SwedeTech Responds to SKUSA's Stock Moto Impound Report

Swedetech believes it is their responsibility to address the karting community regarding the recent press release from SKUSA to address the Stock Moto Impound Report.

Since May 2008, more than 1000 separate CR125 cylinders have been processed through the SwedeTech shop, and were always found fully compliant with zero findings of non-compliance.

• On March 5, 2016, four Honda CR125 engines were impounded by SKUSA at the regional Pro Kart event, two of the engines belonged to two Swedetech customers and two belonging to MRC.
• On March 18, one of SwedeTech customer’s lower end and ignition components were received by SwedeTech Racing after passing the additional scrutinizing by SKUSA, and deemed legal.
• On April 1, the other SwedeTech customer received his lower end and ignition components at the ProKart event in Marina, CA, also after passing the additional scrutinizing by SKUSA, and deemed legal.
• At the Marina ProKart event, a SwedeTech employee was notified of the possible additional scrutinizing procedures of 2 MRC and 2 SwedeTech cylinders, and more specifically, the question of whether or not the plating was OEM or Aftermarket.
• On April 21, one SwedeTech customer was notified his cylinder was being released and it had passed all scrutinizing tests performed by SKUSA and HPD, deeming his engine was 100% compliant.   

On June 3, SKUSA addressed the owner of SwedeTech Racing, Reine Persson, regarding the second cylinder impounded. Mr. Persson was shown the cylinder in person, after it had been cut in half for further scrutinizing. SKUSA notified Mr. Persson that the original scrutinizing of the cylinders, 1 from Swedetech and 1 from MRC, was to address the concern of aftermarket plating and concealed porting. SKUSA acknowledged that SwedeTech’s customer cylinder passed that portion of the scrutinizing. However, in the opinion of SKUSA and HPD, the cylinder was non-compliant due to chamfering on the top side of the exhaust port.

It must be noted that chamfering of all ports on the Honda CR125 cylinder are done by hand before the cylinders leave the Honda manufacturing facility.

Unfortunately for Swedetech and the customer, the cylinder that was cut in half was an early 2014 casting, and it was compared to a handful of new uncut 2015 casted cylinders in the current inventory of HPD. If SwedeTech was to put them into SKUSA’s position, they could understand why the older used early 2014 customer cylinder could look differently than a new, never used 2015 casted cylinder. It is becoming more difficult to find new cylinders from previous batches or casting periods in order to make a fair comparison.

This particular customer’s lower end, ignition system, and cylinder had been scrutinized a number of times before this specific incident, and was never called into question. To date, there is no technical or scrutinizing procedure outlined in the current SKUSA Rulebook to ensure compliance is met, or how to test for a compliant cylinder.

This has been an unfortunate circumstance for Swedetech and all of our customers. At this time, SwedeTech does not have a conclusive test or procedure to determine if other cylinders are compliant or non-compliant. Over the years, Swedetech has voluntarily rejected new cylinders from Honda due to inconsistencies in the chamfering of various port windows or inconsistent exhaust bridges.

SwedeTech also has a lengthy record of voluntarily sending cylinders to SKUSA for evaluation by the National Tech Director for further examination, and ALL those cylinders were found compliant.

If asked, SwedeTech will remain available to the technical staff at SKUSA to provide input on how to implement a reliable protocol to eliminate this uncertainty for future events.

From this point forward, Swedetech is recommending to any SKUSA Stock Moto participants that have a specific question regarding the compliance or procedures for Stock Moto Cylinder tech, to contact the SKUSA National Tech Director as soon as possible, and please indicate to SKUSA the desire for a reliable compliance protocol.

It may be required for you to send your components in for a visual examination. The SKUSA Pro Tour Summer Nationals are less than 40 days away, and SwedeTech wants to be prepared for the event the best they can. By addressing this situation now, we can help ensure the Pro Tour is an enjoyable experience for all Stock Moto competitors.

For a Large Image of the chamfer area in question, click on this link.

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