2012 WSBK No-Spoiler Catch-All Thread

and all this time I thought it was Paul Denning...

OK, so why does Suzuki dump their traditional Superbike leader? I know about the budget, but Crescent is high profile. They must be getting something. Who is paying Yosh for example?

Who is paying the riders?

Are they buying parts?

There is more to this than the press releases suggest...There has to be.

No Suzuki backing. This is all privately financed, with Denning hoping to find a sponsor, either Samsung or Rizla or someone new. They are not getting a penny from Suzuki. Suzuki are out.

I would hate to see this, but I wonder if this is the beginning of the inevitable consolidation of the big 4. It seems like they could easily shrink to two or three manufacturers and not adversely impact the choice for the consumer. I mean how many options of inline 4 sportbikes and v-twin clone cruisers do you really need?

It would be painful to see Suzuki and Kawasaki cease production, but I can't help think that day is not too far in the future. Their lack of racing support is just another insight into their core issues.

A few years ago, it looked like there would at least be cooperation between Kawasaki and Suzuki - they developed a couple of models together - but nothing seemed to come of it, and Suzuki was adament that there would be no sharing regarding their superbikes.

They didn't develop any models together. Kawasaki and Suzuki each sold a few existing models rebranded (DRZ400 as a KLX400 for example) and it was mostly youth ATVs and trail bikes.

None of the big four are going to merge.

http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news/175099/1/bmw_to_test_at_jerez_with_melandri_haslam.html

Could make some things interesting with the potential switch to Magnetti Marelli equipment.

So zee Germans have figured something out...

Motomatters says the BMW's went fast yesterday.

http://www.motomatters.com/results/2011/11/28/2011_portimao_wsbk_test_day_1_results_ha.html

Krop's day 2 report. Aprilia gaining, but BMW's reign.
http://motomatters.com/results/2011/11/29/2011_portimao_wsbk_test_day_2_results_ha.html

PJ Jacobsen Joins PTR In World Supersport Championship





American Josh Day To Race For Go Eleven Kawasaki Team In 2012 Supersport World Championship

PJ has a great opportunity here, and he's a natural on a big bike. He could be in World SBK pretty fast. Not sure about Josh Day's chances. Never heard of his team or team mate in WSS. Hopefully, Kaw is heavily involved. It reads like they are.

That's great news for both riders. It'll be nice to see some Americans competing on the world stage, though it is AMA's loss.

I think both will do well, assuming they are properly supported by their teams.

Apparently, Max Biaggi's whole team bailed on him to go work on a CRT team.

http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/201112065683/WSBK-Biaggi-still-without-a-team.html

Link courtesy of Krop.

When asked "Is he really that big of a tit?" on twitter. Steve Blackburn confirmed "Oh yes". lol

Hope it works for him, it's cost him £300k :huh If he has a championship in him, Buckmaster and the boys will get it out.

is it racing time yet?? Off for 10 days and no racing to be seen..no new racing anyway. I feel empty.

You'll be right mate, only a few weeks to go. Got accomodation organised for the Island. Flags at ready. It's all good.

We all have VERY distinctive images of Nori Haga. He was a master such a short time ago. He should have beaten Ben Spies in 2009. But like the rest of his career on the world stage, shit happened... We all know that, yet he will always be our favorite.

Soup writes him off gently, but they still write him off. Thanks and no thanks to Dean. I'm not giving up that easily. A cut from Soup's write off of the Sultan:


/////.....One evening I walked through the Miller WSBK paddock on my way to the parking lot and in the darkness bumped into two people talking in the near pitch darkness. It was Ohlins suspension engineer Jon Cornwell and Haga, their faces ten inches apart. Haga stood, shoulders slumped, looking at the ground, while Cornwell tried to lift his sagging sails by reminding him who he was, saying, "Come on, you're Nori Haga for God's sake, you can do this...". Later that year, at Imola, I walked to the grid for the final race of the year. I arrived early but found Nori Haga in his leathers laying against the pit wall, looking exhausted and moving like an old man suffering from arthritis. While he waited for the race to start, he rubbed various body parts and spoke with his crew about how sore he felt.

In the end Haga wasn't the Haga that collectively blew the world right out of their shoes in 1998, and maybe the expectation that he should be is unreasonable. He had been dulled from the level of true racing superhero to being just another WSBK rider. Even after the swagger was gone and his tank clearly emptying, Haga was still very fast—he nearly won the WSBK title in 2009.

ENDS

Well, I gotta say, if I'd backslammed the bitumen as much as that guy since 1998, I'd be too fookn' tired than to even be thinkn about rubbing my sad sore body parts... But seriously, he looked SO 'over it', after Ruben took him out in the warm-up at turn 1, Phillip Island, 2010.(We wuz flagging there, Man!..:huh) He's hurtíng.
I'd throw in, "Never right off a champion", except he's never quite made it, thanx to a simple diuretic. Top bloke but!!
I wish him well.

bump