Super-Duper Duke
SUPER-DUPER DUKE
KTM creates a motard monster
BRIAN CATTERSON
REMEMBER PROJECT SUPER DUKE, THE HOT-ROD STREET Single that ran in the September, 1996, issue? Wel1, forget about it. That Duke was fast, but the bike shown here is even faster. How much faster? Fast enough that after taking it for an impromptu lap of CW's on-site test track/parking lot, Off-Road Editor Jimmy Lewis proclaimed it the most powerful fourstroke Single he'd ever sampled. This from a guy who's tested all the hot Thumper crossers, and who's twice raced a factory KTM in the Paris-Dakar Rally!
Maybe the reason this Duke is so potent is because it, too, is a factory KTM, a back up bike for the company's European Super motard racing effort. Since the team doesn't have to worry about completing a 17-day cross-country trek, they're free to tweak the big Single for maximum performance.
So, how did the KTM wind up in the CW garage? It's along story. It all started a couple of years ago, when Road Test Editor Don Canet turned a Honda CR500 motocrosser into a roadracer (see "Superbiker Revival," CW, April, 1997). Having done so, he soon found that there were few oppor tunities to race it; the Sound of Singles TwoStroke class at the West Coast AHRMA roadraces was about it.
Meanwhile, the CW staff as a whole had begun salivating over photos of Supermotard racing in European magazines. Guys with tongue-twister names on converted moto crossers were depicted backing it into corners, performing crossed-up wheelies and flying low and fast over smooth, TT-style jumps. In other words, looking like they were having way too much fun.
Canet wanted a piece of that action bad, so he set out to do something about it. He con tacted Al Lyons of the California Motorcycle Racing Association, and talked him into adding a Supermotard-style race to his club's usual minibike program. A blurb in Roundup, a calendar listing in Cycle News and a bizillion photocopied flyers later, the "Return of the Superbikers" attracted 22 competitors to the Streets of Willow Springs, where Canet had laid out a course that was equal parts dirt and asphalt. In addition to acting as the event promoter, Canet intended to race, and was clearly the man to beat. The number three on the Team CW CR allegedly belongs to Ricky Graham, who raced it at the Peoria TT, but I think it may have been borrowed from Dale Earnhardt, because Canet definitely was playing the role of "The Intimidator." The only way to outrun him, I figured, would be to outgun him. But where would I find such a bike?
A well-placed phone call to KTM's Mike Rosso, creator of the aforementioned Project Super Duke, got me just what I was after. "If this type of racing is going to get off the ground in the U.S., then KTM will want to be at the fore front," Rosso said, promising me a ride for the event.
And what a ride it turned out to be! Expecting to be hand ed the keys to an ordinary Duke or 620 RX!C, I was blown away when Rosso called back to inform me that the Austrian factory was shipping over a Cup Duke-a purposebuilt racebike designed expressly for Supermotard events. Moreover, this was a bonafide factory bike, modified to compete at the top level.
What that entailed, Rosso didn't know, and even KTM Austria's Andreas Werth was sketchy on details. The engine's displacement was the biggest mystery, as it mea sured either 640 or 660cc. For sure, the motor was fitted with a Dell'Orto carburetor in lieu of the usual made-in-the-USA QwikSilver, plus an American-made, nickel-plated FMF pipe.
It also had really high compression, as I soon learned the hard way. This made kickstarting the big Single an exercise in technique coupled with caveman-like aggression. And that's when it was cold; when it was hot, the easiest way to restart it was to wait until it cooled off again. Push-starting wasn't an option, because there wasn't enough room on the rear fender for the necessary number of hands. Chassis-wise, the bike was more or less standard Duke, with the exception of an aluminum EX/C subframe, non-cush-drive MX/C rear hub and carbon-fiber bodywork. But there was one thing that struck me as odd: Whereas Rosso had shortened the suspen sion on our Project Super Duke to achieve better on-road handling, the Cup Duke's suspension was longer than stock, with a modified stock shock and motocross-derived fork. Stiff springs and lots of damping are used to prevent undue chassis pitching. The Duke arrived wearing Michelin slicks on its 17-inch Akront rims, but rather than attempt to groove those like they do in Europe, I spooned on a set of Pirelli MT6ORs in 120/70-17 front and 160/60-17 rear sizes. Essentially rain tires homologated for Super sport roadracing, these feature large tread blocks with deep grooves that give them decent traction in the dirt.
Saturday practice gave me my first opportunity to ride the Duke, and I wasn't disappointed. Since the factory race team had set-up the bike, it was nearly perfect right out of the truck. Jetting was spot-on, gearing was pretty close and the suspension, while a tad harsh in the bumpy, rocky dirt section of the course, worked wonderfully on the asphalt. Dropping one tooth on the countershaft sprocket got the gearing right, leaving tire pressures as the only question mark. I finally settled on 22 psi front and rear-less than you'd run for Supersport roadracing, but more than you'd run in the dirt.
Riding the Duke was, in a word, breathtaking. With something like 50 horsepower on tap, the lightweight dirt bike-turned-streetbike-turned-racebike accelerated like gangbusters, and had decent top speed, too. It wasn't as fast as Canet's Honda in a straight line, but it was more than a match for the red bike in the corners, and especially in the dirt. Short-shifting the Thumper let it hook up while exiting slippery corners, and it confidently torqued its way up the sandy, rutted uphill.
The only problems I had were crashes; three of them, to be precise, the first of which was a soaring highside that lasted so long I was able to spot cloud formations. Fortunately, neither the bike nor I sustained any damage-a testimony to the durability of carbon-fiber, for sure. Earlier that morning, fellow competitor Elliot Iverson had sauntered over to where photographer Bill McMillan and I
were shooting photos and uttered a line right out of the racer's handbook. "So, is that the third-placed bike?" he queried. Never one to be psyched-out, I shot back, "Yeah, if you're fourth." As it turned out, Iverson's remarks were prophetic. (Mine
weren't.) The KTM and I did indeed finish third overall in Sunday's races, following a fortunate win in moto one and a fourth place in moto two. Iverson, like his fellow dirt-track ers, struggled in the off-road section of the course, his Wood-Rotax's short-travel suspension pounding him over the bumps and rocks. Fittingly, the overall win went to the only competitor who
had competed in the original ABC-TV "Superbikers." Former AMA Formula 1 roadracer Thad Wolff rode a light ly modified Honda XR600 to 3-1 moto finishes, crashing out of the lead and remounting in the first race and running away with the second. Canet netted second overall with a consistent pair of seconds, while I wound up third overall with 1-4 finishes after botching the second-moto start. Kawasaki KX250-mounted Frank Aragaki went 4-3 for fourth, inheriting the first-moto lead from Wolff only to crash himself, handing me the victory. Nice guy, Frank. Since this inaugural event, enthusiasm for this form of racing has blossomed. Willow Springs has scheduled another date, Buttonwillow Raceway Park has constructed a new, purpose-built dirt course in the infield, and there's even talk of a possible return to the original venue at Carlsbad. And to prevent confusion with today's Superbike roadracers (and to prevent us from having to speak French), there's a new name: SuperTT.
That's fitting, because like TT dirt-track racing, this is a uniquely American form of racing. It's a shame that we had to export it to Europe before we realized what we'd lost. The Superbikers are dead. Long live SuperTT!
