| Author | Message | ||
     Crusty |
Nobody can complain that the Moscow races were boring. However, I'm starting to lose respect for Johnny Rea. I think he might be a student of the Dale Earnhardt school of racing. "If you can't beat someone on the track, then take him out" | ||
| Jaimec |
By the way, Kudos to Max in Race 2, for ignoring his crashed motorcycle and immediately running over to Leon Haslam to make sure he was okay. | ||
| Simond |
I haven't seen the replays but I don't remember anything untoward. Max tried an optimistic lunge one lap earlier, ran wide then had another go, clipped Rea and took out Haslam. He was off the pace all weekend and only managed a podium in the first race because the team had been showing boards telling Laverty to let him through from half distance. I thought it was Max's riding that looked wild this weekend. | ||
| Jaimec |
The announcers accused Rea of "doing a naughty" or words to that effect. | ||
| Simond |
Announcers are as partisan as the rest of us! I'll have another look. Rea, I think, suffers for his loyalty to Ten Kate and Honda. There's no question that he is over-riding an otherwise uncompetitive bike which means that he doesn't have the luxury of passing on the straight. If you look at Aoyama and the struggles of Michael Laverty in BSB it seems that the 'Blade has had its day. I've never been a particular fan of his but I think he deserves a shot on a MotoGP bike. I'm looking forward to seeing him ride but it is a big ask to jump on Stoner's bike and perform straight away. | ||
| Xb1125r |
the anouncer acused Rea first but after seen the replay said Biaggi was coming to fast and took Rea and that he was sure Biaggi would apologize to Rea | ||
| Jaimec |
British announcers being partisan against a British (Northern Irish) racer? I suppose it could happen, but... | ||
| Simond |
 I'm English with an Irish wife - born in the North brought up in the South and a couple of kids with both Irish and British passports. My favourite WSB racers are Eugene Laverty and Chaz Davies. It all gets very complicated with so many Brit/Irish guys in the mix these days. Can't complain at the entertainment value this weekend though. | ||
| Johnbull |
By the way, Kudos to Max in Race 2, for ignoring his crashed motorcycle and immediately running over to Leon Haslam to make sure he was okay. ______________________ Trainers | ||
| Firstbuell |
a thoughtful explanation of why Bens Pies may find the WSBK paddock [& a BMW] so appealing: World Superbike Grows Up Twenty-five years of full grids, close racing and value for all involved. http://www.cycleworld.com/2012/08/23/world-superbi ke-grows-up/ | ||
| Trojan |
The Cycle world article fails to address the most important reason why BMW have suddenly become competitive this year. They imported almost the entire Yamaha WSB technical crew to work alongside Melandri in his garage and to oversee electronic development, and it is this approach rather than the rather strange 'in house' efforts of previous years that have lead to the best developments particularly in electronic strategy. The engine developments that they go into great detail about in the article are actually pretty small change compared to the electronic advances they have made. It also fails to mention that BMW have spent roughly 4 times more than any other manufacturer to get where they are today. Next year the official BMW team will be gone and that investment will no longer continue. Likewise Aprilia spent a fortune developing their WSB RSV4 in the first few years. This has already been cut back significantly (Biaggi has received almost no updates this year)and there is even talk that the factory Aprilia team will not be on the grid next year (4 less factory bikes for 2013 already then?) Kawasaki are the next big spenders and who knows when they will decide that enough is enough and cut back their factory support? Suzuki are already looking to pull support for the Crescent/Fixi team out of the series next year completely, leaving Camier and Hopkins scraping around for another ride (now it is 6 bikes less!) and Effenbert Ducati won't be there next year either...Oh dear, that is now 8 bikes out of 25 that may not line up next year. There are also other small underfunded teams that currently make up the numbers that may not be there for much longer if current technical rules are not capped (Pedercini, Pata etc). How many manufacturers and teams are lining up to join WSB and fill these vacant grid slots next year so far? None that I know of. WSB is pricing itself out of existence and I think we will look back at 2012 as probably the best year in terms of manufacturer/team/rider involvement that we will see for a long time. With a CRT entry into MotoGP becoming more affordable than WSB racing I can see a lot of smaller teams switching series before long. Not as healthy as it looks now is it? (Message edited by trojan on August 30, 2012) | ||
| Gaesati |
Superstock may be the way of the future then? | ||
| Jaimec |
AMA Superbike. | ||
| Trojan |
WSB has stated that the rules will stay as they are for the forseeable future, despite the various national championship moving away from the WSB rule structure over the past few years (AMA,BSB,IDM all now have different rules). This also lessens the chances of wild card rides by national riders simply because of the expense of modifying national series superbieks to run at WSB level. Superstock will probably be the eventual winner in all of this, purely because fo economic factors. | ||
| Xb1125r |
trojan, you could say the same thing was for Rossi, be brought all his team, but his team failed or simply Rossi failed. lol | ||
| Jaimec |
BMW's electronics strategy makes sense now in light of interviews I've seen with both Haslam and Melandri. Since they control the electronics, they can respond pretty much immediately whereas if they (like almost everyone else on the grid) had to count on Marelli they'd have to wait longer for updates. It took them a couple of years to get it dialed in, but now they're right on track and fully in charge of their own destiny. | ||
| Trojan |
trojan, you could say the same thing was for Rossi, be brought all his team, but his team failed or simply Rossi failed. lol Not at all. The problem at BMW all along was their insistence on running their own in house electronics package. Unfortunately they had nobody on the technical side with the right WSB experience to make the thing work properly. The riders were telling the team what they thought but couldn't translate that into an effective electronics straegy. Melandri brought his entire technical crew with him from Yamaha and they basically made the BMW run like the R1 did and ran teh electronics accordingly. Rossi would I'm sure loved to have had Ducati build him an M1 replica in red, but Ducati would not move from their traditional layout, so nothing that Rossi or his crew did made a lot of difference. Unlike BMW, the problem at Ducati was not simply one that could be programmed out with a electronics, but is much more fundamental and requires major chassis and engine changes. If you think that Ducati will suddenly become competitive with a new rider I think you will be wrong  Rossi will go back to Yamaha and start to run towards the front once more, while Dovi will languish in 8th-10th, but at elast be able to count his money. | ||
| Xb1125r |
Funny how you say that Rossi would have loved his team make the ducati run like the M1. mayeb that is the problem there was no reason to make one bike run like another breed. thats like saying make the ebr run like the R1. the riders need to learn the bike and find its strenghts and capatalize on them. Rossi = Crybaby makes Pedrosa look good | ||
| Trojan |
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | ||
| Jaimec |
Matt: Don't feed the trolls. | ||
| Trojan |
Good weekend at Nurburgring and some unexpected results too Nice to see Chaz get his first win under his belt, and to see him sign for a good team nest year too. Leon Camier also impressed me on the ageing GSXR1000, and made the bike look competitive for the first time in ages with his ride in race 2. Good weekedn for the Brits in WSB (most of them anyway...) | ||
| Trojan |
Forgot to mention....Congratulations are also due to US kid PJ Jacobsen for winning the BSB 1000 Superstock race at Donington this weekend. He took the win on his Tyco Suzuki by 0.001 seconds. I told you he was good | ||
| Jaimec |
Go Marco!! http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Sep/sp2/120921 a.htm | ||
| Trojan |
Can't see anyone beating Tom Sykes to another Tissot watch in Superpole though Hopefully he can keep his tyres in one piece this week and keep the pressure on Melandri adn Biaggi at the top. Continuing the PJ Jacobsen thread.....after impressing everyone with his Superstock win at Doninigton he has now landed a plum ride for Tyco Suzuki in the BSB Supersport race at Assen, on the GSXR600 that won last years title. I hope they can manage to come to a deal for a full season of BSB next year. This kid really does need a full season in a good championship with an experienced winning team behind him. | ||
| Trojan |
WSB returns to the USA in 2013! From the WSB web site.... 'Following a three-year agreement between Infront Motor Sports and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the United States Round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship will take place at the Californian circuit next season and in 2014 and 2015. The confirmed date for the 2013 event will be 27-29 September, and it marks the return of the championship to the spectacular Monterey circuit for the first time after an eight-year absence. The last World Superbike round was held at Laguna Seca in 2004. Paolo Flammini, CEO of Infront Motor Sports, declared: "We are absolutely delighted to be returning to Laguna Seca for the US Round for the first time since 2004. Over the ten-year period in which we were last there, we witnessed an extraordinary growth in interest and in overall attendance and we are sure that this event will once again become one of the most prestigious on the calendar. The return of Laguna Seca to the Superbike World Championship, with its six competing manufacturers, will definitely be a boost to the championship's growth in the US market as California has a special tradition and offers significant opportunities for the motorcycle industry, sponsors and media." "We have a strong history with World Superbike and are thrilled to have them commit to a three-year race schedule," says Gill Campbell, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca CEO/general manager. "Their return to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca solidifies our position as THE premier circuit in the U.S. for motorcycle racing." Be interesting to see if any of the AMA teams decide to modify and run as wild cards? | ||
| Firstbuell |
hey Trojan, RE: PJ - he was SO far in front of everyone else at the 2 Indy XR races..... PJ has shone somewhat in earlier road race rides for Gilsenan's Team Celtic [& on half-mile dirt tracks, as well] | ||
| Jaimec |
Is Miller still on the calendar for next year? | ||
| Sparky |
Does this mean there will be a MotoGP/AMA round at Laguna followed by a separate FIM SBK round there? Oooh, two reasons to do the spectacular Hwy 1 ride.  | ||
| Jaimec |
Just saw... Laguna Seca replaces Miller. Damned shame... I was hoping it would be in addition to... | ||
| 46champ |
Could some one from the bay area confirm what I am about to say. I thought Luguna Seca had a limited number of noisy race dates. So what got canceled so they could have a World SBK race? Or is it one of those things where you pay some extra fee then you get to race anyhow? |
