Pat Hernon showed up for the 1993 WERA Pro Formula USA Series racing a very trick looking Honda CBR900RR. This bike was ahead of its time in terms of routing of its exhaust. In 1993 the only motorcycles I am aware of that had exhaust pipes routed through the tail section were GP bikes and Honda’s mega-exclusive NR750.

Hernon explains how the unique exhaust routing came to be:

When we were building an exhaust for it, I noticed that the shock was offset at the bottom of the swingarm leaving a big gap that the pipe would fit through. I asked Lajos Silberstein (my mechanic that built it) if he thought we could route the pipe through the opening and then up under the tail section.  Vance and Hines had just come out with the first oval shaped muffler on their exhaust systems and we used that turned sideways so that it was flat.  We added some insulation and it worked!  Dave Sadowski and I raced it at the AMA weekend at Mid-Ohio in the “Team Challenge Race” and finished 3rd.

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