Well given the circumstances and all of the interest towards Ben possibly getting back into racing etc and him being asked about any of his possible future plans of actually going racing, I think he responded accordingly. I don’t take it as him wanting to be the first one out of the gate with knowing something others did not etc. I’m sure he had obligations and time/dead lines to meet in order to get things put together if he was going to go race, So really no harm no foul IMO.
The point then, and still my point now, is that Suzuki has not left. Which is what Ben said would happen.
No "damage" to get ahead of. I said all along I liked Spies, but I didn't like what he said. That hasnt changed.
Winner winner chicken dinner. So I am definitely no insider but people told me to look at rider contracts 2 years ago and see whose contracts were getting renewed and who had how much time left. With that info and few other details it was clear that Graves was gone and Yoshimura was following the next year. So if a virtual nobody (me) can get some info and figure out what’s going on why would it be hard for Ben Spies to do the same thing with access to tons more information/relationships? Let’s also not forget that Suzuki and Yamaha wouldn’t make solid commitments when they were approached after Spies article came out. If they were coming back with full factory support they would of said it. They did not. Anyone with a brain knows why this happened. The factories weren’t getting the ROI with Graves and Yosh so they found someone who would do it at a more affordable cost. That in itself is the factories cutting support to the teams in this series. Did they cut it all? No but they didn’t sever decades old relationships with proven teams on a whim. I do find it hard to believe that people at Yosh didn’t know. Hell all you had to do was BE AT the GNF and the rumor was in full swing Yosh was out. That wasn’t a secret by that point. Ride safe, AAron
So if Attack is running the official Yamaha team and Hammer is running the official Suzuki team, how can anybody state that the factories have left MA?
I'm just happy Suzuki and Yamaha are still supporting the series. They are the only two manufacturers that have substantially contributed funds to keep SBK teams racing for the past 10 or so years.
No what it is ... Everyone else realizes that there are varying degrees of “Factory supported” race teams. For example last year both Yosh and Team Hammer received some form of support from Suzuki. Yet most people agreed that Yosh was the Suzuki “factory team” team in MA. So either way you slice it the factory support was cut by Suzuki and that was Ben Spies point. The factories are in the process of backing support OUT of MA not into it. That tells a very different picture of where the series is at and it’s long term out look. Ride safe, AAron
I think Yamaha is spending the same amount, just spreading it out between Attack as the main one, but also teams like Westby. They’re just sub contracting the work out after taking it back in house for a couple years. Pretty sure all the WSBK teams follow this model of subcontracting the race team out. Not sure about Suzuki, but Hammer seemed to be a much more efficient model than Yosh. See my post in the other thread.
Ben stated multiple FACTORIES were pulling out of MA, and that's not what happened. In particular, his tying those statements into the questioning of the MA series is what I (still) think is BS. “From what I have heard the factories are pulling out at the end of this year, and I don’t know the longevity of that series.”
Usually great racing with large grids and lots of characters in the series. Plus the bikes are gorgeous. https://www.britishsuperbike.com/teams/2019/
I thought we had established that the MA Superbike grid was partially so small because you had to bring a truck load cash to be competitive with Yamaha / Graves and Yosh Suzuki. So if Yamaha and Suzuki back off their support a bit, wouldn't that make the bikes in theory a bit slower relative to what they would have been otherwise? So wouldn't that open up the door for privateer or other lightly supported factory efforts to be more competitive? So wouldn't we get more competitive racing and guys seeing they might have a chance even if they don't have 10 engineers working on the bike so more willing to jump into the Superbike class? Just a thought.