WSBK/BSB 2013

Grim.

So the 2013 WSBK season kicks off in the small hours of tomorrow morning and its already looking very positive for Irish hopes with Eugene Laverty qualifying second on race rubber in super bikes and dubliner Jack Kennedy fifth on the super sport grid.

It's safe to say i cant feckin wait for this

CJhaughey

Congrats to Norge, what a race in Race 2, he learnt his lesson in Race 1
Guintoli also rode a fantastic race.
Aprilia look to be very good this year, maybe Biaggi's departure has made the camp a bit more friendly?

Please Kill Me

CJhaughey wrote: »

Congrats to Norge, what a race in Race 2, he learnt his lesson in Race 1
Guintoli also rode a fantastic race.
Aprilia look to be very good this year, maybe Biaggi's departure has made the camp a bit more friendly?

Absolutely!! Everyone seems happier anyway. Great morning all the same.

Great WSS race too with Lowes and Sofuoglu! Right to the line! :eek:

Max Headroom

Big mistake by Checa....

Not a bad result for JK...first time out......

Max Headroom

Adult movie channel backing for Michael Laverty and Shane Byrne ..........Ya might want to stiffen up the front and stick a hard one round the rear.........................:D

Monkeybonkers

Great Supersport race in the BSB.
Nice to see Byrne winning the first Superbike race. Roll on race 2

Max Headroom

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

Great Supersport race in the BSB.
Nice to see Byrne winning the first Superbike race. Roll on race 2

Proper racing......not like yer motogp stuff.....:D

Dcully

Bad luck Laverty ,mechanical failure while leading in Aragon :-(

Dcully

And crashes out leading on lap one in race 2

Max Headroom

WTF was goin on yesterday...........never saw so many weird crashes and bike issues in one day....

CJhaughey

Max Headroom wrote: »

WTF was goin on yesterday...........never saw so many weird crashes and bike issues in one day....

Phucked up start in Race 2 allowed tyres to cool off, Pata Honda struggling with the HRC electronics, Straight off the GP bikes doesn't mean they work well on a streetbike.
All kinds of sensor issues and brake issues with JR65.
Shame for Laverty in Race 2 but the Apes are a fast machine when they are on song, BMW no slouch either as Chas proved.
Jack Kennedy a respectable 7th!

frostie500

Being reported that Haslam broke his leg in a crash at Assen

Max Headroom

Yeah, read that this morning....guys not had much luck lately....

F.J.

He has said on his twitter it is broken. Been some bad injuries this season. Camier had a nasty one at Aragon.

frostie500

By the way I'm trying to organise an interview with Eugene Laverty over the weekend so if anyone has any specific questions let me know and I'll try and fit them in

Max Headroom

Why is riding under the Irish flag...???? or maybe you could answer that...

h3000

Max Headroom wrote: »

Why is riding under the Irish flag...???? or maybe you could answer that...

I think it's because...
He applied for his race licence through Motorsport Ireland. Anyone living in NI can apply to the Irish or UK authorities. To the best of my knowledge the flag your race under corresponds to where your licence was issued.

frostie500

h3000 wrote: »

I think it's because...
He applied for his race licence through Motorsport Ireland. Anyone living in NI can apply to the Irish or UK authorities. To the best of my knowledge the flag your race under corresponds to where your licence was issued.

The rider also has a choice. There's been plenty of Australian riders who got their racing licence in the UK (because the age requirements for road racing are 12 years old as opposed to 14 iirc). In the case of Laverty, and Jon Rea, they have the freedom to choose to race under the Tricolour or the Union Jack. Laverty races under the Tricolour and Rea under the Jack due to their own choice. Interestingly I have seen that Michael Laverty is racing under the Union Jack in MotoGP this year.

As a side note it says Ireland on the front of it rather than the Republic of Ireland and our nationality is Irish regardless of if we are born in the North or South

h3000

frostie500 wrote: »

The rider also has a choice. There's been plenty of Australian riders who got their racing licence in the UK (because the age requirements for road racing are 12 years old as opposed to 14 iirc). In the case of Laverty, and Jon Rea, they have the freedom to choose to race under the Tricolour or the Union Jack. Laverty races under the Tricolour and Rea under the Jack due to their own choice. Interestingly I have seen that Michael Laverty is racing under the Union Jack in MotoGP this year.

As a side note it says Ireland on the front of it rather than the Republic of Ireland and our nationality is Irish regardless of if we are born in the North or South

Oh right. I was always under the impression it was to do with where your racing licence was issued. As they say you learn something new every day.

Max Headroom

frostie500 wrote: »

The rider also has a choice. There's been plenty of Australian riders who got their racing licence in the UK (because the age requirements for road racing are 12 years old as opposed to 14 iirc). In the case of Laverty, and Jon Rea, they have the freedom to choose to race under the Tricolour or the Union Jack. Laverty races under the Tricolour and Rea under the Jack due to their own choice. Interestingly I have seen that Michael Laverty is racing under the Union Jack in MotoGP this year.

As a side note it says Ireland on the front of it rather than the Republic of Ireland and our nationality is Irish regardless of if we are born in the North or South

Thats exactly why i asked............different fathers maybe.........:D

Excellent 100 superstock race.....

Great first race today.....bummer for Euge, dont know what went on there...

Infoanon

Some good racing today but a lot of empty seats at Assen

frostie500

Infoanon wrote: »

Some good racing today but a lot of empty seats at Assen

Yesterday was like a test day...

Good racing so far today as you say, hopefully Kennedy can hold onto fourth

Dcully

Get in there Eugene son, great win race 2 at Assen.

Infoanon

Dcully wrote: »

Get in there Eugene son, great win race 2 at Assen.

That was a close one ! I had flashes of Hayden/Edwards - great win for Eugene

Dcully

Infoanon wrote: »

That was a close one ! I had flashes of Hayden/Edwards - great win for Eugene

I thought sykes would pull away like race 1 but Laverty was excellent.

Wonder will he get a mention in rte news sport report this evening.

h3000

Dcully wrote: »

Wonder will he get a mention in rte news sport report this evening.

Hardly :mad:

Great ride from him.

Max Headroom

Excellent tactics by Euge........anyone else pi$$eed that BRITISH eurosport didnt show the podium bit........Because Sykes didnt win maybe..;);)

Dcully

Max Headroom wrote: »

Excellent tactics by Euge........anyone else pi$$eed that BRITISH eurosport didnt show the podium bit........Because Sykes didnt win maybe..;);)

Yeah it sucked we never got to see the podium.

frostie500

Few photos from over the weekend:

Good day for the Irish yesterday with Rea doing a stunning job in both races to out perform his bike and unlucky not to have two rostrum finishes




Laverty's performance in Race 2 was stunning. When you take into account how dominant that Sykes was in Race 1 it was a big ask for Eugene to manage to cross that divide but a mature and intelligent performance by him got the win


Loris Baz impressed me over the weekend, he was one of the smoothest riders out there


Chaz Davies wasnt able to replicate his Aragon form but he had a very solid weekend and I thought his performance in the opening race was good


Here's a close up of Davide Giugliano


Tom Sykes was superb to watch. He is the most aggressive rider in the class and he hustles his Kawasaki around the track. Superb in the opening race, you'd nearly have thought everyone else was on a Supersport bike!


Sylvain Guintoli had a solid if unspectacular weekend. His fights with Rea were very exciting though


Leon Camier said that his target from this weekend was just to score some point and given his injuries and problems over the weekend he did very well on Sunday


Michel Fabrizio's office

CJhaughey

My pick was the Superstock 1000 race between Eddie La Marra, Sylvain Barrier and Niccolo Canepa.
A closer finish would be hard to imagine, and the last three corners were amazing.
Congrats to Eugene, a very clever race, there certainly isn't much between the Kawasaki and the Aprilia. Kawasaki seem to have the tyre wear under control so far this year.

CJhaughey

1. Kev Coghlan (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'59.339
2. Andrea Antonelli (Team Goeleven) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'59.635
3. Kenan Sofuoglu (MAHI Racing Team India) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'59.728
4. Sheridan Morais (PTR Honda) Honda CBR600RR 2'00.977
5. Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport) Honda CBR600RR 2'00.996
6. Luca Marconi (PTR Honda) Honda CBR600RR 2'01.229
7. Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2'01.261
8. Stefano Cruciani (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2'01.331
9. Jack Kennedy (Rivamoto) Honda CBR600RR 2'01.542
10. Mathew Scholtz (Suriano Racing Team) Suzuki GSX-R600 2'01.603

Great to see Jack Kennedy up in the top ten in wet qualifying.
Iddon and Lowes are 12th and 13th

Max Headroom

Excellent 1000 SS race as usual....Canapa really messed it up for La Marra.....

Grim.

great judgement from Eugene on when to pull the pin timed it well

Dcully

Intelligent race yet again from Eugene.

paddy147

Well fair play to BBC News NI for showing it on their news programme,just a few minutes ago on BBC1.

They showed him winning race 2 said that Eugene finished 3rd in the 1st race and then 1st in the 2nd race.

They also mentioned that Johny Rae retired.


Now I wonder if RTE News and Sport on RTE1 at 6pm,will mention anything about Eugene winning...seen as hes an Irishman doing very well in a top class world sport.

frostie500

Another mature performance from Eugene in race two and a well deserved win. I didnt get to see the end of the first race, what happened?

Skyes has been penalised for his off track excursion on the last lap so Guintoli gets third

Grim.

frostie500 wrote: »

I didnt get to see the end of the first race, what happened?

top three covered by a tenth at the line

paddy147

Fcuking typical of RTE News.:mad:

Not a single mention of Eugenes success today.

But they gave coverage to Rory MEelroy playing a fcuking golf game,and hes not even leading it.:rolleyes:

Why wont RTE News and Sport recognize Eugene Laverty as a world class bike racer and give him coverage?????

Grim.

paddy147 wrote: »

Fcuking typical of RTE News.:mad:

Not a single mention of Eugenes success today.

But they gave coverage to Rory Mcelroy palyingh a fcuking gold game,and hes not even leading it.:rolleyes:

Why wont RTE News and Sport recognize Eugene Laverty as a world class bike racer and give him coverage?????

minority sport here compared with golf,football,GAA etc and only so much time to fit it all in, you could see more once the footy season ends and they're looking for filler

paddy147

Grim. wrote: »

minority sport here compared with golf,football,GAA etc and only so much time to fit it all in, you could see more once the footy season ends and they're looking for filler

Minority sport???...(I think RTE have a thing agsint anything to do with motorbikes,even on a world class stage)

Hes an Irishman whos allways up there as a world class motorbike racer on the world stage.

RTE never give him any real mention at all.

Yet we allways hear about some useless athletics runner who finished 12th or 15th in some athletics race somewhere in Europe.Or some Irish golfer who didnt make the cut.


At least Eugene is a consistant/regular winner and he deserves coverage from RTE.


But as is usual RTE have their heads up their own ar5eholes.:rolleyes::mad:

F.J.

Good day for Laverty,two podiums and beating his team mate twice to close the gap at the top of the championship.
Some end to the first race.He made sure he didn't get mugged at the end of the second by taking a tighter line around last corner

Max Headroom

Calm down lads...RTE...we always expect it but it never happens...although it was on the RTE news channel all evening, a pic and a piece on the scrolling news bar....
Great rides by Euge....well done..;)

Ride of the day for me was (eventually) Lowes in the supersport race....delighted that Softyigloo slid off too..hate him, wish he didnt ride a Kwacker though...:)

paddy147

Max Headroom wrote: »

Calm down lads...RTE...we always expect it but it never happens...although it was on the RTE news channel all evening, a pic and a piece on the scrolling news bar....
Great rides by Euge....well done..;)

Ride of the day for me was (eventually) Lowes in the supersport race....delighted that Softyigloo slid off too..hate him, wish he didnt ride a Kwacker though...:)

Might be his attitude of "Im number 1 and me me me"...because I dont think he was that liked in Moto2 either.:pac:

Max Headroom

paddy147 wrote: »

Might be his attitude of "Im number 1 and me me me"...because I dont think he was that liked in Moto2 either.:pac:

He treats everyone else with contempt, no respect..........wish he'd fcuk off to F1 or something....


Just on a side note.....isnt Pippa fcuking gorgeous...naturally good looking, not like Melandri's ladyboy yoke...bet she was fuming when Pippa kissed Marco in front of her...meoooowwwww...

Max Headroom

As everyone mentioned IS involved in the racing, i'd assume its fair game......i'm clearly wrong

paddy147

Id love to see Eugene Laverty on the Tech 3 M1 in MotoGP next year.
There will be a seat going there (if Crutchlow heads off to Suzuki,as is rummored to be).

Maybe there might be 2 seats,as Bradley Smith is only on a 1 year deal with Tech 3...(thank god for that)

Eugene on an M1 would do a hell of alot better than Bradley Smith,thats for sure.

Infoanon

paddy147 wrote: »

Maybe there might be 2 seats,as Bradley Smith is only on a 1 year deal with Tech 3...(thank god for that)

Eugene on an M1 would do a hell of alot better than Bradley Smith,thats for sure.

Think Bradley is on a 2 year deal - Pol Espagaro is being lined up for a Yamaha seat.

Is it better to be on a race winning bike in WSBK or top 10 contender in Moto GP ?

frostie500

Smith has an iron clad two year contract with Tech3, I asked Herve about that last year and there is no way that he won't see out both years of the contract. I said as far back as last summer that Espargaro would be on the Tech3 in 2014 and I've no doubt that is what will transpire. Yamaha saw him battle with Marquez and have a string of pole positions last year so they think that he will do the same in the premier class...I personally can't see that happening. Marc is a one of those generation defining type riders (like Ago, Rainey, Rossi, Stoner or Lorenzo)

Crutchlow will definitely be moving from Tech3 next season as there wont be enough seats available on a Yamaha so that will leave Hayden's spot at Ducati for the Suzuki rider as mentioned earlier. I think Cal has done tremendously in the last year. I wasnt a fan of his before last season but he has made me a believer and he really deserves a factory seat.

Personally I think that Laverty would have mixed views on returning to MotoGP on a satallite bike. His reputation was left in tatters because of poor machinery in 250s and it took a long time for him to rebuild it. I think he's a very mature and intelligent racer but he'll likely only come back to GPs if he has a factory ride. He's had enough bad times in the GP paddock to know that winning in WSBK is much better than being a midgrid racer in GPs

Zoo4m8

Frostie, looking at your list of generation defining riders, I thought I'd add my two cents and I know it's moving off thread a bit, I'd maintain there have been only four scarily naturally talented men in the last sixty years, Hailwood, Saarinen , Rossi and now Marques, if he doesn't hurt himself we are may be going to see ten plus years of domination..

Anyway ,could resist it and not trying to start argument !:D

CJhaughey

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

Frostie, looking at your list of generation defining riders, I thought I'd add my two cents and I know it's moving off thread a bit, I'd maintain there have been only four scarily naturally talented men in the last sixty years, Hailwood, Saarinen , Rossi and now Marques, if he doesn't hurt himself we are may be going to see ten plus years of domination..

Anyway ,could resist it and not trying to start argument !:D

I am no Stoner fan but you have to give him credit where its due, he won on the Ducati when no-one else could or has since.
Not even VR could master it.
Cal talks too much, if he shut his face he might have got somewhere, the Japanese factories don't like being publicly humiliated and Cals comments have done him no good at all.
The thing is that there are more good riders then competitive seats in MotoGP.
Bradl will be gone if he doesn't start getting podiums as well.
Suzuki comes back in 2014, maybe with a competitive machine maybe not.
So we'll have Suzuki(?), Yamaha Factory (2), HRC(2), Ducati(4). Then the Satellite M1(1) and RCV(2) and then the production racer RCV(4) and the Yamaha M1 engine package(4) which is 19+ the Suzuki bikes.
I can't see many CRT's being with this lot except maybe the ART Aprilia's.
Its pretty much a full grid.
If Paul Bird and the like want to compete then they had better start negotiating with Yamaha or Honda for a customer package.

Max Headroom

..AND BREATHE..Wow what a WSB 600 race.....:eek:...6th for Jack, brilliant...Soffy isnt a happy bunny..:)



Well done Euge......and Johnny....:)

Odd thing to happen to Tom on the siting lap....didnt show it on TV...

Melandri.......no nookie for him tonite....:P