Hayden finally open to racing WSBK?

The bike wasn't "shit," but the team certainly made some really dumb mistakes that year. What Ben did was nothing short of amazing.

 

Yeah that R1 wasn't shit at all. In fact, I remember Ben saying very early on that he wasn't sure why that bike hadn't been winning in the past!

 

You remember wrong. That bike was brand new for 2009 so what would Ben have to compare to?

You guys need to read some RRW. They interviewed Spies crew chief some time later after 2009 and he said that (in PC kind of way) the only reason the bike won was Spies. The bike was miles off at the beginning of the year.

Anyways I'm out. There is some dumb shit in this thread.

 

Well, look at what his team mate sykes did with the R1. Crutchlow did okay the next year and got a few wins but Toseland didn't exactly set the world on fire with it.

But hey, remember it however you want.

 

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic

 

Somehow after Indy he managed 3 thirds and 3 fourths, not too bad with a "shitty" bike

 

Ben rode the 2008 in testing.
http://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/128676/1/spies-stars-as-portimao-test-begins.html

 

Yep, 14 wins and 11 poles on a shit bike. Lol!

 

When Ben tested the previous year's bike he said "you could win on that"

 

guy reeled off a bunch of wins last year once they got the seat/subframe configured to his liking on the aprilia

 

thats because the money faucet was turned off this year, its the only factory bike this year that is well,,,,,,,,last years bike, ZERO developement and parts while the other teams get new stuff through out the year

 

This thread has a Pouch, albeit with better grammar, level of stupid in it.

If Nicky goes to wsbk he will dominate in very short order. He's a suberbike/flat track rider, that's what he does, turn the fucking traction control off on all of them and he'll slide that bitch to the front!!

 

Traction control isn't going away.


That said, he rides a bike with it now, I'm sure he'd do just fine.

 

To be fair, he didn't exactly have full context.

 

Sorry, but nope. The 2009 R1 was not a bad bike. It was the first superbike with a crossplane crankshaft. Hayes was able to beat Mladin and Yosh with it 6 times that year, which was his first year on a factory team in Superbike. Crutchlow was able to win 3 races with it the next year. Spies was able to win the championship on it, against a pretty fast field. Definitely not a "shit" bike, but as Dave K said, "remember it how you like." You're allowed to be wrong.

Still, what Ben did that year was nothing short of amazing.


Edit: Also of note, Sykes scored 176 points on the Yamaha in 2009, and only 106 on the Kawasaki in 2010, and 141 on the Kawi in 2011.

 

Hard to see why a WSBK team wouldn't want him. He's won on every bike he's ridden.

 

I know he's fast when he wants to be but he pretty much always cracks in a clutch and supposedly has a terrible attitude that makes him really hard to work with.

 

Dominate??? Doubt that

 

I think it's fair to say that if Rea and Hayden were on identical bikes, I'd choose Hayden to win that race every day of the week. And Rea is dominating this year... $.02