With the news breaking last week that Attack Performance had been given permission to run a wild card entry at both MotoGP in the United States, the American team has confirmed their entry, and that AMA Superbike rider Steve Rapp will race a Kawasaki-powered CRT race bike. Well-known in the AMA paddock, Attack Performance will build its own all-aluminum custom chassis for the CRT effort, and will house a heavily modified Kawasaki ZX-10R engine
“I’ve wanted to design my own chassis for 10 years,” said Attack Performance Team Owner Richard Stanboli, “so this new class structure, essentially a Superbike engine housed in a prototype chassis, has provided an ideal opportunity for me. We have a great deal of work to do before the first event at Laguna Seca, but I’m no stranger to 20-hour days.”
Though Rapp has extensive experience racing at both Laguna Seca and Indianapolis, the American rider will have his work cutout for him, as he only has a few months to prepare for his MotoGP debut. Equally daunting for the team will be bringing their bike up to speed, as it does not sound like its development is very far along.
While Attack Performance has considerable experience working with the Kawasaki ZX-10R, and can learn from some of the progress made by BQR’s Kawasaki CRT entry, the team will have a hard time developing the necessary electronic package to be competitive in motorcycling premier racing class in such a short amount of time.
If the well-developed BMW/Suter bike raced by NGM Forward is any indication of how hard that task can be, developing electronics for CRTs from scratch can be a nearly year-long ordeal. We wish Attack Performance and Steve Rapp the best of luck with this project, and hope they can make a good showing at the two American Grand Prix.
Source: Attack Performance
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