Rossi Rossi Blah Blah Blah

LOL! Yeah he put in some impressive rides. I was just being mean.

 

I say 850cc. I agree, I think they wanted 2 strokes out.

 

I would like to see Hopper on an M1 passing Biaggi while he tapped his tailsection letting Max know to follow so he can learn. You know kind of a, "Get your notebook out old man and let me show you how it's done."

 

Man, I agree about World Supersport being good racing. But even thought Bayliss is winning EVERYTHING in World Superbike, I just love to watch that guy! In my honest opinion, I think he is the best combination of speed, aggressiveness, and smart rididng on the track these days. And he's such a humble, nice guy. Rossi is just a punk and he probably couldn't even tell you why he's fast, other than Honda spends more on RandD than anybody. Just look at AMA Superbike. How much do you think Honda has spent to make the RC51 as fast as it is? But if it didn't have all that HP, it would never win a race!!! Just watch the thing through the corners...it's a pig!! Give Bostrom the same HP on that OLD ZX7 and he'll kick all those Honda guys assses!! Same goes for Yates on the GSXR.

 

damn you, i was going for the top 20 posts.... foiled once again....

 

In that case I guess I can count on your vote to let my GS450 mix it up with all those RD's and such in Wera vintage F500....

 

like THAT could happen!!!

 

LOL!! No shit.

 

It's always Honda's money and never their riders and crews.

Bayliss should be winning, hell look at all of that R&D money Ducati puts into WSB. Hell, put E-Boz on a WSB Ducati and he could kick all those other bikes' asses... blah... blah... blah. Honda doesn't spend any more money in the AMA than Suzuki and actually probably not as much and they only field one WSB rider now.

I will give the R&D money credit for alot of the MotoGP but they have always pretty much dominated GP 500s. Rossi is in a class by himself but even without him Honda would continue to rule in GP. Just as they would have when Doohan didn't win... Criville was there to pick up the pieces. GP is where Honda's money is at.

 

I find it really hard to believe that Ducati has the resources to spend as much as Honda on WSB. Honda is huge! Ducati is so small, it's amazing they can even compete, let alone beat, the Hondas. And just the fact that Ducati is thrashing Honda right now tells me that Honda is undoubtedly spending all they can afford to make that RC51 better than the Ducati. Their ego is huge, and they can't stand to lose. And when they do win something you have to hear about it forever. They have a great rider in Edwards, and I never meant to imply that Honda wins because they're loaded with cash. I know they have good riders. I honestly could not give a crap less about AMA racing, but NUMEROUS times this year I have heard about all the new developments on the Honda, in particular in the HP department, and how they are desperately trying to win the AMA title. They absolutely do spend more than anyone else and without actual figures to back themselves up, noone can tell me otherwise.

 

I don't doubt that HRC's total budjet dwarfs everyone else's but it just doesn't dwarf Suzuki's in the AMA or Ducati's in the WSB.

Honda could make it a money thing in WSB they just aren't. Most of Honda's development with the RC-51 comes with the riders in Japan(not all just most). Actually Tadi Okada received the credit for last year's development improvement when Colin Edwards was asked about late season improvements last year.

Ducati is spending all of its money in WSB. With 5 riders receiving direct factory support and the back half of the grid are Ducatis. That is similar to Suzuki in the AMA with 3 factory Yosh Superbike riders and two(three counting Corona) major Fxtreme Suzuki teams ant the back 2/3rds of those grids are Suzukis.

It is amazing how well Ducati has done over the last decade considering what Honda used to spend on WSB. I think Honda has sort of given up until the rules changes take place then it's time to put the money back into the picture.

This money argument is always a fun one. I agree that it does get old hearing the Honda successes over and over when you can look at their huge overall(HRC) budget.

 

If the rule makers hadn't given the 4-strokes such an advantage I think we would be seeing some great battles. Never mind that they get twice the displacement, the rule I am calling BS on is the fact that the new bikes are allowed to be much louder than the 2-strokes. I have seen different numbers on the net and tv so I'm not sure what the real values are, but it's something like 115 db for the 2-strokes and over 120 for the 4-strokes. To add insult to injury, I also understand that the 4-strokes are allowed to be louder the first couple of years and then will be cut back a bit. If that's not a sure indication they want the 2-strokes out I don't know what is. (And twice the displacement seems to be the default since that is what the motocross industry uses also.)

 

The FIM powers have actually said that the sound of the four strokes was part of the reason they wanted to go to the fours. They thought it would be more exciting for the fans.

I don't think making them quieter wouldn't have too much affect on them. They are already capable of more hp than the tires can reliably handle so a little more packing shouldn't slow the lap times much.

I wish they would have made the displacement limits lower to maintain some equality. Of course there are only 2 four stroke teams that are beating the 2-stroke Hondas.... Respsol Honda and Marlboro Yamaha. Suzuki will be by the end of the season though.

 

Once the tires can handle the extra hp, it would be more exciting for the fans to allow 2 stroke 750's to come back. Now that'd be a racebike!

 

Hey John, you mentioned a change in WSB rules. I've heard bits and pieces about this, but nothing definite. What have you heard or what do you know? I find that the rules obviously favor the twins. A ZX7 or GSXR doesn't have a chance. Agree?

 

I definitely agree. The thing that held the twins back in the past was the inabilty to rev very high(relative terms of course) but now they reliably rev to 13k+ and with plenty of smooth torque. A couple of years back(in WSB) the twins were allowed to be lighter... then they had to be the same... this year the ZX-7s and the GSXRs are allowed to be lighter but it isn't enough.

I would have liked to see the rules left as unlimited mods without restrictors by just raising the displacement limits to something like 850cc for the fours.

The rules changes are going to raise the displacement limit to 1000cc for all bikes but beyond that I haven't looked up the details. I think it will basically restrict the mods allowed for the four cylinder bikes. The British Superbike series has already changed this season but the fours are struggling still. We'll see how long.

The AMA I guess will limit the 1000cc fours by forcing them to use air restrictors... sort of like NASCAR bikes. The AMA was supposed to meet this week in Knoxville, TN. Alot of NASCAR influence down here.

 

That would be fun to watch.