| Author | Message | ||
     Svh |
+1 to Dana. Young has talent but unfortunately he has an entitled attitude to go with it unlike Chris Clark. Glad he is gone from AMA. One of the few guys in the paddock that wouldn't even acknowledge your existence, and that was at his home track! | ||
| Trojan |
Thing is if Hayden wouldn't of lost a engine he would of really stuck it to Young. racing is chock full of 'could of, should of, if only' stories. crossing the finish line is the only thing that counts and if you crash it really doesn't matter why when you look back at the results sheet. Losing an engine or losing the front end and crashing doesn't matter. Regardless of personality, Blake Young did finish second in last years AMA Superbike series so must have some talent. Whether he gets a ride in WSb or not, he did himself some good last week by not crashing and doing as he was asked by the team. Sometimes finishing with a half decent result is more improtant than going very fast and crashing when you are trying to impress a new team. | ||
| Bads1 |
Sometimes finishing with a half decent result is more improtant than going very fast and crashing when you are trying to impress a new team. Something he did every time it counted on the Attack bike was crashed. And to the point?? Maybe he should of done better and pushed a factory bike to keep his job. | ||
| Trojan |
Something he did every time it counted on the Attack bike was crashed. Maybe because the Attack bike was not anywhere near the standard required to race in MotoGP. If a team hasn't even got a spare chassis and arrives on the back of a pickup you have to wonder what DORNA were thinking to allow it to compete in the first place. I think they were just desperate for some kind of US involvement and didn't really examine what an amateur effort it was (in GP terms at least - I'm sure the people at Attack are very professional in what they do, but they are not HRC). He was never going to be offered a factory bike in MotoGP, but then nor were any other AMA regulars, so he had nothing to lose by riding it. | ||
| Bads1 |
Maybe because the Attack bike was not anywhere near the standard required to race in MotoGP Im quite sure Motogp thought so to let it in Attack has been around along time. If that was the case Ducati should get the shaft from MotoGp . And no they aren't HRC but neither is 80% of the field running CRT bike that BTW have come aways since they started. Hell they were all breaking down or crashing. Regardless you speak like Attack haven't done there homework and did lots of testing with Young aboard and didn't crash the bike every time he was on it?? They must of been in some comfort zone to say lets get it in a race setting in which Young put it down when it counted the most for Attack. | ||
| Trojan |
Im quite sure Motogp thought so to let it in Attack has been around along time. The bike was allowed in because it was a US team/bike andrider and they wanted to encourage ticket sales/TV audiences by having a home built product and more US riders in the race. In actual fact the bike was nowhere near the standard of even PBM or other CRT teams. Just take a look at the logistics and infrastucture of even the smallest GP teams compared to Attack (even at 'flyaway' races like Laguna and Indy). Even PBM & Cardion, who are the smallest GP teams have a huge amount oif spares including frames, engines, wheels etc. Attack turned up without even a spare frame, which sadly shows that they were unfortunately unprepared for GP competition. They really should not have been granted an entry based on the fact that they were unprepared in the event of a crash or mechanical breakdown. I admire their guts and determination, and I'm sure they did their homework and tested etc like you say, but that does not make it a GP team or bike. | ||
| Bads1 |
Sounds like you Matt are in the wrong business and should be a news reporter It seems you are always right and everyone on this forum is wrong 80% of the time. So with that I will say I only agree with 1/2 of what you said above. Change your profile name Knowitall. | ||
| 46champ |
you know Bads1 there is an old saying about not shooting the messenger. A lot of time I may not like what Matt maybe saying but there is always a basis of truth in it. He seems to be set on stealing as many American racers as he can and sending them to Europe for there own entertainment. I may not like it but I understand it. | ||
| Jaimec |
Until DMG restores prestige to the domestic series, really the BEST thing for our rider's careers is to go to Europe. | ||
| Blake |
Why do you think that??? | ||
| Jaimec |
Look around, Blake. AMA Pro road racing is DYING. They're losing tracks left and right, their races are as likely to not be televised as they are. It's really sad... | ||
| Svh |
A better question is why wouldn't you agree with that? AMA/DMG is now considered a joke to most teams in WSBK and MotoGP. Spies will probably be the last rider to jump from AMA directly to WSBK or MotoGP and he got out of AMA just in time before the bad press/rules. I hope that Beaubier makes the jump soon. Spies made the jump a little too late in my opinion. | ||
| Trojan |
Change your profile name Knowitall. I certainly don't profess to know it all (If I did I'd be too busy to post here  ) But i have been involved with and around racing for most of my 55 years in one way or another. My father raced, I ran a race team and have always followed racing since I could walk almost, so most of my comments on racing are based on some knowledge of the racing world. My comments may not always be to your liking, but that it the good thing about opinions isn't it  As Jaimec and SVH rightly say, the AMA/DMG series is sadly in a very poor state right now, and unless the AMA are aiming for it to become a US centric sport like Indycar or Nascar they would do well to realign themselves with WSB next year. Right now there is very little chance of AMA riders getting noticed by international teams unless they get on the plane and race in Europe. A good example is PJ Jacobsen. He has had a succesful season in BSB although will finish no higher than 8th in the championship. Yet he has been approached with very good contract offers for next year from more than one top BSB team and apprently at least one WSb team. Is that because he is a better rider than the top AMA riders, or because he is in a very highly rated and visible championship? | ||
| Simond |
I assume that it is either PJ or Tommy Bridewell that Paul Bird claims to have an agreement with for BSB next year alongside Shane Byrne. Good to hear that Sam Lowes will not be riding the MV in WSB next year - I just hope that his Moto2 ride is worthy of his talents. Another Caterham Suter? I also get the impression from the way Eugene Laverty was talking after the race that he is likely not to be riding an Aprilia next year. Pramac? Chaz Davies at Ducati with Ben Spies? | ||
| Trojan |
That is the same rumours I heard too about all the above riders (must be true then ) I would be slightly surprised if Laverty chose Pramac over Aspar, as he would still be in the Aprilia family and paid by the factory if he went there. I have heard thouogh that Aspar are having second thoughts about going with ART (Aprilia) next year and are buying Honda production bikes instead. That may explain Laverty's sudden change of direction, but it would ask the question of where Aspar is going to get enough money to buy 2 (or 4 for 2 riders) Honda production bikes AND employ decent riders. He has just lost his main sponsor for next year and both Hayden and Laverty would have been paid directly by Aprilia. Davies adn Spies at WSB Ducati is pretty much a done deal I think, and they should work well together. I have heard that Sam Lowes is off to the NGM Moto2 team, riding an FTR chassis. That could be completely wrong of course as I have only seen that from one source so far. I'd rather see him on a Kalex or Suter, but We'll have to wait and see what gets announced next week. Wherever he ends up he is going to be competitive straight away methinks | ||
| Trojan |
Further to the aqbove......rumours continue to surface. According to Bikesportnews today Sam Lowes has actually signed for the Speed Up team for two years and not NGM Forward as reported earlier. Speed Up use their own frame, although it is actually apparently a rebadged/reworked FTR frame but with their own bodywork. http://www.bikesportnews.com/news-detail.cfm?newst itle=Lowes-to-join-Speed-Up-in-Moto2-for-2014&news id=10680 | ||
| Blake |
So, did DMG purchase AMA Pro Racing in order to eliminate the competition? | ||
| Trojan |
So, did DMG purchase AMA Pro Racing in order to eliminate the competition? I think it is more like their ineptitude has eliminated AMA racing as a competiton for WSB places. Once upon a time AMA racing was one of the main recruiting grounds for MotoGP/WSB......Since DMG took over only Ben Spies has made the jump with any success to any form of international competition. If DMG's intention was to make the AMA series isolationist they have certainly succeeded big time. I am constantly surprised that DMG don't see any irony in the fact that up and coming US riders are now pretty much forced to try and get a ride in other national series (BSB/CEV/DGM) in order to get noticed by international teams.This isn't just a sad reflection on the AMA/DMG shambles but also shows that they are really not bothered about the riders/teams but are only concerned with 'the show' (and even then they have managed to mess that up with no TV coverage!). | ||
| Jaimec |
Ben Spies made the jump BECAUSE of DMG. He left the year before they took over. Guess he saw the writing on the wall. Before that, he was content to remain in the AMA series (like Mladin) collecting a big paycheck and not having to fly all over the world. Mladin stuck it out for a couple more years before getting bored and retiring. DMG thought they leveled the playing field enough that they'd never again see two riders completely dominate the field ever again. Yeah... THAT worked out. | ||
| Trojan |
and not having to fly all over the world Or having to race against the best riders in the world to get that fat paycheck. Spies made the jump successfully (sort of) but Mladin was happy to stay as a big fish in a small pond after his early unsuccesful efforts in international competition. It will be interesting to see how WSb and domestic series react to the new 'homologation specials' being planned by both Honda and Ducati. Both bikes are specifically designed to ride roughshod over the new WSB rules, so hopefully DORNA will find their balls and ban them before they ruin the series again. With a price tag in excess of US$100,00 each for the road bike (so god knows how much for the WSB spec!) it will just tip WSB/AMA/BSB into another high price spiral just when they are starting to get to grips with it. | ||
| Jaimec |
Considering how Ben rode rough-shod over the "best riders in the (superbike) world" in his rookie year, and Mladin beat Ben more times than not (but also suffered more DNFs, thanks to his "win it or bin it" riding style) I'm pretty sure Mat would've made mincemeat out of the WSBK guys as well. But as you've pointed out many times, being good at racing a production-based bike is not the same thing as riding a MotoGP prototype. Not anymore, any way. | ||
| Trojan |
I'm sure Mladin would have done well in WSB, but he never had the guts to try it. He did dip his toe into MotoGP when it was 500cc 2 strokes with a couple of outings on a Cagiva I believe. he didn't do very well though (even compared to other Cagiva riders). I don't actually think Spies rode rough-shod over the other WSb riders, and remember he didn't beat Haga by much at the end. Spies had the 'perfect storm' in terms of machinery, team and talent at the right time. The Yamaha was pretty dominant in every series the year he won, so it would be interesting to see Ben back in WSb on the Ducati next year against an on form Tom Sykes, Guintoli, Melandri etc | ||
| Jaimec |
As I recall, Tom Sykes was on the EXACT SAME equipment as Spies. And in the following years, NO ONE even got close to Ben's accomplishments on the Yamaha. Also, keep in mind... that was also the first time Ben had ridden a Yamaha (he was a Suzuki rider most of his career), it was the first time he had ridden on those funky Pirelli tires (he rode Dunlops his entire career), and with the exception of Miller, it was the first time he'd seen ANY of those tracks. If he didn't receive the traditional "Welcome to WSBK Greeting" from Max Biaggi in his first race (Max ran him off the track) he very likely would've won BOTH of his first two races in the series. You can belittle his accomplishments as much as you like, Matt, but the fact is Ben taught the world exactly what kind of talent we have here in our domestic series; despite being handicapped by DMG's incompetence. Here's to hoping Josh Herrin can open a few more eyes in Moto2 next year. | ||
| Trojan |
As I recall, Tom Sykes was on the EXACT SAME equipment as Spies. Tom Sykes had much less experience than Ben that year, and was treated very much as the 'junior' team member. Coupled with injuries from a high speed crash that left him out of a couple of rounds he actually did quite well. Ordinarily he would have been judged to have had a good year if it weren't for Spies winning. Leon Camier won the BSB series in his first year on the R1 too. I'm not belittling Bens achievements in WSB, but equally I'm not going to say that he rode roughshod over the opposition, as he needed to go to the last round to tie up the championship. If the Ducatis hadn't fought each other as much then Haga could have been even closer. Either way, I agree with you and hope that Herrin does well next year. | ||
| Jaimec |
And if Haga's team mate hadn't pulled a "Pedrosa" on Ben, it wouldn't've been close at all... Too many "What ifs." But on a level playing field, Ben gave the world's best superbike riders a lesson that season. (Message edited by jaimec on October 09, 2013) | ||
| Trojan |
Congratulations to Tom Sykes and Sam Lowes on the WSB and WSS championships respectively. Couldn't happen to two nicer guys. Looking forward to seeing Sam in Moto2 next year (and twin brother Alex in MotoGP) and for Tom to defend his title in WSB. (Message edited by trojan on October 21, 2013) | ||
| Jaimec |
And "Adios!" to Gentleman Carlos Checa. I, for one, am sorry to see him go. | ||
| Jaimec |
Hughlysses posted this in a couple of EBR threads but it is more appropriate in this thread: http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Oct/131025a.ht m So how long before Philip Morris does the same in MotoGP? | ||
| Trojan |
Francis Batta has been moaning loudly and publicly about lack of support from Ducati all year, so it is hardly a surprise to see them part company. I think the sponsor situation just gave them an excuse to blame rather than blame each other for poor performances. Ducati will be back next year with either a factory team or a team run by Feel racing, who were actually the team running the Ducati factory team in previous years anyway. Feel have been running the factory BMW squad this year but will easily and seamlessly move back across to the red garage. Philip Morris have been threatening to get out of sponsoring Ducati ever since Stoner had his 'lactose intolerance' issues in 2009. Maybe they will eventually but I think the changes announced with the arrival of Gigi from Aprilia will keep them on board for at least one or two more years. Because of the stringent rules on cigarette sponsorship, once they leave they would never be allowed back in, so probably feel that they are better served staying where they are with Ducati and Ferrari. Whether they want to plough nearly as much money into Ducati in future is another matter though, and they may cut back quite severely but keep a token presence on the bike. I am always quite surprised that we don't see a Red Bull team in MotoGP rather than individual rider support. Red Bull have a history of buying a team and entering themselves rather than sponsoring a thrid party team, so maybe we'll see them buy out one of the major MotoGp teams before long in an attempt to do what they have done in F1. | ||
| Jaimec |
Red Bull is the primary sponsor of the two races (remaining) here in the States. Why sponsor a team when you can sponsor the entire event? I'm wondering why Coca Cola doesn't pull the pin too... |
