"...New Zealanders, for all their faults, have virtues that are precious: an unwillingness to be intimidated by the new, the formidable, or class systems; trust in situations where there would otherwise be none; compassion for the underdog; a sense of responsibility for people in difficulty; not undertaking to do something without seeing it through - "
Michael King
Hey Gaz. You're In The Minority: Mate.![]()
It's OK to disagree with me. I can't force you to be right.
He'll win again Bill, and it could be the next one where I think the Laguna tactics won't work as well for Rossi. ( I voted yes !) Gaz.
ps Bill , forgot to remind you of another Doc channel bike thingy, sunday night and again monday if you miss it. Titled The doctor, Tornado and Kentucky Kid hope its as good as 'Faster" ? !!!!!!
Last edited by roogazza; 31st July 2008 at 08:59. Reason: added info
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69518
Interesting article about lorenzo talking about all his crashes and how hes feeling as a rider.
It's OK to disagree with me. I can't force you to be right.
Hmm, was wondering what frame of mind he would be in at this point, understandably a little weary of things at the moment.
I hope his approach to getting his head around his issues works, seems logical enough anyway.
Best of luck to him, if he gets his shit together he will undoubtedly be a bigger star than he already is.
"...New Zealanders, for all their faults, have virtues that are precious: an unwillingness to be intimidated by the new, the formidable, or class systems; trust in situations where there would otherwise be none; compassion for the underdog; a sense of responsibility for people in difficulty; not undertaking to do something without seeing it through - "
Michael King
Found this interesting: http://www.motorcycledaily.com/29july08_tires.htm
During the Indy NASCAR race last weekend they had to have mandatory pit stops every 10 laps because that was all the tyres could handle. At that point the outside tyres were down to the fabric/steel or whatever.
The track had been scarred(?) to provide good grip. The plan was that the tyres would wear quickly until the scarring/scratches filled with rubber. That didn't work, the tyres just kept wearing out superfast,.
In mid Sept MotoGP will be at Indy and although I assume they will mostly be using the track in the infield, I would have thought they would be using parts of the main track so as to take advantage of the stands.
If I worked for Michelin or Bridgestone I'd be just a bit worried about that...
There is a grey blur, and a green blur. I try to stay on the grey one. - Joey Dunlop
Soup talked to Kevin Schwantz - . Full Interview here:
Q But you rode all the manufacturers' bikes last year, as I recall, right?
A Yeah, in the past two years I've gotten to ride them. The Suzuki was one of my favorites. But I get to spend more time on it. It handles, it feels like a Suzuki when I ride it. And if I were to take the thing and sling it down the road, I don't have a hard time coming in and facing the Suzuki guys, whereas if I crashed a Honda, I'd probably never be able to face them again. But yeah. I think what we saw in Laguna was a little bit of old-school, "here's the way Grand Prix racing's supposed to be. I don't care your bike's faster. I don't care your shit's working better. I don't care you've won a whole lot more races than me. I'm going to stuff you in the next turn and you're going to have to find another way around me. And what it's going to do, is it's either going to frustrate you enough that you're going to make a mistake and going to run off the track and fall over, something's going to happen."
Q That's kind of exactly what you and Wayne used to do, right?
A Exactly. And when I heard Stoner complain a little bit about the passes and the this and the that, it's like, "He never took a shot at you unnecessarily. He ran off the track? You're the one that put your position, that put yourself in the position outside of him, to get bumped into. And you leaned on him as much as anything." I'd have waited. I'd have let him slid across the track. I'd have driven right by him, and he'd have probably never seen me again. But it's good to see that there's still a little fire in some of those guys out there, because you don't see it very often. It's like, "Hey, here we go. We're going off into this corner. I'm up the inside of you. I'm going to let off the brakes and take the spot. I know it's going to make you mad because I'm slowing you down a little bit, but it's the only chance I've really got to beat you."
Q How else was Rossi going to win, unless he did something like that, at that track?
A Exactly.
Q So, the obvious. Spies. It's amazing how just a few weeks ago, after his performance at Donington, he was kind of the story of the moment. When we spoke to him at Miller he was very confident about getting a seat in MotoGP, potentially. And now, one race at Laguna, and Ben's gone from - maybe it's an exaggeration to say "hero to zero," but the take on it is, "Well, no, he's probably not going to get a top-level ride next year, certainly not with Suzuki." Do you have any thoughts on that, about how quickly that seemed to have turned around? It seems like things changed on a dime.
A There's a bunch of guys who've been riding MotoGP for a long time who can, on the odd occasion, extract something from that bike that'll get it up near the front and really please the sponsor and the manufacturer. But I really think it's a sport - it used to be, when we turned 30, you were looking - if you could get another year's contract, you were laughing. Now, it's 35, 36, 37, some of the guys. You know what? There comes a time when you've got to just step aside. Trust me, I know how hard it is to do. If there's not injuries or something forcing you to quit, it's always almost impossible to make yourself walk away from a job that obviously is pretty good pay, it's a wonderful lifestyle, it's a great group of people. But I think Ben's the natural fit. He's been a Suzuki man for a long time. Why not take him over and give him a shot? The worst thing that can happen is he can do bad, and then - if he replaces Capirossi, he's getting beat by Vermeulen consistently - you do him a year at a time. After a year, if he doesn't do it, you move him back to the side and you bring somebody else in, maybe from 125s or 250s. But I don't see how they can send you to a Donington, having never been there, and to a Laguna Seca, which on a good day's a tough place to get around. Yeah, he knows the place really well, but he doesn't know the bike and the tires and everything about it. I still think Ben deserves a shot at MotoGP. I think what he's done here in the US, and the fact that he's as young as he is, I really think that's where he needs to be. But as it happens, it may not be next year on a Suzuki. Maybe he's got to go try and find a private Honda or a - I don't even know if, there's no private Yamaha spots left, now. Both Colin and Toseland are there.
Q Coming from somebody who was associated with one brand for their whole career, I guess there's these moments in time when you have to make a decision, are you going to stay with something. The money is so good here, and that's been a big factor. Ben has stated that he's going to go where the money is. Do you think that maybe that going for the money at this point in his career is the right option, or should he maybe let the money take a back seat and go to a top-level World Superbike team, maybe do well there, and then get a shot at MotoGP? Or go to a satellite MotoGP team? What do you think about money versus thinking about the career long-term, for him, right now?
A Well, there's no doubt, being a Suzuki man, I'd love to see him stay at Suzuki. From a career perspective, it's so difficult, because there are so few teams in MotoGP these days, you've almost got to just look after yourself. I was lucky. I had a couple different opportunities when I could've gone to different teams and different brands. Luckily, one manufacturer said, "We appreciate that you want to come ride for us, but us amongst the Japanese agree that no, we're not going to touch you. You're their rider." And then later in my career, I had another opportunity to go ride for another team, and just thought better of it myself. So I think whatever Spies does, it's going to be motivated just by his heart. He knows he can stay here and be competitive, run at the front, and like you said, make a good amount of money. Or, does he try and go conquer the world. Which, a national championship here in the US is a big, very important championship, but to say MotoGP World Champion is unlike any other that there is out there. I don't know if going to spend a year or two in World Superbike isn't a step sideways and not really getting you any closer. Maybe just stay here.
Q Well, it worked for Vermeulen, certainly.
A Yeah. Maybe just stay here, continue to keep your Suzuki ties together, and then over the next season, go do some odd tests and a few races, build a little more rapport with the factory, now they see you do a couple of tests in a couple places, and like, "Holy shit! He spent two days testing, he was faster than anybody!" It's tough, because you've got to roll the dice and hope that it all plays out, because I don't care who you talk to at whatever manufacturer it is, you don't ever know exactly how it's going to pan out. And there might be somebody come along, some new, young, super-small Spanish kid just like a Pedrosa, or somebody like a Stoner, come in and step onto a MotoGP bike and start to rule the world. So it's a timing thing. I don't know that I have a true direction to give Ben right now, to say, "Hey, stay," or "Go." It's you. It's what your heart is, where you want to go, what you want to be
It's OK to disagree with me. I can't force you to be right.
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