| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
Good to see "the Old Guys" still have it... | ||
| Trojan |
Trojan I was looking thru the results for the WSS race from Philip Island. How come an English motorcycle company can't put an English rider on an English bike? I'm not slighting Scottish Welsh or Irish riders any one of them would do. Easy.... Triumph are the only British manufacturer, and have no official race team in WSS (or anywhere else for that matter) so the only Triumphs you will see racing are privateer or dealer teams. The WSS Triumphs are run by Italian teams and tend to have Italian riders (although Chaz Davies did ride for them in 2010). Most WSS teams don't consider the Triumph 675 to be capable of winning the championship, hence you don't see many racing at International level. A British rider has won a TT riding a Triumph Daytona a few years ago though  | ||
| Trojan |
Have the WSB races shown on US TV yet...Wouldn't want to spoil the result by commenting if they haven't been aired yet | ||
| Jaimec |
Yep, they were shown yesterday afternoon. | ||
| Trojan |
In which case...... Did anyone notice just how fast Biaggi's Aprilia was in a straight line? Not only was it considerably faster than EVERY other bike on the track including the BMW factory bikes (themselves famed for being fast!) but in race 2 he pulled away from Eugene Laverty on the main straight on an 'identical' bike. Laverty should have had the benefit of a slipstream from Biaggi, but couldn't even get close. I know Laverty was riding with a broken hand, but that doesn't explain the sheer outright straight line speed advanatge Biaggi enjoyed. Laverty suffered two mechanical failures over the weekend as well, which makes me suspect he has inherited Leon Camier' definite second place in the team and a very second distant second to Biaggi at that(Despite what Aprilia stated when they signed Laverty). I hope I'm wrong, but it looked very different to the difference in times between them in testing  Haslam was a hero in race 2, and considering he couldn't even walk to the bike without crutches he got my 'Rider of the day' award Also well done to Tom Sykes for pole position and two well faught results in both races From first impressions it looks like it might be a 2 horse race for the championship already, although hopefully things will tighten up at other tracks and others will improve as the year goes on. | ||
| Fast1075 |
Without spoiling it for those that have not yet seen the race. It was excellent! | ||
| 186bigtwin |
Speaking of Phillips Island: anyone know how the Irving Vincent did in the support races ?? | ||
| Daves |
From last to 2nd in the 2nd race was awesome for Max! And to win after the nasty highside in race 1 for Checa. Wow. | ||
| Bads1 |
To my understanding Max broke the track record. Not just broke it but shattered it. | ||
| Jaimec |
Matt, I suspect a lot of the Emperor's straight line speed over the other Aprilias comes from his diminutive size and the fact that he can tuck in tighter to that tiny bike BECAUSE of his size. In other words, he has "The Pedrosa Advantage" over Laverty and Camier. | ||
| 2kx1 |
I think Max was ON the gas before everyone coming out of the corners. AND he was obviously determined to get on the podium. | ||
| Xb1125r |
Biaggi knows he can't let Checa get on him, like last year. Checa is the only one that can beat Biaggi the BMWs don't have the riders to get it done. | ||
| Jaimec |
I disagree... Leon is a contender and Marco Melandri is one of the best out there right now. Don't let that hideous season on the Ducati in MotoGP fool you... he's one hell of a rider. | ||
| Trojan |
Matt, I suspect a lot of the Emperor's straight line speed over the other Aprilias comes from his diminutive size and the fact that he can tuck in tighter to that tiny bike BECAUSE of his size. In other words, he has "The Pedrosa Advantage" over Laverty and Camier. I would agree when compared to most riders, but Laverty is also a pretty small guy and raced in 250GP for a long time, so knows how to tuck in and get the best aerodynamic speed from a bike. I wasn't too surprised by the speed advantage of Max over the other bikes, but was shocked by how much faster he was than Laverty in a straight line. Laverty did have mechanical issues all weekend and was carrying an injury, but there has been no mention of any problems for him in race 2, so I have to assume that his bike was just slower than Biaggi's for some reason. the BMWs don't have the riders to get it done. BMW have 2 of the best riders in the field, and most other teams would jump to sign either of them. Their problems are still more electronic than anything to do with the riders, but look at how well Melandi did in race one. Haslam got 4th in race 2 with a broken leg!! | ||
| Jaimec |
Matt, why on earth does WSBK have a Race in February, and then nothing at all again until April?? Why not just start the season later, like MotoGP? | ||
| Simond |
The weather at Phillip Island? | ||
| Trojan |
That has always been something I have wondered about too. The weather in Philip Island isn't exactly brilliant either now or when MotoGP visits, and the track is now so bumpy you have to wonder how long it will continue to be a world class venue. I'm sure they could run 'fly away' races elsewhere between round one and two to prevent such a huge gap in the schedule, but maybe they just don't want to? How about making the Daytona 200 a WSB round? That would put the cat amongst the pigeons! | ||
| Davegess |
How about making the Daytona 200 a WSB round? That would put the cat amongst the pigeons! That would be cool. Do you think the tires could stand the banking? That is why the AMA SB stopped running that distance. Even the 600s are pushing the edge of tire disaster. I would think that the tire company could build a tire, it would just have less grip than the riders want. If everyone had the same tire choices?? It would be great to see. The race is fading into obscurity. | ||
| Jaimec |
They pit to change tires and refuel. NO motorcycle tire can survive a 200 mile race, banked track or not, so I don't see the problem? | ||
| Davegess |
They have had a number of unexpected total tire failures or tires that simply lost ALL grip suddenly and with no warning. That led to the red flag mess a couple of years ago. Tires at Daytona have been an issue for years. They went to 600s to reduce the weight and power the tires have to deal with. Nobody wants to see a tire blow on the backstretch amidst a bunch of drafting bikes. Temps on race day can be a lot hotter than on the tire test day in December. | ||
| Jaimec |
Sounds like Dunlop needs to talk to Bridgestone on how to make a tire that can handle high-horsepower motorcycles on blazingly hot tracks. It CAN be done... MotoGP deals with it every time they're in Malaysia. | ||
| Davegess |
Daytona is special, no other track like it. the tire loads, pressure and heat on the banking are not found anywhere else and to complicate matters they are all on the left (I think?) side of the tire. When the racers hit the first right hander the tire is cold and slick on that side! Not that it can't be done but it is a real challenge! | ||
| Trojan |
Maybe they could hold a WSB race at Daytona on a circuit that didn't use as much of the banking as the 'normal' 200. WSB races would be shorter I suppose (although it wouldn't be the 200 then would it) so tyres wouldn't be subjected to the same hammering over long periods. I think the biggest hurdle though would be getting riders like Biaggi to even race at Daytona, and getting the circuit owners to pay WSB enough to turn up | ||
| Jaimec |
Well, after a LONG layoff, WSBK is back in business this weekend. And for American fans, Hopkins will be on the grid (assuming he doesn't damage himself again in practice). | ||
| Saxon59 |
Ask Danny Eslik about tire wear at Daytona,it was last year when his front end just went out from under him as he was heading onto the bank. | ||
| Jaimec |
There are stories that WSBK is considering one "Endurance Style" round next year, instead of two races. What better venue than Daytona? | ||
| Gaesati |
Methinks Daytona would be too hard on bikes and tires for an endurance round despite its iconic status. | ||
| Trojan |
What better venue than Daytona? Le Mans? (Full circuit of course!) | ||
| Jaimec |
Again, what am I missing? Daytona is hard on tires... so what? We're talking about a race where they have to pit and change tires... so what is the issue?? It would be different if we were talking about a typical race where they don't normally pit for tires... but during the 200 (and endurance racing in general) they stop and pit for tires. If the racer decides NOT to stop and pit for tires and then crashes out because of it, then it is HIS fault, not the fault of the track OR the tires. You can't tell me a professional road racer doesn't realize that his tires are starting to go off... they don't reach that level if they're that clueless. | ||
| Davegess |
WSBK could happen at Daytona BUT I doubt it. The France family would need two things, first would be keeping the 200; they are pretty interested in iconic races and I think they would want that race to remain. Second WSBK would have to be profitable for them. I would suspect that the sanctioning fee is so high that turning a profit might be tough. The 200 does not draw a huge crowd but the activities at the speedway during that weekend do OK and are cheap to put on. I wonder if the increased attendance would make up for the increased costs? |
