| Author | Message | ||
     Duggram |
I noticed over on another forum that Max ran out of gas at the finish. He went from about ~0.4 behind to >7.0 just before the finish line. Looking forward to seeing it on Speed today. Apparently Max and Ben put on a good fight! | ||
| Jaimec |
What happened to Fabrizio?? | ||
| Duggram |
Yes, great race day! Unfortunate for Haga in race 2 but great for Ben. No talk, just results. | ||
| Duggram |
This weekend Ben cut Haga's lead to 14 points. | ||
| Crusty |
What is the point break down? How many for 1st, 2nd, etc. Are points awarded for getting Pole or laps led? I looked on the SBK site, and can't find it. (Message edited by Crusty on June 28, 2009) | ||
| Duggram |
Looking forward to seeing this on Speed today. All year the British announcer has been minimizing Ben's accomplishments. What can he say now? In the first race the closest GBR rider was Haslam at 18.8 back. Haslam did finish 2nd in race two 6.6 back. But Ben's times show he was just cruising. Points are on the home page. 294 to 308. | ||
| Duggram |
Crusty, go to WSBK's site and look on the right. | ||
| Duggram |
Ok, Wikipedia has the rider point break down. | ||
| Jaimec |
What happened to Hopkins in Race 2? I don't see him listed at all (even amongst the DNFs)? What's the latest news on Haga? As much as I'd like Ben to win the title, I don't want to see him win it because Haga was seriously injured?? | ||
| Crusty |
Thanks, Doug. I couldn't find that earlier. | ||
| Duggram |
WSBK Web site is reporting that Haga was taken to the local hospital immediately with a vertebrae fracture. No matter how minimal the fracture, this situation will not be good. On the WERA forum one of the members just talked to Ben who sounded subdued after just winning two races. When the forum member asked someone else on the phone whey Ben sounded so down it was because of his concern for Haga. | ||
| Jaimec |
Unlike in AMA Superbike, Ben is actually quite friendly with his "fiercest rival" in WSBK. So what happened to Hopkins? Did he decide not to race in Race 2? Never mind... found it. He's not back to full health yet and he was so exhausted from Race 1 he didn't want to take a chance on competing in Race 2. These MotoGP prima donnas! (Message edited by jaimec on June 28, 2009) | ||
| Duggram |
Somewhere it was said that Hopkins' doctor advised against it. There's a report on Italian news that Haga's fracture is serious because of a dural tear. Surgery must be eminent. Wrist fracture also. | ||
| Jaimec |
Not good. Not good at ALL!! http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresul ts/World-Superbikes/2009/June/jun2809-haga-airlift ed-to-hospital/ | ||
| Duggram |
Today's races on Speed in <40 minutes! | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Bad news....2-3 months means the season is over for him. Maybe the end to his career?? I hope he has no permanent damage. What is so wrong with the Ducati and this particular corner ?? Bayliss had a big crash there too in 2007, he lost a finger. Haga's looks even worse. | ||
| Blake |
Haga is a class act. So sorry to learn of his misfortune. | ||
| Jaimec |
Apparently the cracked vertebra detected by Clinica Mobile was an OLD injury, not a new one. Haga will NOT require back surgery however they will have to operate on his arm and shoulder. Still, it looks good for him to be back on the bike in a month's time in Brno. | ||
| Crusty |
That's really good news. I hate to see any rider get hurt. I enjoy good competition, and I want to see "my guy" win; but not at the expense of seeing his opponent being injured. I like Haga. He races hard and gives it 100%. He also doesn't exhibit an oversized ego, as many at that level of competition do. I hope he recovers quicker than expected. | ||
| Trojan |
Haga WILL ride at next WSB round! A statement by Xerox Ducati said: "The Ducati Xerox rider will not participate in the next tests at Imola but it is foreseen that he will compete in the next round at Brno." That is one hard b'stard  | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Good news for Nori, but I think Spies is the favourite now. The british wildcards proved to make no impact at Donnington. Haslam looked good. Hopkins had a couple of good pases. The Stiggy team is looking good at the moment. I expected more from Rea..What happened ?? | ||
| Fresnobuell |
All year the British announcer has been minimizing Ben's accomplishments. totally disagree. Announcers have been praising Spies hugely from the first couple races. Those are the best announcers in moto racing. | ||
| Crusty |
Those are the best announcers in moto racing. I totally disagree. | ||
| Trojan |
All year the British announcer has been minimizing Ben's accomplishments. You must have been watching some different coverage than I have, because Eurosports coverage has been full of praise for Spies all year. The only time he has been criticised at all is when he has fallen off. Those are the best announcers in moto racing. Having watched some US coverage in the past I have to agree. They may be a little annoying at times but they certainly know their stuff. | ||
| Duggram |
I agree that this weekend on Speed they were much better. But you can still tell they are UK homers. Sorry, Matt you're not going to see this. But that's understandable because you're from the UK. BTW you should hear the comments over on the WERA thread about the announcers. I understand one of them has racing experience and is much liked. The other guy, the one that gets all excited, well just listen and even a novice like myself can tell he's not sure of what he's saying (maybe that's the annoying part?). I just wish the they could be like Jackie Stewart and David Hobbs on car races. They really are the best. But if you have been watching the WSBK coveraqe on Speed here in the USA all year, I'm not sure how you could miss it. But I will of course continue to watch, because it's what we have. | ||
| Trojan |
I'm not sure that you get the same commentary team that we get on Eurosport, but one is James Whitham (ex WSS/GP/BSB/WSB rider) and Toby Moody. Toby is extremely knowledgable and is a mine of information on GP and Suiperbikes going back many years. Sometimes they have to give the commentary from TV pictures rather than live at the event, so can appear slow to react to on track incidents if they are not seen straight away. Occasionally they will bring in other experts such as Neil Spalding (owner of Sigma slipper clutches and technical wizard) or other riders for their opinions, but pretty much everyone is very well qualified for the job. If you get BBC commentary, then it is of a generally lower standard for 'enthusiasts' as it it aimed at the general public who may not know much about bikes. The BBC commentators there are Steve Parish (ex 500cc GP racer and one time team mate of Barry Sheene) and Charlie Cox, an Austraian ex car racer who uses the same hackneyed phrases over and over and over and over until you just turn the sound down to be rid of him  | ||
| Doerman |
We've got Jonathan as the main announcer and Steve Martin as the color commentary. I enjoy listening to them even if Jonathan is really off base sometimes and Steve Martin (sounds like he's an Aussie) corrects him. Jonathan's favorite lines: "It's a cracking good race!" "Well, down the hill they come then" | ||
| Trojan |
Steve Martin is an Ozzie Superbike rider who tends to be on a lot of teams 'reserve' list and fills in for injured riders from time to time. I think his last full time WSB ride was for Foggy Petronas but I could be wrong. No idea who Jonathan is, but that isn't a UK commentary team that I know of Something that can happen is that channels will buy in coverage without commentary, so they then employ studio 'voice over' commentators to do the announcements 'post race'. These are nearly always the very worst of all kinds of coverage as they tend to employ people who haven't clue what is happening to who on screen, and are best viewed with the volume turned down | ||
| Trojan |
The british wildcards proved to make no impact at Donnington. Haslam looked good. Hopkins had a couple of good pases. The Stiggy team is looking good at the moment. I expected more from Rea..What happened ?? It was certainly a more disapointing result than we execpted to see from the wild cards, but 6 Brits in the top 10 in race two isn't a bad result really  Camier and Ellison were hampered by lack of time on the WSB spec qualifying tyres and then a major crash which wrecked Camiers no 1 bike, forcing him to use his spare bike (lower spec) all weekend. He ended up qualifying 20th and had to fight his way back from there to a creditable 6th in race two. Coming straight from the BSB round at Snetterton the week before, and going to the next round at Knockhill this weekend leading the championship, it was maybe too much to ask to get the Airwaves Yamaha on the podium at Donington, but Camier showed on Friday that he could run at the pace of the WSB front runners given the chance. Rea had problems all weekend trying to adjust the Ohlins suspension to work on his Honda, so maybe the change wasn't the miracle that Ten Kate thought at the previous round (Kiyonari stayed on WP suspension all weekend). Cal Crutclow's winning times on the R6 in the WSS race would have put him amongst the top 14 in the WSB race, which was very impressive considering he broke his left ankle on Friday and took the skin off his right thigh on Saturday! | ||
| Duggram |
Did you catch the interview of Ben on RRW? Humble, non-committal, and praise for other riders. |
