Awesome. Now go win the MA championship. I figure there may be several race winners so the points get spread around and KWR Ducati wins it all in the end. No pressure.
they’ve run out of excuses using the displacement advantage argument, so they’re grasping at anything. i think it’s fucking hilarious.
there's gotta be something to be said mentally, but subjective in measurement, of having to be at the main show with the pressure, # of people watching, money on the line, attention, # of people counting on you... at the GP level, compared to the SBK level. not drastically so, but there's still a definite difference in attendance level or prestige, or feeling of proving you deserve what you've achieved. you ask any rider, and 100% of them will stay say GP is the pinnacle, every time, even if SBK is a grand achievement in its own right. i doubt you'd ever hear somebody saying it was the top spot given the option of the two. Once you've achieved a certain level, its always easier mentally to take a step back away, in any avenue of life. you become the CFO of a Fortune 500 company, then decide to "retire" after a few years and do some consulting on a smaller scale, i'm sure that feels like much less of a weight on your shoulders. same thing. that "relief", while hard to quantify, probably does mean something. OR, from the flip side, maybe Bautista has a renewed drive and hunger to prove to himself and others that he really is a step removed from this series in which he now finds himself, and wants to shine to prove a point. hard to know without knowing the dude. all i know is, now being in management, if i stepped down to analyst work again, i'd find myself easily contented with the experience now as retrospect. its always easier to step back, than to be hungry and wanting to go up, from a mental aspect. that "relief", i would assume, would make it easier to be relaxed and focused/less distracted, which often leads to better and more natural performance of one's abilities without getting wrapped up in your own mind.
Oh I just realized...the winglets! That's why it's a cheater bike! Yep, that must be it... The only thing I hate about the V4 (and the V4R for that matter) is that there isn't one in my garage
I don't know the dude personally, but if I had to guess one reason, it would be that he wants to prove the people who run the GP teams wrong and show them he belongs in MotoGP not WSBK. While I understand where you're coming from and agree with that notion, I don't think he is relieved in any way. Bautista never lacked ambition and I don't think he will go down (in his career) without a fight or an attempt to get back to GP. What better way to do that other than to decimate the competition. Given what he did in his last GP season as well as the few before he definitely should have gotten a seat. Likewise with Pasini in Moto2, multiple pole position/race winner and couldn't get a seat on a 32 bike grid, that's ludicrous.
I’m guessing a factory WSBK ride pays a shit ton more than a second or third tier GP ride. I wish Nicky had made that move when he was at Duc instead of staying in GP on that customer Honda.
I didn't want to shamelessly start a new thread, but I thought some people would be interested in seeing this! Check it out: http://www.kwarmy.com