| Author | Message | ||
     Rocket_in_uk |
Rob that is a great link. Thanks kindly  I'd be more impressed if you find similar for Moto GP, lol. We all will  Rocket in England | ||
| Rodrob |
For the record, i did not upload the video. I found the link, but i don't know where. | ||
| Trojan |
I'm saying in a sport that is equal parts machine, setup, rider and luck, they looked like a new team inexperienced with the first three and fresh out of the fourth vs veteran teams with all four in abundance. The problem is that EBR have the reins on at least 3 of the 4 things you mention. Luck is something that happens (although you canmake your own luck at times). One area where they have definitely not got up to WSB spec and could immediately improve (in my opinion) is riders. If you go into a new competition with new machines and no experience of setup then having riders experienced in that series is a major advantage (in fact I would go so far as saying is is essential), as at least they can give a useful comparison to what they rode before and have vital track experience, so are not constantly learning new venues every week. Machines can be improved, setup can be learned and luck comes and goes. World class riders have to be bought and experienced WSb riders aren't cheap. If I were at EBR I would be chasing someone like Leon Camier with a large open chequebook to replace Yates before Aragon. | ||
| Simond |
Is the Ioda situation that bad? | ||
| Fast1075 |
Bobby Unser said "success lives at the crossroads of preparation and opportunity". Or something like that.  | ||
| Trojan |
Is the Ioda situation that bad? from what I have read they lost their main sponsor (CAME), so can only run one rider at most, and that will be Petrucci. However even his involvement is now in doubt as the team have apparently been unable to agree terms with Aprilia (ART) for the bikes. I think Ioda wanted the bikes pretty much for free and to be the main ART team this year, with all the factory support that broght with it. Aprilia obviously have different ideas  Interesting also that the PBM team have 'chosen' to sit out the Sepang test as they say their bike isn't ready. I wonder if that translates as 'We don't have any Aprilia engines to put in our chassis'. | ||
| Simond |
Bad news. He still deserves a decent ride. I can understand EBR sticking with Geoff May but the decision on Yates mystifies me. I'd love to see Leon on the EBR bike and surely a development role in WSB would be better than dropping back to BSB.......unless Shaun Muir could rustle up yet another Yamaha for him to ride! | ||
| Jscott |
In agreement with Yates. He was a fun rider to watch years ago - he wouldn't think twice about binning a bike, torpedoing someone trying to make a pass, drop kicking someone who took him out, or even laying in the middle of the track in the attempt to get a flag thrown. His best years are well behind him and he's not a great ambassador for the brand (he thought the 1125r was air-cooled!). He seems like a nice guy though. | ||
| Xb1125r |
Laverty will win this year, I said first. | ||
| Xb1125r |
bring Danny | ||
| Classax |
I think they wanted to go with an all American rider line up. Yates was not my first choice either. If it has to stay all American, then I actually would have gone after guys like JD Beach, Roger Hayden Danny Eslick or really thrown the world for a loop and gotten Melisa Paris. To your point Trojan, and Aaron if you're reading this, you're a better faster rider than likely 99.999% of the world, certainly a universe quicker than me. But that .001% that is better, is close to 5 seconds faster around the track, any track, be it in the AMA or WSBK. That's been proven. He's a big guy like me though so I kinda like that a larger heavier rider is involved with the development, but he will not compete for the podium of even the top ten if he is ignorant of the brand and thinks "if we get a tow, anything can happen." Go EBR | ||
| M2typhoon |
+1 on Melissa Paris. Novel idea but Danny FTW. He's no development rider but he can do stuff with that bike which seemed a little nuts like at Homestead against Young. EBR needs that. Someone who exploit the bike like that but not until this RX gets up to the performance of the Duc or so then pull the pin on Danny and watch him stand everyone up in the corners. | ||
| Trojan |
No point hiring Melissa Paris except for the publicity value of having a female rider. She is no more experienced on WSB circuits than Aaron Yates and has much less overall experience. What they absolutely need is a rider who has experience of world championship circuits, preferably at the sharp end of the field. Recent experience on a twin cylinder machine would also be nice. Unless they can tempt Charlie Checa or Troy Bayliss out of retirement I think their best option would still be to try and hire Leon Camier (if his Ioda MotoGP deal falls apart as rumoured). If they insist on keeping the rider lineup all American I can't think of any available riders who are young and hungry enough to fit the bill and not already under contract for 2014 unfortunately. | ||
| M2typhoon |
Didn't someone just say that they would possibly be coming back as a wild card? Ugh.. where is Ben Spies when you need him. Buell needs a batman signal for Spies but their not ready for that yet. | ||
| Classax |
It would be cool to see Spies come out of retirement. It would really play into the whole rise from the ashes thing for EBR. Anyone got his number? Its worth a shot. | ||
| Trojan |
It would be cool to see Spies come out of retirement. The shoulder injury that Spies suffered would make it very difficult to comeback from retirement unfortunately. Just ask Neil Hodgson and Carl Fogarty, both of whom suffered similar career ending injuries. Plus I really think that Spies lost heart and interest in his last year at Yamaha. I don't think he would want to even if he could now. | ||
| Jaimec |
Spies is out... but hasn't Mladin been making noises about a come back? | ||
| Jaimec |
Didn't I read somewhere that Melissa will be competing in one of the Euro series this year? Give her a year overseas and THEN get her on an EBR! | ||
| Tpoppa |
May is calm, cool, & collected and a great development rider. IMO, he is no longer aggressive enough to be a race winner at the AMA or WSBK level. EBR needs a rider who knows the WSBK tracks...maybe a young rising star from WSS. | ||
| Jaimec |
PJ Jacobsen? | ||
| Simond |
Great rider but this is his first year on the WSB tracks and he is under contract with a competitive ride in WSS. Neither EBR nor PJ Jacobsen would gain much from that tie up. | ||
| M2typhoon |
http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1402_is_troy_ba yliss_coming_out_of_retirement/ This brings up some interesting thoughts but he's going Duc... but then there is Max Biaggi.. (Message edited by M2typhoon on February 28, 2014) | ||
| Trojan |
According to everything else I have read since last weekend Troy Bayliss ISN'T coming out of retirement at all and certainly not to Ducati...so it must be true. (He'll probably be teammates with Casey Stoner then). http://www.bikesportnews.com/news-detail.cfm?newst itle=No-plans-for-Bayliss-WSBK-return,-say-Ducati& newsid=11290 | ||
| Trojan |
P.S. Camier is now officially without a ride in 2014 BR should call him now, he'll be cheap! http://www.bikesportnews.com/news-detail.cfm?newst itle=Camier-missing-from-revised-MotoGP-entry-list &newsid=11316 | ||
| M2typhoon |
Moar EBR/Hero press: http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/02/28/testing-is-th e-key-to-success-erik-buell-racing-and-hero-motoco rp-partnership/ | ||
| Gschuette |
What sort of contract situation do EBR and Yates have? Is there a performance clause or can EBR just drop him if Camier or someone more qualified accepted an offer to ride an EBR? Hypothetically. | ||
| Court |
If you've any doubt as the the answer to that question . . . . (I don't) . . go read about the history of Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal and Pawan Munjal/ | ||
| Classax |
What sort of contract situation do EBR and Yates have? He's in the last year of a two year deal. The reason Yates is on the bike is because he's a really fast guy with princess and the pea like sensitivity to setup changes and near robotic consistency (according to the telemetry) when doing laps. He also is enough of a gear head to explain to the engineers what's going on in a way they can understand. May is pretty much the same only better at all of the above. They are what you need to develop a new bike, but neither is in the top tier of the quick group. Remember the objective is to develop the bike via racing. Test Pilots are different breed than Fighter Pilots, the former is out to beat his own machine and the latter is out to beat everyone elses'. (Message edited by classax on February 28, 2014) | ||
| Court |
>>>Test Pilots are different breed than Fighter Pilots Precisely. And EBR is in the business of SELLING MOTORCYCLES . . . . not WINNING RACES. Argue as you may . . the two aren't 100% correlated. | ||
| Jaimec |
Not this year, no. But Aaron's contract is up at the end of this year, and PJ will have seen all of the tracks by next... |
