| Author | Message | ||
     Blake |
Good interview with Ben by the folks at OTT, who rock. Have I said that lately? Video provided by www.OnTheThrottle.tv | ||
| Blake |
Matt, "Tom Sykes ... dosen't seem to have gelled at Yamaha as well as Spies has." . . Careful compadré; your bias may be showing.  Sykes "seems" to have had an inexplicably terrible time in WSBK so far this year. Would be interesting to hear him talk about it. I wish I was so average as Ben Spies at Imola, running lap times with the leaders, getting run off the track into the gravel yet still finishing 5th. I don't think anyone was going to tell Fabrizio to throw a race at his home track. Good on him! He has really come on strong the second half of the season. The Italians sure had a great weekend, Italian machines filling both WSBK podiums and Italian racers comprising two-thirds of each podium. Wow! The Aprilia RSV4 WSBK is a grand slam home-run. Seeing Simoncelli on the Ape sure made evident its compact size. How tall is he? Eez good to be Italiano! ![: ]](http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/clipart/proud.gif) | ||
| Trojan |
Blake, I am not biased at all. It is a fact that Tom Sykes has had trouble adapting to the Yamaha after being superfast last year on the Suzuki. He has been interviewed a number of times and has admits he has no excuses, he just hasn't delivered. As a rookie he hasn't actually had a bad season and is in 8th position in the standings. Normally this would be regarded as a good rookie year but Spies has raised the bar this season. Spies didn't just get run into the gravel by other people by the way. He managed to run off all by himself at least twice (as did Johnny Rea) so can't blame anyone else for what he himself described as a disapointing performance. His results in both races were very average compared to what we have come to expect from him every week, so how am I being biased when I say so. He himself said: "It was a messy race. There were a lot of mistakes, a couple from me and some from others. If you would have told me after the first race that we would only be losing the championship by three points I’d be happy because there were a lot of guys who could beat me this weekend.” | ||
| Simond |
Simoncelli is 6ft tall. The Aprilia looks about the same size as his 250gp bike. | ||
| Liquorwhere |
Spies didn't just get run into the gravel by other people by the way. He managed to run off all by himself at least twice (as did Johnny Rea) so can't blame anyone else for what he himself described as a disapointing performance. Actually in the chicane Simoncelli passed Biaggi and Biaggi came back into the race line at a slow speed and awkward angle and Spies went into the gravel instead of doing a Dani Pedrosa imitation and hammering into Biaggi. So I think that qualifies as getting "run off into the gravel". He had the pace for a few laps and in the first race looked like he was going to reel them in at 8-9 laps left, then it just seemed to stop for him. Race two seemed like he was never really on pace with the leader or was held up by Shaky for a while, either way he is only a few points down and the series is looking good right until the end!!! Blake, I sincerely doubt DMG will own FIM in ten years, but I guess you can dream all you want to. (Message edited by liquorwhere on September 28, 2009) | ||
| Blake |
And Spies second incident was not in the gravel; he just ran through the chicane. He certainly didn't do it like Rea, who took himself out of the race. Colin Edwards and Ben Spies, two average/middle of the pack racers from America, at least according to some.  | ||
| Smoke |
that looked like a difficult track to pass on. Simoncelli took some chances passing as did Rea. 4 races left and it's down to the wire!! tim | ||
| M2nc |
Actually Spies was setting the fastest laps as he was running down the 5th and 6th place bikes. After getting run off the track by Biaggi, he was still fast, but just too far back to make up any more positions, so he saved the tires the few laps. What I have a hard time with was tenth place being more than a minute off the pace. Top six bikes were the only ones competitive and even then Shaky, Spies and Biaggi were not up to the leaders' pace. (Message edited by M2nc on September 28, 2009) | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Anyone else dislike the fact that Simoncelli participated in the WSBK race? I don't know how one would prevent this, however it just seems with no stake in WSBK he could take chances without repercussions. Aside from possibly starting a chain reaction that almost took out Spies, he ended up on the podium and affected the point standings. It reminded me of Bostrom in the Daytona 200 and Laguna Seca DSB round. Just seems wrong to me. | ||
| Trojan |
Actually in the chicane Simoncelli passed Biaggi and Biaggi came back into the race line at a slow speed and awkward angle and Spies went into the gravel instead of doing a Dani Pedrosa imitation and hammering into Biaggi. So I think that qualifies as getting "run off into the gravel". I said he didn't JUST get run into the gravel by other people. A couple of laps later he managed to catch up with Shane Byrne again, and went straight on at a corner trying to pass him. It really isn't important if it was straight on at a chicane or straight across the gravel, it was off track. Blake, this isn't a personal attack on Ben Spies or any other rider due to nationality . Spies had a bad day at the office by his own admission and high standards, but if anyone says so then we are being biased? Why so sensitive? Rea, Haslam and Sykes also had pretty sh*t days, but I'm not going to go out and burn my passport because of it. Anyone else dislike the fact that Simoncelli participated in the WSBK race? I don't know how one would prevent this, however it just seems with no stake in WSBK he could take chances without repercussions. Aside from possibly starting a chain reaction that almost took out Spies, he ended up on the podium and affected the point standings. WSB has always allowed Wild Card entries from host countries. Usually these trail around at the back but at some countries (UK, Japan and US usually) the wild cards almost always run at the front and take points from the regular runners. Nobody sees this as a bad thing and it enhances the series by introducing new blood (especially someone of Simoncelli's calibre) into the series and getting local spectators interested. I would like to see more GP riders doubling up in WSB races (and vice versa) in future but I doubt it will be a reguilar occurence. We are unlikely to see wild card riders in future from countries that run their own Superbike rules that are different to the FIM regs (because of the difficulty/expense of converting a bike to FIM spec for just one weekend), so unless a WSB team makes a bike available for a local rider we probably won't see many US or Japanese wildcards any more. If the regular WSB riders don't like the wild card riders taking points from them, all they need to do is beat them  | ||
| Fresnobuell |
WSB has always allowed Wild Card entries from host countries. Right. It isn't unusual. My point is that these guys are essentially taking joy rides and can interfere with the "regulars." Again, it would be pretty radical to eliminate wildcards. I am sure everyone loved when Hacking punted Scassa in Utah. What a guy. | ||
| Jaimec |
And how DARE Ducati allow Troy Bayliss to run as a wild card rider in the last race of the 2006 MotoGP season? That self-centered bastard went on to embarrass all of the MotoGP regulars by WINNING the race!! Matt, Edwards is a Texan. Spies is a Texan. Blake is a Texan. Connect the dots... (Message edited by jaimec on September 29, 2009) | ||
| Trojan |
Edwards is a Texan. Spies is a Texan. Blake is a Texan. Connect the dots... Remember the Alamo! ( I hired a car from them once) | ||
| Blake |
"It really isn't important if it was straight on at a chicane or straight across the gravel, it was off track. " Being run off the track into the gravel is a much tougher thing to handle and recover from than short-cutting the chicane. It's the difference between losing on the order of five seconds versus maybe a half second. I think there is a HUGE difference and it is important to clarify as much if you are describing a racer's performance. | ||
| Blake |
I agree that Ben suffered a bad day at the races at Imola. If not for Biagi running him off into the gravel, his 2nd race might well have born much better results. I simply disagree with characterizing his performance as "average". Even on a bad day, Ben is far better than "average." | ||
| Trojan |
His performance was actually less than average by his own standards. He is pretty clear about it in this interview, and it seems we were both wrong about one of his off track excursions, as he says he ran across the grass (not a chicane or gravel) "Honestly, it was - for how we felt, and just all the kind of crap that happened, it was a good day. The results weren't there. The first race, we kind of shot ourself in the foot with the electronics. In the first couple gears, we really only had about 70% throttle, and it was, man, it was like riding the 600 against those Ducatis and Aprilias. We already give up a little acceleration to them, coming off the corner. It just wasn't any better. In the second race, we changed the bike a little bit. I tried some different stuff, and made some gains. But by the time I finally got my head out of my ass in riding, we got past Byrne, and Simoncelli had got past me, and I made a couple mistakes and was catching those two. They had a bit of contact, and when Biaggi came back on the track, I had nowhere to go, and it was either hit him or go in the gravel and start paddling. We did that, and Byrne got back by. Put the head down, and pretty much, I think, from then on, most of the time I was the fastest guy on the track. Caught Byrne within another lap. I don't know what happened on the braking zone, but I think he braked pretty early and I braked at my normal brake spot, and came up on him and almost hit him. It was either hit him or run straight, and I had to go through the grass again. I had to regroup. I knew I really didn't - that wasn't a mistake, just the closing speed was too drastic. So I really didn't panic too much. I knew I could get back by him. I started closing on Biaggi and Simoncelli and could definitely see all the guys coming back to me. I just didn't have enough time. Like I said, it was a good thing Fabrizio won. Haga was second. With how many people that could run the pace we ran today, after the first race, if you'd have said we'd only be losing by three points, I'd have taken that, for sure. I'm pretty happy with it. Because we definitely were on our back foot at this track, on our bike. We've had some tracks where our bike's worked really good, and we knew coming here it was going to be kind of a Kyalami-like issue. They were going to be strong, and there wasn't anything we could do about it. So we go to Magny-Cours and Portugal. I really think the bike's going to work well at those tracks. Give it 110% and go for it." Spies said the pre-race premonition he had that Imola is a 'Ducati track' feels like it came true. "It's not an excuse, at all," he said. "I rode, again, as hard as I could. If you look at the past year, you look at how the bikes were - the Aprilias and the Ducatis, the Aprilia's kind of not really a four-cylinder, not really a twin. It's kind of like a GP bike. It's a good package. And the Ducati, any place you go to that's bumpy and has low grip, just the way the Ducati's built, it's going to be better than most of the bikes. "That's what it comes down to. Valencia, Kyalami and here, they've definitely got an advantage. We've got advantages at other tracks. Miller, the bike worked good. Qatar it worked good. Phillip Island. Portugal it's going to work really good. And I think Magny-Cours. I haven't been there, but I think, besides the two first-gear corners, I think the bike's going to be strong there. So yeah, like I said, I knew it coming in. I said it. But that didn't stop me from trying to beat them, but we just knew we were going to have to really have all our stuff together to do it. I think we did a good job. We lost the championship lead, but we still got - basically, we got four races to go, so we got plenty. We got 100 points on the table." The race two incident with Biaggi is one that could have cost him a chance at the title. He gives a first person of what it was like from inside his helmet: "I saw Simoncelli going up the inside, and I was like, "Okay. This could be good. He could run Biaggi wide and I could go right by." And then I saw Biaggi kind of stand it up, and I was like, "Sh*t." Because I knew exactly what was going to happen, that he was going to make some of the left, stand it up, have to go through the gravel, and then that will not let him turn back right to make, really, the turn; and right when he's coming on the track, that's where I'm going to be. And I was already committed into the left, so it's not like I could grab the brakes and slow down more and wait on him. I had to roll through at the speed I was at, or I'm going to lose the front, in either corner. So as soon as I knew he got run wide, but he was going to make the corner, but the right side he was going to go through the gravel trap, I was like, "I'm screwed." I knew it. But then, it was to the point of, "Can I stay right next to him and stay on the track, or am I going to have to go in the gravel?" And like I said, there was probably a 10% chance that I could've made it work and stayed on the track and just stayed right next to him, but there was probably a 90% chance that the first thing that touched his left ass-cheek was my brake lever, and I would've been straight down. So I just had to be smart about it and live to fight another day. We got four races left, and it's going to be good." | ||
| Blake |
"Spies looked pretty average today for some reason..." versus "Spies looked below his average." One is a put-down. The other is factual. Tom Sykes best finish all year is ??, yet "Tom Sykes ... dosen't seem to have gelled at Yamaha as well as Spies has." "doesn't seem to"??? Spies: 12 wins, 9 pole positions, 15 podiums, 6 fastest laps Sykes: nada "seem"? Nah, no bias here, nothing to see, please move on it's obviously just me and my pro-Texas racer bias. (Message edited by blake on September 29, 2009) | ||
| Blake |
Caught Byrne within another lap. I don't know what happened on the braking zone, but I think he braked pretty early and I braked at my normal brake spot, and came up on him and almost hit him. It was either hit him or run straight, and I had to go through the grass again. I had to regroup. I knew I really didn't - that wasn't a mistake, just the closing speed was too drastic. So I really didn't panic too much. I knew I could get back by him. I started closing on Biaggi and Simoncelli and could definitely see all the guys coming back to me. I just didn't have enough time. I thought that was at the chicane, but it well could have been at one of the kinks. | ||
| Trojan |
Semantics Blake. I think you are reading too much into things. The English language is a wonderful thing and sometimes very subjective and open to interpretation. Don't take it so personally Spies: 12 wins, 9 pole positions, 15 podiums, 6 fastest laps Which makes two finishes outside the top 3 pretty average for him doesn't it? Sykes may not have had as stellar a season as Spies, and obviously suffers in your eyes because he isn't from Texas. However like I said previously, his rookie season would be judged as reasonably good under normal circumstances, and he did quite well to finish 8th considering his accident on Friday. However he is being judged against Spies as a team mate so Tom doesn't look so good unfortunately. It will be a shame if Sykes doesn't get a second season in WSB just because he couldn't equal Ben Spies (In a season where very few can). At the moment it looks like Toseland and Crutchlow may be the two factory Yamaha WSB men next year, although Cal may still plump for Moto2 rather than Superbikes (I hope so)so I hope Sykes picks up a decent ride elsewhere. I watched Tom Sykes last year riding the Suzuki and he was incredibly quick and much more confident than he has appeared this year on the Yamaha. Maybe he is overawed by having Ben as a team mate or maybe he can't get on with the Yamaha in the same way he rode the GSXR1000. Whatever the reason it would be wrong to write him off yet. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
And how DARE Ducati allow Troy Bayliss to run as a wild card rider in the last race of the 2006 MotoGP season? That self-centered bastard went on to embarrass all of the MotoGP regulars by WINNING the race!! Great for Bayliss, however i venture to say if you asked the regulars (particularly the points leaders) in any given series, they don't like wildcards either. That being said, racers often don't agree with the governing body. | ||
| Trojan |
Great for Bayliss, however i venture to say if you asked the regulars (particularly the points leaders) in any given series, they don't like wildcards either. I think that most WSBK riders take the faster wild cards as a part of the series and don't mind them competing. The system gives top domestic riders a chance at the world series and introduces talented riders that may go on to ride on a full time basis for WSB teams. Both Shane Byrne and Makato Tamada have won double races at their home WSB races as wild card riders, and other regular BSB runners/WSB wild cards have been amongst the top 5 on numerous occasions at UK rounds, and the same has happened at US and Japanese rounds of the series in the past. Nori Haga scored his first WSB podium as a wild card entry at Sugo back in 1996! Neil Hodgson and Chris Wlaker both scored WSB podiums as wild card riders too. I think there is more dislike and distrust amongst the regular competitors for the wild card riders that are patently too slow rather than the ones who are capable of running with the leaders. These are the ones who are going to get lapped very quickly, who are not used to the level of competition and who are capable of getting in the way and causing accidents. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
""Sykes may not have had as stellar a season as Spies, and obviously suffers in your eyes because he isn't from Texas. However like I said previously, his rookie season would be judged as reasonably good under normal circumstances, and he did quite well to finish 8th considering his accident on Friday. However he is being judged against Spies as a team mate so Tom doesn't look so good unfortunately"" I think Sykes is not judged against Spies, because there simply is not a comparison. Sykes should be judged against other rookie Brits, Rea and Haslam. Rea and Haslam have both shown great speed and on their day they have been as fast as anybody. Sykes on the other hand have made clear that he can never be as fast as the top guys, even on his best form. Unless he does something drastic, he does not look too good at WSBK | ||
| Trojan |
Sykes on the other hand have made clear that he can never be as fast as the top guys, even on his best form. That was my point when I referred to his speed in BSB on the Suzuki GSXR1000 (a bike that is not particularly succesful in BSB unlike AMA competition), as he beat Byrne, Haslam and Rea during the last few seasons. He is a very good rider who is rated higher than Cal Crutchlow and other top Bits by a lot of team managers here. Unfortunately he is on the wrong bike for him and it has definitely harmed his career this year. I would like to see how he did on a different bike before writing him off. | ||
| Trojan |
According to reliable internet reports, newly crowned British Superbike champion Leon Camier will ride the factory Aprilia RSV4 in the two remaining rounds of the WSBK series as team mate to Max Biaggi Camier is even taller than Simoncelli (6') at 6'2" so it will be interesting to see how he fits on the tiniest superbike after coming from his all conquering Yamaha R1 in BSB. I hope he does really well, although don't think he has long enough to get used to the drastic change in machinery to make a real impact in the last 4 races, so needs to make this a good job application for next season. Camier has been sensational in BSB this year (17 wins from 23 races) and pretty much unbeatable when he hasn't either made a mistake or had mechanical issues (a bit like Spies really), and I am really looking forward to seeing how he performs up against the WSB regulars | ||
| Simond |
That is exciting news Matt. Biaggi and Simoncelli are a pretty tough act to follow and he'll need to get the bloody thing off the line a damn sight quicker than he has so far this year with the R1. I too hope Crutchlow ends up in Moto2 but I guess it could be a bit of a lottery next year. Getting stuck midfield on an uncompetitive bike in Moto2 won't do his career path any good....... neither will falling off at Imola I suppose though! It would be a shame if he can't convert his dominance this season into a Championship win. You might say the same for Ben Spies. | ||
| Dr_greg |
Ben's problem at Imola was that he couldn't figure out what kind animal the track looked like in time for the race. I knew it would happen sooner or later. --Doc P.S. If you don't understand, click here | ||
| Jaimec |
I pointed that out earlier... maybe it was a shrimp and not a seahorse after all! Don't think anyone knew what I was talking about, though... | ||
| Crusty |
I have to agree with you; it does look more like a shrimp than a seahorse. | ||
| Smoke |
i knew exactly what you meant Jaimec! i didn't have a good response though. 4 more to make it up! tim | ||
| Ebear |
Ben Spies: From the AMA Horizon Award to AMA Superbike to World Superbike to MotoGP... -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Posted October 1, 2009 Email Print From a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3... Monster Yamaha Tech 3 are delighted to announce they will field Colin Edwards and Ben Spies in an all-American line-up for the 2010 MotoGP World Championship. Edwards has agreed a new one-year contract after the Texan produced the best form of his MotoGP career during 2009, including a stunning second place in the British MotoGP at Donington Park. The 35-year-old has featured in the top seven in ten out of 13 races so far and he's still firmly in contention for a top five world championship placing. Joining the vastly experienced Edwards will be fellow Texan Spies. The 25-year-old joins the Tech 3 squad with outstanding credentials h aving enjoyed phenomenal success on board Yamaha's R1 machine in the World Superbike championship. Winner of 12 out of 24 races so far with nine pole positions, Spies is already ranked in the top 15 World Superbike riders in history. Herve Poncharal – Team Manager: “I am delighted that Colin will remain with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team in 2010. He has proved once again in 2009 that he remains one of the world's best riders and he is a tremendous asset for Tech 3, Yamaha and Monster. Colin has been an integral part of our recent success and his dedication and impressive performances mean his new contract is thoroughly deserved. It also gives me great pleasure to welcome Ben to Tech 3. It's a very exciting prospect having a rider of Ben's calibre join our team. Everybody is aware that he is a rider with i ncredible talent and huge potential, which he has proved with some outstanding performances for Yamaha in World Superbikes this season. And I have no doubt that together with Tech 3, Yamaha and Monster that Ben will be a big success in 2010 in MotoGP. Colin and Ben together means Tech 3 will arguably field its strongest ever line-up and everybody in the team can look forward to 2010 with tremendous excitement and optimism. Finally I would also like to thank James Toseland. He has been one of the most determined and dedicated riders ever to work with Tech 3. I have nothing but admiration for James and it has been a privilege working with him. I wish him all the best for the future.” |
