Doha, Qatar | WorldSBK 2018 (Spoilers)

Well, that stinks for whose his face. Looks like he crashed twic.

 

And it looks like he f'ed up his ankle or something on that 2nd crash. The second he stopped sliding he's immediately trying to yank his boot off.

 

and he lost 2nd in the championship with the two crashes and the DNF.

 

It funny how the team talks out of 2 sides of their mouth. All throughout the past 2 years they've been saying the same thing. No pressure on him, we just want him to learn and grow and get comfortable with the bike and the track. Yeah, horseshit. If that was the case they wouldn't be dropping him from the team. Lets be honest, they are the FACTORY Honda team. They want results, not to be a grassroots platform for young up and comers to cut their teeth in the series and then move to a "better" team.

 

but they aren't a factory honda team. Support from Honda Europe and none from HRC.

 

Just because you try to put your rider's mind at ease to help you make incremental progress doesn't mean you don't expect to see some positive results at some point. If a rider is naïve enough to think that he can chill for a couple of years (and I'm not saying that was the case here), it's on him when the music stops.

 

Superbike race is canceled. We knew who was going to win anyway.

 

I wanted him to get his 18th win

 

Yeah, Melandri.

 

Well, I'm sure what they tell the public and what they said to Jake in private were 2 different things anyway. I don't think it was likely that they weren't voicing their distaste with the results to him. The bike wasn't that competitive but Nicky did manage to squeeze out that win on on the old Honder which was impressive to be sure.

 

Cluzel broke his foot, ankle and hip. Damn, that was a lousy day for him.

 

That Honda is arguably the worst platform in the World Superbike field. Jake has done as well as the number 1 rider on the team many times and has put that POS in the top 10 more than once this season as a rookie rider in the series and still learning many of the tracks. The team clearly has some technical issues with reliability and with dialing a set-up for both riders. My question is, who does the team think could get better results than Jake? It would be reasonable to continue to develop a rider that they have invested in and is good for marketing and is continuing to make progress. It is not like he has not shown better results toward the end of the season.
I just hope that if Jake does not continue with his current team he picks up another ride in the series, because I believe he will be able to beat the Honda on a regular basis on any other bike.

 

Ugggh, talk about a kick to the nuts while you're already face down in the mud

 

Laverty

 

His fault for riding like an idiot after the first crash. The guy was pushing hard for one and only one reason, to win the race and win the championship. Once he lost the front and crashed, walk the fuck away cuz it's already over. If you really want to take the checkered flag, fine...pick up the bike and cruise to the end. But what's the point of pushing it to 100% race pace on a bike you just picked up from the gravel when you're already way down the order and you've already lost the championship?? He got desperate, emotions took over his thinking and he shot himself in the foot with the high-side.

 

I wouldn't bet on that. The Aprilia is a way better bike than the Honda and Laverty's results have not been stellar. I bet he will run with Camier and struggle for top 10 finishes except when he is throwing it down the track because he will have to over ride it to try and be competitive.

 

Would the race have been canceled if JRea would have an only 2pt championship lead (and less wins), going in, over that one guy?

 

Clearly....but still a kick to the nuts to be sure. lol

 

Yeah I done understand why Cluzel was pushing so hard after the first crash. Bummer to get hurt last race of the season though. It was a great race however.

 

Trying to hold on to 2nd in the standings, i'll bet.