WSB Qatar (Superpole Spoiler)

Well that was interesting.

- Corser. A beautiful lap from the master of superpole
- Xaus. Boy was he trying. Lets hope we get to see the spiderman riding
hard and loose and NOT losing the front every weekend.
- Biaggi. A bad 1st segment but then a lap that got faster and faster

Haga will be right up there tomorrow.
Bayliss blew it. He's been faster than that all weekend.
Where are the Hondas? Shot in the foot because they got the bikes so
late.

 

Their showing doesn't bode well for Hodgy and Miggy either...

 

possibly true, but how much correlation has the WSB hondas and AMA hondas
had the past few years?

Bruce

 

I thought TK had done pretty well with them and given how much
effort($) Duc makes in that series, that says something to me. So, if
he doesn't stack-up any better than that with riders that are
(arguably;-) not quite the caliber of Ben and Mat, then Hodgy and Miggy
could have a(nother) loooong season..
Remember, this is the new double secret Fireblade and I just was hoping
it would show better out of the box, or, at the very least, HRC
would've supplied something 1/2 way race ready. Guess not..
Beyond that there's not much more to see at this point, but given
they're up against a bigger, meaner and more than likely, sandbaggin'
Duc, not to mention a refined R-1, they and probably Honda US could be
sukin' hind teat this year. I hope not, but we'll see...

 

TK does great with the 600s, and did well on the lite bikes with
toseland (and vermulen) - with lesser riders like muggers and rolfo
they were back in the pack - a good package but not dominating on its'
own. so you are comparing the competitors to ben & mat, but there is
also the comparison of checa & sofoglu to miguel & hodgson. Sofoglu
looked good last year on the ssport, (but so did muggeridge back in the
day) but that was on a clearly superior bike for the most part, so
it is yet to be seen if he can run with the big boys - last years TK
wins were in a big part to JT riding like a demon. Then you have the
latest motogp senior - how will he adjust to different team, bikes.

So just because they aren't on top in WSB doesn't mean that HondaUS
and the experience of the riders might not fair better in AMA. Now
until we see something I'm afraid the 2 yosh boys are going to run
away again, but i hope not.

Bruce

 

TBH I really don't have, or get much exposure to WSB, but I thought TK
was doing pretty good compared to Honda US in the last few years..

I hear ya'...

 

Well Ten Kate and Honda US got the bikes at about the same time. Because
of the hands off HRC involvement, they're going through exactly parallel
development. Ten Kate have been using Roberts to build swing arms, and
they can move very quickly, so the first stage was race suspension,
wheels and brakes and to start with that's straight forwards. Ten Kate
have huge experience building engines. But then you get to the
electronics and fine tuning and that's where the money goes on testing
and track time.

 

Yeehaaa! What a great 1st race. It's going to be a kick ass season in
WSB.

Checa brings it home 7th, 9 seconds back. Not too shabby, but not race
winning either.

Oh Haga. What are you doing?

 

Especially if you're a Ducatista! Anyway you look at it that was one
hell of a debut for a new bike...

 

Looks like lots of people made bad tyre choices in the second race. Or
was that Pirelli inconsistency?

Any bets on Ducati getting the extra weight penalty for the fourth race
weekend?

 

I haven't seen the races yet, but from the looks of how they mobbed the
box maybe they'll make them run a biposto and haul a passenger...

 

Despite that, check out the Suzuki just motoring past them on the
straight. And Corser and Haga easily able to hold them at bay until the
tyres went off. And then there's the riders. Bayliss, Biaggi and Xaus
are the equal of anyone else out there.

I think right now it's all good. 4 Ducatis, 2 Suzukis, 2 Yamahas and the
Hondas will be up with them soon. And the racing's close. What more can
you want? A Kawasaki?

 

And the tires went off because they had to run softer one's to keep up
with the Duc's?

Bayliss maybe, the rest, I dunno'..

Uhh, a series without a spec tire that doesn't kow down to Ducati? Heh,
what's gonna happen when Aprilia starts with their new v-4? Will it be
a conflict of Dago's?
All that BS said and obnoxious Limey commentators aside, not bad races,
I'm just sooo glad Speedweek starts Friday..

 

Who do you get on Speed? Is it Jack Burnicle and Jamie Witham, or some
random Brit and Aussie? I watched a bit of the website footage and I
think they were using the same guys who do the web coverage on MotoGP.
And yeah, they suck. Whereas I like the Burnicle/Witham show and the
Moody/Ryder show.

 

The commentators on most of the web coverage (worldsbk.com, etc) are
Jonathon Green and Steve Martin.

 

Between the HotShoes, Daytona and the Gatornationals I'll need a month
of "fiscal replenishment" before Barber, beyond those, I gotta figure
out how find the buck$ for Indy...

 

We did the southern swing last year(VIR and RA) and had a super time up
in the Shenandoah,(hard cider!;-) but were able to stay with friends
along the way, so, it wasn't that expensive, however, Indy will be a
much different deal. I went to the 500 back in the 80's when it really
was a big deal and remember it Daytonaesque, that is, not F'ing cheap,
but hopefully W's BS economic $600 kickback will hit by then and take a
little pain away from the $4 a gallon gas that we'll prolly be
"allowed" to buy this summer...

 

Agree completely. I download the J&J British Eurosport coverage on
bittorrent and love it, and I can't watch MotoGP without Moody/Ryder/Mamola.
In my dreams we could watch British Eurosport live here in the states but it
isn't going to happen.

 

The commentators on most of the web coverage (worldsbk.com, etc) are
Jonathon Green and Steve Martin.

Yeah, I think that is who it is on Speed but I didn't record it this time to
be sure. Most of the Yanks I know can't stand whoever covered WSBK last year
or Nick Harris on MotoGP.

 

I guess most are not interested in Utah, huh? I've never been but it does
not look good for spectating from what I've seen on TV.