One week till WSB

 One week till the WSB season starts.

Hooray!

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Julian Bond  E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar.com  M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
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You think our boy Ben's gonna do any good over there this year? Myself?
I'd be very surprised if he didn't make a few waves, but given his
unfamiliarity with the venues I doubt he'll be a "contenda," this time
around anyway. A spoiler maybe, just no cigar, though if he comes back
in '10, watch out...

 
We say this every year, but this year's WSB is going to be epic. I don't
think there are any obvious winners but there must be 10 people in with
a chance. So yes, I think Bens Pies will do very well and he will win
races.  But it's like he'll be racing against 5 Mladins and not just
one. So winning the championship is going to be a tall order even though
it may be within reach.

There's a lot of unknowns here.
- The new Yamaha, Aprilia, BMW, Suzuki
- New circuits for Spies, Nakano, Byrne, Sykes
- Haga in the factory Ducati team
- Ducati providing satellite teams with the right equipment. Especially
if they're beating them
- The private teams having enough money to do a proper job, especially
Sterilgarda, DFX and Stiggy Honda
- The new Superpole format is bound to throw up some surprises as well

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Julian Bond  E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar.com  M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
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 Spies will be a force just as Biaggi was and to a lesser extent,
Barros. Both of those guys won races their first year in and Barros
basically did it on a stock Honda.  One has to put a lot of serious
consideration in for Ben if Bayliss himself has him touted as a top
two finisher, with Haga being the other one. I really really hope Nori
wins it this year. That is great all the way around; the sport itself,
Japan (who could sorely use a champion) and WSBK. Not that Ducati
needs one. I'd rather have seen Nori do it on the Yam but I'll take it
on the Duc. I understand they're pushing really hard to get WSBK back
into Laguna though there are a lot of venues in the U.S. I'd rather
see them at, such as Infineon or a neighboring track, still close to
Napa called Thunderhill. Lots of room, close to a lot of cool stuff
and a fun track that mixes Laguna and Infineon. A favorite of many AFM
riders in Cali who've ridden them all.

Great point about the "five Mladins". BMW will be the sleeper. Aprilia
it before but never did anything with it and I can't believe none of
these teams picked up Laconi. Regis is a bad dude on a bike. I don't
blame him for quitting Kawi.

 mjrydsfast@gmail.com Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:57:37

Laconi on a Ducati may well come good again.

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Julian Bond  E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar.com  M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
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                           Tear Here To Open