| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
It's worse than that (though publicly Yamaha says they're not concerned): He's used four of FIVE allowed engines. | ||
| Jaimec |
Bad news for Nicky's fans: http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresul ts/MotoGP/2013/July/jul1613-hayden-told-no-factory -ducati/ I'm hoping if he does go to WSBK, he gets something COMPETITIVE. No reason to jump from one uncompetitive back marker to another uncompetitive back marker. | ||
| Simond |
Your right; I'd forgotten that they'd reduced the number allowed this season. I find the distinction between wild card and replacement rider somewhat confusing but if it doesn't interfere with engine allocations then why not? I hope Hayden gets a good ride too though even he might struggle on a factory Ducati superbike right now. | ||
| Firstbuell |
yes, it's truly a sad day for Nicky fans & perhaps fewer sales for US Ducati as well...... | ||
| Bads1 |
I think he will show up in Ducati camp in WSB. Money talks and they will use him for further development in racing the Pangale.... also to continue boost in Sales in the US. I bet talks with him,his Manager and Ducati will continue at least till Indy. | ||
| Trojan |
I think the Panigale needs more than a couple of ex GP 'stars' to make it work. Checa has been outridden by his team mate Badovini this year and doesn't seem able to even start to get a decent setup. He even describes the bike as 'confusing'. Ducati need a major rethink of both WSB and GP bikes very soon, or I think they may just retire from racing completely as a factory before long. Paying Nicky Hayden a huge salary sadly won't improve the woeful performance of the Panigale, so maybe they should concentrate on engineering a solution instead of papering over the cracks  | ||
| Jaimec |
The Panigale was developed under the mistaken impression that the frameless design was working well in MotoGP, and that they'd carry over that "newthink" to production motorcycles. Unfortunately, the ONLY reason the frameless Desmosedici was working so well was due to just one man, and even now I think Casey's detractors would have to admit that the man could probably ride a REFRIGERATOR into the Top 5 of a MotoGP race. This wasn't helped by the fact that damn near EVERY Motojournalist RAVED about the Panigale when it was first released... probably just adding their byline to Ducati's own press releases. Now that Stoner is off dodging 'roos in the Aussie Supercar series, the rest of the world is slowly catching on that "That Duck Don't Hunt." I'm hoping Nicky gets picked up by BMW/Aprilia/Kawasaki (in that order) myself. | ||
| Trojan |
This from MCN.... Part of discussions with Ducati management last week though included the prospect of a Panigale ride and Ducati boss Paolo Ciabatti told MCN: “We’d like to keep Nicky within Ducati and we have a few options we have discussed with him, including World Superbikes. BMW/Kawasaki/Aprilia already have established riders capable of winning in WSb (every rider on those 3 teams has won at least one race this year)so it may not be prudent to change winning teams with a new rider, regardless of who that may be. The team most likely to want a new recruit for WSB (other than Ducati) is Honda, as they are likely to lose Johnny rea for next year if he goes to MotoGP as rumoured. Leon Haslam hasn't performed well thsi year due to injury and Honda can't afford another poor year.Hayden has history with Honda so it could be the perfect match. | ||
| 46champ |
Hayden does have a history with Honda. The company that built a bike that made it impossible for him to defend his title. | ||
| Jaimec |
If he DOES go to Honda, hopefully they'll have something other than that six (or is it seven) year old bike they've been running in that series. I chose those three companies because they've been updating their bikes. Honda and Suzuki have been moribund, and Yamaha isn't even in the series. Ducati took a winning model (the 1198) and replaced it with a hi-tech back marker. | ||
| Bads1 |
Jaime.... 5 year old bike..... Suzuki 8 year old bike. They are all getting long in the tooth in some ways. | ||
| Bads1 |
BMW was a back marker when it started. The bike hasn't changed much other then electronics since its release and it a few years old now. The Yamaha is already 5 years old. Suzuki and Honda are just the oldest but not by huge margins. | ||
| Xb1125r |
you can't blame the companies for not making new designs, there is a thing called rescession. most economies are still fragil. look at ours. there is no HOPE. half of the so called homes in high demand are being bought by companies that buy in mass and rent them. the typ joe is not buying. don't let the market full you | ||
| Jaimec |
Bads1, the S1000RR actually did get a redesign a couple of years ago, and not just electronics. Based on their first two years in WSBK they made numerous chassis and suspension tweaks to the production bikes but left the horsepower (which is still leading the class) alone. Last year they introduced the HP4 with all of the electronic bells and whistles. | ||
| Jaimec |
So it looks like it's official. The crazy bastard is going to try after all. | ||
| Bads1 |
Jaime, HP4 is all the bells and whistles. Its still the same engine and chassis. WSB's share none of those parts anyways. The Honda and Suzuki are down on HP is where its at. | ||
| Trojan |
and Yamaha isn't even in the series. But Yamaha will be back big style in the not too distant future with the new R1 allegedly (if you believe some of the rumours it will be ridden by some guy called Valentino Rossi. Who ever heard of him!). ALL of the WSB bikes (including the Honda) are effectivley new bikes, so just because they are based on relatively old street bike designs has little impact on the race bikes. Honda are using MotoGP derived electronics this year, which is where the majority of their problems have stemmed from, not the older design cycle parts. Honda certainly isn't down on Horsepower compared to other WSB contenders. In fact the problem is that the electronics are interfering because they have too much power at times. Honda WSB engines are built by Cosworth, Suzuki are built by Yoshimura/Crescent and Kawasaki arer built by Akira .None have much in common with their road bike counterparts (with engine life a fraction of MotoGP engines these days!). Once Superbike racing starts to feel the effects of the cost cutting proposed by DORNA they will be much closer to the street bikes they are based on, but still very different beasts indeed  | ||
| Bads1 |
Matt, They have talked that the CBR engine is long in the tooth. Its not down on HP its down on how its producing it. Rea is the only one that can do anything with it. Suzuki knows something has to change with theres also..... soon | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Hayden has been let go at the end of this season by Ducati. Any ideas where he'll end up? My guess is not on a factory GP team | ||
| Bads1 |
Rocco betting WSB with Ducati. | ||
| Jaimec |
I'm hoping WSBK goes more with AMA type rules. Keep the bikes as close to stock as possible. That'll keep the costs down more than Dorna's ridiculous engine limitations! One of the items Suzuki listed as keeping them away for 2014 is the need to develop an engine that can last long enough so they only need five of them for a full season. Did Dorna think that development was FREE?? | ||
| Trojan |
I'm surprised that Dorna didn't adopt BSB, AMA or even Superstock rules for the future of WSBK rather than the complicated and almost unenforceable cost rules they have proposed. A simple spec ECU and rules on forks, brakes etc would make policing the series much easier and the whole thing more cost effective. I have heard that Aprilia have used more than 10 engines on one weekend in WSBK, so obviously something has to be done to cut costs, but surely there are much easier ways than the complicated proposals outlined so far by Dorna. | ||
| Xb1125r |
trojan and jaine stop trolling. lets get back to motogp. i felt bad for Nicky looks like he wanted to cry, i think he knows is the end for motog GP for him sad | ||
| Trojan |
trojan and jaine stop trolling. hahahahaha.....Pot calling kettle Nicky must have know this was coming for a while, and he knew over a week ago for sure. I don't think he was going to cry at the press conference although he may shed a few tears over the loss of his Ducati factory salary. He may take consolation from the fact that Carlos Checa was 4th fastest in Moscow this morning on the Panigale....whoops, trolling again  | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Trolling? I'm thinking you don't know the meaning of that word. | ||
| Bads1 |
Ahhh yep | ||
| Jaimec |
Pot. Kettle. Black. | ||
| Bads1 |
Looks like Lorenzo is in the 1.24's and the leaders are the 22's right now. Marquez isn't doin bad. Hes up there with leaders now and hes never set eyes on track. | ||
| Jaimec |
And Blake Young WASN'T the slowest guy on the track! | ||
| Jaimec |
Looks like Rossi was right: That "F***ing B*****d" was pretty fast right off the blocks! |
