Spoiler: Mladin wins Fontana Race 1 - Page 2

 Will Hartung wrote:

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'd like to see as well.


He's obviously unhappy to be in the position he's in this late on his
career after all he's done...


Last year JR Page's SStock qualifying time, a 1:30, had him 16th on that
grid, and would have put him in 23rd in the final ASB qualifying session
this year. Yates' SSt pole, 24.9, would have put him 9th in the ASB
session. So, yeah, most of the grid is basically doing SSt times.
Mladin's Q time did beat Spies' from last year, but last year the only Q
session was on Friday after Saturday's session was canceled because of
the wind.

  >> Have you seen the Soup pole on that? It's been running at ~92% for

So DMG has now suspended Hacking for being pissy about having to race
the Buell, pretty much what you'd expect. Not sure what he did exactly,
but I watched the two press conferences and most of what went down was
between Hacking and DiSalvo, and it seemed like it was coming from
DiSalvo (Jamie and Danny were talking during Jason's Q&A). But it's
pretty clear that he's being targeted for not acting like the racing is
totally fair out there.


Nope, there were a couple that qualified at Daytona.


It's going to be pretty much what it is now, most of the guys on
Japanese 600s and Buell doing better than they should. At some point the
Japanese factories would start complaining, you'd think, but does DMG
care about that? And the close margin yesterday just gives DMG the cover
they need to not do anything about it. Hell, they'll use it to justify
their formula, as if Eslick is of equal ability to Hacking.


Got on the podium yesterday, even as banged up as the Worm is, so it
pretty clearly does have an advantage under these rules. Is this really
a factory-prepped machine? I would have thought it isn't much more than
what Pegram raced in FX last year. Of course the 1098R IS a kit racebike
out of the box...


Again, what happened in DSB yesterday gives them a lot of cover, and
that no one on another machine can get within 10-15 seconds of Mladin
makes Suzuki very vulnerable. If they put weight on it or something, it
penalizes more than half the field. But expect action in ASB and none in
DSB.


Yes, it seems like DMG should be thinking of that round as a way to
advertise their new series and not this ego-driven business about who
has the bigger dick. I just hope it doesn't hurt attendance too much.


That's what I assumed, but haven't seen anything yet. I also note that
Mat is now officially on probation, for missing the autograph session at
Fontana. It's not going to go well, I predict...


  > I think you should go to Sears for the same reason, you're right next

Probably will, it's worth it just to check out the current scene. But I
really hate to be seen supporting this mess, to put money in the pockets
of people doing so. And I do expect to see a smaller crowd, unless
something very dramatic happens between now and then that compels people
to show up.

You know, like a tomato-throwing contest with Rog Ed as the target and
the prize being a free trip for two to Miller or Indy to see some real
racing...

 
It may be what you would like to see but I wouldn't bet on it.  I
suspect Mat could have left Tommy behind any time he wanted to but
didn't so as not to give DMG more of a reason to handicap his team.  I
don't expect Mat will let him win any until he (Mat) has a comfortable
points lead.

 On Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:33:28 -0700, Will Hartung


They're doing rolling starts beyond just Daytona?  I thought it was a
one-off.  The rolling start is just ridiculous for motorcycles and
eliminates one of the skill elements of the race.  I hope DMG pulls
their head out on that one soon.