WorldSBK|Round 11|Portimao,Portugal|Oct 1-3

What could Yamaha tell him? If he crashes one more time this season he loses his contract or doesn’t get an upgraded bike?

 

We don't need to know nothing before we can start casting judgement. Facts just get in the way of a good lynching. Break out the pitchforks and torches there is a conspiracy out there against us and we need to kill everybody that might be involved.

 

No one over here has really addressed it. For example, Greg's Garage didn't even mention GG I the last recap. Yet everyone is wondering what's going on.

 

So if they're firing Les who's going to take his place?

GG was unfairly treated by Yamaha AND race direction. Didn't he get a pit lane start for taking out Rinaldi?

What did locatelli get for taking out VDM?

How about Mahias for taking out Chaz?

I know there's been a few incidents I'm not thinking of, but not one other time can I remember a pit lane start.

 

Then perhaps you can enlighten us with exactly what was said and by whom to include opposing sides?

 

In the interview, or inside the garage? Already talked about the former. The latter would be a fantastically stupid question.

 

Getting each sides view of a story is “fantastically stupid”? Oh kay…

 

No. Fantastically stupid would be to expect me to enlighten you on what was actually said by whom inside the garage/transporter. I can't possibly know more than what the person who spoke to both parties (and signs their paychecks) is willing to share on TV. If I had to bet, my money would be on not even the crew chief being present for some of these conversations.

 

So anyways....the curious situation with Baz.

He podiumed in one weekend about as many times as he did whole MA season.

That MA bike is a serious piece of kit so is it the Dunlops or is it that the depth of the MA field isn't as shallow as some people would like to think?

It would be interesting if he goes to WSBK next year and is closer to the front then he was all season in MA.

 

Meanwhile…Toprak says, stuff it Limeys.

https://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/2021/Razgatlioglu clashes with Rea over style comments This is my style I will never change

 

I'm a fan of Toprak and watching his racecraft and braking is fantastic, but at this point I'd be okay watching others use him as a berm to let him know what it feels like.

He crosses the line a bit too often lately, IMO.

 

I saw only one instance that could be questionable and you could chalk that up to a racing incident. Redding is whining because he likes to take his lines that the Ducati needs to be fast and Toprak is there sometimes and stands him up. Rea had just as hard moves on Toprak but Toprak wasn’t complaining. Rea(and I’ve been a fan for a long while) has zero room to say anything about hard,bar bashing riding.

Good thing they aren’t racing 95-2002 WSBK.

 

He mentioned in an interview the Duc works way better with Pirellis.

 

Is that what Redding told you, or are you just pulling it out of your ass?

 

I watched the races

You can see that he was taking different lines throughout most of the corners vs Toprak and Rea. It allowed Rea to get by him a few times. It seems that Redding is complaining that Toprak isn’t right there beside him and he has to pick up after he starts to enter the corner. He should revisit some of his Moto2 replays with him and Pol. I like Redding as a rider and a personality in the paddock but his whining about hard but fair racing is getting annoying.

 

Redding isn't wrong in his complaints in my eyes. But like MM did to GP, everyone else will have to adapt to this type of racing if they want to beat Toprak and be competitive in WSBK. I wish Redding would man the eff up and cut the nose off Toprak. Make him go the long way around.

I typically root for the underdog, so naturally haven't cheered on Rea in a long time, but man..race 2. I REALLY wanted him to give Toprak hell. Great to see him find that next level.

 

It’s hard to cut someone’s nose off when he’s showed time and time again that he’ll just use you as a berm.

I think that’s the real issue - in addition to how good he is on the brakes, he’s got no compunction (and thus far hasn’t been penalized) for quite aggressive riding. That causes people like Redding to leave gaps they wouldn’t otherwise leave (almost gifting Toprak the position).

 

Oh, and for the record the Duc definitely doesn’t stop like the Yammie and that causes *some* of the issue - not claiming that’s not the case.

 

I really don't think Toprak has done anything to justify a penalty so far. He's forced the grid to step up their level as far as being aggressive and some guys are struggling with it. Also it seems like he can put that Yamaha anywhere he wants to on the track. If you can't see that Redding is struggling with that Ducati you are blind.

What I really want to see is those guys give Toprak the taste of his own medicine and see how he handles it.

 

Im all for aggresive racing to a point. Did Baz do anything different than Toprak has? Why did Baz get a penalty and toprak hasnt?