I would hav love to see what he could do at least once in moto Gp,
He did, for Cagiva in 1993 and his best result was 7th. Nobody else has offered him a ride of any description in GP's since then.
Blake, I was careful to put the phrase 'in recent years' in my point about a lack of US racers in WSBK/GP racing. We know that they dominated the classes back in the 80's but that was a long time ago and has little relevance to today other than to highlight the lack of US riders there now. I could by using your logic argue that Britain dominated GP racing in the 40's and 50's but it wouldn't serve any purpose in todays argument.
The fact that there are large 'NUSAC' areas in recent years proves my point.
I would love to see more US riders in GP/WSBK but the direction being taken by DMG will move US domestic riders further from that possibility in future unless the riders move to Europe to race.
Bads1: Mat's mindset is his alone. Others are comfortable being friendly in one moment, and ready to kill you in the next. Remember the quote above: Mat said the difference between him and Rossi is that Rossi will smile as he puts the knife in your back...
Cherrypicker, nothing more. Hated them when I was bicycle racing, this is the same thing.
A bunch of AMA racers ran in the CCS/ASRA stuff before the AMA races at Daytona. They generally display the courtesy to pull off when they are (almost inevitably) leading the race by some ridiculous margin. That's class, and I'm certain they don't go and brag about it while simultaneously ripping on the ASRA "top guns".
Sure he's fast, but his streak in AMA could have easily been met by Roberts, Schwantz, Rainey, Lawson, Gardner, etc. who ALL moved up to the big leagues.
The '80s? The 1980's saw only two years of WSBK as it was launched in 1988. Four of the WSBK champions from the '90s were American. Of the four years in the past decade where an American rider contested the WSBK series on a top tier team, The America racer won three championships.
Go Team Texas!
"I would love to see more US riders in GP/WSBK but the direction being taken by DMG will move US domestic riders further from that possibility in future unless the riders move to Europe to race."
Nonsense. They weren't going over to compete in Europe for most of the past decade. DMG had nothing to do with that. If the first races of the year are any indication, Superbike racing in America is going to be better than ever. Six bikes contending for the lead. I'm thrilled that Honda are not among them.
We're quite happy with racing here and have proved time and time again that our champions are world beaters.
Superbike racing is superbike racing. Now that MotoGP is rightly returning to literbikes, then it too will see more former AMA racers who are competitive, Ben Spies likely to be one of the first with Josh Herrin likely to follow at some point.
I just don't understand why you are so adamant about continuing to slag on American racing.
Matt I can understand your distress at not seeing top name American riders in WSBK, but I think you have stated the reason, they get paid more in America. What is wrong with that? Maybe the problem isn't the American riders but the substandard wage scale in Europe. These riders as I'm sure you know better than I have a limited run at the top maybe 10 years probably less, then what do they do? They were racing not going to college. There options are limited like running backs in the NFL.
I believe the wages in AMA SuperBike may be higher but based on the relative popularity of motorcycle racing in Europe vs. America I suspect the Euros may get far more lucrative endorsement deals.
Ben Spies, probably the best talent this country has produced in a LONG time could walk down Times Square and probably NOBODY would know who he was. That ISN'T what it's been like for him in Europe.
Nonsense. They weren't going over to compete in Europe for most of the past decade. DMG had nothing to do with that. If the first races of the year are any indication, Superbike racing in America is going to be better than ever. Six bikes contending for the lead. I'm thrilled that Honda are not among them.
And almost nobody there to watch it. Plenty of top riders (US and Foreign) have very little good to say about the AMA at the moment, even after the 'winter of discontent' and changes at the top. I hope that it will improve, but it won't become a major world series again until the Japanese factories decide to get involved in a big way (and that still doesn't look likely).
You may think that US racing looks healthy at the moment, but that is unfortunately only skin deep. Neil Hodgson described the level of organisation as a shambles and equivalent to a UK club meeting rather than a national superbike series.
I think it is probably telling that Kev Coughlan turned up at Daytona (having never seen the place before), get on a bike he was offered at the last minute and had never ridden before and finish 6th in the Sportbike race despite falling off on the last lap. That would either sugest that Kev is a top world class racer (he is good but not THAT good) or that the depth of talent and machinery in AMA just isn't there in reality compared to the world/European series races.
Wages for top riders in AMA have been much higher for decades, but that has stopped now and the days of the top 1% getting millions of dollars to race just 12 times a year (with limited testing in between) are now over. Riders in AMA will have to do what UK/European riders have done for years and get money from personal sponsors rather than paid team rides. This may actually encourage US riders to make the jump to WSBK/WSS because they will no longer be faced with a major pay cut if they make the move.
Part 13 of that interview series is now online (and worth watching especially by those who think all he does is slag everyone he's ever raced against):
Mladin=prick. Great racer, yes. People's choice, never. He should have taken a page from Rossi's book long ago. For me personally, I pull for guys that are cool off the bike--this is as much or possibly more important than their skill on the bike.
What I find most interesting in that last video is Mat's admission that Ben Spies may be one of the best motorcycle racers out there ANYWHERE, with the possible exception of Rossi.
Gonna be a real interesting MotoGP season this year.
Mladin=prick. Great racer, yes. People's choice, never. He should have taken a page from Rossi's book long ago. For me personally, I pull for guys that are cool off the bike--this is as much or possibly more important than their skill on the bike.
+1, which is why I loved getting to see Eslick at NJMP.
What I find most interesting in that last video is Mat's admission that Ben Spies may be one of the best motorcycle racers out there ANYWHERE, with the possible exception of Rossi.
That's probably just Mladin trying to 'big himself up' even further by saying that he could only possibly be beaten by 'one of the greatest racers ever'. He could never be beaten by a normal rider could he?
Ben Spies is without doubt a major talent (and could teach Mladin a few things about PR and humility), and will have a big impact on MotoGP this year and in years to come, but lets see how the season shapes up before we start making saints of people and comparing them to Rossi Ben himself says that he will be happy with top ten finsihes this year, and while I'm sure he is hoping fo a lot more than that let's not count our chickens before they hatch
Mladin should retire gracefully (or at least quietly).
Mat may've never raced the European circuits, but he's seen enough "European Talent" who came over to the States to compete against him (and got their asses handed to them). Jamie Ellison and Neil Hodgson are just two off the top of my head, but there were more.
Mat may've never raced the European circuits, but he's seen enough "European Talent" who came over to the States to compete against him (and got their asses handed to them). Jamie Ellison and Neil Hodgson are just two off the top of my head, but there were more.
The problem with that analagy is that neither of these riders ever had the equipment to seriously mount a challenge to the Yoshi Suzuki team in AMA racing. I'm pretty sure that if Hodgson was signed as Mladins team mate on equal machinery he would have run him a lot closer or beaten him, and the same is true of quite a few 'imports' to AMA. Ducati were seriously hampered under the old AMA Superbike rules and by the time Hodgson went to Honda they had lost interest and were 'developing' their own bikes at Honda US instead of direct from HRC, so were never good enough to challenge Suzuki. His final AMA season was ruined by serious injury and was really a waste of his and the teams time, but unfortunately he had to race to get paid, even if he was only at 40% fitness. By that time he was so disenchanted with the whole adventure that he was just going through the motions really, waiting or the season to end.
Ellison and Gary Mason are another story and with the best will in the world were not in the same league as Hodgson or Mladin, so even on equal machinery probably wouldn't have done that well. Both have improved over the last couple of seasons since they returned from the US though, so who knows.
I think a lot of the European talent have gotten "spoiled" because of the superiority of the tracks in the rest of the world. A lot of the AMA tracks would not pass Euro safety standards. When they come here to race, it's an eye-opener as to what our guys race on day in and day out.
Hodgson made the same point recently adn described how his life flashed before his eyes when he left the track at 163mph (can't remember which circuit - VIR I think?) heading directly for the barriers. He said that at most US tracks there would have been armco barrier within feet of the circuit and he would have been dead for sure. At the track he was at there was plenty of run off and he just hit the dirt instead of a wall!
Having said that, you don't have to go to the US to see some 'gnarly' tracks. Cadwell Park and even Brands Hatch are marginal for safety these days and pretty much any Irish circuit would have the health and safety brigade in a froth! Some of the WSB boys that come to race in the UK are shocked by just how narrow and bumpy some of the UK circuits actually are.
I think that is true of most circuits worldwide. Bikes are an afterthought for most race circuits and safety provisions are very much car influenced. I remember the infamous 'catch fencing' in the 1980's that was held up by thock wooden posts solid enough to cause fatal injuries to riders yet used throughout Europe and UK because they stopped cars quickly. Even gravel traps are more suited to cars than bikes, and bike racing would be a lot safer with longer. smoother run offs allowing the rider to slide rather than tumble.
Ben himself says that he will be happy with top ten finsihes this year, and while I'm sure he is hoping fo a lot more than that let's not count our chickens before they hatch 