It seems like there are way more deserving riders than there are good rides. Does Toni stay here and defend his title? Does Graves force out Hayes in order to bring up Gerloff? Does JD Beach stay and dominate Supersort or does he jump ship for a Superbike ride? What about manufacturers? Is there any chance of seeing more factory support?
I just can't wrap my head around Hayes being "forced out". I don't give a shit who is waiting on that seat. As long as Hayes is competitive, and has the desire, that seat should be his until he decides to leave it, IMO. He has done way too much good for that team, those sponsors, and Yamaha. He helped sell a metric asston of R1's for years, when it was a frozen turd. It was by far the weakest, heaviest, slowest turning piece of shit off the showroom floor with a frame like a wet noodle...but he made that bike look like a weapon...and advertised/promoted the shit out of it.
Elias going to WSBK would leave a Yosh spot open for Hayes...he started at Suzuki...maybe he finishes at Suzuki.
Yeah Elias is not going anywhere. He will be here until he retires I believe. Has said many times he loves being here in America and is working on setting up things for after racing.
I think Hayden to WSB, Elias stays put, Gerloff to Factory Yamaha SBK, Beach w/ Yamaha contract to partner Scholz at Westby and Hayes back to Honda to partner with Gagne since he has a Yamaha contract, Honda could get him cheaper as Yamaha has to pay him off. M4 has Debise and Lewis on the M4 Ecstar GSXR1000 and Nick McFadden on the 600. I think Benny Solis moves up to a CBR1000 with his own team and Honda help since the 600 just can't hang with the R6, no matter who is riding it and next years rules package won't help it at all. The other Yosh seat goes to: Kyle Wyman
Elias isn't leaving Hayes will stay at graves until he decides to leave but I'm not sure that won't be this year Nobody from here is going to wsbk so everything will stay pretty much as is ........ as usual
The real question is.. Is Kawasaki going to bring some support next year? Two factory seats would be awesome.
I think this thread will will make every team owner/manager roll their eyes and wonder why they do what they do if they read it by middle of page two.
The more snippets of videos and interviews you see with Elias the more you think the only way he's leaving the US is if gets thrown out. Dude waves the US flag more than a drunk redneck at football game.
Elias stays Hayes to r and d Yamaha only Garrett to superbike Rodger stays Gange and Solis teammates Fong fending for himself Kawi stays out Beach if he moves anywhere it'll be to a stocker 1000 If not graves has 1 600 team Still zero support from factory Honda Same shitty no tv coverage.
Not if you can't get beIN in you part of town and your cable provider will not add it. Great coverage. I don't see it. Didn't ama use to be on espn?
He loves it here and will stay put. I let him drive my jeep one night at road Atlanta (we hit a small trail about 45 min away). He looked down when adjusting the seat where I have a holster mounted. He said "this country is very much fun". Only disappointing thing is he didn't leave me sunglasses.
One reason Elias would like to leave is...erm.... That's right, no reason for him to leave from what seems to be a successful "partnership"
slingtv sports pack. I paid $79 for a year. I get to watch MotoGP, WSBK and MotoAmerica for that price. But I guess MotoGP is shitty and has no coverage either because its not on espn.
It'll really come down to offers and money. Maybe Suzuki sends him to WSBK with a nice pay packet? Who knows.