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[duccarlos]

I'm sure Honda has their eye on him.  They're probably betting it will all work out.  They'll have Pedrossa long enough to allow Kent to get some more experience and when Pedrossa retires, Kent will step right in.

SHOW ME THE MONEY!  That seems to work to help getting people on board with your team.  But Ducati would have to offer the factory ride.  I don't think Honda would offer less. 

Honda is not providing Jack Miller a factory bike and with the rule changes, I'm not sure that it would be even possible. The most they can do is give him a satellite bike, which means that he would be in line for a factory spot behind MM, The Turd and Crusty, assuming that they get rid of Miller. Yamaha has a similar situation with Vale, Jorghey, Pol and Smith. Ducati can easily get rid of pretty much all their riders, with the possible exception of Crazy Joe.

[thought]

Honda is not providing Jack Miller a factory bike and with the rule changes, I'm not sure that it would be even possible. The most they can do is give him a satellite bike, which means that he would be in line for a factory spot behind MM, The Turd and Crusty, assuming that they get rid of Miller. Yamaha has a similar situation with Vale, Jorghey, Pol and Smith. Ducati can easily get rid of pretty much all their riders, with the possible exception of Crazy Joe.

I'm wondering if Yonny is worth keeping... he's shown some flashes of speed and he's still on the old GP14.2 I believe.  I'd like to see what he can do on a GP15 before writing him off.

But yeah, I'd say that Yam/Honda has lined up their grid pretty well with replacements but Ducati doesnt have their next gen in line yet.  Ape and maybe KTM might muddle the waters too since I'm sure they'll be scouting talent too.  Not sure if anyone is willing to go with a Ape factory ride over a sattelite but a factory ride isn't something to overlook.  Especially if they can be as competitive as Suzuki has been this year off the bat.

[duccarlos]

I'm wondering if Yonny is worth keeping... he's shown some flashes of speed and he's still on the old GP14.2 I believe.  I'd like to see what he can do on a GP15 before writing him off.

But yeah, I'd say that Yam/Honda has lined up their grid pretty well with replacements but Ducati doesnt have their next gen in line yet.  Ape and maybe KTM might muddle the waters too since I'm sure they'll be scouting talent too.  Not sure if anyone is willing to go with a Ape factory ride over a sattelite but a factory ride isn't something to overlook.  Especially if they can be as competitive as Suzuki has been this year off the bat.

You can't really compare Suzuki and the Ape. Suzuki took a few years to develop their new bike. The Ape, under the magic unibrow, was running an open bike that they decided to move over to factory by just changing the valves. I will be very interested in seeing the KTM.

Yonny definitely deserves a ride. He qualified 5th last race!

[Raux]

On the American series issue, i have a friend who's grandson is a phenom at 7 on the dirt. I encouraged him to think about road as he grows. He basically said i was stupid that the family, money and fame is in motocross.

[duccarlos]

Well, he's not wrong. Names like Carmichael, McGrath and Pastrana ring a bell more than the guys from AMA that did not make it to WSBK or MotoGP.

[Raux]

But thats my point. If the american dads would start early towards the motogp path we americans could make a splash in the international circuit. There are more bikes in america than anywhere else... Offeoad.

[duccarlos]

But thats my point. If the american dads would start early towards the motogp path we americans could make a splash in the international circuit. There are more bikes in america than anywhere else... Offeoad.

Offroad bikes are more appealing to kids, not to mention cheaper, compared to road bikes. As a kid I much preferred to watch some guys flying through jumps to watching dudes go around a street circuit. To make it economically possible for families to encourage their children to try a road circuit, you need to attract real sponsors that will take on the financial burden.

[Raux]

Here in okc there is a small supermoto track ive seen the kids race on, fantastic but you're right between that and motoamerica there is no sponsor interest to take things international. Maybe its time for dorna to step up in america for a junior cup series on american tracks like they did in asia

[Triple J]

I think American racing will take-off in the next few years...or at least I hope so. Dorna sees the US as a vital market, and their link to MotoAmerica is encouraging.

That said, right now it is tough to advance to the world stage from the US. Limited sponsorship makes it expensive and a high risk gamble (for the parents). Sponsorship currently resides with the ball sports, and motocross.

[Mhanis]

Just an observation: there is nearly an information vacuum regarding the accident at Laguna. In all fairness I have not dug around the internet for information but my regular source for news (Cycle News) has said next to nothing. In last weeks edition there was only the same small article that was passed around to everyone, and this week all they said is that the Sherriff's office deemed it a "racing incident"  and they will not be investigating further.

I am no morbid weirdo that wants to see video or anything like that, I am just curious what happened and where on the track. I just find it strange that it is not a bigger story.

I watched the MotoAmerica coverage over the weekend and it is flat-out terrible. I understand editing the races for time, but how about a lap counter!? And I actually think it is cool running two classes at once, but how about a position chart on the side of the screen showing EVERYONES position relative to each other with the Superbikes a different color or something like that? It was just horrible.

Mark

[thought]

Info on where/what happened is around, here is one link:

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/two-riders-killed-in-motoamerica-event-at-mazda-raceway-laguna-seca/

Bike stalled at the start line causing a collision and another ride hit the stalled rider.  Other riders also collided and caused the other fatality.

Sad to say but moto racing deaths aren't really covered that well beyond a blurb or two in general.  The only one that I can remember that had larger coverage was Simocelli's.  And, tbh, I don't think more coverage would be a good thing.  If something like that happened to me/my family I would rather less attention than having it splashed around everywhere.

[Triple J]

The best video I've seen is below. It happened at Turn 1 right after the start. Basically, Dani lost power for some reason, someone hit him from behind (my guess is Bernat, and it depressed his brake lever causing him to flip?). Dani was run over by someone, sounds like Cory, who is a very good AFM racer and really upset over the accident.

A few others involved. I race with Kevin Pinkstaff (OMRRA guy who races with us too), who got a concussion, but was otherwise OK. Devon McDonough is an ex-OMRRA racer who I talked with when his MotoA HSBK Aprilia team was testing during our endurance race this past May. Not sure of his injuries, but his dad said he was released from the hospital the following day and will fully recover.

Very sad accident.

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/two-riders-killed-in-motoamerica-event-at-mazda-raceway-laguna-seca/

[Speeddog]

Bradl pulls the ripcord:
http://www.speedweek.com/motogp/news/79061/Stefan-Bradl-Vertrag-mit-Forward-Team-gekuendigt.html

[duccarlos]

No entiendo aleman!

[OT]

Will you two please stop babbling