So will it be Spies or Haga?

Last 2 races, all up in the air, who is NOT going to crack under
pressure?

Gut feeling those few points that Fabrizio took off Haga are really
going to count now.

I want Haga to win, but feel Spies will, and to be honest he deserves
it, best rider of the year, with Simoncelli 2nd best.

Least we now have ONE good rider in MotoGP for 2010 [Hint hayden, TAKE
A HIKE!]

 

Man are you delusional.
Simoncelli is/was the 2nd best rider this year in WSBK?
You just got through saying you want Haga to win, wouldn't you think if he
doesn't he would be the 2nd best rider in SBK this year?

 

Simoncelli - a one off, on his total home circuit he has every
obligation to know inside and out? Heck no. Have him ride a superbike
on a more obscure circuit and win a race, and *then* we can talk about
the merit of his accomplishment. What he did was.. neat. And no less
than should be expected of him, in my opinion.

As to the main question, heck, roll the dice. It is goig to be a
battle of nerves and poise. To me , the riding skill and poise
equation goes to Spies. Natural poker player. The WSB experience and
familiarity card (not inconsiderable) goes to Haga. I like Haga. Then
again, he's had so many chances that I actually would like the shock
and surprise of Spies winning it. And in turn the total surprise
factor of him shaking up GP next year. One can dream. I don't like the
predictable. I prefer the memorable.

 

I think we've got a re-run of Imola 2002. Spies will take pole and win
the first race and then the championship will be decided by whoever wins
the second. With Fabrizio playing the Xaus role and Biaggi and Rea
getting in the way. Perhaps Ducati should give a 3rd factory bike to
Byrne in the hope that he gets in the mix as well?

I said at the beginning of the year that Haga would find a way to lose
it. I hope it's not just 2 close second places that turn out to be just
not quite enough.

 

somewhat true - track knowledge etc., but I bet many 250 riders that
know that track couldn't have done that well on a superbike. I am
looking forward to see what he can do in MotoGP (Although that class is
losing it's luster to me, it has become way to much of a machine/luck
class, many boring races, and many good riders that just don't have the
equipment to to really compete.

Bruce

 

SO WHAT'S haydens EXCUSE THEN?

 

I never said Haga was the 2nd best rider or even that good, just that
he has a very good chance of winning the Championship, he [Haga] has
pretty much arsed his way through the season till Spies got into his
strides, the Ducati is still the best overall bike in the field that
has helped him no end [Till Aprilia get a decent full-time rider]

Be that as it may, it's still a good effort, say compared to Hodgsons
"Championship" win on the Ducati...lol

About as worthy of a Championship as hayden.

 

I think maybe I read that backwards. But did Haga land on his arse at
Donington?

 

Me too.

His effort in the single SBK race was outstanding.

That he had some crashes [which more often than not means your pushing
hard] and machinery failures in the 250's he should have been W/
Champion again this year....Still a chance all the same.

If he does well and beats all the other privates in the MotoGP/2010
and mixes it with the "A" graders, his option for 2011 will be factory
Ducati with Stoner, in place of hopeless hayden [hooray she cried!] OR
haonda might put him into the Repsol factory team, either Divz. or
Pedbot are riding for their future in 2010 and one will have to go.

Expecting BIG things from Simoncelli and Spies in 2010.

 

You can think whatever you like. And you probably will.

 

What are you on about? You mean the track where Spies and Rea were on
the front row and Spies lost out on pole by a fraction. On those high
production, low cost R1/Blades.

Hairpins and chicanes, mate, hairpins and chicanes. Biaggi runs a
fraction wide and invites him in, Simoncelli really wants to beat Biaggi
(after the TXT from Rossi). Simoncelli is a racer. And you really want
him to not go for the gap? And all this is unfolding in front of Spies
but it's Marco's fault for Spies being run onto the grass by Biaggi?
Perhaps you need reminding that nobody actually touched in that whole
incident.

No. The real problem there wasn't Marco, it was the damn stupid slow
chicane.

 

My heart wants Spies to win, but my head is telling me it'll likely be
Haga. Haga's been good enough the past few races I find it unlikely
Spies will be able to beat him twice in Portugal. Still, Spies' has
done this before against Mladin. Anything is possible. Perhaps
Biaggi would be kind enough to barg Haga off the track once to make
things even...

 

Well, Mark was having his usual dig at Ducati and now Aprilia for racing
an unavailable prototype in an apparently production based formula. But
really at WSB level they're all prototypes now. You can't buy a Xerox
Ducati any more than you can buy a Yamaha Italia R1 or a Ten Kate Blade.
So trying to put a figure on what they cost is a bit meaningless. But I
was being simpler. If the track suits the unobtainable Ducati and
Aprilia so well, how come a Blade and R1 were also on the front row? I
really didn't see a lot of difference in overall bike performance
although they did have different strengths. Pretty much like every other
race this year.

 

Because of the continual upgrades? At one point I quite fancied a
Superduke but then they went and improved it considerably. Quite fancied
the Street Triple too, except that then they did the R with everything
sorted that they should have done first. It's a bitch when you buy
something only for next year's model to be that much better[1].
Thankfully the recession seems to have put paid to that. No updates till
2011. Hooray!

[1] Well with more bling, anyway.

 

C'mon, Julian, you can't be serious. Ducatis and Aprilias filled both
podiums, and the top four in the race where Simoncelli didn't crash
out. Spies managed to stay within 5.5 seconds in the first race, but
was nearly 15 seconds back in the second (not helped by Simoncelli, to
be sure). And the 2nd-best of the true production bikes, both Hondas,
were 14.5 and 16.4 seconds back, 0.7-0.8 second per lap. For Ducati
Corse it was their 2nd-best score of the season, 86 out of a possible
90 (which they scored at Kyalami), and for Aprilia it was their 3rd-
best day, behind Losail and Brno (Biaggi's best track, and aided by
the Spies-Fab incident); had Simoncelli not crashed it would have
easily been their best. And Fabrizio did take pole; that Spies and Rea
bested Haga on a one-lap banzai on qualifiers really means nothing.

As for the machines, there is a material difference between the bikes.
The Japanese machines and the BMW are true production bikes, built in
significant numbers and to a meaningful extent to be affordable and
usable on the street. That they are all inline fours is probably in
part a cost consideration. The Ducati and Aprilia are built in limited
numbers, at a relatively high price, and are really intended more for
racing than street riding, and specifically as superbike foundations.
When WSB made the new homologation requirement 1000 machines for 2008
and 2009 with an increase to 3000 in 2010, they weren't doing the
stair-step for the Japanese, who were unquestionably above 3000 all
the time, and probably not BMW. They were doing it for Ducati and
Aprilia; I don't know specific production numbers, but I have heard
1500 for both machines. So you put these machines on a big-time
acceleration track like Imola and they have an edge, not much
question.

Even Marco admitted to screwing up there after the race, but said "it
turned out all right", which of course is only from his perspective.
Newsflash, Julian - there is always an opening on the inside going ito
a corner, no one runs right on the inside curbing going in. The issue
is always how much of an opening there is, how far back the trailing
rider is, and can he get by cleanly. In this case Marco couldn't, and
that Max ran off track in order to avoid being hit by Marco and there
was no contact doesn't excuse Marco at all, nor does the fact that Max
was then stuck getting in Ben's way and forcing him to also go off-
track to avoid a collision somehow excuse Marco. No, it was all his
fault, and it was the usual contemporary and sleazy maneuver that has
plagued GP racing for at least a generation. I mean, how many times
did Hayden have to go wide on Sunday to avoid being hit from up the
inside? This year has probably caused him to grow eyes in the back of
his head...

Now you're thinking like a real Italian - blame the fakking track...

 

Mark N doesn't get it:

Running on the curb isn't required to shut the door on somebody.
You really do need to take a Danny Walker course or something
as this is a huge gap in your understanding. Get a YSR50 and
get out to the local bash and crash. Something so you'll start
understanding a bit of racecraft.

My 12 year old learned an immense amount at Supercamp
a couple weeks ago. It was awe inspiring. I wish I had
12 year old synapses.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

Michael Sierchio says:

Hmmm, my buddy has an RSV1000 he's done three years of
track days on with no problems. Bar sending it down the
road and having to fix the scrapes. What do you know that
makes you think that?


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

I have an uneasy feeling that Rea is going to factor into the results
in a negative way. Lately he's been fast enough to be at the front
and reckless enough to be a danger to everyone around him.

What I do find interesting is that the last two races are the very
first that we've seen Spies miss a setup and actually finish a race
without being competitive. He and his team have been uncanny in their
ability to nail the setups for tracks he's never seen, but they
finally missed the mark a couple times right at the end of the season.
Hopefully that won't be an issue at the final round.

 

Do explain - I haven't heard Rea described as "reckless" before.

 

WTF are you on about? You really think finishing 4th and 5th at Imola
was an "interesting strategy" to stop Ducati getting an extra weight
advantage. You really are so full of shit.