>Does Ben have a ride? I've only seen rumors about that, reported
>MCN-style.
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article9127
>Moto2 is really the only positive development
>But the fact that there is no American presence
Confirmed
Promoracing Kenny Noyes Harris
>Ducati dominance in WSB will be a wet blanket over the the more
>detailed stories under that.
You think Haga and Fabrizio are going to dominate WSB this year? I
don't. I'm sure they'll both be in the front group but "dominate"? The
Ducati was starting to look slow on top speed last year and I think this
will get worse as Yamaha and Honda match Aprilia's top speed.
>IndyStill, they're shipping in all three classes, so it's more costly
>that it is for Laguna.
Who do you think pays the extra? Is the cost to the circuit greater than
say, Jerez or Sepang?
>I still don't think a world championship race can be truly successful
>in the US if the perception is that it's really a European championship
>and capable Americans are largely excluded.
Who are these capable Americans? I have trouble thinking of anyone who
deserves a ride in 125, Moto2 or MotoGP who isn't already there.
>And then there's Hopper
>perhaps the 2nd-highest salary there
Citation required.
> to having to ride a support bike in the dying AMA series in America,
>due to some extent to his mistakes but much more to the economy, his
>passport and bad luck. Guys like Hopkins and Hacking
>(http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2010/Jan/100108-92-interview.htm ) are
>the posterchildren of these times to me.
Hopkins probably peaked in his last year at Suzuki. He's made some *bad*
mistakes and been seriously injured since then. I really don't think
it's got anything to do with his passport.
--
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Julian Bond wrote:
> Mark N
>> Moto2 is really the only positive development
>
>> But the fact that there is no American presence
>
> Confirmed
> Promoracing Kenny Noyes Harris
I don't call that an American presence, it's just one rider who is
American by nationality (even though he was actually born in Spain), a
technicality. Noyes isn't someone who came up through racing in America;
although his parents intentionally started him racing on dirt in
America, I think all his roadracing has been done in Spain, which makes
him more of the same (although he has a four stroke background more than
two stroke). And he has no particular fan allegiance in this country.
>> Ducati dominance in WSB will be a wet blanket over the the more
>> detailed stories under that.
>
> You think Haga and Fabrizio are going to dominate WSB this year? I
> don't. I'm sure they'll both be in the front group but "dominate"? The
> Ducati was starting to look slow on top speed last year and I think this
> will get worse as Yamaha and Honda match Aprilia's top speed.
But as soon as a Ducati rider falls out of the points lead they start
knocking weight off the thing, and perhaps by shortly after mid-season
they'll remove the restrictors. In my opinion the margin of Spies
championship was that he trailed in points almost all year, and never
led at a rules checkpoint. Take away Spies' results last year and Ducati
wins 18 races, and that's with Fabrizio still growing as a race-winning
rider and with Haga having his share of bad luck and injuries. So unless
these two riders fall off in performance, which I would agree can
happen, they should be the favorites for 1st and 2nd. And if they do
fall off, the rules flex to make them (and all the Ducati lease riders)
more competitive.
At Aprilia, I think Biaggi is just as likely to slip at his age, and
behind him is a newcomer to the championship. I don't think Toseland is
nearly the rider Spies is, and dropping down from GP means he has a
motivational issue the opposite of Spies' motivation last year. The 2nd
seat is another WSB rookie, so who knows. Rea might and might not be
able to be consistently fast on the TK Honda, and I am definitely not a
believer in Neukirchner. Vermeulen is in the same motivational bind as
Toseland, and he's on a bike that has been at the back of the pack.
Maybe Haslam is the biggest threat to make a major jump, but I'm not
sure if he's really the guy to do it. Overall, I just don't see a
Ducati-beater in the field.
>> IndyStill, they're shipping in all three classes, so it's more costly
>> that it is for Laguna.
>
> Who do you think pays the extra? Is the cost to the circuit greater than
> say, Jerez or Sepang?
My understanding has been that part of the reason Laguna is MotoGP-only
is cost, that they basically have to pay for flying all that shit over
the pond, or at least a big chunk of it. It has seemed that having the
AMA come in is cheaper, and also SCRAMP has felt they'd bring in more
fans than 250 and 125. Another cost for the track is whatever they have
to do to house the other GP teams, which means temporary garages,
motorhome rentals, etc., a bill which they'd clearly have to foot. The
big F1-type tracks don't have that issue, they have bigger, better
facilities already.
>> I still don't think a world championship race can be truly successful
>> in the US if the perception is that it's really a European
>> championship and capable Americans are largely excluded.
>
> Who are these capable Americans? I have trouble thinking of anyone who
> deserves a ride in 125, Moto2 or MotoGP who isn't already there.
I would mostly agree on MotoGP (Hopkins is the one guy who had already
established his standing in MotoGP but is basically excluded because of
his passport), and 125 is impossible to say, because that class is
filled with teenagers and neither of us really knows how many American
kids are out there who have the same talent as whoever the kids are who
get into 125 from Spain and Italy. But I would agree that the American
kid racers probably have a size problem relative to the Euro-meds. Moto2
is definitely another matter, there is no question in my mind that guys
like RL Hayden, DiSalvo, Herrin, Young, Eslick and some others are fully
capable of running with the guys I see in Moto2 now, and Cardenas is in
that group as well.
>> And then there's Hopper
>> perhaps the 2nd-highest salary there
>
> Citation required.
The word floating around when he signed with Kawasaki in mid-'07 was
that his contract was in the 4-5M range, and who else was making that
kind of money? The defending champion was said to have re-signed with
Honda for about 2M, which was said to also be what Pedrosa was making
there, Stoner definitely wasn't making that at Ducati yet, Lorenzo was a
MotoGP rookie and unlikely to be close to that range, Capirossi probably
wasn't quite at that level and on his way out at Ducati, Gibernau was
gone, Melandri wasn't getting that either, nor Vermeulen, so who was up
there?
>> to having to ride a support bike in the dying AMA series in America,
>> due to some extent to his mistakes but much more to the economy, his
>> passport and bad luck. Guys like Hopkins and Hacking
>> (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2010/Jan/100108-92-interview.htm ) are
>> the posterchildren of these times to me.
>
> Hopkins probably peaked in his last year at Suzuki. He's made some *bad*
> mistakes and been seriously injured since then. I really don't think
> it's got anything to do with his passport.
I don't think that's true at all, and it betrays your pro-European,
anti-American bias, whether conscious or not. Dorna moved in and saved
one Kawasaki ride last year and that was Melandri's, which I think was
quite intentional and based on his nationality more than anything else.
That meant he had the chance to impress people on that bike and now is
back at Gresini as a result (and of course because Gresini's sponsor
wants Italian riders, and now has two of them). Hopkins was left
rideless, took a non-factory WSB ride with limited testing, got badly
hurt, and now is back in America, because no one in Europe is willing to
take any chance at all with him, unlike so many European riders who have
had second chances. Melandri's fall at Ducati was much deeper than
Hopkins at Kawasaki, but Europe was more than willing to give him a
second chance. Had Hayden given up and laid down like Melandri did and
not fought his way back toward the front at the end of last season he'd
also be gone, maybe off in WSB, maybe back here in the AMA or just
sitting at home. I think those riders are of fairly comparable talent
(although drive and desire may not be), and Hopkins is only 26 now,
hardly over the hill. Your comments smack of your condemnation of
Roberts at Suzuki a half-decade ago, at least to me, and your chronic
disrespect for Hayden, and your "supportive disappointment" in Edwards'
GP results, and...
>I don't think that's true at all, and it betrays your pro-European,
>anti-American bias, whether conscious or not. Dorna moved in and saved
>one Kawasaki ride last year and that was Melandri's, which I think was
>quite intentional and based on his nationality more than anything else.
And I think you're forgetting the repeated injuries and the failure to
turn up one Friday. Damaged goods, and not just through falling off
badly and repeatedly. Then when he goes to WSB he doesn't impress with
his speed and then falls off again. Why should anyone think he can be
fast again, and why shouldn't they think that he might just screw up
again. Smacks of Gobert or Russell and there's no place for that stuff
at the highest level any more, if there ever was.
--
Julian Bond E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar.com M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/ T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
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