2013 WSBK No-Spoiler Catch-All Thread

Gordon Ritchie in Cycle News seems to think it won't happen. I rather agree with him, though I don't actually know. I think it will depend on whether the MSMA can be persuaded to give Aprilia 2 extra liters of fuel in MotoGP.

I was curious to see in the motogp thread that BMW is bowing out of a full factory WSBK effort after this year.

yes I'm still a BMW basher but I've mostly gotten over it, in part because if I had won the $425 million power ball last night one of tie first things I'd have bought was that new water cooled GS. Yes I'd have taken the roundel off and done it up in Monster Energy Supercross graphics and Fox stickers but who cares.

anyway I'm curious about the BMW SSR100 or whatever they call it. Is that bike the platform for what they run in the WSBK? Has interest waned in that bike both at the consumer level and on the race track? What was BMW's best overall finish for the year with that bike? For a first time effort they certainly seemed to have gotten it right. I'd be interested to hear any insight.

thank you. off to Unadilla in the morning.

Flug,

The bike itself is still awesome, and in Superstock classes does very well. But for the heavily modified Superbike classes, the factory team never seemed to get its act together. A big part of that was how the team was managed, but there were times when they seemed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, such as when Melandri took out his teammate Haslam at the British round a few years ago.

I think the factory just realized they were not getting a decent return on their investment in terms of results, and maybe others could do better with some factory support.

I don't like to play the shoulda woulda game, but Melandri and the BMW S1000RR shoulda won it last year. He had a large lead going into the last couple of rounds and Melandri completely choked and went 4 straight races with ZERO points. Probably one of the biggest blunders in WSBK. And Melandri still won more races than any other rider, 6. That allowed Sykes to get back in the hunt and for Biaggi to win the ship by half a point. This year BMW sits 4th (6 points from 3rd and 40 from 1st) and 5th in the standings.

As for the S1000RR it has been one of the best selling sportbikes since its introduction in 2010 and since that time has won virtually all superbike shootouts. It is wildly regarded as the best overall sportbike on the market. It doesn't have the beauty of the Pani or the mystic of the RSV4 but its the best overall package and 4 years later no manufacturer has been able to touch its sheer power.

Oh and it was BMWs first attempt at a sportbike.

Fixed.

Great article taken off of Krop's twitter feed:

http://www.crash.net/world+superbik...marcel_duinker_tom_sykes_crew_chief_-_qa.html

+1 great read!

There are solid indications that the round at the Buddh International Circuit will no longer be taking place. The WSBK season would officially end at Jerez on October 20th.

The event was already postponed from its original slot as the second round of the season in March, to become the season finale on November 17th, because of India’s very complicated customs practice.

FIM/Dorna in a statement released in January, said the postponement was due to “an insufficient period of time to properly finalise the training of the marshals and medical staff around the racetrack.”

Speedweek.de said that the cancellation in long run it would be cheaper than actually holding the event.

Thanks. Really enjoyed it.

Great article. That guy is what you want in a crew chief - cold, calculating, and projecting competence and confidence at all times.

I'd love to see those guys win the title. Sykes is a great talent, and seems to be a very genuine person, and that team definitely puts in a lot of hard work.

+1!!

Via the motogp.com website (since I have a video pass subscription) I asked if Dorna were considering having a similar video pass for WSBK.

,,,,,"It's something we are considering for the very near future.".....

Excellent!

So with WSBK going to 8 engines does that make it easier for Aprillia to walk away and join the MotoGP ranks?

If they come in as a factory, they are limited to 5. To get Max the title they used 18, or so I've read/heard.I suspect they and BMW are gone for that same engine reason.
Didn't Ducati grenade a lot of motors back in the Foggy days?

I read a number closer to twice of that. Can we get the truth somewhere?

Aprilia would be granted 9 I believe for their first year as a factory entry. Rumor is based on Alex Esp usage so far this year Aprilia could hit that 9 engine limit for next year.

I have read that max used 32 engines during his championship season #1.

WSBK may in for quite the decline with no Aprilia, BMW, Yamaha and 8 engines.

32?! That's like one per race?:huh

Fireblade world championship?
Oh, Suzuki too, gixxer one million cup then.

Think your forgetting something GREEN and fast , as well

Word is that the numbers of engines that Max used were kind of misleading -- Instead of 30something engines, what the Aprilia techs would do is go in and check and freshen the top ends of the motors as necessary on race weekends, something not allowable under current MotoGP rules.