Yea I'm stirring the pot a bit. I grant that if you're there, you're damn good at riding a bike. But I look at the track record of others and see many wins, more podiums and even actual championships. I know the business be's a business. But bottom line is that the guy (as a racer) an asterisk.
So Brazil has also been added to the calendar next year in addition to Argentina. For 2015 we can expect there to be one less US round but for next year will anyone lose a date or will there just be two extra races? http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/MotoGP+returning+to+Brazil+in+2014
There doesn't seem much to chose between the satellite Tech-3 Yamaha and the works bikes of Rossi and Lorenzo from what I can see, and confirmed by a few race commenators in recent times. The updated works bike is reputedly different in some ways but not necessarilly tons better. Not the kind of "development" that's going to put it to the Hondas for sure! Rossi certainly didn't use horsepower to nip by Crutchlow last weekend, and even with the draft barely seemed to make an impression on the latter down the straight...as opposed to Pedrosa's "Honda lane" pass on Lorenzo! If Yamaha wants to retain the World Championship they better start making some horsepower!
Well. they won't have to listen to him from next year, BBC has no longer got the MotoGP rights from 2014 in the UK so Cox and Parrish won't be commentating. Unless BTsport signs them as commentators. Ryder, Moody and Spalding are Eurosport which also has lost the rights. Interesting to think who is going to present the MotoGP on BTsport?
That is because Cal is on a nearly Rossi/Lorenzo spec bike at the moment. Bradley Smith's bike is a few steps more ordinary. Sure all the prototypes are close, but the little things add up. Remember last year when Dovi paid out of pocket for his own set of Brembo calipers and then Cal's fan club had a pledge drive to pay for a set for him? Pol's contract is with Yamaha and not Tech 3.
Would love to have Spaulding aded to the GP subscription announcers. His tech analysis is typically brilliant.
Without the superteam mentioneed above it just wont be the same. I've heard all the others and none come close to making the races as enjoyable and filling the listeners with knowledge.
QAT,,,SPA,,,,POR,,,FRA,,,CAT,,,,GBR,,,NED,,,,ITA,,,,GER,,,,USA,,,ZE,,,,IND,,,RSM ,13,,,,,7,,,,,,,Ret,,,,10,,,,,10,,,,,,,7,,,,,,Ret,,,,,12,,,,,,12,,,,,,11,,,,Ret,,,,Ret,,,,,12 ARA,,,,,JPN,,,,,,AUS,,,,MAL,,,,,VAL Ret,,,,,,DNS,,,,,,10,,,,,,C,,,,,,,,,8 14th 64 Not all that horrible for trying to ride a turnip truck in your first year
Abraham-career races 130, wins 1, podiums 2, World Championships 0 Dovizioso-career races 196, wins 10, podiums 63, World Championships 1 Ben Spies-career races ***, wins 59, podiums **, World championships 1, National 4 Ya man, totally comparable! Good luck to him though.
What I have heard (but I may be misinformed) is that it will be Keith Huewen and Neil Hodgson. There was some talk of Ryder commentating as well. It is possible that all three will be signed. I suspect that they may also get back a pitlane reporter, though who that might be, I don't know. Also, there will be much more of a show built around all three clases.
I hope it works for who-ever is going to watch BTsport, I can't justify 15 a month for it so I'll be waving goodbye to MotoGP in English anyway. I could always try and get another dish setup for 19ยบ and watch a Continental feed if there is one FTA. I think the idea is good to raise the profile of GP racing but I coan't see viewership increasing when so many people are near to the limit on spending anyway.
Yeah. Is there any? Next year in Italy MotoGp will be aired from paytv. WSBK also from 2015. We're screwed...
A twitter comment yesterday showed a nice statistic on wins : Marquez has now 4 motogp career wins, there are only 3 guys on the current grid doing better : Rossi, Lorenzo and Pedrosa. Even Hayden only has 3, despite his championship. That is a scary statistic, but surely puts the Abraham discussion in a different light. I for one like Abraham : he brings a new team to the sport, he is competitive with guys on likewise equipment (at least he was last year), and he is not spanish so he gets media attention outside of spain. I am convinced that every guy on the MotoGP grid has earned his place, and I'm sure there are 10x more that could do it but never got there. To go from a worthy contender to winning races, that is however a big step! If you look back at GP history, at least we are not having races anymore where even the second guy is lapped! The difference between the frontrunners and the backrunners was much much bigger 30 years ago.
There are definitely a few guys that don't belong on the motogp grid. Karel is definitely one of them. All I notice is him binning his bike every race whether it is the beginning, middle or latter stages. But he'll keep on riding cause his rich daddy owns the Brno circuit.
Motogp needs money and if KA's Dad can fund a team then so be it. By winning a Moto 2 race he has shown that he has the skills to be there. He also has a college Degree and is working on his masters or PHD right now. Get off the kids jock and cut him some slack.
I guess my view is that I prefer to see guys there who have had to fight tooth and nail to earn it. IE: scoring enough and winning enough to have a sponsor see that it's worth their investment. In non-profit sports, to a higher degree, you get attention, medals, and maybe some cash thrown at you because you have trained and have talent. Nobody's paying Anton Krupiczka or Scott Jurek to the finish line.
Hernandez is still young. DePuniet I don't understand why he's still there, other than for the camera shots of his lady.