ASK THE MXPERTS: SHOULD THE AMA DROP THE 450 & REPLACE IT WITH THE 350?

Dear MXperts,
Since there is a lot of complaining that 450s are too powerful for the average rider, and even for the standard-issue AMA Supercross or National track, why doesn’t the AMA just drop the 450 displacement and replace it with a 350cc rule? Since Formula 1 and MotoGP change their displacement rules all the time, why couldn’t motocross? That seems like a really simple solution.

This idea has been kicked around since the introduction of the original KTM 350SXF back in 2011. In fact, KTM had planned to drop its 450cc motocross bikes completely and make the 350 their only Open-class race bike, mostly based on the success of Tony Cairoli in the MXGP series. But, when Roger DeCoster moved from Suzuki to KTM, he nixed the 350 idea based on the fact that in Supercross, where the starts are much shorter than in outdoors, the rider who gets his bars in front of the bars of the bike next to him in the first 3 feet will always get a better start. Also of importance to Roger was that he was planning to sign Ryan Dungey for the 2012 season, and Ryan would not sign if he had to race a 350.

Ryan Dungey’s KTM 450SXF (5)  gets a big enough jump to get his handlebars in front of  Eli Tomac (3), Ken Roczen (94) and Trey Canard (41). 

Youthstream’s Giuseppe Luongo and AMA race director Steve Whitelock both heavily pushed the 350 concept on the manufacturers, and, with the exception of KTM, met with strong resistance. The manufacturers were against a wholesale move from 450cc to 350cc for several reasons:

(1) Bike sales: Each manufacturer believed that if they were selling 20,000 units a year split between 250cc and 450cc motocross bikes, adding a 350 to their lineup would result in them still only selling 20,000 bikes a year. How so? Market research showed that adding a 350 to their new-model lineup would steal 250 and 450 sales from their total sales figures. They believed that the most likely buyer of a Kawasaki KX350, Honda CRF350 or Yamaha YZ350F would be a Kawasaki KX450, Honda CRF450 or Yamaha YZ450F buyer. Plus, the cost of R&D’ing a new 350 would just increase complexity in their supply lines, dealer stocking, marketing, product development and new-model budgets.

(2) Displacement: Yes, Formula 1 and MotoGP do change their displacements every couple of years, but these are not production-based machines. No one can walk into a dealership and buy a Formula 1 car or an actual MotoGP Ducati. The engine rules for these race series can be changed, albeit with three or four years of warning, because they don’t care about selling to the public. But, outlawing 450s in the Supercross or AMA National series would not just affect the factory teams, it would impact thousands of riders/owners who have invested heavily in existing and readily available production bikes to ride and race in a myriad of classes and tracks across the country.

(3) Disappearing act: Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki have had 14 years to develop their own 350cc race bikes, but they haven’t done it. And, they haven’t done it in the face of massive sales figures for the KTM 350SXF motocross and off-road models. Plus, what would the AMA tell Triumph and Ducati, who have just spent millions of dollars developing all-new 450cc motocross bikes? “Sorry, Charlie, you need to start all over again.”

(4) AMA rules: The AMA is not really manned by the brightest people in the sport. Do you really want them changing the face of American motocross? They have muffed virtually every rule change they tried to implement. Did they really think that starting with metal grids was a good idea? What about giving four-strokes twice the displacement of two-strokes; how did that turn out? Where is the actual AMA 250 Supercross Championship after 40 years of non-National Championship East/West Regional Championships? Why can’t they write a clear rule about what to do about riders who cut the track and race down the sidelines for 100 feet? How come they haven’t passed a rule banning riders from launching their unmanned 220-pound bikes down a racetrack that is lined with flaggers, spotters, photographers, track workers, medical personnel and AMA officials?

(5) To what point? Do you really think that racing a 54-horsepower, 14,000-rpm, 350cc race bike is going to be safer or cheaper than racing a 450. The 350cc movement has been embraced by Vet riders. They were the only people in the sport who saw the beauty of a mid-sized motocross bike. Let them enjoy it.