Anyone else talking RACING?! <--- of the motorcycle type

even though I don't follow racing as close as you all do, I would like to see Ducati make a fair go at it. Hell even win some races.. I like the underdog....

 

Interesting that the new Duc is being extensively revamped, fork size, frame, and more. Stoner fans will no doubt have a few sour grape comments on that. There are now almost no spaces left on the bike for sponsors to put their stickers, a comment perhaps on the Rossi money drawing power. The case can be made that that kind of sponsorship money is what it will take Ducati to able to stay competitive with the likes of the Japanese companies.

More testing at Sepang coming up this month, we'll see what the new Rossi improved Ducati looks like.

 

Good point, it most certainly will not be an equal measuring stick when comparing the two riders, or the two bikes. For better or worse.

 

For better or worse indeed. We are talking about revamping a bike that ran at the pointy end all last season when Stoner was healthy. Make wholesale changes could be a disaster. Testing will tell.

 

I aint sayin I watch it, but Jimmie Johnson is the real thing, and as long as someone like Chad Knaus stays on with him, he will continue to kick ass. Knaus is the kind of dedicated committed personality that can bridge the gap between bullshit sponsors that know nothing and the tech guys that can make the machine run and win and interact with the drivers/riders that you see in the very highest level of racing, whether its driving in a circle, running at the Isle of Man, MotoGp or MotoGp2, MX or go kart racing. If you love it and its your life, you make it happen. Knaus is on the short list of people that make great things in racing happen and make us wish we were on that list.

Now stop talkin f'kin nascar, we be talking bikes

I admit to being behind on AMA and so forth, someone catch us up.....and I'll go work on it.

A side note on Bens Pies (heehehehe) Im telling you people, he's the next great 'Murican champ, ala King Kenny and Fast Freddy, and yes I know the situation isnt the same, neither is the timing, but I think he was held back being on a satellite team last year, and this year, shit is on brothers.

People are talkin up a storm about Ducs and Vale, but its still too early and testing and major changes are still being sorted. If you are like me, a Nicky Hayden lover, you may wonder how he can fit into all the hype. Nicky is the hardest working man in show business,bless his heart, to use a Southern expression, the boy is always giving it his best, and its a credit to him that he still has his ride. Is it because he is so pretty and sells shit to us via Ducati? It cant be all that, Nicky will no doubt benefit from the huge Rossi money coming Ducatis way, and some will say that now his ideas on bike improvement will now have the chance to see the light of day. How can you not love The Ducs?

Stoner left last year healthy, and he ran off and left folks on a bike that was never truly sorted to his liking. He can and will make the Honda a better bike.

Last year saw an injured Pedrosa trying to make his dream come true through very real setbacks. And look what he did. Could this be his year? There is no one, anywhere, that gets a bike up off a corner quicker and hooks it up quicker than Dani. Doesnt matter what you may think of his personality, he is a damn clinic on how to ride. In the "push up " drills I did this last yr with CSS the instuctors to a man said, "Watch Dani Pedrosa come out of corner, there is no one better" Count him out if you want, but he will be at the sharp end. I watched him crash out in the lead at Indy in front of me, pick it up, and finish eleventh because he just would not give up.

Yamaha is actually having to court sponsors, unbelievable. Jorge Lorenzo has lost nothing, nothing at all. How can it be. More marketing than actual thought must go into MotoGp. Jorge will be there at the end, he has learned the difference between riding to win the race and riding to win the championship. The man is smoother, faster and better than he has ever been.

Now it remains to place all the other racers as to how I think their fortunes may lie.........so much fun. I still have Moto2 and all its various iterations and teams dropping out and rearranging to sort.

 

Pos Rider(s) Total Points 01-1 01-2 02-1 02-2 03-1 03-2 04-1 04-2 05-1 05-2 06-1 06-2 07 08-1 08-2 09-1 09-2 10-1 10-2 Total Wins
1 J. D. Beach 265 4 17 1* 1* 1 2 1*# 1* 1*# 1* 7
2 Huntley Nash 223 6 6 3 2 13* 1* 6 3 3 2 2 22 1
3 Tomas Puerta 211 5 3 5 4 2 3 4 4 4 21 6 2 0
4 Cameron Beaubier 167 1 4 2 3 14# 6 2 2 1
5 James Rispoli 128 7 3 5 5 7 24 23 5 1* 1
6 Eric Stump 128 11 8 6 14 10 12 9 6 3 6 0
7 Miles Thornton 125 8 10 4 4 17 10 5 5 22 4 0
8 Ryan Kerr 114 11 10 12 13 9 10 14 15 14 11 11 8 0
9 Travis Wyman 113 4 6 9 9 6 4 10 9 0
10 Daniel Guevara 102 8 5 17 14 8 9 15 14 11 18 7 20 0
11 Nicholas Hansen 61 7 8 11 11 7 19 0
12 Dustin Dominguez 58 3 5 23 3 0
13 Corey Alexander 35 13 10 23 5 0
14 Kyle Keesee 33 13 16 10 12 0
15 Stefano Mesa 26 9 7 0
16 Brock Terrell 26 16 13 14 15 0
17 Cody Wyman 20 19 19 18 16 16 18 0
18 Hunter Propst 16 13 14 22 20 24 0
19 Giuseppe Messina 15 14 18 18 19 0
20 Raphael Archambault 10 24 11 0
21 Jeremie Precourt 10 17 15 0
22 Aaron Colton 9 12 23 0
23 Charlie Long 6 19 19 19 17 0
24 Frank Babuska 4 21 17 0
25 Eric Stump II 0 9 9 0



this was the AMA super sport east finish last year....

 

not to take anything away from pie guy or nicky, I think the top guys will remain the same.
Jorge, rossi, stoner and danny boy.
dovi, pie guy and hayden will make it to the podium a few times and I think marco sim will hit the podium 2 times this season.
the duc will be sorted out over the winter, it seems the bike suited nicky better then stoner at the end of the season, rossi will take the bike forward from there.

WSBK - as much as I like mad max, I would hope to see haga take it this year.

 

Now we're talking RACING!

 

I think that's because Hayden didn't go over the limits line with the Duc, and his overall standings were indicitive of what that bike was actually capable of doing. Whereas Stoner was usually pushing its thresholds for better finishes. Considering the last couple of seasons, I have less faith that Ducati will be ready this year; Rossi or not.

Touching on one of Bear's comments, I think that Pedrosa may finally have his year on the big bike. As it was becoming more and more clear that Stoner would be joining HRC, Dani's drive to win seemed to grow with every passing race, untill he was injured. Even when he got close enough to Lorentho to be of concern, Jorge couldn't place better the Dani. It really was too bad that Pedrosa got hurt, otherwise, it may have been a more interesting season. The dynamic between Pedrosa and Stoner at HRC, and who is able to feed off of who, may turn out to be the most interesting story of the season; even more so than Ducati/Rossi.

 

I have to disagree havcar, it seemed that nicky knew how much he could push the duc before it let him down.
Stoner looking to get back on top push the bike beyond the bikes limits and crashed.
I would say that Rossi will have the bike in shape over the winter and will be ready to show Jorge who the real master is.
folks thought Rossi shot himself in the foot when he made the move to yamaha and he won the first race of the season on the M!

 

Both Stoner and Hayden crashed that Duc a few times each. That shows they were both pushing. Hard.
But, you are right, Stoner was usually in front.

Yes! I am getting pumped up reading this thread. Now if only the 1000's were back in play this year too, that would be perfect!

 

Here ya go Reg,

Dani Pedrosa/Casey Stoner/Andrea Dovizioso = Black & Orange
Jorge Lorenzo/Ben Spies = Blue & White
Valentino Rossi/Nick Hayden = Red
Alvaro Bautista is the sole rider on Suzuki's suspect machine, which is a nasty shade of blue.

 

That's what I'm saying.
I think Stoner has class and maturity that Hayden lacked(not a bad guy, but still kinda young).
I think He may be able to get around Dani's quirks and not let them slow him down.

 

A great place to keep up with all things racing on 2 wheels: http://motomatters.com/

Rossi's first test on the Duc was really slow, but the new bike looks so different, who knows? (Great comparison pics at the site above.) Starting from scratch; but Rossi's biggest talent over the competition (IMNSHO) has always been his bike development, so I would never bet against the GOAT.

Fiat pulled outta Yama-suck sponsorship, which I'm all the more happy with, cause I can't stand Lorenzo, and love that they will either be sportin factory colors or even flat black carbon at the next test. Though the thought is that AirAsia will plaster their livery all over it... After Dorna pressures them into it.

Stoner had a great test his first time on this Honda. I think he wants to prove he has always been better than the Duc would let him be, so he's gonna push even harder. Plus, I bet he's pissed that Duc would rebuild the bike for Rossi, but wouldn't make the same changes for him.

Danny boy has always been a choker to me, even though the fricken fairy has a HUGE weight advantage. I worry about his collar bone; word has it he's had some numbness in his hand, even though they now say it's much better, I never heard them say it's totally gone.

I think Ben will come into his own and join the Aliens, though I don't know if he'll be the man yet. I think that's gonna be one of the most fun things to watch.

Nicky will likely benefit from Rossi's development, but until next year, I just don't think his style and American size fits on the 800's.

Will be interested watching Tony Elias as well.

I enjoyed Moto2 a lot last year too, and am looking forward to Moto3. Gonna be fun watching Kenan Sofuoğlu try to upend the Moto2 class.

WSBK has the first race of the season, at the end of Feb (27th I think), so I'm hyped for that kickoff. I'm digging the WSSport class, cause there's a Trumpet team, and I like Chaz Davies, since he raced over here in AMA, even though he's from over there, he's kinda an adopted homer...

AMA is trying to come back, but they still are struggling with a pack of older riders, and not enough new talent to advance them. The few new talented riders are in the 600 class; I wish they'd just move a couple of the geezers out and give these kids their chance. DMG almost killed AMA racing, but after the purging of the front office before last year, it got better. Hopefully it will continue to improve. But they have a very limited number of races and some huge holes in their schedule. There is still too much crashing too. The 600 class though, was some amazing racing last year (including some hard charging Duc 848's), even had an actual tie, first I've ever seen.

Least us forget the Isle of Man TT in May...

I watch every race (thank you Speed and DVR), of every class, of all three (Moto, WSBK, and AMA). As an amateur racer back in the day, I am still amazed at what these guys do. I'm a huge couch fan; glad to see us "talking" about it.

 

Sofoglu and Davies.....:thumbsup:

Keep up the good work gents, VFRW has been sorely missing some good bench racing bullshit.

 

After having a look in my crystal ball, I say : 1 World Champion : C.Stoner Honda
2 Valentino Rossi
3 Marco Simoncelli
4 Ben Spies
5 Jorge Lorenzo
6 Nicky Hayden (I wish him luck)

 

Interesting picks.
No love for Pedrosa. Hmmm...

 

Love has no place in the world of racing, Remember how bad Nicky was treated by the spaniards, Don't forget the Alamo