Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Two Buell factory-supported teams are making their 2004 AMA debut in the AMA Formula Xtreme class at Infineon Raceway on XB9R Firebolts.

Hal’s Performance Buell, with rider Mike Ciccotto and Crew Chief Terry Galagan, and Kosco Buell, with rider Michael Barnes and Crew Chief Rich Cronrath, will both be fielding Firebolts this weekend at the Sonoma, California racetrack.

Barnes and Cronrath won a Formula USA Buell Lightning Series Championship together, and Galagan and Ciccotto won the last-ever AMA Pro Thunder race at Laguna Seca in 2002 on a Firebolt Superbike.

“This bike is making more power, it’s more dialed-in suspension-wise but it’s more stock,” said Ciccotto, when asked how his 2004 bike differs from his 2002 race winner. Ciccotto pointed out the stock 17-inch wheels, Showa forks and single-perimeter-rotor Zero Torsional Load (ZTL) brake on his new bike.

The bike Ciccotto ran in 2002 had 16.5-inch Marchesinis, dual front brakes rotors and factory-spec Nissin six-piston brake calipers.

“We’re trying to make the stock bike work, and it seems to be working pretty good so far,” said Galagan, when asked why leave the bike relatively unmodified in a class that allows many modifications.

Galagan admitted that he is probably giving a weight advantage to some of the Japanese 600cc inline four-cylinder bikes in the class, but said he has improved on the 135 horsepower his bike produced in 2002.

“It’s doing everything I want it to do,” said Ciccotto. “It turns, it stops and it’s making awesome power. I haven’t really been trying yet, and I’m having a blast. I expect to be in the top five, maybe on the podium.”

“We weren’t ready,” Galagan said as to why his team didn’t join the AMA series until Infineon Raceway. “We weren’t sure we were going to get the factory technical support we needed until too late. We didn’t want to come out and get in the way or oil the track down. We have more respect for the teams in the semi-trucks than that. We didn’t want to come out until we were ready.”

Asked about the appearance of the factory-supported Buells in Formula Xtreme, American Honda’s Al Ludington, Crew Chief for FX Championship-leading Miguel Duhamel, said, “The more the merrier.”