| Author | Message | ||
     Firstbuell |
hey 46champ, you're correct about the "loud days" - dunno specifics walt a minute, mebbe I do, having been present at this year's inaugural Laguna Seca "Ferrari Days" tho event was a TOTAL bust, termed "a waste of a loud day" by some SCRAMP or other power-that-be...... so, perhaps SBK's the likely replacement of a seemingly new, but already allocated loud day. however we got here, I'm so pleased about 2 different 2013 Laguna Seca top-level M/C race weekends (Message edited by firstbuell on September 22, 2012) | ||
| Jaimec |
More news... Johnny Rea resigned with Honda for WSBK, so I guess any rumors of him getting a MotoGP ride in 2013 are unfounded. | ||
| Jaimec |
Ah for crying out loud! Just found out Speed won't be showing tomorrow's races until Tuesday afternoon!!! WTF?? | ||
| Trojan |
Somebody made the same complaint on Motomatters.com, and was given this advice to allow them to watch the UK Eurosport coverage (which will also cover all the Supersport, Superstock etc as well as all the MotoGP classes, including qualifying) Get yourself a subscription at: http://www.your-freedom.net/ Rather than going for a monthly subscription, go for a voucher carnet package, then you only pay for what you use. Use that to hook yourself up through a UK proxy, then you will be able to buy a subscription at: http://www.eurosportplayer.co.uk/ The Your Freedom client is straight forward to use, and the instructions are clear. It is gobbldygook to me, but I'm sure it makes sense to people who are more tech savvy than I am. Hope this helps  | ||
| Smoke |
PJ takes supersport win in race 2! http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=49797 CONGRATULATIONS!! tim | ||
| Jaimec |
Crap... so much for Melandri winning the championship this year.  | ||
| Saxon59 |
So Laguna is replacing Miller for the WSBK races?Ever since Larry H. Miller (the owner/builder of MMP)died the racing there has gone down hill.They used to have some great sports car racing there in addition to the Moto racing,like American LeMans and Daytona Sports Car,but when Larry died his kid took over and now its all about making money.With Larry it was all about the RACING!!!  | ||
| Simond |
Gutted for Tom Sykes. Max can win by pottering around in midfield now. PJ Jacobsen was very impressive. He looked a bit wild on the Superstock at Donington but that was a classy ride on the Supersport bike at Assen. He's tiny too........ do we have another Dani Pedrosa here?  Incidentally, is it Jaycobsen, Yakobsen or Jackobsen? The commentators seemed to pronounce it differently every time his name was mentioned. | ||
| Trojan |
Definitely Jacobsen He is tiny too isn't he!! I think the commentators forgot that he has raced at Assen before of course, but even then it was a very impressive performance first time out on the Tyco Suzuki 600, and they really need to get him signed up for next year before someone else does! WSB had a certain poetic irony about it in race one, with Melandri taking himself (and others) out in what has become his signature dangerous overtaking move all year. Going for a gap that is no longer there and just too late in the corner has been his hallmark all year and has resulted in more than one crash for him and other riders near enough to be caught out by his ineptitude, including the Donington fiasco. This time his rookie club racerish haste on lap one has cost him a championship, so I hope he has time now to reflect on what an idiot he was yesterday Biaggi must be praying to a whole host of gods right now, because his luck held amazingly yesterday. from surviving the Melandri crash in race one to seeing Tom Sykes break down and Chaz Davies crash out in race 2, he now has managed to salvage an almost unassailable lead from a mediocre preformance. But that's racing I suppose | ||
| Jaimec |
Well, despite the problems in MotoGP, the Italians once again have an Italian World Champion on an Italian motorcycle. Congratulations to Max Biaggi for his second World Championship! | ||
| Trojan |
Great end to the season and a real edge of seat result for race two Shame that Tom Sykes didn't win, given that he has been 'robbed' of quite a few points this season, but Biaggi ended scoring more points and had a good slice of good luck too, so I suppose he deserves the win. I doubt that we will see him back next year though. Sykes must start as clear favourite for the title next year with the Kawasaki getting stronger every week and the team staying constant for next season. Honda may be a lot stronger next year though, and the new Ducati is sure to ruffle a few feathers Supersport was a good race too, until Sofuoglu took his brain out (again). Dan Linfoot showed he has the talent to run at the front and I hope he gets to keep his current Indian sponsored Kawasaki ride for next year. | ||
| Jaimec |
Why would Max retire now? He's got at least two years before Vale makes the rumored jump to WSBK... | ||
| Trojan |
Why would Max retire now? All the conjecture by Eurosport commentators and paddock rumour was that he hasn't signed anything yet for Aprilia, and is likely to announce his retirement very shortly. Maybe he thinks that he will retire at the top, and has probably used up his share of luck with winning the title this year He may of course decide to continue for another year or two, but he is leaving it very late to sign for next year now surely? | ||
| Jaimec |
I seem to recall he waited quite a bit the last time he won the title too. Everyone figured that becoming a new father, and winning the title, the time was ripe. He figured otherwise. Looks like he was right. | ||
| Trojan |
I read today in MCN that both Leon camier and Sylvain Guintoli have been offered the second Aprilia factory ride for next year alongside Eugene Laverty, which would lead me to believe that not even Aprilia are too sure about Biaggi returning next season yet. Camier refused and is staying with Fixi/Crescent Suzuki for next season, having endured a less than happy 2 year stint at Aprilia previously (He is just too big for the diminutive Aprilia!). Guintoli on the other hand is said to be considering taking the Aprilia ride, even though he has also already signed a contract for next year with Fixi Suzuki to replace Hopkins. Seems a signed contract means little and is no reason to stop shopping for a 'better' ride these days! If he is not careful he will lose both rides if Biaggi decides to continue We should know by next week as the WSB testing starts on 14 October apparently, and all of next years teams will be there with their new riders. Biaggi will have to decide before then what he is going to do. | ||
| Firstbuell |
BOOM! SBK rules to change in 2014 [edited] ".....Preceding the [MotoGP] riders’ press conference, Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta also held a conference to explain the recent announcement of the World Superbike Championship coming under the Dorna umbrella. He said: “Since the acquisition from Bridgepoint that the Infront Sports and Media, we have been having several meetings with Infront Motorsports to try to adequate the technical rules of both championships. This was the main aim of Bridgepoint, trying to thinks the two championships together, can have a lot of benefits running together, and also many synergies. “We had several meetings during last year, first in Madrid then in Rome, then in Paris and finally in Donington trying to accommodate first of all the rules. And this has been impossible. And finally the decision of Bridgepoint has been to maintain two championships, two separate championships as two separate companies, but both under the umbrella of Dorna Sports. “For 2013 the regulations (WSBK) will be the ones that have been approved between the FIM and Infront Motorsports. For 2014 we will obviously work together with the manufacturers and the different bodies involved to change the regulations. We think that a championship derived from production bikes that is using 39 engines during one season, and in the opposite in MotoGP you are using six – to be honest it’s not very correct, and we need to set up both championships with their own spirit. One is from bikes derived from production bikes, and another is for prototypes. This is something we will do with the FIM first, and then with the manufactures, who are involved in both championships......” http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/...?article=50 001 http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2012/C...nce+Transcr ipt | ||
| Trojan |
No real secret that the rules would be substantially changed for 2014, even before Dorna took the reins of WSBK. I agree that it is pretty ridiculous for a supposed production based series to have more engines allowed and much more free use of electronics than a prototype series, although it is tempting to say that WSB is a success as it stands, so don't mess with it. I would expect to see a much heavier restriction on engines for WSB/WSS from 2014 in addition to a spec ECU or a restriction on ECU useage. Maybe even a rule specifying that the stock road bike ECU has to be used, although this would just open the door for factories to start building unaffordable and exotic 'homologation specials' again like they used to. Honda have alreeady hinted that their new V4 superbike will be exotic, expensive and built to win WSB only. I think we need to look at the Spanish Formula Extreme series (nothing like the old US series of the same name) to see how Dorna thinks a production 'Superbike' series should look, as they run this now. | ||
| Jaimec |
Go with the AMA Pro Superbike model. Just hope another "Josh Hayes" doesn't appear on the International scene (but no matter what you do, you're ALWAYS going to come up with that one exceptional rider; at least MotoGP has TWO of them). | ||
| Trojan |
Go with the AMA Pro Superbike model. Or the BSB model, or IDM, or japan Superbike or Canadian Superbike..... The problem now is that there are just too many 'Superbike' rulebooks out there with little or no connection to WSB. Maybe Dorna need to take the time to pick the best from each series and develop a set of rules that can last a few years and can be adopted (policitics permitting) by national federations. This would make the transition from domestic to international competiton much easier and would encourage teams to enter as wild cards like the 'good old days'. I do think however that Dorna will just implement what they think will work regardless of all the diferent domestic rule structures. The reason I believe it will look like the Spanish series isn't because that is any better than the others, but that Dorna already run that and it would be very easy (read inexpensive) for them to implement the Spanish FX rules for WSB. It would of course also mean that they have an open door for existing Spanish teams/riders straight into the top echelons of WSB......which always pleases Dorna | ||
| 46champ |
Then Dorna will ruin another series. It will take 3 to 5 years by then they will have it so screwed up a third series can step in and replace both of them. Yes NASCAR has enough money to do it. | ||
| Trojan |
Yes NASCAR has enough money to do it. But NASCAR has neither the desire nor the technical bike related expertise to make it happen (Nor the political clout outside of the USA). Why would they bother? Dorna will continue to run both series for teh forseeable future no doubt, and it is just the rules that will change (for better or worse). On another note..........First test for the 2013 superbike teams is underway in Spain, and there are a few surprises already. Biaggi is there testing with Aprilia, despite Sylvain Guintoli walking away from a signed and sealed Suzuki ride to be part of the Aprilia team. If Biaggi continues then it is hard to see where Guintoli will manage to find a ride now (especially given his shocking treatment of Suzuki). Checa is riding the Panigale for the first time, and is 4th fastest so far behind, Camier (suzuki), Sykes (Kawasaki) and Biaggi (aprilia). Not sure what weight/intake restrictions the Panigale will have or if they are already in place, but it looks pretty quick straight from the box so far. Suzuki have wasted no time in signing Australian Josh Waters to replace Guintoli, and he was also at the test, albeit not too quick yet. | ||
| Simond |
Is the Josh Waters thing a deal for next year or just for the test? I thought Guintoli was talking to Ducati too....? | ||
| Trojan |
From what I can gather, Josh Waters has the ride pretty much confirmed if he performs well at the test. I really like Guintoli, but he really does need his head examined this week. Considering the way he has been messed around by teams with no money in recent history I would have thought signing a deal with a big team like Fixi/Crescent would have been a big reliefe for him. Crescent Suzuki stood by him when he broke his leg a few years ago, and gave him a ride in BSB and WSB when nobody else was interested, which makes his contract breaking antics this week even harder to get my head around. The Suzuki has improved hugely this year with Camier and will pretty much be a 'factory' effort next year with a lot more resources being put into the team. Judging by the early test times I think Guinters would probably have been on safer ground signing for Suzuki than waiting for either Aprilia (with no guaranteed space in the team) or Ducati (with an untried bike and also maybe no space if Checa stays). Either way you look at it I think he has been badly advised and will end up with a worse ride than he has turned down  | ||
| Simond |
Jules Cluzel has signed for Suzuki next year. That's an interesting prospect. Checa confirmed for 2013 at Ducati but not with Althea. | ||
| Trojan |
Max Biaggi is expected to announce his retirement at a press conference later today. It seems this is related to rumours that Althea will be the team running the 'official' Aprilia WSb effort next year, and they already have twor iders signed up (Laverty directly to Aprilia and Guigliano to Althea). Alstare look likely to run the factory Ducati team with Checa riding (paid by Ducati). | ||
| Jaimec |
I think Max should retire while he's on top. A great way to end an illustrious career. Right now, he is the ONLY Italian World Champion riding an Italian motorcycle, and he's done it twice. | ||
| Trojan |
It's confirmed, Max has officially retired. Apparently he is going to play golf throughout 2013 with some other unemployed guy called Mitt Romney | ||
| Jaimec |
Maybe they can have a threesome with Casey Stoner? | ||
| Trojan |
oo er missus....phnarr phnarr | ||
| Jaimec |
Guintoli to Aprilia to replace Max?? Sylvain is good, but not THAT good. On the other hand, how do you replace a legend? |
