There has been a rule change in the Canadian Thunder series. After the first four rounds of the series, the participating OEMs met, as previously agreed, to see how the series was progressing and whether any tweaks needed to be made to ensure competitive racing.
If you happened to be Ducati, then with four wins going to Ducati 848s (and by a long way to boot) you might be quite happy with everything; however, Buell, BMW and KTM were maybe a tad less enthusiastic.
The result of the meeting was a consensus that they should reintroduce a weight-to-horsepower sliding scale rule that had been in place from 2005 to 2007, replacing the fixed min of 380 lb and max of 122 hp that kicked off the 2008 series. This would see bikes being limited to 1 horsepower for every 3.2 lbs of weight, which is pretty much what the Ducatis were at. (The earlier sliding scale was set at 3.8:1, so that 380 lb bike would be allowed only 100 hp.)
So how does this change things if the Ducs are already there? Well, by linking power to weight the other OEMS can now open up the horsepower in their motors to reflect their … err … more weighty rides. The promise is of a more competitive and exciting series, which can’t be a bad thing (unless maybe you’re Ducati).
Rules in the new Sport Twins class of Canadian Thunder (that’s the original air-cooled class, though with the allowance of some liquid cooled machines) are unchanged, with a minimum weight of 370 pounds and maximum horsepower of 95 hp for air-cooled bikes and 90 hp for liquid-cooled motorcycles.
These changes will be in effect for the doubleheader at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S., Aug. 8-10.
