It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Pre-season! Prognostication!

The testing is mostly done, the first WSBK race is in a week, and then the
whole shebang starts all over again for Yet Another year. Once more in to
the breech! Those amazing yound men and their flying machines.

No real technical changes this year compared to the past couple of years in
any of the major series. Still running spec tires in WSBK, still running
990's in GP, and we've already had our first FX 200 in the AMA.

Next year we get the new smaller GP bikes, and the possible departure of
Rossi, but modulo the annual musical chairs, it's pretty much same as the
old boss this year.

From a spectator point of view, the most significant thing we'll see over
here in the US is a new announcer for the AMA on Speed as they struggle to
squeeze us motocycle folks among beer bars and 24 hr NASCAR reruns. Dunno if
we'll get the same team for WSBK or not, but I'm supposing we'll get the
same team in GP as we've had for quite some time.

Are there any real track changes for GP or WSBK this year? I don't recall
any, but I don't know. AMA gets a brand new track at Miller in the middle of
Utah, the loss of Pikes Peak, and 2 rounds at a, probably, very different
Mid-Ohio, as it's supposed to be completely resurfaced thus removing its
....umm... character as well as rumored new scoring for the final round to be
held there.

Lots of shuffling about in the GP paddock. Max is GONE! All GONE! Pons got
stuffed (boy did that just suck). I still don't know under which shell the
pea is. Obviously the 3 to watch are the 3 we were watching at the end of
last year: Rossi, Melandri, and Hayden. Rossi as he rides his "Never say
Never to Tobacco" CAMEL Yamaha, Hayden on Repsol, and Melandri at Fortuna.
Over on Soup, Dean Adams had an interesting article the other day about
Nicky, reiterating somewhat Marks continuing lament about American riders in
GP. It's going to be a hard year for Nicky I think.

They managed to steal Vermeulen away from SBK, he'll get some decent
experience, but I don't know if we'll see much of him this year unless the
Suzuki has suddenly become that much better.

WSBK is, well, WSBK. Chili is still there, there was rumors he may have
retired. Corser is still there, and much the same crowd as last year. From a
"TV Show" point of view, WSBK puts on the best show. I love their
announcers, and the racing is usually quite close. The downside is that it's
not quite on the technical edge of the AMA, and simply the fact that the
older riders do well there just tells me there's something just basically
wrong in the series. I like watching Corser and Chili and, of course, Haga,
as well as the rest as much as any, and we're getting fitter with better
workouts and nutrition etc., but motorcycle racing really is a young mans
game, and when the young men aren't quite there, it just says...I
dunno..something. I'll still watch it though, just the best show so far.

AMA this year is going to be ... interesting I think.

I do hope to see a solid showing this year by the Hondas, that's what I
really want to see this year. I understand why they weren't up to speed last
year, but they've had their year, and they've got a new bike, and they've
got the riders. Both Jake and Miguel save for Daytona are focused on the
series, and I have high hopes for them.

Meanwhile we'll be watching to see if Spies has managed to find the 1-2
seconds to keep up with Mat while Aaron runs blocker, and also whether
Hodgson can take what he learned last year and do anything with the Ducati.
But last year the Ducatis didn't do too spectacular in WSBK, Eric did "not
bad" last year with it, but was only rarely in the hunt save for Laguna (no,
I'm not forgetting Pikes Peak), and progressed more through Suzukis
misfortune. I really think it's up to the Hondas to rein in the Suzukis. The
sub plot will be if Ben Bostrom can do better than Neil, and frankly I will
be surprised if he does. We'll see if the Bostrom freestyle form can do
better then Neils more methodical technique.

I will be surprised if the Haydens break the top 5 by the end of the year.
The bikes doing allright, they're (well, Tommy notably) good racers, but
they have to deal with a LOT more set up flexibility that they simply don't
have the experience with, so raw talent will have to see them through as
they figure it out. Problem is that the others have raw talent as well as
setup, and that puts the Haydens in to a learning season this year.

I do expect to see the Yamaha's with their new "specials" leveraging that
extra bit coming out on top this year, both in SSport and SStock, and I
think a lot of pressure is going to be put on Jason DiSalvo. I never cared
much for him, but the kid does perform. I don't know how healthy Hacking is,
and Eric is on Yet Another good bike. Jason has been taking names in
testing, and his FX bike is just stupid fast if the Fontana times mean
anything for the season.

I don't know if Jason is racing 3 series, or two. I can't imagine he's
racing three, but I don't know who else will be racing SSport with Hacking,
as Eric is in SStock and FX. Maybe Jason isn't in SStock, and that's just
Eric and Jamie. Does Graves have a fourth this year?

I can easily see it being the Jason and Eric show in FX, and I do think that
the 200 will be particularly good this year if the Hondas are up to speed
with the Yamahas, and the Yamaha's don't implode. We'll have Miguel, Jake,
Jason and Eric in Daytona on factory hardware. Hopefully the new Buell can
survive the 200 as well, it will be interesting to see. Yessir, should be a
really good race I think.

It would not surprise me to see Jason take FX or SSport this year. I doubt
that Eric can take SStock, simply because he won't have the tuning options
available on the bike that he's used to and may not come to grips with it
until later. His best chance is in FX, but it's on a brand new bike, both
for him and the teams. The Yamaha teams haven't had that much flexibility in
quite a while.

I am looking forward to Miller this year, I'm really interested to see that
track. It looks like they made a track that we can actually run Superbikes
on flat out, unlike Barber. It probably won't be as pretty to look at as
Barber, but save for Laguna, none of the Western tracks are particularly
nice that way anyway.

Also, it's good to yet a 4th factory effort in AMA with Kawasaki coming
back, so the field should be a bit deeper this year, but in truth the I
don't see anything slowing Mat down and everyone else is simply going to
have to catch him.

So, no lists from me placing people. I would be just giddy if Nicky brings
the cup home, but I dunno if it will happen -- I'm skeptical. I don't care
who wins in WSBK, but it will be a great show to watch, and while I doubt
we'll see anything as good as the final FX race last year, I hope to see
Miguel and Mat screaming and swearing at each other all season this year.

And, of course, the best part is sitting here and BS'ing with y'all on
r.m.r. You think there are rivalries on the track, they're nothing compared
to the bench racing action we have here!

Mark? You want to fill in the blanks?

Regards,

Will Hartung

 

Errrrrr.................Capirossi?
and.....................Gibernau (reborn!)?
.................Pedrosa?
.................Stoner?

I think you forgot one little Aussie on a Duc.