MotoAmerica rides for 2018

Me too. I mean WTF. Haha

 

Here's the link
https://www.sling.com/international-sports

 

Maybe my memory is off but I'm not looking up previous posts. I just recall you complaining that you can't watch the races because your cable company doesn't offer beIN therefore beIN sucks.

 

The only thing I don't like about BeIN is that some of the announcers have this weird thing where they'll speak nearly perfect English, but put a weird spin on the pronunciations of foreign names/locations. I can't figure out if they're well educated Americans or foreigners that speak really good English.

They're also owned by Al Jazeera, so there's that.

 

And if so, one needs to go to Bobby Fong.

 

I think the BEiN coverage has been pretty good and I'm just thankful that we can even get American races on TV. I like the tandem of Jason Pridmore and Greg White, Greg's energetic passion for the sport and the people/community of the paddock is genuine. Oh and that Hannah Lopa girl is doing quite well ( good for Kyle!) Only thing better than watching the races on TV is spending the weekend at a Race.

The coverage of WSBK and Moto GP has been great as well.

Keep holding out hope for a return of a Ducati, Kawasaki and Honda factory teams.

 

This has got to be my favorite beeb comment of the year!

 

Seriously, the baddest ass Kawi Superbike we saw all year was the one Aussie Dave put together by himself but then chose not to race

 

You mean the one that was burned to a crisp this weekend?

 

I don't think so....I believe that was the SSTK-spec bike that he ended riding for the majority of the season. It was the one he was trying to sell on here a while back.

 

The one that burned had the custom swingarm. I didn't think those were allowed in sstk.

 

Ahhh.....I could be wrong. I thought he had said he was finishing out the season in SSTK.

 

I'd love to see Kawasaki bring Factory support and put Fong on one bike, and Anthony West on the other.

Ant is a World Class rider that would be able to battle for Podiums every weekend. Like Elias, he would bring more credibility to MA and would add to the excitement up front (as would Fong on a true Factory bike).

While we are making wishes, I'd love for Graves to field a 1000SS team. Hayes and Boobie in SBK, Beach and Solis in 600SS, and Gerloff and Wyman in 1000SS.

Then to top it off, have Kawi also field a 600SS Factory effort with DiSalvo and Farrell (if love to see what Farrell could do over the course of a season, on a Factory team where he could just focus on riding).

Having Kawi with some legit riders would turn the 3-4 rider battle for wins (same people, same bikes, every damn weekend), into a 5-6 rider battle.

 

From the sound of it the 1000 stock class next year is going to be more of a class to bring up and comers no right? Will be interesting to see how they draw the line for this:

"The Stock 1000 class is designed to be a feeder class for Superbike, giving riders the chance to gain experience on 1000cc motorcycles before making the move to the premier class. The licensing restrictions will ensure this category will be for participants with little or no current 1000cc experience at the national level."

As an example, JD Beach has raced Superbike in the past (pre-MA) on the Kawi. Does that mean he'd not be eligible for Stock 1000 and could only move up to Superbike? Maybe the word "current" would be applicable there because he rode it back in like 2010. Obviously most guys who are in SBK and SSTK1000 the past couple years in MA wouldn't be eligible for Stock 1000 (i.e. Wyman, Lewis, Fong, Eslick, etc).

 

Hmm, interesting. I wonder how it will play out with guys being "forced" out of 1000SS, especially in situations where guys were racing SS due to budgetary reasons. It sounds like that is exactly what they are trying to do, because the turnout in SB is pathetic. What did we have on average, 6-7 entries?

It could either end up in less 1000 riders in general (because they won't have the money for a competitive SB effort), or we maybe end up with a lot of guys racing in SB, with bikes that are barely more than SS spec.

I don't know how many guys/teams/sponsors will want to put that kind of effort/money into it when they know there is 0% chance of even making a podium...which means they will get very little, if any TV coverage.

 

I don't think that will be the case. Again, as per MA's explanation, the SSTK1000 guys have demonstrated over the last couple of seasons to be able to run close to the front of the SBK class riders. So they are simply going to put them all together into one class and call it SBK. The teams that are running SSTK-spec bikes now can still choose to do so next year or if their budgets allow (like the Westby team) they can upgrade their bikes to full SBK-spec (or something in between perhaps). It's not like they are going to be forced to fork over the money to build full SBK-spec rides to compete in the class. Just because you CAN use works suspension, aftermarket wheels and swingarms and do more motor works doesn't mean you HAVE to to compete it sounds like.

 

They raced motorcycles way back then ???? Don't tell Broome

 

End of the day it's about money and/ or the value of money to the rider. i.e. if you can get $50K USD more a year to go to WSBK (assuming you don't have an ultimatum to do so) or stay here in the good ole USA, you have to decide if that $50K is enough of a salary loss to live in the best country in the world (well tied with Canada)

 

Spoke to someone in the Graves camp Sunday pre-race about Hayes future.
Fact: Not done racing or working for Yamaha.
Speculation for 2018: Probably not contesting for another MotoA title but could possibly be doing one or more of the following:
*Daytona 200 (unfinished business)
*WSBK Laguna wildcard
*Suzuka 8 Hour
Or who knows what else ? The future is wide open for Joshua Hayes...