That's gotta' be a first!

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=31500


"The Buell 1125R will de-tuned with intake restrictors to meet the
120-horspower limit for SST."

Say what?
I've been around a looong time and I'll be damned if I can remember a
Harley ever having *that* particular issue...

 

A real Harley? WTF is that? You mean a Mexley, or a Tiavidson?

Russ, I'm not about to dis Buell, as I'm convinced his heart's in the
right place and he yearns to race, but it might say something, not only
about Harley but the US too, that he had to look abroad to find
engineers to build a competitive (hopeully) engine...

 

BTW, hope everyone here fared well over the off season. I saw that WSB

WSBK is what it is and if we had a dog in the fight it might be easier
for me to resolve the issue's I have with that series, (maybe) but
alas, we don't...

 

So M/C racing isn't worth watching unless there's an American on the
grid. Well I'm glad we got that one sorted out.

 

International events, or "World Championships" always come with a
nationalistic, or ethnic side, it's what gets fans fanatic and
promoter's wet, as damn near everyone likes to pull for a homie. The
somewhat sad fact that series doesn't have one single septic in it
doesn't do much to make it more appealing to USAins and why should it?
That said, those races really got the blood pumpin' for all out, haul
ass racing at the big track!

Today's hot rumor, The AMA "put off" naming a sucessor for 2 weeks, 1
week ago and now some "insider's" say it was to make a big splash at
France's Fast Fun House and given that Speedweek just happens to
coincide with their announcement date, well, you do the math, or to put
it another way, Ray Charles could've seen this coming. Then again, it's
just a rumor, though I think a pretty good one...

 

No Brits there either. So we tend to adopt someone. Bayliss because he
won BSB years ago. Xaus because he's mad. Sofuoglu because he's going
where no Turk has gone before. Haga because he once said "It's Broddy
Laneing" to Suzie Perry. There's even people who root for Biaggi because
he once rode an Aprilia in Black and Silver.

Yup. Was good wasn't it. Xaus put some proper hard moves on Biaggi.
There's was one beautiful shot where they're taking a left hand bend
side by side under power with both of them chirping the front and back
tyres alternately. Real balls out stuff.

 

then how about Levilla & Kyonari? more BSB champs

quite a few good moves by a variety of riders. made for interesting races
(and I don't need an American to watch/enjoy - but i miss JT)

btw how about the bonehead mistake by haga? you'd think with his experience
that he would know that the middle of a turn at speed, when already dealing
with issues, is not the time to let go of the grips, especially to gesture
to someone who can;t see you anyway.

Bruce

 

Who's that guy Smrz and did he win any money last weekend? If so, I'm
thinkin' he might consider buying a vowel..

Ayup, good stuff...

 

Puts me in mind of 2002 with Edwards, Bayliss+Xaus and Hodgson+Toseland.
Except that year Hodgson+Toseland were on Dunlops and couldn't quite
match the Michelins. But the GSE bikes were pretty close to the factory
bikes. Close enough for Hodgson to be consistently third just behind
Edwards and Bayliss.

 

For me, it's Haga, because he put that old YZF750 places where no-one else
could go. And I got a high-5 off him at Donington some 6 years back.

According to a friend who has the 2007 review DVD, he did the same thing
at Brno, and got a slide but didn't crash. Should have been a wake up
call.

 

You know, I really don't mind that there aren't any Americans in the
series at the moment. The racing is good now that there's more than
one brand at the front, and therefore more than one or two riders.

But, what bothers me right now is the disconnect between the SBK
series'. There's no apparent path from AMA SBK to WSBK. Nobody in
the AMA seems to want anything to do with WSBK these days. We never
hear any AMA riders speak of wanting a "promotion" to WSBK, only to
MotoGP. There hasn't been any interest in moving to WSBK since,
probably, BBoz did it in 2000 and EBoz took a few rides a couple years
later. Right now, the AMA riders just don't see WSBK as a step up.
The tracks may be better or safer but the series just doesn't have the
esteem of a World Championship it once had thanks to the recent years
of single-team-dominance (Factory Duc) and then the spec tire
boondoggle of picking the third rate Pirellis.

Ten years ago someone like Ben Spies would have been shipped off to
WSBK after riding the way he has over the past five years.
Personally, I'd rather see Ben go off to WSBK than MotoGP. Especially
if he's going to have to settle for a second rate MotoGP ride like a
Suzuki or Kawasaki. I'd really like to see him ripping on an Alstare
Suzuki. Actually, I'd like to see Ben on another brand at some point
just to prove he's not a one-trick-pony.