Daily Slideshow: H-D Factory Flat Track Team Doesn't Like Losing

A Hard Job

Last year, Harley-Davidson's XG750R made its American Flat Track debut, replacing the iconic XR750. The XG750 was developed in collaboration with Vance & Hines Motorsports over the 18-round season. Unfortunately for Harley-Davidson, they didn't have a good season, with the XG750R finishing towards the back of the pack time and time again. Terry Vance, Harley-Davidson Flat Track Team Principal, gave his thoughts on the 2017 season, "Here's the thing, as far as last year is concerned, we may not get the credit for it - if we don't, we don't; that's fine - but we were trying to develop and race a production-based engine. That's a really, really hard job."

Indian Rivals

To add insult to injury, Indian mopped the floor with Harley-Davidson for most of the season. Indian managed to bag three of the top racers for the 2017 season, Jared Mees, Bryan Smith, and Brad Baker - three Grand National champions. Indian also had two of the best tuners on their team, Kenny Tolbert, and Rickey Howerton. What makes matters worse for Harley is the renewed rivalry with Indian since they came back on the scene. According to Vance, "They've got the best crews and teams in the paddock that they picked to go get their program set up. So we had a really daunting job in front of us."

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Replacing the XR750

Although there was no real problem with the XR750, it had to be put aside to make way for the XG750R. According to Vance, "We could have raced the XR and probably been okay. We won the last race of 2016 with an XR, so we weren't far off.” But the crew wasn’t naive about the season that lay ahead of them, knowing it would pay off in the long run. Vance says, "Corporate made the decision that this is the right direction to go with the G and I agreed with it. If we take our lumps early, we take our lumps. But we're going to get this problem solved."  

>>Join the conversation about H-D's Flat Track Racing Team right here in HDForums.

Track Data

Yes, Vance and his longtime business partner Byron Hines were aware they were probably going to have a rough season. Even though they knew they would be, in the long run, doing something extremely beneficial for Harley-Davidsons future in American Flat Track racing, they still didn't take the beating easily. Vance says, "We don't like losing... But at the same time, we were learning. We didn't want a year to go by where we didn't have data from each one of the tracks, regardless of our performance.” Hopefully, fans can look beyond the poor 2017 results and see Vance's commitment to the Harley-Davidson brand and its continued success.

>>Join the conversation about H-D's Flat Track Racing Team right here in HDForums.

A Talented Team

Harley-Davidson hopes an almost new racing team will bring them more success in this year's season. Brandon Robinson will return to the team this year, joined by top up-and-coming rider, Jarod Vanderkooi, and flat track racing star, Sammy Halbert. Vance himself was a racer, so knows talent when he sees it, "I'm really happy to have all three of these guys... I'm very excited about Jarod because he's right up to speed with the boys." But, it seems Vance holds Brandon Robinson in especially high regard saying, "To be honest with you, looking at our whole effort last year, I was most impressed by Brandon." Here's hoping this season goes better for the Harley-Davidson Factory Flat Track Team than the 2017 season. 

>>Join the conversation about H-D's Flat Track Racing Team right here in HDForums.

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