will really have something to complain about next year.

Shawn Higbee
AMA Superbike #114
Big Bend, Wisconsin