I raced the 1098 this year and had my hands full at some rounds against the GSXR750, torque does help, but I think were the biggest difference is seen is at Daytona, the 1098 simply has more legs, period, but on more technical tracks the playing field is way closer, I think the 1198 will be unfair in the heavyweight class, as that bike simply spanks my 1098, a 1098 can and does hold its own in the UNL classes, as long as we're talking a technical track, at Daytona, forget it! I also race a GSXR 1000 and at some tracks prefered to race my 1098 in UNL over the GSXR, VIR for example, I sucked on my GSXR but went well on the Duc, bottom line the 1098 fits well in Hvywt, I bet most of the guys that dont want it in there run a 600...thats their choice and thats why there appears to be such a huge gap, and there is between a 600 and the 1098...go look how many 750's actually line up in the Hvywt SB classes...Happy Holidays!
Dennis Espinosa