# 432 Harald Kitsch -Buell 1125R

We arrived Wednesday night at the www.art-motor.de Biketoberfest at the Oschersleben Racetrack, after weeks of 18-20h daily work to finish the new bodywork and produce enough parts to have spare, just in case we go into the gravelbed.

After the desasterweekend on the Festival Italia with several crashs in June the team decided to finish the bodywork to run from than tests for the season 2010. First dry rollout was the Harley Event from our Sponsor Vikingcycle in August.

The idea was to move the rider a bit backwards for the weightbalance, get a modern higher seatposition and extend the airboxdepartment. For that the team developed an, in the rear selfcarrying onepiece Monocoque. Regarding future plans about HP, a own ramairsystem should be integrated.

For that we re-designed the fairing with a middleairintake and also optimized the aerodynamic a bit. Following the idea of multiuse of parts and regarding our experience that the original fairingbracket break easily, we decided to build a carbon fairingbracket what hold fairing, istrumentcluster, etc. and also will be used to channel the air from the fairingnose into the airbox. There are not many ways to do that so we were going for a solution optical similar to the XBRR.

Additonal to the bodywork we had several other new parts with us, like the new Showa factory components and new ZTL² brakeparts. We were all very thrilled what will happen and in the end it turned out as a weekend of little sensations, out on the track and in the pits.....

On the track

Original it was planned that german racer Manfred ”Manni” Kehrmann would ride the Buell1125 R Racebike in the Pro Thunder races. The good thing of the Biketoberfest was, that we all know the Oschersleben Racetrack very well in laptimes, tires, etc. So the idea was to start exact with the same settings we failed last time at the Festival Italia (a fool idea if you have racesuspension with you, but we liked to give the OEM parts a chance....). With Manfreds help we found on that Thursday quickly out that the original suspension is a clear NO-GO for the racetrack. Special the preload adjustment of the frontfork is a problem, also the geometry needed some corrections. Unfortunately, to find that out, our brave rider Manfred needed to go down as a result of an uncalculated suspension recoil and bike and rider ended up in the gravelbed.

Long faces, at Manfred who hurt his shoulder and at the Team who feel a kind of “dejavu” from the last raceweekend.

Postiv, this time our carbonprotection rescued the clutchcover on the engine and our carbon fairingbracket stayed alive.

But much more progress would be necessary to go fast, so we decided to go for the new factory Showa Racesuspensionparts, what is the Rearshock with different springs and the Cartridgekit for the fork. 

Going fast

Fridaymorning the bike was prepared with new suspension and tires. Mannie, who had still some pain in his shoulder, rolled out for the first stint and came back with a big smile! “Now we are talking” this suspension let the bike feel and act like a real racebike, he reported, and til lunchtime after some more correction the laptimes were dropping down.

But Manni´s sholder was getting worth and regarding that he is leading the international Supermono Championship and had to do 14 days later two more races in Assen, we all were not sure if we should take more riks to get the bike faster.

Harald Kitsch who was together with Julius Ilmberger in the neighbor box did not think long after he get asked to help out.Thanks to Manfred Kehrmann for his engagement and help to develop the bike and good luck for the Championship!

It seems like some bikes looking by themself for a rider.

Not more than 60 minutes tracktime left including the qualifying til the first race on Saturday. Harald go out for the first stint and come back, far from happy. The bike steer in a very strange way and we needed to discuss major geometry changes. And than suddendly, after more changes, the laptimes start to drop under 1.40, and falling..... what a rider, what a bike! We are talking about a enginewise 100% bonestock Buell 1125R what use the stock steel “dogbone” exhaust with european catalyst as an extraweight and powerlimiter to make the bike legal in the power / weight limited Pro Thunder class.

Harald was a bit sceptical about the ZTL² brake, because he trust his Brembo Monoblocs, like many racers. Not only that he reported: “Brake is fine”, also our brakesetup is now on a point that we can go with a real fast rider more than an hour tracktime with a half millimeter (YES 5/10th of a mm!) of brakepadwear.

The Races

What a weekend! Saturdaymorning after the Qualifyingsessions we found more and more speed ending up with 1:36.176 and the 2nd startingplace. In front of us Tony Heiler, a real quick guy with a very well prepared 1200cc Moto Morini with 1:35.251. Suddenly the smell of a podiumfinish and the chance to battle for a victory is in the air. Now we must keep cool, I calculate to find the right amount of fuel, because we need to come well filled back from the race to meet the rulebook. An disqualification would be a desaster for the team after all this work. So i do my homework and calculated that the bike will come back with 191 kg into the parc fermé, what leave us some space for the unexpected.

2h later we finished 2nd in the race with a laptime of 1:35,557, Tony took the victory and the fastest lap with 1:34,958. The scale of the Stewarts show 191,5 Kg for the 1125 R, well done... (-:

On the Sundayrace we now really like to get Tony with the Morini. The Buell is well prepared, all things multichecked. The distance today is a bit longer, so I add some fuel to be safe. Harald and Tony both got a good start and battling from the first corner. We know that our tires will come from the mid of the race, and than after some laps is Harald first time in front, but Tony strikes back. Thats the motorsport we like to see, than after Harald took the lead again and try to make some meters, an other rider crashed hard and the race is stopped by red flag. We are excited, Harald is going in low 1:35, will the 1:35 fall? Will he get Tony Heiler on the Moto Morini ? We are not familar enough with the bike so I decided to fill up an extra liter fuel to be safe.

After the restart both battle like before, but in the mid of the race Harald is loosing some distance on Tony and it looks like all is done. But than in the last laps they are again wheel to wheel and out of the last turn Harald is on Tonys side. He pull and pull and on the finishline its less than a wheelsize missing for the victory. Thats racing! We are very happy, special after Harald cracked the laptime with a 1:34 high in this race. But my face gettin a bit long after the scale at the Stewarts show 193,5 Kilo! Was that the 20 inches?

Anyhow, the Buell 1125R is in the right hands a real weapon, laptimes dont lie. And we are standing just at the begin with these bike!

Further congratulations to Julius Ilmberger who took the Sound of Thunder Vicechampion on Buell 1125R this weekend. New Sound of Thunder Champion is Harald Kitsch on KTM RC8, third was Phillip Messer on Ducati.

All the best to the injured rider.

We thank our Sponsors, the Company, Manni, Harald and our Teammembers for their engagement.

Pegasusraceteam is back!