| Author | Message | ||
     Gaesati |
what a great season so far! it is fantastic to watch the progress of the brit madmen! bareknuckle racing on big bikes! Meanwhile bmw leads the technology stakes even with old men development riders and Biaggi gets to ride a pseudo motogp bike. FAbrizio is getting into stride. Again there is drama with Tom Sykes and Vermeulen making a good fist on an interim bike. The only down moment is considering what had happened to Haga since Xaus trowelled him at P.I. | ||
| Trojan |
Again there is drama with Tom Sykes and Vermeulen making a good fist on an interim bike. Tom Sykes hasn't had much limelight this year but is doing fantastically on the ageing Kawasaki, and much better than anyone else on the same bike. This year is just a testing/interim/team building year for Kawasaki apparently with the new ZX10 due next year. Hopefully we'll see Tom do better on the new bike (not sure if he is contracted for 2 years like Vermeulen) and get Kawasaki back up the front with the other factories  | ||
| Jaimec |
It's funny, because in stock trim the Kawasaki ZX10 is second only to the all-conquering BMW in horsepower at the rear wheel. Guess power alone isn't enough... | ||
| Vagelis46 |
The WSBK Kawasaki story is a really strange one. I do not buy the "underfunded & underdeveloped" story , because Kawasaki is nowhere in Superstock too , which is identical to the ZX10 road bikes. So Kawasaki , what is your excuse ?? | ||
| Trojan |
So Kawasaki , what is your excuse ?? The current ZX10 is at the end of its lifespan and in terms of Superbike racing really is 'old school'. Power alone isn't enough to run at the front in WSB these days. The Kawasaki electronics package has been changed every year but still isn't anywhere near BMW or Yamaha at this stage. The 'new' ZX10 for nextyear has apparently got a lot of new patents relating to it and promises to be as groundbreaking as the Aprilia was last year. Vermuelen signed for Kawasaki on the basis of seeing plans for next years ZX10R. Kawasaki moved most of their MotoGP engineers to the Superbike programme last year adn we haven't seen many big changes to teh current bike, so there must be a lot of work going on at the factory on the ne wbike already, so hopefully the new bike will be competitive straight out of the box next season.. | ||
| Jaimec |
Looks like they have quite an event scheduled for Miller this weekend: http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2010/May/100527rock thismother.htm Why not "James Toseland and Crash" added to that bill?? We saw them perform last year at Indy and they were rather good! | ||
| Snowscum |
Whos all out here? I just got in and am ready for a weekend of racing!!! | ||
| Socalbuellriders |
Snowscum - we're getting in on Sunday and staying through Monday evening. | ||
| A_s_r |
My wife and I are flying out this morning and we'll be there all weekend! http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/158 664/567370.html?1274796569 | ||
| Snowscum |
So are they gona run that 1198rr today? Ill keep an eye out for it. | ||
| Snowscum |
Erik Buell Racing Well, Geoff and the team are all prepped and waiting for practice tomorrow at Miller. Everything's still pretty new, and we went with a conservative set-up because there is VERY little practice time. Geoff even decided to put the 1125RR tail/seat on so it would feel more like the 1125 so he could focus on the critical differences. So we'll post tomorrow how practice goes. I guess that answers my question. Guess Ill bring the expensive camera and see if I can get a shot of him. | ||
| Slaughter |
PICTURES!!!! WE NEED PICTURES!!! | ||
| Snowscum |
Actually shook Erik's hand we bs'ed for a while about things. It was good to finally meet him. Their sorting the bike out and working on somethings. Geoff is 4th after the second practice. He had a slower rider in front of him so he didn't advance like he wanted to. Took me a while to find their pit. Bet they win it tomorrow. Good luck Buell crew! I loaded up a few on photobucket so I wouldn't have to downsize them to upload here. http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0033.jpg http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0015.jpg http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/IMG_0308.jpg Those Aprilia's sound way cool! http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0128.jpg More tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll try out the 300mm and see if I can get some closer shots on the track. | ||
| Elvis |
Awesome photos! Thanks for sharing! | ||
| Slaughter |
Waaaay cool. Keeping fingers crossed. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
K I am slow. What class is the Buell running this weekend? | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Never mind. | ||
| Socalbuellriders |
We'll be there Sunday through Monday. Thanks for sharing the great photos, Snowscum! | ||
| Gaesati |
I am becoming a bit of a fan of tom sykes as a result of the effort he is putting in. A decent bike next year could make all the difference. | ||
| Bob_thompson |
Snowscum, nice photos, thanks for sharing. We'll be out there tomorrow in force with the Utah Buellers and will try and see Erik and the Elves. Where was their pit so I can find it myself and thanks much? Bob (Message edited by bob_thompson on May 30, 2010) | ||
| Snowscum |
Bob, they are in the west back garage on the west side in the back. Hope that made sense.Another great day at the track. To much sun! Tried out this 300mm and it does need more light. But their not to bad. http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0258.jpg http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0214.jpg http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0246.jpg http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0239.jpg http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0186.jpg | ||
| A_s_r |
I've been taking lots of pics, but I didn't bring my laptop with me to upload the pics. I'll post them all up on Tuesday when I get home. Had a nice talk with Erik today. He said that they lost a head gasket on the 1190 motor, so they've been running an 1125 motor on the 1190RR chassis (save for the 1125RR tail section). Despite that, Geoff has still been very competitive. Also, they delayed the start of the final qualifying practice this morning, which was supposed to run from 9:00 - 9:20. It actually started at 9:10 but still ended at 9:20. Geoff took a couple warm up laps then pulled into the pits to wait for the track to clear so he could make a couple of flying laps. But by the time he did that, they were checker flagging the session so he didn't get any fast laps in. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
What is the characteristics of this track that makes Carlos Checa to be so fast ??? | ||
| Snowscum |
They took weight off the ducs. | ||
| Jaimec |
Checa scored a double the first time they ran at Miller. Something about the track definitely suits him. Unfortunately, electronic gremlins ended both of his races prematurely. We have a new leader in the WSBK points! | ||
| Snowscum |
Geoff got on the podium today even though it was third. Congrats to the Buell crew!!! http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0463.jpg Taylor Knapp, of Lapeer, Mich., won the second annual Lucas Oil Superbike Challenge GTO race on his No. 44 Suzuki, posting a 7.030-second margin of victory over Chris Peris on the No. 10 BMW. Geoff May was third, riding the Eric Buell Racing 1190R, with Chris Siglin and Ricky Corey filling out the top five. | ||
| Snowscum |
I feel bad for Checa. I bet they were running that thing on the hairy edge and it just either overheated or someother like what Jaimec said. http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/snowscum/W SB%202010/EF2G0427.jpg (Message edited by snowscum on May 31, 2010) | ||
| Stirz007 |
Vagelis - the track in this set-up (perimeter track)has long straights and favors the machine/rider who likes to go fast. By that I mean not terribly technical so cornering skills could suffer a bit if you can exit corners and hit top end quickly. Now if they had run the full track there still would the the long front straight, but the middle would be lots more twisty. The outcome may have been different... What was average speed? - me thinks this is a pretty fast track but I haven't seen the numbers. | ||
| Jaimec |
I read that Checa's "Throttle by Wire" system was at fault. | ||
| Buell2001b |
Its so awesome to see Aprilia on top. |
