| Author | Message | ||
     Blake |
Special kit versus mass produced standard item. Bottom line, they don't want to have to produce the things or actually sell any of them. Any rule that demands parts be available but fails to also enforce a reasonable price point is not an honest rule, not as far as the intent concerning availability rules go anyway. I prefer the AMA Superbike rules; they are much more fair and their decisions based more in line with the spirit of the rules. Recall when Buell offered a Superbike racing version of their 1125R for a mere $40K and were harangued for it? Now Aprilia does a special race only version of their street bike and is allowed to offer it piecemeal for outrageously high prices to satisfy the "rules"? Lame. Apparently it's okay if FIM approve special wildly expensive parts for WSBK racing machines, but AMA Pro Racing is denigrated incessantly when they do similarly yet for very reasonably priced equipment. FIM is killing Superbike racing in Europe. It's a pity FIM don't have the foresight to tell the factories to take a leap and give more favor to the series as a whole so that any team might afford equipment that has a chance to compete at the front. (Message edited by blake on April 01, 2010) | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Superbike racing is stronger than ever in Europe. BMW - Aprilia - Triumph are new manufacturers that go racing and increase the interest. It is just Aprilia rising some controversy with its engine.......Just the way Ducati did with its 1200cc Vtwin.......Just the way Buell did with its 1125cc engine against 600cc. These things will always happen. The question is....Could Buell do something to compete in Europe ???? That would be the next step for a brand that builds sportbikes and does not use a H-D engine. Look at BMW. Noone thought that they could built a sportbike to beat the Japanese IL4s. Now, the world is really impressed with their S1000R. They won their first Superstock (Basicaly a stock bike) race in Portugal (WSBK weekend), in their first attempt. | ||
| Jaimec |
Buell (the company) can't compete in WSBK because Buell never made a homologation version of the 1125R. Since Buell doesn't even make motorcycles anymore, the point is moot. What ERIK BUELL plans for the future is anyone's guess. Can he sell 3,000 STREET versions of the 1190RR? I'm guessing that in order for him to create another streetbike, he'll have to start from a clean sheet unless he can convince Harley to return all of HIS patents and innovations. PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIK!! | ||
| Vagelis46 |
There is always a way to bend the rules. Just look at what Aprilia did. By the way, the kit for Aprilia's chain driven cams is 5.000Euros. It is not that bad , is it ?? | ||
| Anonymous |
Well, Buell made well over 3,000 1125's,close to 10,000 in fact, so perhaps a kit would be permitted? If it were not, but it is for other companies, that would seem unfair. And Buell still exists, has dealers who are selling motorcycles. Hmmm.... | ||
| Jaimec |
I don't know... Ducati couldn't run the 1098R as a 1200 UNTIL they came out with the 1198cc homologation version first... | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Has Buell approached FIM to ask if a kit is permitted for racing the 1190RR in WSBK ??? I would like to think that there will be no problem. | ||
| Buellhusker |
Why would Harley/Buell ask the FIM for anything, the new Harley CEO thinks racing is a total waste of time & money and does not want anything to do with it, he just want to build crusers. | ||
| Trojan |
Special kit versus mass produced standard item. Bottom line, they don't want to have to produce the things or actually sell any of them. Any rule that demands parts be available but fails to also enforce a reasonable price point is not an honest rule, not as far as the intent concerning availability rules go anyway. The 'problem' with this particular issue is that Aprilia had quite cleverly found a loophole in the rules that nobody had ever interpreted or tried to 'fit' to their own agenda. The FIM, even though they probably don't want to allow it, have been forced to sit back and declare it legal because it doesn't actually break the letter of the law (although rides a cart and horses through the spirit of the rules). In these days of cost cutting and saving every penny in most types of racing, any decision which raises costs is bad, and this one is very bad as it not only raises costs for Aprilia teams but means that other factories can also use the same loophole to produce 'unobtanium' parts as part of a 'kit' once again. The FIM need to address this quickly and should have declared the Aprilia cam drive illegal instead of sitting on the fence as they have done. Having said that, the Aprilias were certainly fast enough in Portugal even without the gear driven cams, so maybe they will play fair and won't bother to use them anyway (ha ha ha!). As for Buell applying to the FIM for homologation.....I doubt they would get it because unfortunately they do not manufacture production motorcycles any longer. Any homologation now would have to be for next season (2011) and there won't be a 2011 1125 street model to homologate or base any homologation on. The FIM are very unlikely to view any application by Buell in the same friendly way that the AMA has done in the recent past. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Both FIM and Aprilia are Italian......So FIM tries to make Aprilia a favour, as they did for Ducati for the 1200cc twin. What Aprilia and Ducati fail to understand is that the biggest advantage for a race bike is the rider. Ducati never replaced Bayliss and Aprilia thinks that Biaggi will give them a title. It was Bayliss and Spies before, now it is Haslam. I personaly do not think that if Aprilia shows up with an extra 10Hp than the rest will make a difference in the sport. It will actualy make it more interesting, since a new manufacturer will start winning. More gossip, more controversy, etc,etc,,as with Ducati 2 years ago. There is no way Biaggi will beat Haslam for the title. Portimao was a very fast track. Aprilai scoring a double win was good. I also found BMW winning in world Superstock very interesting. | ||
| Jaimec |
CARLOS!! Followed by Fabrizio who FINALLY seems to have found his mojo. King James third. WTF is wrong with Haga?? All the way down in 8th? Only the first practice though... should be an interesting weekend but I sure would like to know what's wrong with Nitro Nori... he isn't showing ANY of the form he showed last year at all. :-( | ||
| Trojan |
Only the first practice though... should be an interesting weekend but I sure would like to know what's wrong with Nitro Nori... he isn't showing ANY of the form he showed last year at all. Still carrying some internal injuries from when he was torpedoed by Xaus. I also think he has lost some motivation after last year, so it will be interesting to see if he can get it back at all this year or if this will be the last year we see him in WSB. I think the order will change when it comes to qualifying and race day and expect to see Crutchlow and Haslam a bit further up the rankings. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Checa's performance is a good indication of how good the Ducati is, compared to the other bikes, at least Honda. He is doing much better than last year, when he was riding for TenKate Honda. And he is on a satellite Ducati..... | ||
| Jaimec |
Checa is the SECOND guy I can think of who regularly crashed Hondas that seems to have found a home with Ducati. Hmmmmmm... | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Checa crashed as much the Honda , as Haga crashed the Ducati. Checa praised the Ducati chassis and balance , and he said he does not care that it is underpowered , since it handles so well. As far as Stoner being a crasher......I think Lorenzo crashed more heavily in his rookie year than Stoner did in his rookie year. Riders that push hard always crash until they find their limit. | ||
| Jaimec |
HAGA'S BACK!! And Toseland seems to be finding his way with the R1 too. What's with Crutchlow? Two poles in a row, and he goes backwards when the lights go out?? | ||
| Trojan |
Crutchlow is having problems with grip on the R1 still, and is still trying to ride it like a 600 I think. His one lap times are brilliant but he gives the tryes a hard time and loses grip faster than Toseland does it seems. After race one Crutchlow congratulated Toseland and said he didn't know how James had managed to ride the bike so hard to a podium as he was haamstrung by grip problems from lap 3 onwards. Camier looked strong early on in both races until throwing it up the road at 130mph  he has complained of a 'vague' feel to the Aprilia on fresh tyres all year, which is why he has always been quicker at the end of the race than the start up to now. This weekend he obviously decided to push early and is still suffereing from the same handling problems. I thought Checa had managed to save his bike in race one only to run off at the second part of the chicane instead. Unlucky Great to see that Simon Andrews has only sufered a broken heel in his spectacular start line crash with Ianuzzi. I thought it would be a lot more serious when I saw it happen. Andrews was the fastest Kawasaki rider as well so it would have been good to see him get a decent finish. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Camier is great , but It seems that he is too big for winning at this level. He overloads the tires with his extra weight. He looks even bigger than Xaus !!! Maybe he is riding the wrong bike.... R1 maybe ?? Can se swap bikes with Crutchlow ?? Any doubts that Haslam will get the title ?? The guy makes no mistakes under pressure , while Biaggi makes mistakes. | ||
| Jaimec |
When I first saw Camier's "missile" my first thought was if Aprilia bought their "throttle-by-wire" technology from Toyota...  | ||
| Jaimec |
Corser on the BMW second fastest in today's practice. They're getting there!! | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Tardozzi shows how important his work is !!! BMW is rising ..... Ducati is missing his work. | ||
| Jaimec |
Corser third on the grid... best starting position ever for BMW. This is getting interesting. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Man of the match...............Leon Camier !!! | ||
| Trojan |
Rule Britannia!! What a spectacle both WSB races turned out to be, and what a preformance by the Brit riders to take all three podium places in both races  Leon Camier was excellent and such a shame he lost it on the last lap of race two while in a pretty safe 3rd place. Just shows how accurate they need to be every lap as he was only around 6" off line when he hit the astroturf Biaggi must be worried about his number one status in the team if Camier keeps on improving like this Toseland also had a couple of stunning rides as well from his pretty lowly grid position, and it is good to see him getting to grips with the Yamaha (and for Yamaha to be back on the right track in terms of development it seems). Jonathan Rea was unbeatable though and looked like he had another gear if he needed it all weekend. Great result. | ||
| Mutation_racer |
as long as Biaggi has a lead in points on him , He as nothing to worry about. Biaggi is still the man. | ||
| Jaimec |
Ducati's loss is definitely BMW's gain. | ||
| Trojan |
as long as Biaggi has a lead in points on him , He as nothing to worry about. That may not be for long the way Camier is riding now Strange how the Ducati factory team seem to have lost all direction since Tardozzi's defection to BMW. They never looked like being competitve all weekend in Holland and Haga looked a very lost figure in the garage. How much longer will the Ducati factory team continue before something or someone breaks/changes/leaves I wonder? Esecially as they are getting beaten by every other privateer Ducati on the grid! | ||
| Davegess |
Those were great races!. Nice to see one of the Irish kids come through even if Rea never did any real roads racing. Those Ulsterman are nutty for motorbikes! | ||
| Jaimec |
I was so sure this was going to be Haga's year. Last year, if he or Ben DIDN'T win, it was unusual. With Ben out of the way I thought for sure... Just goes to show that nothing is ever certain. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
I was really impressed by Camier this weekend. Where did he find that speed ?? He is a fighter and fearless. He is doing what Haslam was doing last year.....impressing people and fans! Good job. I don't know why , but I find it hard to like Rea. Toseland is getting back. It was about time !!! He seems that he will save his reputation and carrer. On the other hand , what can anybody say about Vermulen ??? It seems that people that were saying that he is finished after he signed for Kawasaki, were absolutely right. The new Hopkins ??? Why signing for a crap factory team , and not for a proven&good privateer team , and then move forward ?? I honestly cannot see him recovering this season. He is over , great pitty for this kid !!! It shows that even the most talented riders need to be making the right decisions , not just follow money , because it could be the end of them. With all those Brits , I think that it would be a good finacial move for FIM to organise more races in England. +100.000 spectators maybe ??? |
