When I heard that Mladin had taken #7 instead of sticking with #6, I thought: "Man, what a cocky bastard. He picked seven because he 'knew' this would be his 7th championship." I mean, I should know better than to underestimate Mladin, who well has good reason to be cocky. Much like his little embedded 7 on his #6 graphic last year, he has a flair for marketing himself, but, wow, 7 on his bike basically rubs it in to the noses of everyone else, and that's brazen even for him. But it's his last year, so, what does he have to lose. But then I learned that perhaps his number choice is not as sinister as I thought. With reference to: http://superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jan/090129-2.htm Effectively, riders don't "own" their numbers any more. Rather the TEAM owns the numbers. Mladin is taking #7 because he was really only offered a choice of one of 3 or 4 numbers of which 7 had been one. So, no more 66 (or 6), 22, 100, 155, 2, 95, or 40. So far, 17 and 32 aren't even playing this year. Josh Hayes by fate gets to keep his #4. You know, big deal, it's just a number. But IMHO it IS a big deal. The numbers are part of the racers identity. I don't know if there's big controversy over who gets what number every year, or if riders get to pick whatever number they want in order of finishing last year, or what. But it just one more change that externally seems to be for changes sake rather than solving an actual problem. Counter to the old way as well as counter to the other major series in world simply to be contrary. And maybe it's part of the DMGs goal to reduce the riders standing and cede to the team. When B. Boz moved from Ducati to Honda to Ducati to Yamaha, we always knew it was B. Boz, as he has his number with him. If he does that today, at a glance we won't know that -- all we'll know is Ducati, Honda, Ducati, Yamaha. Guess we can't have the rider trump the brand or team or whatever. At a minimum it's just one more thing happening this year that makes me shake my head and go WTF. Regards, Will Hartung
From what I can tell the team reserves, or requests the actual numbers, but you would think that some preference would be made for past champs, either that, or maybe any single number (2-9) be reserved solely for them on a first come basis...
Well, it looks like Hodgson is running #100 for Corona. http://superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jan/080130a.htm So, who knows. Regards, Will Hartung
For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure they still do DT that way, only past Champs can use single numbers, all others are on seniority, that is, if you had #A this year, you get 1st shot at it next time..
