Ducati Monster Forum

All hail the new champ...

Sylvain Guintoli.

Tom had nothing for him at Qatar, and finished 3rd in both races while Guintoli doubled.

Baz second in the first race, ignoring his pit board to lose a place to Sykes.

Johnny Rae second in race two.

He had to win.... many mouths to feed in that mans family.

Great races to watch [thumbsup]

Talking Head: "Sylvain, you've done a wonderful job this year, and come out on top of a very close title chase, congratulations!"

Sylvain: "Thank you, it was a very exciting season!"

Talking Head: "So, how do you feel about the challenge of riding a Fireblade next year?"

Sylvain: "Bbbb...ffft....ahhh....what did you just say?"

Talking Head: "Riding a Fireblade, next year. How do you feel about that?"

Sylvain: "I've got to ride a FIREBLADE next year?"

Talking Head: "Yes, for Ten Kate/PATA. This is a bit awkward...."

Sylvain: "Hey, Ronald's a great guy, and they're a great team, and I love those DaVinci Chips.....but...."
Sylvain: "but.....bloody hell....a FIREBLADE?"
Sylvain: "Where's my manager? He told me it would be a  RC213V-S. I'm going to strangle him."

But....Rea made it look not so bad yesterday.

Other than the fact it still looks like it's hooked to a post when the Ape goes by.... ;)

Aprilia!!!  ;D ;D

So does Guintoli get to run the #1 plate on his Honda?? That is odd indeed. I'm not sure what the Aprilia guys are thinking...letting Laverty go was a mistake as well IMO. I'm not a Melandri fan though.


 

The #1 plate belongs to the rider.

So...ya think Marco's bike was de-tuned a lil to avoid the pitboard drama from a few weeks ago?

He (and Ten Kate) have been making them look not so bad for a long time.

Other than Leon's single podium this year, you have to go back to 2009 to find anyone other than Rea on a Honda on the podium.

You sound like Stoner... :P

You never know. He had nothing this week either...solidly mired around 5th.

Nope...he had faster top speeds that Guinters in both races.

Race 1 Guinters had a top speed of 323 KPH to Melandri's 326 KPH
Race 2 Guinters had a top speed of 324 KPH to Melandri's 327 KPH

Elias on the other Ape had the same top speeds as Guintoli.

Good races.  Entertaining to see Sykes getting so upset at Baz for ignoring team orders.

One can de-tune the overall set up and still have a bike that's fast. Marco has to have a bike that's set up juuuuust right in order for him to trust the front end.  This year, it took a while for them to set the bike up to his riding style. He likes the bike to transition into a bike that handles better as fuel loads decreased and tires settle in. He typically gets better as the race progresses. That never happened in Qatar.

If he pissed of the factory bigwigs by not slowing down a few weeks ago... no need to put out the pissy face pitboard if all you have to do is tweak the bike a smidge.


The same may have happened to Baz. Kwak gremlins [evil]

Nah...

Baz tangled with someone in the first corner and had to make up a lot of ground.

It's election eve... can't a guy have just one conspiracy theory?



 [beer]

Where would things be if no one had followed team orders in the past raced and everyone was just racing up & up?

I'm pretty sure the results would have been the same except Guintoli would have had a bigger points lead at the end of the championship.

Then justice is served.  As much as I like Sykes ( and a lot of the other riders too ) I think you need to win your championship fair & square. No gifting allowed.

Rea's a tick faster than Sykes at Aragon test:
http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/2014/Giugliano+tops+the+timesheets+to+end+twoday+Aragon+test+on+a+high (http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/2014/Giugliano+tops+the+timesheets+to+end+twoday+Aragon+test+on+a+high)

The Rea - Sykes competition could be very entertaining next season. Apparently they're not the best of buddies, and Rea is a very legitimate challenger to be the fastest guy on the team. Go Johnny!  [popcorn]

Rea was fast on the old gizzer Fireblade. Imagine what he'll do with a bike that has been updated in the past 4 years!

The Ducs are fast only because they have made no real changes to it? That does not bode well for next year.

Not so sure about that...

If Guigliano can stay upright for an entire race he might not do too bad.

Just makes me miss Ben Spies all the more. [bow_down]

Guigliano showed that he was fast on it, but the bike could only compete in some very specific circuits. From the comments, it seemed they were going fast only because they didn't have much to test. The bike felt like the same bike, so they knew exactly where the limit was. The other teams were testing a lot of other changes. Something tells me that we will not see much change until Gigi decides to focus on SBK and then we'll see the Duc transformed into an Ape.

You're assuming the other manufacturers will make huge strides. How many times did Guigliano crash out of a podium spot?

I think Gigi has his hands full with the GP turd.

It'll be a while. ;)

Aren't all the WSBK entries under EVO rules this coming season? If so, the Duc will be competitive. If they don't start that until the season after, then it will be competitive then.

Who knows though...there's a reason why Yamaha and Aprilia (especially) introduced their new 200+hp models...to be competitive in EVO regulations era.

The factory teams were given 'concessions' for one year.

Not sure what they entail, but the rationale is obvious as Triple J states

More info here:
http://motomatters.com/news/2014/11/18/ducati_and_kawasaki_wrap_up_world_superb.html (http://motomatters.com/news/2014/11/18/ducati_and_kawasaki_wrap_up_world_superb.html)

Seems Ducati has already done a good bit of groundwork this season, running 2015-ish stuff.
Kawi have apparently not.

I'd wager that since Kawi was in a legitimate fight for Rider and Manufacturer titles, they worked on 2014 spec 'til the end.
Ducati quit beating the dead 2014 horse to get a jump on next season.

They must not test the riders in the off season, it seems Guintoli is so high he's delusional:

http://tinyurl.com/ksjuljt (http://tinyurl.com/ksjuljt)

You expected he'd tell the truth about the Honda?

Give him half a season for the discontent to set in.

Aaaaand.....Sylvain passed the doobie to the boys at EBR:

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/wsbk/erik-buell-racing-world-superbike-2015-larry-pegram-niccolo-canepa/#more-78178 (http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/wsbk/erik-buell-racing-world-superbike-2015-larry-pegram-niccolo-canepa/#more-78178)

EBR will be interesting to watch this season. I don't expect them to win or anything, but what level of improvement they can achieve might (a big might) surprise people.

Larry's crew chief is at a lot of our WMRRA rounds, and he worked with me quite a bit on a chatter problem I was having during a trackday. He said they've made a LOT of changes to the EBR bike since they got a hold of it, and he was excited to see what they could do in WSBK.

The EVO-ish rules will help them a bit, I think.

I love a under dog, I hope ebr does well

I don't see the EBR going very far next year.

Even with Canepa onboard.

Someone needs to send Guintoli a DVD of 'Groundhog Day'.

http://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/212357/1/positive-guintoli-plays-down-honda-lap-times.html (http://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/212357/1/positive-guintoli-plays-down-honda-lap-times.html)

Michael vdM looks chuffed, Sylvain..... not so much.

(http://media.crash.net/original/AU1269153.jpg)

Sylvain looks like he's gonna kill his manager.

His wife just told his she's preggers again.

Sounds like Guintoli hit the deck during the Jerez test today, and did not continue riding due to "suspected neck and leg injuries."

http://superbikeplanet.com/2015/Jan/150126o.htm (http://superbikeplanet.com/2015/Jan/150126o.htm)

http://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/213176/1/rea-edges-lowes-as-jerez-wsbk-test-begins.html (http://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/213176/1/rea-edges-lowes-as-jerez-wsbk-test-begins.html)

I hope he's cleared to ride tomorrow.

I wanna see Rea do well this year.

+1. I think he's the guy to beat this year now that he is finally on good equipment.

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/world-superbikes/2015/january/guigliano-tops-final-european-wsb-test/ (http://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/world-superbikes/2015/january/guigliano-tops-final-european-wsb-test/)