WSBK | Silly Season | 2026

Have you seen Aldi Mahendra, the rookie in WSS. He was always aggressive and fast in the 300 class and he seems to be immediately getting along with the R9 in WSS. That quick of adaptation is really promising for him.

 

Locatelli signed.
https://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/1071468/1/andrea-locatelli-makes-two-year-yamaha-worldsbk-commitment

 

If you’re going to post links please post to one that actually puts money into racing.
https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/world-superbike-locatelli-signs-for-yamaha-through-2027/

 

Well excuse me.

 

Gimme candy or I'll hold my breathe!

https://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/107...etirement-hint-unless-his-worldsbk-demand-met

Retire, no one would give a shit.

 

It's not like he's holding out on an existing contract or threatening anyone. He's just telling facts about his goals and what he will not do. Where's the issue?

 

That if he doesn't get it he'll tall his ball and go home.

He just got off a career killing ban, more than survived it and now is stomping his feet. Just being a baby.

 

Again, not walking away from a contract. Just choosing under which conditions he wants to continue working. Same as everybody else. Shit, did you not just do that?

If you've served your sentence, you're done paying back. If you have other legal ways to pay your rent , you don't need to go flip burgers just to show how sorry you are.

 

You say that, but he’s one of the biggest draws in the series right now. He’s got more social media followers than anyone else in the class (besides Toprak) and almost as many as WorldSBK as a whole.

His team has also been in the strongest position in many years, both financially and from a results perspective, since his arrival.

So if he retires, I think a lot of people would give a shit.

 

Pay him no mind. He probably has no comprehension that Crash actually dumps a significant amount of cash into FIM GP.

 

Like this:

 

Rinaldi to replace Rabat for the remainder of the season in WSBK.

Manzi also tested the R1 so hints of a WSBK move.

 

Sorta. we were driving between the Audi and Porsche dealerships to finally buy the car we "deserved." We had been looking at houses up in NoVa and we were going to spend money that I thought I'd never have much less ever spend and. . . . . I snapped.

I couldn't do it. Couldn't put up with the changes, the people, sitting on a plane in the shit seats and spending the first 20 minutes of my day trying to figure out where the fuck I was and who I even was. I was literately dying every day and kinda hoping the plane would go down with me laughing all the way to the ground.

1sr world problems to the Nth.


I'm better than I've been in years. Wanna see photos of my squirrel army?

 

Speedweek is reporting that Bautista and Ducati will part ways at the end of this season, which is a really interesting twist in the silly season landscape.

 

My take on Gerloff, he's very, very fast but he's not a racer. He struggles when he doesn't have a clear track or more than a couple of people to pass. He had the same issues in MA.

 

I get what you’re trying to say, but cmon “not a racer” is a comically bad choice of words.

 

I can't speak for Robin172, but I interpret his post like this....

GG isn't a killer. (he says racer, I say killer)

Almost all successful racers are indeed cold blooded killers:

Sheene
Roberts
Schwantz
Doohan
Mladin
Rossi
Stoner
MM93

All racers that come to mind that couldn't sleep if they got 2nd place and would happily punt you into the hay bales/airfence/gravel trap for 13th place if the opportunity arose.

All Obsessed, even manic about their need to win, desire to be the best, and to dominate on track and between your ears off track. Stoner would throw up every weekend out of his fear of losing (and yes, maybe too much milk). Rossi was the smiling, loveable assassin - he'd pat you on the shoulder as he inserts the knife into your back. Mladin, well his tales of intimidation and playing outside the rules to mind fuck a team mate or opponent are well documented.

I look at GG31 and see a guy enjoying the lifestyle if affords him, making friends at every opportunity, and being a great team mate and team player. Crew Chiefs love him, team mates rave about him, and the top 5 guys probably couldn't tell you how to spell his last name as they don't give him any thought with regard to who they need to beat on Sunday.

You know who also fits that bill to a Tee - Joe Roberts.

Being in a band, being a model, and surfing every time he can seems just as worthy of his focus as winning a race in Moto2 the past 5-6 years.

You look at GP right now - Diggia is the same, as is Olivera and even Pecco to a lesser degree. They are all more likely to be described as "Gentlemen" than killers.

IMO GG isn't a racer when it's framed within that context.

 

Confirmed Bautista is not getting renewed at Aruba Ducati

 

Open seats at BMW and Ducati. Who ya got? Miller? Oliveria? One of the Oncu bros? A Turk is good marketing for Germany. Will be interesting to see who ends up where.

 

I almost agree with younglion here but not quite. Garrett had the killer instinct, but not the skill to execute it which is more what I think Robin was saying. From watching him in WERA as a kid all the way through the ranks, like Robin said, he's exceptionally fast. So fast he never had to pass anybody else or when he did, he'd do so like they were tied to a post. He never had to learn how to race against another rider whose raw speed was similar, hence the "not a racer." Racing is more than just going fast and until his MA years, he never had to learn how to do more than go fast. He's not all too different than Marquez in that regard. How many times has Marc bounced off someone else who he was clearly much faster than, simply because he couldn't figure out how to make a clean pass? Let's not forget Garrett's early WSBK years where he was running up front but also bouncing off everybody. Combination of insane raw speed, a racer's aggression, and a lack of a good racer's skill to execute on that aggression.