World SBK | ROUND 08 | Geico US Round | 07 - 09 JUL

When did duHamel ride for Yosh?

 

When Mladin came to US he wasn't in the twilight of his career. Nice try tho.

 

1990.

 

Unpossible! Motorbykez weren't invented yet. Broome sez so.

 

This is awesome. I hope we're in for another reign of Yoshimura Suzuki leaving all the rest scratching their heads lol! Memories of the Matt and Ben Show.

 

Gagne and Beaubier have had respectable wild cards. You can say what you want about Elias in WSBK, but the man is a world champion. Look at how far the bar has been pushed beyond where JH1 was just a few years ago.

 

Elias problem was never talent but rather the space between his ears. He's making the rest of the field look silly.

 

Not Hayden though. Rog just can't quite get over the hump, but he continues to show outright speed (particularly in qualifying).

 

Really? He's been beaten by Roger, Cam and Josh, and Fong has shown him a wheel or two on the superstock bike this year. But I guess that is making them look silly.

 

Rog has just never seem to have that....how can you put it....bonzai attitude to passing (most of the time). He rides safer and within his means, you almost never see Rog crash on his own because he's pushing to the edge of his limits. That's what it looks like to me. He definitely has outright speed for sure, but when push comes to shove it looks like he doesn't take those wild chances at the more dangerous passes that, by comparison Toni or Cam would dive right into.

 

Man, it seems like they get stronger every weekend.

 

I always asked before interviews. I didn't want to F@ck it up if I wasn't positive. Riders seemed to appreciate it.

-jim

 

Agreed on the Wild Cards but quite frankly, we (USA) need more than just mid pack respectable finishes nowadays to be relevant on the world Stage. Has the bar really been pushed past JH1 or has age finally taken the sharp end he had? We need another Spies or something close to get back in. Hopefully something opens up for PJ next year caus I don't see any light in sight.

 

Cam could step up, but lose money. Not sure I'd do it.

-jim

 

What bike though? There is such a disparity with bikes right now the wrong choice could be a career ender. The Yamaha's aren't horrible in wsbk but aren't quite there yet either. I really want to see what beach and gerloff can do on big bikes but there just isn't anywhere for anyone to go.

 

So if Josh retires at the end of this year, I would guess whoever wins 600 class between Beach and Gerloff would get the ride?

 

That's what I'm hoping for. Nothing against Josh or anything.

 

Got to remember he has suffered some hellacious injuries.

 

Quick takes from my weekend here:

WSB bikes sound incredible cresting over the turn one hill.

Tony Elias is a very petite man when standing next to.

Jason DiSalvo still short but looking pudgy, still good to see him out there.

Tom Kipp may be one of the nicest dudes on the planet. Spoke to my son as if they were old friends.

Drebber does an awesome job announcing at the track. Michael Hill did a great job too.

Wayne Rainey was everywhere, I just couldn't muster up the guts to say anything worthwhile to him. Still seems like a God to me.

My 11yr old boy enjoyed the Moto A crumpet. Loved getting free posters and stickers but mostly checking out the crumpet!

Literally bumped into MMA fighter Urijah Faber on Ducati Island.

The Nicky track walk was really cool. We signed the poster, really had hoped for Nicks RC211V to be there.

Kept getting rides from the Monterey Vets driving around the golf carts, those guys were cool as hell!

Met some of the Pata Yamaha and Aruba.It crew at Safeway Friday night.

Weather was great, fans were awesome, all the racers were super approachable. Way more laid back atmosphere than the MotoGP events.

There was talk of the town renaming a street for Hayden.

Can't wait till next year.

 

Yes: 25 25 20 25 JH2 20 20 25 25 25 25. If we do not see the large talent disparity (except possibly CB) I would say that's part of the issue with US racing in comparison to where we want to be on the world stage. We currently have 2 who are or could be pointy end competitive at the World level. Spain has ~15.