WSBK: Blighty 1 (Spoilers)

[yooperbikemike]

Crescent Suzuki is reporting that John Hopkins, who rode at Monza just long enough to break his foot, will not be fit to race at Donington. Possible replacement TBNL.

[viajero]

Hopkins does seem to catch all the breaks, doesn't he.

Hope the weather is good this time out.

Do the riders really like Donington?

[Pantah]

Originally Posted by viajero

Hopkins does seem to catch all the breaks, doesn't he.

Hope the weather is good this time out.

Do the riders really like Donington?

Hopper did!

[BOOTLACE]

Pretty much everyone loves Donnington. A Beautiful flowing track with a bit of everything. Unfortunately it's 'Slippery When Wet'.....(But it IS England, in Spring, so there won't be any of that then, will there? )
Kind of the 'home' of WSBK too.
Here's some pix from the reopening of the track a cuppla years back.











Hmmm. Josh Brooks doesn't go too bad round here, and he's riding a Zuki.....

[viajero]

Thanks for the pics. That's a beautiful looking track.

[swimmer]

Originally Posted by viajero

Thanks for the pics. That's a beautiful looking track.

Can you even imagine doing a track day at that place? Damn that would be awesome.

[yooperbikemike]

FP1

1	66	SYKES T	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1'30.756
2	2	CAMIER L	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1'30.825	0.069
3	96	SMRZ J	Ducati 1098R	1'30.842	0.086
4	84	FABRIZIO M	BMW S1000 RR	1'30.876	0.120
5	33	MELANDRI M	BMW S1000 RR	1'30.895	0.139
6	91	HASLAM L	BMW S1000 RR	1'30.962	0.206
7	3	BIAGGI M	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	1'30.976	0.220
8	86	BADOVINI A	BMW S1000 RR	1'31.075	0.319
9	50	GUINTOLI S	Ducati 1098R	1'31.142	0.386
10	65	REA J	Honda CBR1000RR	1'31.187	0.431
11	7	CHECA C	Ducati 1098R	1'31.197	0.441
12	19	DAVIES C	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	1'31.386	0.630
13	121	BERGER M	Ducati 1098R	1'31.832	1.076
14	34	GIUGLIANO D	Ducati 1098R	1'32.009	1.253
15	58	LAVERTY E	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	1'32.037	1.281
16	59	CANEPA N	Ducati 1098R	1'32.493	1.737
17	60	HICKMAN P	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1'32.674	1.918
18	87	ZANETTI L	Ducati 1098R	1'32.739	1.983
19	4	AOYAMA H	Honda CBR1000RR	1'33.277	2.521
20	76	BAZ L*	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1'33.401	2.645
21	18	AITCHISON M	BMW S1000 RR	1'33.722	2.966
22	36	MERCADO L	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1'34.115	3.359
23	101	MASON G	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1'34.589	3.833

* Sub for J. Lascorz

[RaY YreKa]

It's a really nice track.

As a teenager in the 80s I attended the metal/rock gigs there, and as an adult I've gone for the racing.

I can't make it this year but it should be a great event.

Btw, we just had the wettest April in 100 years in the UK, but the outlook for the w/e is good

[bimmerx2]

What's the deal with Fabrizio. Does he just like to ride around for fun now? He looks great right up to when it counts then he either quits or tanks it.

[craigincali]

Whats the deal with Sykes? Did they totally redesign the bike or what? Seemed like Kawi has been lacking for the past few years in the" Big Bike Class" and now Sykes is kickin ass, what has changed?

[RaY YreKa]

Originally Posted by craigincali

Whats the deal with Sykes? Did they totally redesign the bike or what? Seemed like Kawi has been lacking for the past few years in the" Big Bike Class" and now Sykes is kickin ass, what has changed?

Kawasaki has put a lot into the road-bike ZX-10 and ZX-14. It looks like they have finally taken WSBK seriously, and given Sykes a good crew and management set-up (they fired the old one).

Apart from that. maybe Sykes just got faster?

[sgmarshall]

Good to see so many brands in racing, Sykes got a raw deal at Yamaha (of course, being Ben Spies team mate didn't help). Donington was my favorite track on the old PS2 motogp game, the next fav. was Suzuka. (2000 version, with 2 strokes). I hate that Hopper always tries to over ride his bike, they guy is talented, last year I even was following BSB, Hope he can go through 1 season with no injuries on a good bike.
The championship is wide open at this point, once again, I'm rooting for the "old" guys (since Hopper is out of contention)- I'm good with either Biaggi or Checa.

[viajero]

Sykes, again. Wow.

[wrk2surf]

Althea Racing riders Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano have faced an afternoon more difficult than yesterday, after a hard-fought Superpole, Checa was qualified in ninth position for tomorrow's races and Giugliano thirteenth.
Sunny skies but cool temperature (10° C 18° C air, asphalt) to Superbike qualifying this morning. Davide Giugliano continued to make good progress, constantly lowering made record time yesterday and set several laps under 1 ' 30. His best lap in this session it was six-tenths of a second faster than his best time of yesterday, and this time finished in eleventh position, qualifying comfortably for Superpole. Carlos Checa continued work yesterday, focusing his technical on finalizing its 1198. In the last minute of the session, Carlos did record a very fast (1 ' 28.9) who placed third. Only the first three – Checa, Sykes and Smrz – they filmed under the 1 ' 29.
Superpole 1 – the first phase of the Superpole went well for Carlos who did a fastest lap time of 1 and ' 28.6 has placed third. By this time there was no need to get back on track and Carlos ended the mini-session in fifth position. David struggled to make a clean lap as he had done in previous sessions. As a result, his fastest lap time earned him the thirteenth place, off of just one-tenth of a second from Badovini, 12th.
Superpole 2 – Checa and came out first with a qualification but, seeing that he would serve another exit, and is back on track with a cover. The times made record were not so low as hoped the Spanish rider who has finished in ninth position, at a fraction of a second by Camier, eighth.
Carlos Checa: ' we had tried the qualification at the start of the second phase but I decided to make the second exit with rubber. I thought that with the rubber would be possible to record a 1 ' 28. I tried until the end but it seemed that there was the same level of grip that there was this morning and then I failed to do it. It went well and tomorrow there will be need to leave very well. "
Davide Giugliano: "in the morning I went pretty well but in Superpole, with a race, I failed to put together a tour such as those facts earlier this morning. Perhaps I was a bit nervous, I don't know, but it's a shame because I finished off the second phase for only one-tenth of a second. We start tomorrow. Obviously not going to be easy because I start from the fourth row, but will certainly try my best ".
Time (Superpole): 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1 ' 27.7; 2. Haslam (BMW) 1 ' 27.8; 3. Melandri (BMW) 1 ' 28.1; 4. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1 ' 28.3; 5. Hayden (Ducati) 1 ' 28.4; 6. Rea (Honda) 1 ' 28.5; 7. Camier (Suzuki) 1 ' 28.5; 8. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1 ' 28.7; 9. Checa (Ducati) 1 ' 28.4 …. 13. Giugliano (Ducati) 1 ' 29.2

[BOOTLACE]

WSBK. Home after 25years. The first pole man!

http://energyzone.worldsbk.com/speci...nd=5&anno=2012

Wow! Lookit all that! Wonder if it works.......?