Laguna Seca: WTF? [Spoiler]

It would be so easy to take the piss.

- The race organisers let Toseland out of pit lane to do his warm up
after his bike stalled on the grid. Nothing too strange about that
except that they started the race 20s later.

- Yates makes a fairly simple mistake in turn 1 that skittles everyone
off. Nobody's seriously hurt. Nothing's on the race track. The bikes are
being cleared up and there's a full lap before the pack come round
again. So they red flag the race.

- Mladin's been going well all weekend. One or two websites start
crowing which is understandable if a little irritating. Then he comes
home 4th after being beaten by Chili, Hodgeson and Toseland. And after
Laconi and Xaus had passed him before falling off. But then you have to
finish, right?

- The Eurosport commentators had some choice words to say about the post
race interviewer and the guy on the Tannoy during the prize giving.
"They also work as commentators for WWF"

Hmmm. Roll on the second race, eh?

ps. Really sorry to hear about Eric B. Hope he gets well soon.

 

I didn't have a problem with the red flag. That laps around Laguna
are only around 1:26 and there were several bikes and riders
to get out of the way.

I really don't understand what was wrong with Mladin. He has not just
been a little faster than everyone else, but as much as 1 second
faster. Was he just so desperate to prove himself that he couldn't
settle down and ride? I am not a Mladin fan at all, but I am really
shocked that he didn't win.

I was very happy to see Chili win.

 

You mean Suzy didn't do the interviews? One thing I hate about the
Laguna round is that the American audience (me) has to listen to Speed
TV's AMA announcing crew instead of the usual WSBK crew. Like 'em or
not, it's simply not their series. Drebber and Sadowski don't know
the riders on sight. They can't explain how the action might be
related to the something that happened last round or last year. They
spend way too much time hamming up the AMA regulars. We even had Greg
White doing the post race interviews instead of Suzy Perry.

I did like Doug Polen's commentary though. He was a lot more
straightforward about the tire situation and was very in tune with
what the riders were doing. Having Polen in the booth was worlds
better than some of their previous guests (Russell etc.)

 

I thought the most amusing thing about the SV WSB commentary was simply
pronouncing Xaus's name.

While at the track, the off race banter over the PA talked about how "Xaus"
got "Americanized" and pronounced "Zaus" whereas it's supposed to be
pronounced "Chaus".

They talked to Xaus who liked the "Zaus" name, identified with it and knew
that the local fans identified with it.

Now, one reason *I* identify with it is that's the only pronunciation I had
ever heard, from the European WSB crew all the way back when Xaus was
running Supersport.

So, the Europeans call him "Zaus", the PA was calling him "Zaus", Xaus
himself likes "Zaus", and what do the SV folks use?? "Chaus". They were
obviously at a different track than I was this weekend.

It's a petty nit, but they had to make a conscious decision to "edumacate"
us on the proper pronunciation.

The Euro team does more of a "talking about the race that they're watching"
rather than "announcing the race" that the SV team does.

Regards,

Will Hartung
()

 

So there is still no doubt in your mind that AMA riders are better than
WSB riders (not to mention spaniards)?

Actually you had me convinced, I put actual money on Mladin for both
legs, needless to say I am out of pocket now. I hadn't even considered
Chilli for a win and Xaus half went as I thought he would be tasting
gravel in one the races.

Cheers
Steve

 

Another point of view......
from http://venus.13x.com/roadracingworld/scripts/NewsInsert.asp?insert=6713
.......................
Secondly, during WSBK qualifying on Friday, I noticed the obvious head games
going on, but more abrasive action coming from two riders that I do have a
lot of respect for.the American wild card entries of Aaron Yates and Mat
Mladin. The first thing that blew my mind was Aaron Yates coming out right
after Neil Hodgson, and just razzing him from behind. Not in a totally
professional way. Kind of messing up his rhythm and getting in his way, and
finally passing him in a hairy kind of slip-sliding way.then riding, rather
raggedly in front of him, while he (Hodgson) was trying to get a rhythm and
feel on the track, with the new 999. It seemed to me that Hodgson was
getting pretty annoyed. Then, a bit later in the session, Mladin came out
and slowed on the track, waiting for Hodgson, and then followed him for a
while, eventually blasting by, maybe in a less ragged way, but definitely
proving some sort of point. Mladin then let him by again, and procede to do
the same thing again. I understand psyching out and all, but it seemed more
of an ego trip to me.trying to show up the World Superbiker. It just seemed
a bit stupid, especially for someone of Mladin's demeanor. And, I do want to
stress, again, that I love all of these riders, however I hate that ego
shit.
......................................
Andrew Victor Nabagiez
Los Angeles, California

 

Yeah, and have the British WSB round *after* the BSB season has ended, to
give the Brit wildcards a better chance.. and the same in Japan too.
Bollocks.
If the AMA riders can beat the WSB riders, they should be in WSB, doing it.

 

Yes, just as the WSB frontrunners won't want to risk tangling with an AMA
rider who won't be figuring in the end of season WSB placings.

 

Excellent point Will, my mates and I have always talked about American
commentators and how they do their commentary and announcing is what they
always do, no matter what the sport is.
Must be some sorta school over there because they are all the same.

Was pissed not to see Suzy doing the post race interviews.. well who
wouldn't ;-) and we had a different team doing the commentary over here in
Aus in the replay at least (I wasn't going to get up a 5am for anyone..) one
of them was Shakey Byrnes, he was really good much better than I thought he
was going to be... even if he did do a couple of smallish mistakes he
certainly did talk well.

Vok*

 

You have to understand, "It's different in America". Laguna (0r wherever
they held it) probably couldn't make money out of a WSB only weekend. So
my suggestion wouldn't work anyway. And if it was after the
championship, it would overlap with NFL Football or something.

Then the proposals for a MotoGP race in the USA include an AMA
championship race on the same weekend and no 125 or 250. No other
promoter in the world could get away with that one.

I'm not saying that the AMA wild cards need help. I'm just trying to
avoid another situation where they simply don't enter, or sign up for
the race and then don't turn up or don't race to win.

Well maybe, but there's lots of other reasons why this doesn't happen.

 

As loud as I screamed when Frankie won the first race, I screamed when
watching him crashing out of the second race, (first lap, turn five).
Although he's like a soccer player faking an injury (at the turn two
crash), Chili has always been a class act. I hope he'll race another
season.

-- peer

 

Last time I looked every GP round has all three classes and it's been
that way for a very long time. That includes Malaysia, Australia,
Brazil, S Africa and other non-European, non-Japan countries. When (if)
China and Qatar get their races do you think the 125 and 250 won't be
included?

Hmmm. Like I said "It's different in America". Everywhere else in the
world, they run all three classes and then add something local to fill
out the day. Nowhere else would even consider running a national WSB
championship on the same weekend, let alone at the same track.

 

This bit of an idiot is just fed-up with your raving about how AMA or
American riders are best. They dominated in the Schwantz, Lawson and Rainey
era, but face it.... there are no WSB standard or GP standard race-winners
in the USA at the moment. Until they prove they can do it, you should quit
boasting about how they could.
Show some respect.

 

Bad example. Hayden's done pretty well for himself so far this season
and shows steady improvement every race. If he can manage to stay in
MotoGP on a competitive bike, he just might go places. But he could
equally well end up like many other people who win everything until they
make it to the top class but then never win again.

 

Even the *good* AMA riders are either Canadian or Aussie

 

It's an observation. Because if it was criticism we'd be getting into
some dangerous socio-political areas.

There's also a chicken and egg thing happening here. Motorcycle racing
gets so little coverage in the USA anyway. And 125 and 250 GP gets
almost no coverage. And there's an assumption here (which may be right)
that Americans won't be interested and won't be motivated to part with
cash to show their interest unless an American is involved.

And then I wrote a whole rant which I've now deleted because I don't
want to get into *that* argument.

Whatever.

So who wants to start the discussion of just how good the 125 and 250
championships have been this season?

 

This just proves you don't know anything about it and should be ignored.

 

In rain races, Mid-ohio, Road America to name two, he and some not
named top racers usually maintained the top 10, but not without
prodding from the privateers.

Sears Point or whatever they are calling it now is a joke. I
wouldn't call it an oval, but it sucks as a race track, slowly they
are making changes to it to make it rideable.

Brainerd has a lot of the original track surface from when it was
first built, well over 25 years ago, the straight is used for drag
races so is unrideable in the rain. They won't put any decent sized
purses up becasue the drag races are where they make their money.

Mid-Ohio is another "junk" track. They have so many transitions from
the concrete patches in the corners, bumps on the straights...

It is badly in need of a repaving.

The U.S. needs more tracks like V.I.R. , but that is unlikely because
people can make more money building housing developments. Plus thay
don't have to spend time in court becasue the neighbors are
complaining.

I think Nicky has a steep learning curve ahead, but I really would
have liked to see Eric Bostrom get a shot at Moto-GP . He is riding
with more confidence then he has ever had. Honda destroyed his
confidence when he rode with them one year, he has come back and I
feel his strongest asset is his ability to take whatever is thrown at
him and still maintain his sense of humor and be a real person.

 

Dunno. It's something I've personally never understood (why should
where the protagonists were born affect my interest in a sport?), so
I'm probably not the best person to comment on it. But I will anyway


Certainly plenty of brits were into GPs when the americans dominated
in the 80s. Perhaps there was some help from a common language. but
still, there hasn't really been a winning british rider in GPs for 30
years[1], and yet still 72,000 turned up the the British GP this year.
So, while 'local interest' almost certainly helps, I don't think it's
a pre-requisite.

[1] apologies to Jerry McWilliams, Iain McConnachie, Alan Carter, etc.
But one off wins are not what I'm on about here.

 

So is Jim, Mark's evil twin? I think we should be told.

Oh dear, oh dear. Dr Jekyll. Meet Mr Hyde.