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

i disagree. i think the number of times that the midpack guys have gotten on TV early in the race is less than the number of times Rea has pulled away at the front. weve traded some tiny bit of excitement early in the race for boring race finishes. its not a net-positive IMO.

 

Agree to disagree.

-jim

 

yep

i have a feeling that Dorna is going to keep the rule for sure. they like to do things that give more publicity to the non-winning teams, like the CRT / Privateer spot in parc ferme for GP.

 

It also significantly, even more differentiates their "other" high end product from the cash cow

-jim

 

I agree with Stang. Only thing it has done is slow Davies and Sykes (not this weekend, holy crap) down and let's Rea get away early. Obviously Rea is better at slicing through the pack and that's good for him and shows his skill, but I think race one is almost always a better race. The guys that bennefit haven't been able to capitalize on it and crashing out in race one also screws them.

We'll see next year but I hope it changes back. I also hope the other manufacturers can bring something to WSBK because the Kawasaki show is getting boring. 10 years ago it was some of the best racing out there.

 

Kawasaki has put EVERYTHING into WSBK. They don't do GP, they don't do MA, and they don't do much if any in BSB. If anybody else (helloooo, Suzuki) would make that kind of commitment it might not be so easy for Rea.

 

Suzuki Corp vs Kawasaki Heavy Industries? Kawasaki's toilet paper budget dwarfs all of Suzuki's cash flow.

 

so? Duc has won a few races this year too. now that Suzuki has a good modern bike, id think they could too.

i think 3-4 race-winning teams is a good number to make for exciting racing, a la GP.

 

Oh they definitely are all in and it shows. Would be nice if Suzuki came back in, with a little money I think they could do good. Would also be nice if Kawasaki would send a factory team to MotoAmerica, they could definitely make an impact and give us some 3 team battles and slow the Suzuki domination down a bit before it gets out of control.

 

Like how all that Red Bull money is making the Honda a winner?

 

Kawasaki gets almost as much logo air time as anyone by sponsoring the MotoAm telecasts. K logo on the preshow and a bunch of advertising on the Z900 I want.

 

Kawasaki show/winning is never boring. #TeamGreen

 

I'd rather Suzuki not come back to WSBK if they have to foot the entire bill themselves. Find a team with an okay budget, help them land some sponsors (even if the motogp bike seems to have none) and support that team with R&D, bikes and parts and let them handle shit.

 

Not working for Aprilia too well. Went from Biaggi, Laverty, Guintoli, Melandri winning races as a factory team, to nothing but mediocre with some good riders.

 

Yup!

 

They lost their mojo before they had a decent bike again.

-jim

 

Shutup you.

 

It's so hard to tell how much factory support teams are getting. Except for TenKate, we know they are getting none.

Even Kawi was/is a private team with factory support. Provec runs the race and test stuff and Kawi develops the bike at the factory. The structure can win if the support and money is there. But that's a big if. Even with Brivio saying they are getting tons more Yamaha support this year, it still doesn't seem to be enough. Ape and BMW are prob providing even less than that, so how the hell can the teams win...

 

That's a weird way to spell Gigi.

 

I just can't imagine if Rea was on the Kawi when Sykes lost those two championships by almost nothing, Kawasaki would be the manufacturer of a pure Legacy. Rea and Kawi probably would have won the last 5 and now 6. Oh well, Team Green and KRT rule... Feels good to be able to say that