WSBK 2014...

Max Headroom wrote: »

Starts this w/e......Nice to see Eugene flying the flag for us again...;)...looking forward to seeing Lowes too, but most of all i want to see 10' tall Chaz Davies on the Panigale.......:D

Was going to start a WSBK thread today

I'm really looking forward to this year. I think that Laverty will push very hard this year.

Race 2

Not great for Suzuki to have that happen so early on, I wonder if its a case that they are trying to get too much from that engine to maintain competitiveness?
Eugene is a very tidy rider to watch on any machinery.

Grim. wrote: »

Was thinking the same this morning, hoping this isn't the case and it was something like a batch issue with a particular part, at least there's time before the next round to figure out what happened and try find a solution to it.

Yeah I'd be surprised if its any major issue, sometimes racing engines just blow. It's a shame it happened today and not in practice because Eugene looked very well placed to take the double

Grim. wrote: »

He's amazing to watch especially at fast flowing circuits like Philip Island

I've always been a fan of Eugene and he showed how good he can be over the last few years. I always bring it back to WSS in 2008 when he was up against Cal Crutchlow for the the title. That year the Yamaha was clearly the bike to be on (Chaz Davies won the title two years later on pretty much the same package) but Eugene on a second tier Honda (The Ten Kate squad and Kenan had the better bike that year) was able to come damn close to winning the title.
Last year on the Aprilia he always seemed to be chasing some good luck and his mechanical issues really held him back but with some luck he'll have a strong year and be in MotoGP next year on the factory Suzuki. It'd be great to see him get a proper shot at GPs

They usually put it up on Aertel but I don't remember them ever covering his results on the main sports news.

I think UTV have it on their sports bulletins as I remember them mentioning Laverty and Rea's results last year.

Sylvain Barrier was in a coma after a car accident last weekend.
He has since come out of it but remains in hospital
Best wishes for a speedy recovery Sylvain.

Deleted User wrote: »

What channel has coverage this year? A bump on race weekends would be good, love watching a Superbike race.

Eurosport will have the coverage of BSB and WSBK.

The next WSBK round is in Aragon on April 13th. The first round of BSB is the following weekend in brands hatch.

Max Headroom wrote: »

Sad to see this thread dropping down the list...goes to show that WSBK was always been the poor mans Motogp......it certainely is for me now that Motogp is ppv ....:)

I don't think the gap between races at the start of the season helps.

The Russian race has been cancelled which means there shall be a long gap mid season as well now.

EB_2013 wrote: »

Very impressive double by Rea. It seems they have sorted the Honda's out this year compared to last year when they were down on top speed. Just hope they can keep it up for the rest of the season and challenge the Kawasaki's who usually pill ahead in the races.

Haven't a clue what's going on with Suzuki, I expected Laverty to be challenging for the title after Phillip Island but it's been a disaster since then.

I think there is a couple of things at play here.
Kawasaki's usually totally dominant but at Imola suffering from tyre wear issues, Aprilia usually top of the heap alongside Kawasaki, suffering with tyre wear issues and falling away mid race.
Now the FIM have recently appointed a new technical director in Scott Smart and he is a pretty smart dude, ex racer crew chief etc etc.
He has said he is going to be looking for frames that aren't legal.
In other words that have adjustability outside that of what is currently permitted and maybe non-homologated frame thickness/geometry etc.
I wonder are these related to the current issues or was it just the track:D
Also it was mentioned that Ten Kate have a new electronics guru who was previously with BMW and is a bit of a genius with electronics, he apparently has spent a lot of time with the CBR which is running MotoGP electronics apparently.
This might have helped Johnny Rea with his bike although Haslam doesn't seem to be anywhere near Rea in terms of speed or consistency.
WTF is up with Sofuoglu's team? He didn't need another DNF at this stage.
Suzuki have a lot of work to do to catch up.

Flying yonsepang this morning for the weekend, first wsbk race of the year for me! Got a few bits and pieces lined up for it so ill post them here with a few pics over the weekend

Just after finishing up in Sepang, working in Singapore for a couple of days this week so dropped in for the weekend! Great days racing but tell you what there was some heat! Huge respect to the riders for managing to make it through the races in such conditions. Got sitting down with Eugene, JR and Chaz Davies yesterday and Alex Lowes today, everything is up on the site, except for Chaz because it was a really long interview!

Here's a few pics from this weekend:

I've uploaded a few more to my gallery here

CJhaughey wrote: »

Love the one of Sykes going past the Guy taking a piss against the Armco!

Yeah that's a favourite of mine from the weekend!

Infoanon wrote: »

Frostie, how did a WSBK weekend compare to a motogp weekend ?

It was really quiet! At a MotoGP race there's usually, lets say 200 media (journos and photographers), at F1 there's lets say 350 but at WSBK there was probably about 30 total! It was really amazing to see the difference! Nice series to go to though because the riders are accessible and happy to talk, it's much more relaxed than any race I'd been to before

Great stuff Johnny and Jack yesterday, great days racing!

EB_2013 wrote: »

Thank god Sykes is brutal in the wet, I was expecting another another dominant display after race one but luckily the rain arrived. Great ride by Rea.

What's the deal with the scheduling this year, Portugal and USA a week apart and then no race for nearly 2 months. Was another race cancelled in between? Could've been spread out better.

Moscow was cancelled for August

Magown3 wrote: »

Ok, things are starting back up this weekend and while watching the qualifying, the commentators seemed to be talking a lot about rumours for next year! Exciting rumours.

Johnny Rea to Kawasaki!
Baz to Moto GP.
Haslam possibly back to BSB.
Melandri to Moto GP with Aprilla.

What have you heard?
What would you like to see?

Melandri to Moto GP is apparently a done deal and may be announced next week at Misano, I would be surprised if Johnny Rea left Honda.

How long ago was the last race at Portugal? It was so long it feels like the start of a new season!
Two rounds out of 15 cancelled and the series starts to look like a badly organised event IMO.
Sponsors won't like it and WSBK can not lose any more sponsors or they could be in serious trouble.
Dorna have a lot to do to get it back on track or it could be the start of a fatal slide into obscurity.

CJhaughey wrote: »

I wouldn't be, Rea has given his all on a basically outdated 'blade.
In return he has been given a couple of wildcards on a GP bike as a stand in for Stoner.
He has also won the Suzuka 8hr for TSR/Honda.
He is not going to get a ride on a Factory machine and the list of riders ahead of him for Satellite seats is long and getting longer.
His only option at this stage is to stay in WSBK and get himself a competitive ride which means Kawasaki or Aprilia at this point.
If he had decent machinery under him he may well have had a couple of championships under his belt at this point.
He may as well cut his losses and ride for the win rather than loyalty at this stage of his career.
Kawasaki have the best package for the EVO rules currently and if Aprilia go back to GP then their factory SBK effort won't be much to write home about.

Couldn't agree with this more. I only wish he cut His ties 2 years ago before he renewed his contract for 2 years. On a competitive or even semi competitive bike, he's a championship contender.

I'd hate to see him end his career on a Honda in years to come with the horrible title of "the fastest rider never to win a championship". Would be a terrible shame.

Magown3 wrote: »

Ok, things are starting back up this weekend and while watching the qualifying, the commentators seemed to be talking a lot about rumours for next year! Exciting rumours.

Johnny Rea to Kawasaki!
Baz to Moto GP.
Haslam possibly back to BSB.
Melandri to Moto GP with Aprilla.

What have you heard?
What would you like to see?

The Kawasaki's would be unstoppable next year if they can get Johnny on board especially if their nearest rivals Aprilia scale back to concentrate on MotoGP. I would love to see how he does going head to head with Sykes and it might be his best chance of winning the championship.

If Johnny or Leon leave Pata Honda I'm guessing Van der Mark will step up after winning the Supersport title. He looks like an exciting prospect.