The frame steering geometry and suspension determine how much power you can put down on the ground in corners when you have good torque. And the gearbox is also important. If you think you can build a top end Commando motor and out run four-cylinder bikes and two-strokes down the straights, you are kidding yourself. The quicker you get around and out of the corners, the quicker you will be towards the ends of the straights. You accelerate slower, but start faster. It does not depend on outright horsepower. Separate pipes with megaphones give you more top end power, 2 into 1 gives more torque. The gearbox is a torque converter. As you raise the overall gearing you end up in the same place as the guy with the top end motor, but at lower revs - so the exhaust system needs to be different.. Close ratios with a torquey motor and high overall gearing are excellent. But your strengths are are in different places on any race circuit, when compared with the guys with the top end motor..
Nothing can beat my Seeley 850 around a corner. It is not me, it is the bike. If you have got the run at the start of the straights, the other guys need massive horsepower to accelerate past you. And then they need to stay in front in the next corner.