| Author | Message | ||
     Trojan |
Looks like us in the UK are in a similar boat regarding TV coverage next year, at leaast for MotoGP. Until now we have had excellent coverage on both BBC and Eurosport on a shared agreement (BBC shows live MotoGP race while Europsport shows live Moto3, Moto2 and Motogp qualifying, with delayed MotoGP race transmission), However, despite huge viewing figures adn popularity of both services, DORNA in their wisdom (greed) have now sold the exclusive TV rights for the whole MotoGP package to relatively new pay per view channel BT Sport for the next 5 years. This may have short term profits for DORNA but is a nail in the coffin for MotoGP following in the UK I suspect. What happened to trying to increase the public popularity and profile of the sport DORNA? Shame on you  | ||
| Jaimec |
Yeah, here in the States, SpeedTV used to cover World Superbikes, MotoGP and AMAPro Racing. Fox News decided to change SpeedTV to "Fox Sports" to directly compete with ESPN, so unless the "sport" involves teams of men wearing uniforms manipulating a ball of some sort, they're not interested. Surprisingly, they will continue to cover MotoGP (for now). However, they dropped coverage of World Superbikes and AMAPro racing. beIN Sports (a relatively new channel here that seems to specialize in football ("soccer" to Americans) coverage) picked up World Superbikes but it would appear they're having some difficulty in figuring out their programming schedule around it. CBS Sports network recently announced that they would broadcast AMAPro Racing. Hard to keep track of these things this year. | ||
| Trojan |
It certainly seems that DORNA are happy to sell to the highest bidder regardelss of coverage or popularity now. I don't know anyone here in the UK that currently has BT Sports, and if it is anythig lke their Broadband internet service it will be very poor indeed. The annoying thing is that this decision flies in the face of what DORNA said when the gave the contract to teh BBC a few years ago, and that was to get more people watching racing. Now they have stuck it onto a pay per view minority channel. I certainly won't subscribe to a sports channel just to watch the occasional bike race. I don't want top watch hours of football tennis or rugby, so will have to rely on the internet for GP racing next year sadly | ||
| Jaimec |
Here in the States, there is hope. Senator McCain finally got his head out of the whole Benghazi non-issue and is working on drafting a bill that would prohibit cable companies from "bundling" channels: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technolog y/298609-mccain-works-on-a-la-carte-cable-tv-bill Of course, the cable companies are going to push back HARD on this, but I'm hoping there will be enough public awareness for people to write their own representatives in support of this bill. We'll see. | ||
| Jaimec |
Chaz Davies' BMW S1000RR after his "incident:"  No worries, though. I'm sure that'll buff right out. | ||
| Simond |
Is that from the Assen "incident" or the Monza "incident"?  Let's hope for an "incident" free qualifying and race this weekend. It would be nice to have all the front runners there at the end for once. Looks like Checa is already thinking about not racing though. | ||
| Bads1 |
Doesnt it look like the front end was cut off the way the frame looks?? | ||
| Jaimec |
I just want to know where the rear wheel went... | ||
| Jaimec |
AWESOME racing, especially Race 1, where the lead changed so many times in that final lap. It was good to see FOUR bikes so close together all fighting for the win in both races, too. Racing as it should be! | ||
| Trojan |
I just want to know where the rear wheel went... You can just see it hidden (a bit bent)inside the rear tyre, although I'm gueesing they won't be using it again The replay of the crash was on TV yesterday and it didn't look too bad until the bike started to cartwheel (after Chaz bailed out luckily). Great racing as usual from Monza (why doesn't MotoGP go there!). Both Superbike races were very tactical and down to the last corner, but my favourite was the Supersport race (part 3) won by Sam Lowes. That was absolutely incredible for the entire 10 laps and the last lap was the best I have yet seen. Sam seemed to thread his bike through impossible gaps twice in the lap, going from 4th to 1st in one corner on what was obviously a much slower bike than the Kawasakis around him. great result | ||
| Simond |
In fact 1st to fourth down the straight and back to first again at the second chicane - very impressive. Interesting suggestion that there is a chance of seeing him in WSB next year on a Yamaha. It still seems incredible that there are no Yamahas in the field and only this year have they returned to BSB. If they can still look competitive with James Ellison riding just think what they might do with a front runner on board. Shame about the Crescent/Paul Denning link to Suzuki - I'd love to see Camier/Cluzel on Yamahas. | ||
| Jaimec |
Rumor has it that Yamaha is working on a radically NEW R1 for 2014... | ||
| Trojan |
It still seems incredible that there are no Yamahas in the field and only this year have they returned to BSB. They never left BSB. Tommy Hill was with them for 3 years. Prior to him Leon Camier won the BSB title on the R1. Nori Haga rode for them last year alongside Tommy Hill, but was a shadow of his previous self and was not signed for this season. The sponsors have changed but the team remains the same and is based just up the road from me in Guisborough (we supplied them with their brake lever protectors ) I agree about James Ellsion. I'd like to see a younger british rider on the bike. Being married to an energy drinks magnates daughter obviously helps though  The current R1 is pretty long in the tooth now though, and apparently is only being kept competitive in BSB because of the new rules (the valves and head design is apprently a lot less efficient than the ZX10 for instance). It has very been strongly suggested that Yaknich will bring Sam Lowes into WSB on a Yamaha next year (would be nice to see Alex as his team mate too!), so hopefully it will be the new model and not another bike that he has to ride the wheels off just to play catch up on like he does now. | ||
| Jaimec |
Matt, with the exception of the ZX-10, ALL of the Japanese superbikes are "long in tooth." Honda/Suzuki/Yamaha haven't made any significant updates to their bikes in YEARS (most likely blaming the worldwide financial collapse). I was just observing in this past weekend's WSBK race that the most modern, up-to-date superbikes come from Ducati, BMW, Kawasaki and Aprilia. | ||
| Simond |
"They never left BSB" Whoops - I blame the change of colour and brain fade after a long weekend! It still looks more competitive than the Hondas - or at least the ones not being ridden by Alex Lowes. I found the story of Alex attending a fitness test in the Clinica Mobile after Sam had broken his collar bone a couple of years ago amusing. (Message edited by SimonD on May 13, 2013) | ||
| Trojan |
You seldonm see Alex and Sam together, bujt they are remarkably alike. I remember racing at Elvington in 2003/2004 and they were both racing in a 125 Aprilia class at the same meeting. I suppose they would been around 11 or 12 at the time. They were swanning around the paddock in matching white leathers and even then were quicker than everyone else! The thinking haas been for a long time that Alex is maybe quicker than Sam, but it is hard to tell when they are racing in different series, and they are both incredibly quick. Alex Lowes is making Kiyonari and all the other Honda riders look a bit silly at the moment in BSB, and I would love to see him in WSB/WSS on a competitve bike. | ||
| Jaimec |
Tom Sykes sure has gelled with that Kawasaki! He gave the rest of the grid a riding lesson yesterday! | ||
| Trojan |
Nice to see a Brit whitewash across the baord, with Alex Lowes winning Supersport by a country mile and Tom Sykes taking easy wins in both Superbike races As usual, did it even get a mention on national BBC news.....of course not However, a Japanese rider gets killed in TT practice this week and of course that makes it onto national BBC breakfast news. Definitely some anti bike bias somewhere in the Beeb | ||
| Jaimec |
So let me get this straight, Matt: If a Spaniard runs away at the front of a MotoGP race, it's boring. If an Englishman runs away at the front of a WSBK race, it's all good and exciting? Just want to be sure I understand the standards here... | ||
| Trojan |
It may still be boring...but it doesn't happen very often so we make the most of it In the last 15 MotoGP races across all classes SPanish rides have won 13 of them. The only other two have been won by Brits (Danny Kent and Scott Redding), so we take our celebrationsw when we can get them. WSb is slightly different of course, being pretty much dominated by British riders and teams over the years. It is strill nice to see a whitewash on home ground though | ||
| Xb1125r |
its funny how the british comentators can't stop praising the brit cruchlow, who I like, but really. Marquez has to be the most exiting rider, but the fact how he came last week from so far behind to finish 3rd, makes me think the other bikes besides honda and yamaha are out of their class | ||
| Trojan |
Hmm, apart from the fact that this isn't the MotoGP thread..... Marquez is a class act, but is on a factory Honda so has the best bike and team behind him already. He has shown some weaknesses in the past in both 125 and Moto2, so we'll see how he copes when things go wrong for him. Crutchlow is a different kind of rider to Marquez (do you think Marquez would have raced to 2nd last weekend with a broken shin bone?) and lets face it, us Brits haven't had a rider to shout about for years so you can't blame the commentators. I'm sure it woud be the same with US commentators if Bens Pies suddenly regained some form and got near the podium again. makes me think the other bikes besides honda and yamaha are out of their class That's because they are! The only other factory bikes out there are Ducati,and they don't really count at the moment. Everything else is either a second rate customer prototype or a CRG entry. To be honest the biggest surprise to me isn't that Honda and yamaha are winning everything, but that they are not winning it by a much bigger margin! I think Ducati will try everyting to be closer this weekend at their home track, but can't see them bothering the usual suspects at the sharp end. Crutchlow will do very well if he can repeat his performance from Le Mans, but I think Lorenzo and Rossi may have other ideas. Favourite for the race has to be Dani again as he is on a roll now. | ||
| Jaimec |
I don't think I've seen Marquez exit as frequently as, say, Bautista or the CRT guys. Maybe he exits when there's a commercial break or something. He doesn't seem to have any problems getting right back into the mix, though. But enough about MotoGP... this is SUPPOSED to be about World Superbikes (the other, more EXCITING series). | ||
| 46champ |
Matt I have read that major changes to world superbike rules are coming out in 2015? or sooner? Do you know what they entail? All I have read is it will make it cheaper. Is it suppose to mirror one of the national series or will it be its own mess and won't add to the grid size to any appreciable amount? | ||
| Jaimec |
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Jun/130607a.ht m | ||
| Jaimec |
Race 1 was a humdinger decided on the last lap with .007 seconds between 1st and 2nd place. Race 2, not so much other than all the problems the front runners from Race 1 (except Guintoli) had. | ||
| Trojan |
Supersport was the best race of the day yet again Missed race one which is a pity, but watched the highlights today. Shame about Laverty in race one as he should have done the double. Tom Sykes had an off day for him that's for sure! Matt I have read that major changes to world superbike rules are coming out in 2015? or sooner? Do you know what they entail? All I have read is it will make it cheaper. Is it suppose to mirror one of the national series or will it be its own mess and won't add to the grid size to any appreciable amount? At the moment it looks like it still won't be the same as either BSB or AMA Superbike, but will just limit the cost of certain components I think. There may be other details that I haven't seen, although it sounds like another DORNA fudge job to me. They should either introduce Superstock rules or go with AMA/BSB or IDM rules. At leaast that way they would be guaranteed some good wild card riders! | ||
| Jaimec |
Any word on what happened to Melandri's tire in Race 2? | ||
| Trojan |
It fell to pieces. I heard he just chose the wrong compound? | ||
| Trojan |
Tom Sykes was imperious this week at Imola! His qualifyong lap in in Superpole after having a time disallowed was just stunning, and virtually every lap was faster than everyone else in the field all weekend! I'd love to see what he could do on a MotoGP bike! |
