Ducati Monster Forum

Rapp: http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35478

Holden: http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35479

Dog eat dog out there...

both caused by the OEMs quasi-bailing.  really sucks for both those guys but i'm glad the hacking situation got resolved at least. 

....sure is gonna be a good year for WSBK.


(actually, there's a lot about the nasbike series i'm excited to see.  but that's probably a minority opinion.)

It is from this perspective. :-\

Do tell.  I'm interested to hear.

I suspect he's excited to see the competition amongst the riders.

For a while there, it looked to me like US pro roadracing was going to split into 2 factions, neither of which would have enough wheelbase to survive.
It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than the alternative.

pretty much.


things i'm excited to see:

bboz and josh hayes on the '09 R1... that bike [bow_down], the competition between the two, and whether or not between that machine and the rule changes if they really have something for yosh

to see bboz in general, based on the new racer he became in '08

same with josh hayes.  he had a phenomenal end to his year with WSS and he finally has his factory sbk ride.  i bet he can barely feel the ground right now.

healthy haydens.  he did it quietly but tommy was getting really fast on that yosh before he got taken out.  and i'm sure roger lee wants to prove '07 wasn't a fluke.

hacker back on a 600.  last time he rode a 600 he killed everyone.

whether or not blake young on a factory yosh lives up to the exponential expectations he created with his performances on a non-factory bike last year

to see the competition between tommy aquino and josh herrin

to find out whether or not DiSalvo comes out guns blazing on the 600 after losing his sbk ride or if he remains fast-boring-mid-pack guy

to see chaz davies on a big heavy 1000cc twin in the sportbike (aka supersport) class

whether or not buell has anything for anyone

to not see duhamel

topeka

daytona at night

daytona 200 in general.. all 4 yamaha riders out there, roger lee, hacker, (probably) zemke... going to be fierce.

aaron yates and geoff may (less so the latter, excitement-wise) on closer-to-equal machinery in the sbk class

larry pegram on a 1098R (hasn't been confirmed for some reason, but he's been testing)

the superbike class in general.  i would have rather they'd gone to WSBK specs, but as the economy gets worse and worse, there'd be no one that could afford to be on the grid.  there would have been 5 bikes.  that said, spec fuel, spec tires, no 16.5" wheels, no $40,000 forks, more strict homologation rules, limitations on the amount of fanciness your electronics can have, and more limited engine development *should* get DMG what they wanted: closer racing and a class that's accessible to a much broader audience of racer.

and finally, with all of the above, whether or not mladin is still going to come out and stomp everyone.  he probably will.

Dang man!  You really thought about this season.  I'm excited after reading that.

As far as the thread topic, no contract no promises for Rapp.  That just sounds like poor business sense.

Holden, that sucks to get stiffed pay.  Good for him for pursuing it. Sounds like the team is shadey.

PS I just got an email from Pro Italia advertising $14000 Ohlins forks that didn't include all parts needed for installation.  I ordered two pairs just in case i messed up when I bolt them on my $4k bike!!! [roll]

heh.. well in truth i was always a fan of the AMA series.  granted it was pretty effed up, and it's not exactly fixed now, but at least someone made a decision or two and they're marching in 1 direction.  always some great racing in amongst the static.

and as is obvious, i HATE the off-season.  =)

I watch AMA as it's on Speed and it is really the series that got me into moto racing.  It has been pretty lacking in suspense the past few years with the dominance of each respective manufaturer in the different classes.

I'm looking forward to something new this season if nothing else.

I'm really looking forward to WSBK.  Hopefully Speed runs a few more of the races this year.  Maybe I'll subscribe to the wedsite this year and bag he MotoGP subscription.

...a few more than all of them?

 [laugh]

Thanks, gm2.  That's an interesting perspective.  I haven't really focused on AMA in the past, and it good to hear from someone who hasn't just completely written off '09. 

Back on topic, Rapp's story just sounded mean.  Can you imagine hearing about it that way?  Or worse, showing up for testing and having no bike or crew?  Damn, that's some cold shit. 

I guess since I don't have tevo I don't count it when they run the races on Tuesdays at 10 am.

If I can't see it when it's run I'm SOL.

you must have a really loose interpretation of "when it's run" considering they haven't showed a live worldsbk since ~7 years ago.

 [laugh]  "didn't catch it" is not the same as "didn't show it".  they do show all the wsbk events.  and wss for that matter, which you should also definitely watch.  the wss races are some of the best racing on 2 wheels.  those guys are effing crazy.

(and greg, do you want a series 2, i.e. not HD, tivo?  really, i have one collecting dust.)

I guess I'll be more careful with my choice of verbs and tense in future posts.  I didn't realize we were being graded on our posts! [laugh]

I'll stay out of the deep end of the forum from now on. [bow_down]

GM

Thanks for the offer.  I sent you a PM.

Turns out my neighbor is Ollie from Attack Kawasaki...... his short version was that Rapp was offered half of what he made last year.....

On a positive note, he did say that anytime I needed some parts to come & knock on his door [thumbsup]

He's also selling a new 06 ZX10 for $6500 & two 08 ZX10's for in the crate for $8500 each if anyone's looking for a track bike.

And lastly, GregP, we expect better from an educator.... er administrator but I have a DVR so you're welcome to watch WSBK @ my place anytime [beer]

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35504 (http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35504)

rapp ironically also ends up on an aprilia

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35507 (http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35507)

not that we haven't already detailed how much this whole thing would suck for jake holden, but..

"...reported to the Corona Extra Honda Racing pit area with his leathers on, ready to ride."

rest of the article is, uh, interesting, too.

http://www.roadracerx.com/article.php?article_id=1150 (http://www.roadracerx.com/article.php?article_id=1150)

December 24, 2008 <~~~~~

RRX: Does flying the flag for Honda change how you approach 2009?

Corona Honda team principal Tim Saunders: We have to redouble our efforts this year. Jake Holden did a great job this year and was very competitive and we’ll just try our best to put a package together that will continue to give him what he needs to go up against the competition.

operative word being "try".

Hope Hodgson's got a stellar lawyer.  [roll]

hodgson has a contract w/ honda, not saunders... he likely ended up in that seat because honda had to pay him no matter what.

Saunders sounds like a real make the beast with two backsing prince. [roll]

Rapp signed with Blackhole racing [thumbsup]


http://www.motorcycle.com/news/rapp-signs-with-blackhole-racing-87923.html (http://www.motorcycle.com/news/rapp-signs-with-blackhole-racing-87923.html)

And yes I saw that I was late on this one [bang]

hmmm  http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35545

yeah, uhh... if you resign, and everyone agrees to it, i'm not so sure you show up in Fontana with your leathers on.

you know how lawyers lie.... ;) ;D

From what's been printed, I wouldn't necessarily trust that a press release from Corona Extra Honda would be completely correct.

I wasn't talking about Holdens' lawyer necessarily.

I have never lied. 

 ;)

Like most disputes, the truth usually is somewhere near the middle between both side's stories.

I'd be pretty interested to see that written resignation letter.  That'd be a weird press release if they didn't have it.  I bet this stems from a misunderstanding about that letter.  It's probably something that Corona *could* decide to treat as a resignation if they wanted to, but it sounds like Holden didn't mean it that way.  We'll probably never know what happened.

holden's atty responds:

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35548 (http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=35548)

<tangent>
His attorney sucks at writing press releases.
</tangent>

doesn't sound very lawyerly does he

not so much.  mebbe he texted in the press release?  "Jakz awsum GR8 rdr Crna R lyrz"

I didn't realize there could be 2 firsts

"First, the industry does not need this type of ..."

"First, there is no doubt in my mind something over at Corona is..."

Then I didn't see a second.

mitt

Secondly, I really don't think that Corona has a great track record.

B, it does seem pretty clear that Honda & Corona decided to go with the "better option" and Holden be damned.

vii, first post.