WSBK: Phillip Island 2012 (SPOILER)

[ARAIHEAD]

SPOILERS Ozzies..........aaaargh!!!!!!!I don't get to see this til morning.

You might think a clue could be in the thread title..........................."WSBK: Phillip Island 2012 (SPOILER)".......... as to whether someone could be posting about the race!!

[Prilliant03]

I'll be the first to admit I wasn't too impressed with Max in 2011, but if he can carry that kind of form throughout 2012 he's going to be hard to beat. Race 2 was one of the finest performances I've ever seen by any top class rider.

As to Laverty's retirement, reports at this end are that he was suffering repeated false neutrals that were causing him to run on in corners. And of course he was riding with a broken bone in his hand. we've yet to see his best.

[fwagman]

After seeing R2, the non Aprilia teams should be crying foul over the speed of Biaggi's bike. To come from dead last to 2nd and to see him blow away Haslam's BM, Syke's Kwak & Rea's Honda over the start/finish line was unbelievable.

I'm smelling some Noale fish ..............

[Diablo1]

After seeing R2, the non Aprilia teams should be crying foul over the speed of Biaggi's bike. To come from dead last to 2nd and to see him blow away Haslam's BM, Syke's Kwak & Rea's Honda over the start/finish line was unbelievable.

I'm smelling some Noale fish ..............

How are they going to slow down the Apes, make 'em switch from chain driven cams to belts?

[cggunnersmate]

Congrats to Max. Sorry for Laverty. Why is it Aprilia can give Max a bike that rarely if ever breaks but his teammate's bikes seem to have all kinds of issues?

[klowry]

Did not take long for Ducati to start whinning!
Phillip Island WSBK: Althea boss blasts weight rule
26/02/2012


Bevilacqua believes Biaggi will be hard to beat while carrying around a weight penalty

By WSB desk
Image by GeeBee Images

Althea Ducati boss Genesio Bevilacqua has blasted the weight penalty handed out to his team under the FIM's parity rules after Aprilia's Max Biaggi came through from dead last to take second spot on the podium in yesterday's second World Superbike race.

The Roman Emperor, who enjoys a 15km/h top speed advantage over Checa, took to the grass at 140mph going into Doohan's on lap one, re-joined the track and came back through the field to finish just seven seconds behind Checa. Bevilacqua is calling into question whether the penalty will hand Biaggi an unfair advantage.

“After the crash in race one, we were worried that Carlos may be hurt but thankfully he wasn’t and was able to concentrate on the second race. I was disappointed to see that there are riders that can start from last position and finish second, while we are penalized with six extra kilos of weight. It will be hard to overcome this difficulty this season, even with a rider, a champion, of Carlos’ calibre," he said.

Haven't we seen this somewhere before. Mr Wright?

[marksim]

Did not take long for Ducati to start whinning!
Phillip Island WSBK: Althea boss blasts weight rule
26/02/2012


Bevilacqua believes Biaggi will be hard to beat while carrying around a weight penalty

By WSB desk
Image by GeeBee Images

Althea Ducati boss Genesio Bevilacqua has blasted the weight penalty handed out to his team under the FIM's parity rules after Aprilia's Max Biaggi came through from dead last to take second spot on the podium in yesterday's second World Superbike race.

The Roman Emperor, who enjoys a 15km/h top speed advantage over Checa, took to the grass at 140mph going into Doohan's on lap one, re-joined the track and came back through the field to finish just seven seconds behind Checa. Bevilacqua is calling into question whether the penalty will hand Biaggi an unfair advantage.

“After the crash in race one, we were worried that Carlos may be hurt but thankfully he wasn’t and was able to concentrate on the second race. I was disappointed to see that there are riders that can start from last position and finish second, while we are penalized with six extra kilos of weight. It will be hard to overcome this difficulty this season, even with a rider, a champion, of Carlos’ calibre," he said.

Haven't we seen this somewhere before. Mr Wright?

I think he's got a point.
Biaggi's bike is so fast but to be honest it was said before the start of the race on eurosport that Chubby Checka was'nt that chubby anymore and had already lost half of the weight penalty with his training and new diet.
looks like its gunna be a good battle between the two and well done to Sykes on the kwaka.Expect him to go faster specially round the european circuits.He says this is his worse track and looking back at kawasakis history here he has a point.

[Diablo1]

I think he's got a point.
Biaggi's bike is so fast but to be honest it was said before the start of the race on eurosport that Chubby Checka was'nt that chubby anymore and had already lost half of the weight penalty with his training and new diet.
looks like its gunna be a good battle between the two and well done to Sykes on the kwaka.Expect him to go faster specially round the european circuits.He says this is his worse track and looking back at kawasakis history here he has a point.

The point isn't how fast is Biaggi's bike relative to the Ducatis. The weight penalty is calibrated by the finishing position of the twins (Ducati is the only twin racing) vs the four-cylinder bikes. It seems that Aprilia knows how to build a faster bike than the rest of the field. Or perhaps some of the speed advantage goes to Max because of his compact size and weight. If Ducati wants to race under the same rules as the fours, then I guess they have to reduce their displacement by 200cc.

[Tdawg]

Looks like all the Max's team chatter off season was for nothing.

Seams the V4 customer teams get their machines with little time allowed for setup or testing.

[Chris_Mag]

Sykes was commenting about the wind - some of the speed differential for Max might have been down to his size combined with the aero of the V4 at top speed.

Both good races - the smoke pouring off Rea's rear at the end of race 2 was spectacular.

[maddad]

It's good to see every one is back into real racing debates again ,this is going to be a fun year on here.

[Prilliant03]

The Aprilia wasn't just making the Ducs look slow, it was making the Kawas and BMWs look like they were stuck in 5th on the main straight too.

Looks to me like Aprilia have just designed a faster bike than the opposition within the rules of the class. Surely that's the job they are paid to do.

[jpbits]

I was watching race 2 at turn 12 and while it can't be argued that the rsv4 is down on power the main reason max could blow by everyone on the straight was because he was getting brilliant drive off that last corner. Can't remember laverty passing everyone on the straight...
An inspired race by biaggi, it shows how much stronger mentally he is now, if that had happened a couple of years ago max probably would've had a meltdown inside his helmet then crashed whilst trying to pass the first back marker.

[Wot_bike_isit]

'Tiz the race season now, I presume any thread discussing the race leading up to it will be fair game to have results bandied about also. .

Yeah I know, I didn't miss the spoiler title either. I just forgot about the fact that PI is so far ahead time wise and wasn't expecting to see a result already when I checked out the thread last night.

Just seen the races...Biaggi's aprilia has got a bit steam.

[potere]

So Ed, gonna be selling that R on Monday?