Ducati Monster Forum

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mid-pack mediocrity  [bang]

Race 1... same

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Sunday, Sunday...hanging in the (recently expoxy-coated) garage setting up for a bathroom build, WSBK live-streaming on the laptop.  Stage left - my (vintage) racing Pentons and the 900s ie with the new MIVVs and other carbon bits freshly mounted.

It's a beautiful thing. 

And Race 1 was just completed.  No drama at the front, and the result that I was looking for (hint - Go Green Lantern, Go!!).  Still a small point gap to the top of the standings and frankly Guintoli is doing what he needs to do, even if the Aprilia's seem to be OFF a bit (quite a bit...) at Donington.

Bucket List - Go to the UK for a WSBK race weekend and hang out with these wonderful Looney Tune race fans.

Sykes was on fire.

Rea needs to sue for non support.

Sykes and Lowes  [bow_down]

Complete agreement.  Lowe's just seems to be head and shoulders above the rest of the WSS gang.  I see WSBK in his future...and I say that fully realizing that several WSS champs have migrated to WSBK and had their asses handed to them gift wrapped (Foret, Sofuoglu, and I know I'm forgetting someone....).  Lowe's has the experience and the talent and there does seem to be parallels beteween him and Davies (Sam  - I'd be sniffing around the Ducati hospitality if there is no indication that the Tuning Fork folks are going to return to WSBK).  Wasn't sure the announcers were getting the real story as to why there are so few Yamahas in WSS.  I'll tell you why  - I think Yamaha doesn't give a crap (or a dollar's worth of support or kit) in this class.  Their focus on GP with their dollars and budget is..I dunno..maybe a bit too focused?  Is it their marketing folks telling them where to put their money?" Anyway...

Rolfo and the MV  - how cool is it to see THAT bike on the podium?  I could give a shite about Roberto, but the MV does seem to have what it takes if their factory can continue to support this effort.  And they finally be selling enough bikes to make that possible.  Was also pulling for (wild card) Richards to put the Triumph on the podium, but he was shuffled backwards so fast it ended up being a non-story.

Back to Sykes - HUGE.  Said that he made a fork adjustment (one click...) and he went out and clobbered them even worse.  It's a long season and I'm stilll scratching my head about the points gap he's had to overcome (PI DNF?).

Rea - this is turning into a Greek (Japanese?) tragedy.  Probably the most experienced WSB team in the paddock and they cannot make this CBR work with current WSBK rules/specs.  I admire loyalty, but he must be just crushed that between Ten Kate and HRC, they can't get this sled to the front and stay there. 

But it could be worse.  He could be Camier.  Can you say "If I try hard enough, I KNOW I can lose this Suzuki ride...I must try harder!!".

It's time for an equipment upgrade IMO. The Fireblade is how old now?

You're right Rea is a great rider on a piece of toast. Time moves on. They should follow Kawi's lead and update the CBR/Fireblade.

I'm loving Sykes and Kawi's success! Makes me want to go refurbish my '83 Lawson Replica in their honor! ;D [Dolph]

Are the rules killing the new Duc or is it just not competitive. Can't tell me Checa is all the sudden riding like me! [laugh] Any thoughts about the WSBK version of the 1199R?

It's killing me to not see the races. I don't want to throw more $$$ at Directv to get the sports package that shows the races and my computer won't show it online either. Do I need to sign up online with that service or is it free? Old, non-techs want to know. :)

Checa is riding seriously injured. His shoulder is so bad it dislocates itself.

He didn't even start race 2.

As far as the Panigale....who knows

if everbody else were riding the ducati.... the honda would be awesome.

Checa's shoulder is pretty bad, but it's also losing out in top speed, again. Some say it's because of the restrictors. Others have said that the 1199 suffers from the same lack of feel cornering that the GP1* have been plagued with. I think that they won't lift any of the restrictors until Checa is healthy.

Why is that? Why wait for Checa to be healthy to make the bike more competitive? Don't get your comment.

Whatever the corner feel may be, I'd imagine the Panigale would be competitive if you took the restrictor plates off the engine and let it breath as it was intended.  The Panigale is getting smoked on the straights.

"supposedly" the Fireblade is being replaced by "something" next year, but all of the evidence of that has not come to fruition in anything I have seen. Rea said that on the out lap for Race2, that there was a telemetry sensor reading fault and they just couldn't fix that on the grid before the race, so he rode handicapped more or less.

He rides 'handicapped' even when all the electronics are right.

anyway you slice it...Sykes was untouchable and race 1 had more action than race 2 IMHO.

Yeah, race 2 was almost like GP...

I agree that no one was going to get Sykes last weekend, but that doesn't negate the fact that the Honda is outgunned.

Honda is indeed outgunned unless it is a rain race....then all bets are off when it comes to the bike and goes to the rider with the biggest set of brass which usually ends up being a brit...

Ducati - the TV announcers said that the restrictor plates are suppoda be removed from the 1199, possibly before Portimoa?  You guys didn't catch that?  Some kinda of "minimum # of races with really shitty results and then we'll remove it" rule?

@Fastwin - not sure why you can't watch the racing online at BeIN Sports unless you're a GDC  (gawd damn canadian...) but even then I THINK you should still be able to watch, yes?  I do recall a post where a fellow Maple Leaf bemoaned the fact that BeIN was not available thru cable TV up there.

Counting Kenan out...you know, the 3 time WSS champion...is sort of silly. Especially when there are so many races left in the season.
That Turk has some wicked skills on a 600. Not trying to discount Sam's weekend or season for that matter in any way.
Just don't count Kenan out of anything until FIM says Sam has won the title.