is he gonna be back for a full season or just a few races? Either way in 2012 between TSM and Cedric theyll be some 2strokes in the mains
At the moment, I aint holding my breath. Things seem to be dwindling for two strokes at the top level, rather than rapidly improving. I do hope that we see that change, but at the moment, it doesn't look like it. Here in Australia, even now you can race a 250 two stroke in the lites class, it doesn't look like we will have any top riders on two strokes for the nationals. That is disappointing. Even now at the amateur level, the rules allow equal displacement, and the last club day I did a couple of weeks ago, still only had a couple of two strokes on the gate, and the start gate was a full 40 man field. I hope that the two stroke numbers increase over the course of this year, especially at the top level in the USA !!
I also live in OZ. My brother is looking at a bike and wants a 250f. i am trying to convince him to go 250 2T but he wont have it. he wants to race and i said that the 250's race eachother now and he couldnt believe it. we argued about it for a while until i reminded him that robbie maddison raced one in the super x. One problem for him is he is a die hard kawasaki fan and he also said to me that he reckons he could ride a 4 stroke harder for longer. i laughed at him and called him a wimp.
the financial side of things isnt as tough in OZ as the rest of the world and people arent really feeling the pinch so rebuilding a 4T isnt that much for people to do. he also has a mate that is a mechanic so he gets all the labour for nothing anyway.
Was in yamaha the other day and asked if they sold many 2 strokes and the salesman said only to freestyle riders and even they are goin to 4T's because of the more predictable power spread. but then when yamaha want 9k for a 125 and 10k for a 250 who would buy them. the ktm store may say something different.
OZ follows the trends in the USA more than Europe does and at the moment the trend is 4T's and thats where the majority of australian riders are. it sucks but its true