| Author | Message | ||
     Fresnobuell |
Just trying to set the record straight. My opinion was formed over watching every race this season. You have an opinion formed by reading biased articles on the internet. Bautista is a better racer than his Ducati counterparts and that is the reason he is running away with the Championship (and Rinaldi is not.) Bautista is good enough to exploit the obvious power/electronics advantages of Ducati and combined with his diminutive size, it has been an absolute advantage. He is not the best racer in the paddock. Anyone saying that is speaking out of ignorance. I have made many points to support my stance, but I think the most obvious one is common sense. A 37 year old racer that has made his reputation as being a crasher and not won a darn thing in 15 years is NOT going to beat Toprak in the prime of his racing career unless there are other factors at play....and the that factor being the motorcycle he has been riding. | ||
| Jaimec |
"Biased" only in that you don't agree with them. I'd point out that Josh Hayes was in his FORTIES when he was destroying everyone in MotoAmerica. Nolan Ryan was throwing pitches at nearly 100mph in his forties (admittedly he threw OVER 100mph when he was younger). Age is just a number. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
No I don't agree with them. If he is such a great racer then what happened in 2020 and 2021 when he was on the Honda and managed all of three third place finishes in two entire seasons. He finished 9th and 10th in the standings, respectively. So he went from a mid-pack finisher on the Honda to running away with the title on the Ducati in 2022..and at the same time beating the best Superbike racer on the planet in his prime. I don't think his skills improved miraculously, so what are you left with? The motorcycle. I am not saying Bautista is a terrible racer by any stretch, but he would not have won with any other manufacturer. PS, WSBK is a whole different animal compared to Motoamerica. You should watch it sometime so you can see for yourself. | ||
| Mog |
Is there any racing, other than hill climb, that is using the New (-ish) Buell 1190 machines, especially any road racing? I think Geoff May have privateered his EBR 1190 but I do not know if he is doing anything other than Honda in Moto America super bike in 2022. I have resisted pulling the trigger on a new Buell Hammerhead and want to know what plans the maker has. | ||
| Jaimec |
Toprak put in an amazing weekend, but Bautista had an amazing year. He demonstrated the same speed he'd shown when he first rode the Ducati in WSBK three years ago but has matured as a rider and didn't crash as often (indeed... his only crash this year wasn't even his fault). For years there were two things you could count on: A Spaniard would win the MotoGP World Championship (usually Marc Marquez) and a Brit would win the WSBK Championship (usually Jonny Rea). These past two years we've had first a French, then an Italian MotoGP champion, and in WSBK we had a Turkish and then a Spanish champion. Good times! Apparently Ducati is eager to see Danilo Petrucci return to MotoAmerica as they still haven't won that series... | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Bau didn't crash because his motorcycle allowed him to not have to take much risk. He could make up time and/or pass his opponents on the straights. The "maturation" you cite means only he started to realize and take advantage of the Ducati's performance advantage. That being said, it is an accomplishment to be as consistent as he was this year, no matter what. In this respect, he deserves the Championship. Meanwhile, his opponents were forced to take the exact opposite approach--ride the razors edge in hopes of gapping the Ducati enough so they had a margin at the end of the straight. This caused them to either make mistakes and/or burn up their tires. I just learned that Toprak got the vast majority of his wins in the 10 lap Superpole races. Bautista got the nearly all his wins in the feature length races. So the fastest rider was Toprak, until the inevitable fact he was losing .2-.3 tenths a lap on the straights caught up to him in the longer races. And of course Toprak's tires were gone by the 2nd half of the long races because Toprak had to offset the Ducati's speed advantage in the twisty parts of the track. (Message edited by fresnobuell on November 17, 2022) | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Toprak looking menacing in pre-season testing! That Ducati better be even faster than last year otherwise Toprak is winning the Championship. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
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| Fresnobuell |
Ducati has made their bike better. Going to be a long season for the rest of the field unfortunately. Phillip Island didn't deliver stellar racing partly because of weather, but mostly because the Ducati is too strong on high speed circuits. We will see if this trend continues next round in Indonesia, which should be a better track for the Yamaha. Kawi is in trouble. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
REVISED--ROUND 7 @ IMOLA ADDED Too bad it wasn't Laguna Seca....  | ||
| Jaimec |
Damn. So Gerloff won't have a "Home Round?" That sucks... | ||
| Fresnobuell |
From Indonesia--Ducatis number one and two in FP. This is supposed to be a track that suits Toprak due to heavy braking. If Ducati wins at a track where it is supposed to be weaker, this season is a foregone conclusion unless WSBK chooses to slow them down. | ||
| Jaimec |
...or gives Kawasaki back the 500 rpm they took away from them a couple of years ago... | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Seems like the same old stuff. The Yammha is only competitive in the 10 lap Superpole race. It cannot keep up with the Ducati over a full race distance. Kawi seems like it has possibly taken a step backward this year or at least not kept up with Ducati and Yamaha progress. Still early but this is the way it has shaped up after 2 rounds in the books. Surely any rev-limitations to non-Ducati bikes have been lifted, I would think. I am curious as to why there has been no talk about slowing the Ducati down. They better do it before the Championship is still in play. (Message edited by fresnobuell on March 06, 2023) | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Ugggh. Ducati wins at Assen, which is a track that should suit the Yamaha. Snooze-fest racing as far as entertainment goes. Bautista might win the Championship by mid-season. | ||
| Jaimec |
Will this be enough for Jonathan? https://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/1025464/1/worldsbk -rev-limits-ducati-loses-250rpm-kawasaki-increase | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Lots of interesting information on the rules pertaining to RPM changes. Never seen it spelling out like that before. It was pretty obvious the Ducati needed to be slowed down. Hopefully, the racing will be better than it has been so far.... | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Well the RPM changes did absolutely nothing to change the racing. Catalunya has the longest straight on the calendar, so it caters to the Ducati and mini-me running the #1 plate. I think Bautista won by 10 seconds in Race 1 and none of the races were competitive at all. WSBK has a problem on their hands. | ||
| Jaimec |
I'm not a Petrucci fan, but he's right... this is some serious bull**** https://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/1025960/1/petrucci -race-1-disqualification-completely-unfair-i-paid- 1320-euros | ||
| Jaimec |
This is an interesting read: https://www.superbikeplanet.com/a-moment-of-clarit y/ | ||
| Jaimec |
Wow! This was unexpected!! https://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/world-superbi kes/2023/may/tom-sykes-puccetti-split/ | ||
| Fresnobuell |
It is tough to penalize Ducati for building a superior race bike, but at the same time the product is suffering. For years, the excitement of WSBK were the race-long battles of different manufacturers. It is simply not there at this point. Something has to change. | ||
| Jaimec |
Honda could've pulled the same stunt with the street legal version of the RCV213 but they didn't. Wonder why? | ||
| Fresnobuell |
If found this interesting. The Ducati is a rev-monster and obviously one of the reasons it makes so much power.  | ||
| Jaimec |
So Yamaha has had RPM removed and not returned? With that in mind, what Toprak has accomplished is even more impressive. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Honestly, I am not sure. I am guessing the years next to the manufacturer would be the model year of the racebike and all the RPMs listed are the 2023 rev limits for said model years. I guess there might be teams running older model years. It is a little confusing however with the manufacturers with no year listed next to its name (ie Yamaha). | ||
| Jaimec |
BMW is the MOST confusing in that chart. | ||
| Jaimec |
Oh boy... Yamaha is going to lose the ONLY rider on the grid capable of challenging Bautista next year... | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Oh Toprak on the Beemer! Nice (I think). He will get more power. Hopefully he can fight with the Ducati then. It will interesting to see how that develops. | ||
| Jaimec |
Maybe Toprak can do what Scott Redding was unable to do? Gerloff doesn't seem to be doing any better on the BMW than he did on the Yamaha. Redding is doing worse on the Beemer than he did on the Ducati. Should be an interesting season next year. |
