Portimao WSBK testing, aka "Ben Spies. F%^K YEAH!", pt. 2

[Cynic]

I can't wait for WSBK to start.  I wonder how the new guys (BMW and Aprilia) are going to do once we start racing. I was hoping to see them both a little higher up in the standings.

Just a month and a half to go!

[gm2]

i wouldn't expect much from them for most of the year, esp BMW.

but then again, xaus is crazy.

[zooom]

I WOULD expect Xaus to put it into a ditch a few times pushing to hard and Corser to be slow but steady and smooth...

as far as the 'priller...hard to say...I know Max wants to mix it up...but it will all depends on how well he makes the bike work in Superpole and how well he can launch the bike at the starts....

[BastrdHK]

I wonder what happened to Xaus during the simulations.....was he not in the top 20 eligible for superpole?

I pull for Xaus no matter what....anybody 6'4" at that level and battling with tiny jockey elves on 200+hp superbikes is inspiring!  I am 6'6" and only slightly biased

Shakey is one hell of a rider(esp. on the 1098r).....he dominated BSBK, and has several times from what I understand.  I saw one race last year where a rider bounced him into a wall, he keeps the bike off of it with his shoulder and elbow, and still passes the guy before the lap is over.

[Speeddog]

Xaus is 6'4"?

[ducpainter]

Xaus is 6'4"?

Yah man.....

[gm2]

Xaus is 6'4"?

he yawns and his knee is on the ground

[gm2]

as far as the 'priller...hard to say...I know Max wants to mix it up...but it will all depends on how well he makes the bike work in Superpole and how well he can launch the bike at the starts....

http://www.crash.net/World+Superbikes/News/142332/1/biaggi_we_dont_leave_with_high_morale.html

[Spidey]

http://www.crash.net/World+Superbikes/News/142332/1/biaggi_we_dont_leave_with_high_morale.html

Honestly, what did Max think was going to happen?  It's a new bike.  Of course it's not going to be competitive at first.  Sure, Ducati managed to hit it out of the park their first year in MotoGP, but that was an anomaly.  Most new bikes are going to be in development for a while, especially one like the 'priller where they don't have tons of recent racing development with the 4-strokes and WSBK.  I hope Max's WSBK success (in terms of being able to get along with others and not be a colossal dick all the time) doesn't go down the tube because of all the difficulties that are going to come with trying to get the 'priller to run up front. 

[Spidey]

Is the Shakey up front the same Shakey from MotoGP?  And the same one who crashed in that crazy Brit street-riding vid from a coupla years ago where they had a Duc and TL and some other bike, doing triple digit wheelies while lane-splitting?  I think they killed two of the three bikes in that vid. 

[gm2]

yeah, he rode an aprilia in motogp in '04ish

[zooom]

  Sure, Ducati managed to hit it out of the park their first year in MotoGP, but that was an anomaly.  

I don't think it was an anomoly....FIM/DORNA announces requirements/parameters/specification allowances well ahead of time and Ducati rose to the task of using development time before showing up to start racing GP in the 4 stroke era...

Aprilia in this case are trying to make a production machine and have to deal with homologation parameters which means maybe they didn't put enough R&D into the bike to anticipate the competition's growth from their previous production machines...especially since since this is a production machine based racing series...not necessarily Max's fault, though he'll certainly pregnant dog about it....not like he wrenches on the bike or builds it or tweaks it...he just rides it to the limit of what he can do...just like everyone else out there...

Is the Shakey up front the same Shakey from MotoGP?    

Shakey did go to MotoGP for a short stint...he, like Troy Bayliss in GP, wasn't in his element based on the results...but has done far better in production machine racing, particularly with Ducati where he has won the BSBK championship a couple times...I have no clue about street riding and him with that stuff...but I'll say, the man can ride for sure and will definitely run the hell out of that Sterilgarda 1098...I bet he'll even give the factory some fits with how well he might ride it for results over Haga or Fabrizio....not all the time...but enough to be in the top 10 in the points chase easily.

[gm2]

this is just normal drawing-board-to-reality growing pains.  BMW is in the same boat.  only, this is the first 4-cylinder aprilia has ever built.

and it wasn't so much that shakey was out of his element in motogp, but that the aprilia cube was nearly unrideable.  then the KR/KTM gp abortion project derailed him again the following year.

[zooom]

this is just normal drawing-board-to-reality growing pains.  this is the first 4-cylinder aprilia has ever built.

  but that the aprilia cube was nearly unrideable. 

you just contridicted yourself....

[gm2]

dude, come on.  cube.  three. 

the aprilia RS3 "cube" was an inline 3-cylinder 990.