MotoGP v Superbike

[dowzerr]

Interesting thing to read.
click here (http://crash.net/uk/en/news_view.asp?cid=6&nid=76147)

[Ricky J]

It raises some good questions doesn't it? And one of them is just how much better is the 999 than a 998, if it is at all?

[falco03]

definitely a great read. it looks like the kawasaki, suzuki and even yamaha teams are treading in uncharted wates and maybe becoming too expiremental. they got away from the basics and the things they understand about making h.p....i would argue that the 999 is a better machine than the 998 when it comes to racing. it has dominated wsbk ala hodgson. the straightaway speed of the bike speaks for itself. look at the double win that xaus had in, i think, germany? he blew everyone away on the back straights. now, if you are talking about looks, well.....

[Ricky J]

As well it should, being the only factory Ducati out there! But privateer 998s have beaten it at least three times so far, including Chili's which is not even "ex-factory". I think the old one is still the better handling package...

[DogWood]

I think the thing that is being overlooked here is the fact that it takes time to develop the setups for the bikes, most of the GP and the 999 are new, they have no or little setup info for those tracks, where as older bikes have lots of setup data for all weather conditions.

[Ricky J]

...but I don't recall anyone riding an older privateer Ducati beating Fogarty's 916 when it was new! That thing was a massive step forward from the older bikes and could therefore win when the setup wasn't 100% spot-on.

[ip2]

superbike is a joke now ,might as well call it ducati club

other factories didnt even bother spending $ in because rules to suit ducatis only , they tried to give others a chance but 750 and 1000 run toghether ? i guess the 750s will be kicked out next year

[Fox]

3) Under the 107% rule, using Capirossi's time, the top 22 WSBK riders at Assen would have qualified for the MotoGP race. That includes both Foggy Petronas machines ridden by Troy Corser and James Haydon! Corser was just 0.1secs slower than McCoy's Kawasaki.

That's astounding stuff ...and the fact that Chili would have been 11th on the grid 1.1 secs slower on an old Duke really makes you wonder what Suzuki, Kawasaki AND Aprilia are doing ..

[red_m]

Mighty interesting.....has it always been thought that superbikes were a lot slower than gp bikes?? I think Foggy's bike would make a better gp bike than superbike....maybe they will look more closely, now that they know they wouldn't necessarily be any further off the pace than suzuki and kawasaki are at present...

[Pro Backmarker]

Trouble is he can't take the FP1 to GP1 anymore- now it's been Homogilated, its a production bike, and that rules it out of GP1. Yep, they should have gone GP1 with foggy's "ego machine" in the first place.

An interesting thought from that article is that Chile out qualified Bayliss, on his own old bike!!

GP1 is a dud, they should have just lifted the capacity limit on the 2 strokes :p

[ip2]

cant agree more , superbike and GP both become less interesting after rule change
compare CE and fogy dicing for the win last year hogsons wins dont impress me

GP also become too predictable ,before underdog Mccoy and KR JR could win GPs on inferior bikes , how likly is it now ? because twostrokes put the emphesis on rider ability rather than bikes

rossi already claimed this years GP (boring!)compare to an incredible 18 125cc races without a back-yo-back winner

[xx Max Power xx]

Egos are definately a problem in motorcycle racing today. Mostly FIM, AMA, and the factories. I think the riders egos (and Foggy's) are just where they should be. The series organizers have experienced huge growth in viewership interest over the last couple of years and let it go to their heads. Exciting new motorcycles like the R1 are what is expanding sportbikes as an industry (racing included). Fabulous rides from pilots like Haga, battles between Bayliss and Edwards and champion defining determination from Doohan and KR what what keep the fans comming back and bringing friends. These sanctioning bodies can only provide a playground for competition and kill racing as we know it. But these guys think they're gods and all is owed to them, that they are responsible for the adreniline rush experienced by the fans.

All three series can be great again. The economy needs to improve (sponsorship), the factories need to get their shit together, but most importantly, the FIM and AMA need to check their egos.

[bob of fl]

Max, while I agree on many points the key factors are:

1. Is the sanctioning body controlled by the manufacturer or independent? For AMA, the board is composed of manufacturers that craft rules to suit their needs. Why are Ducati, Buell, Triumph, and Aprilia not present? Because the big 4 run the program to sell what they want, not to create an exciting series with high entertainment value for us the fans. FIM is independent of manufacturers but MSMA give input along with DORNA and IRTA. There is a checks & balances system. Honda though was very influential to shift to 4 stroke in MotoGP. Honda's corporate ideology is to produce no 2 strokes. Honda want GP prototype research to have relevance to product sold to customers ala F1.
2. Flammini Group is beholden to Italian influence therefore Ducati had influence, Pirelli gets a spec tire deal and Aprilia, Honda, Kawasaki, and Yamaha back out as they cannot spend $$$ on two very expensive series
3. The best series is one where the last race determines the championship between 3-4 riders/drivers and 3-4 manufacturers. This would be a perfect world however if WSBK and AMA SBK had limited twins displacement two years ago for better parity we wouldn't be here for either series.

[ip2]

how its good for sales with 750 sport bikes not competetive in WSB ? and whats good for racing when one brand win 15 out 16 GP races ?

organizers such as WSB and FIM are either retards or sucking someones shelang , they hurt racing and business too

guess why honda favores 4 strokes cause honda was not so dominante in GP before , KR jr could beat Doohan or mccoy beat rosi . how likly it is now ?