The 1in5
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Thoughts on Indianapolis MotoGP
Holy smokes. Racing in a violent thunderstorm. Water pooling on the track. Beer cans flying around. A red flag, and the 250s canceled. Rossi totally blowing off NBC's pimply faced pit lane reporter. (I'm downloading the BBC coverage) And, tragically for some, Rossi didn't make good on his promise to run naked down the front straight if he won.
Local boy (well, Spring, Texas) Ben Spies qualifies 5th in the dry, and finishes 6th in the wet, and is the fastest Suzuki by far, about 10 seconds ahead of the other boys in Rizla blue (one a wet weather specialist). But they have contracts and Ben doesn't, mostly because Ben wants too much money, and no-one want to put up with his pit-mommy. And there are no USA sponsors. And now that US roadracing has pulled a CART/IRL (you can tell because both sides deny that it is ANYTHING like the CART/IRL fiasco), what's a highly leveraged Texas boy to do?
But Nicky is the hero. Driving up from the OWB, to face his obligations with his long time employer after he gave his two-weeks notice. Just hoping they remember to unlock the garage. But Nicky knows the best revenge is putting the bike on the box in front of his hometown crowd, even if it means riding headfirst into a hurricane.
Local boy (well, Spring, Texas) Ben Spies qualifies 5th in the dry, and finishes 6th in the wet, and is the fastest Suzuki by far, about 10 seconds ahead of the other boys in Rizla blue (one a wet weather specialist). But they have contracts and Ben doesn't, mostly because Ben wants too much money, and no-one want to put up with his pit-mommy. And there are no USA sponsors. And now that US roadracing has pulled a CART/IRL (you can tell because both sides deny that it is ANYTHING like the CART/IRL fiasco), what's a highly leveraged Texas boy to do?
But Nicky is the hero. Driving up from the OWB, to face his obligations with his long time employer after he gave his two-weeks notice. Just hoping they remember to unlock the garage. But Nicky knows the best revenge is putting the bike on the box in front of his hometown crowd, even if it means riding headfirst into a hurricane.
Labels: Indianapolis, MotoGP, Nicky Hayden
¶ 6:59 PM 0 Comments
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Bouncing Baby Boy
bouncing will and waving will
Originally uploaded by will.cyclone.stilesBetter boy to bounce than the bouncing baby? I think not.
¶ 10:22 PM 0 Comments
bouncing will and waving will
Originally uploaded by will.cyclone.stiles
¶ 10:22 PM 0 Comments
Monday, February 25, 2008
WSBK Qatar - It Makes You Grow
A few comments on the WSBK races over the weekend. It was in Qatar. It was windy.
Were the Ducks sandbagging it? It was gentle sporting dominance, as they did let the Yamahas and one Suzuki at a time, play along.
I am really looking forward to the SuperSport race, whenever Speed decides to show it. Garry McCoy + Triumph = ...well, I don't know what, probably something with great promise that doesn't quite meet expectations. Wait..that's not it. =Excitement!!!! That's right! Go big, Garry!
Where was my favorite Turkish sporting hero? And why didn't I know that he had a funny mark on the "G" in his last name? I barely saw him. I mean, Ant West went from a couple races in SuperSport (where he thrashed our favorite Turk quite handily as I recall) to supreme glory in MotoGP, setting records for false starts and rain dances. So I expected Kenan to be dicing it up with the grown-ups. I'm sure he ran a very nice race, and if the leaders hadn't been so brilliant, I may have seen some of it. Helas.
Speaking of curds, a brief note for the commentary booth. When you have two racers, one a Roman and one a 6' Spaniard, duking it out mano a mano, and both are on bikes sponsored by Sterilgarda, a leading Italian milk concern, you've really got to come up with something better than "of the milk that would be spilled, one of these riders could cry...if it was sour." Next race try the following:
"Max is hard on the brakes, and takes the lead from Xaus, like Romulus grabbing the she-wolf teat from Remus and hosing him down with it."
Max & Ruben negotiate with their sponsor. The role of
the Flammini brothers represented by a woodpecker.
Or try this for inspiration.
It makes you grow.
A few comments on the WSBK races over the weekend. It was in Qatar. It was windy.
Were the Ducks sandbagging it? It was gentle sporting dominance, as they did let the Yamahas and one Suzuki at a time, play along.
I am really looking forward to the SuperSport race, whenever Speed decides to show it. Garry McCoy + Triumph = ...well, I don't know what, probably something with great promise that doesn't quite meet expectations. Wait..that's not it. =Excitement!!!! That's right! Go big, Garry!
Where was my favorite Turkish sporting hero? And why didn't I know that he had a funny mark on the "G" in his last name? I barely saw him. I mean, Ant West went from a couple races in SuperSport (where he thrashed our favorite Turk quite handily as I recall) to supreme glory in MotoGP, setting records for false starts and rain dances. So I expected Kenan to be dicing it up with the grown-ups. I'm sure he ran a very nice race, and if the leaders hadn't been so brilliant, I may have seen some of it. Helas.
Speaking of curds, a brief note for the commentary booth. When you have two racers, one a Roman and one a 6' Spaniard, duking it out mano a mano, and both are on bikes sponsored by Sterilgarda, a leading Italian milk concern, you've really got to come up with something better than "of the milk that would be spilled, one of these riders could cry...if it was sour." Next race try the following:
"Max is hard on the brakes, and takes the lead from Xaus, like Romulus grabbing the she-wolf teat from Remus and hosing him down with it."
Max & Ruben negotiate with their sponsor. The role of
the Flammini brothers represented by a woodpecker.
Or try this for inspiration.
It makes you grow.
Labels: garry mccoy, qatar, sandbagging, triumph, world superbike, WSBK
¶ 7:33 PM 0 Comments
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Me and My Boy
The little dude uses his dry, wodehousian wit, and I make funny faces.
¶ 9:26 PM 0 Comments
¶ 9:26 PM 0 Comments
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Young William, 6 pounds 7.9 oz
One week ago, this little critter came into the world. He may be small, but he plays big. And, of course, he's the best baby in the world.
¶ 6:23 PM 2 Comments
¶ 6:23 PM 2 Comments
Friday, September 7, 2007
Valentino Rossi, Luciano Pavarotti
In memoriam for LP.
(And probably in memoriam of Vale's MotoGP championship chances.)
¶ 4:52 PM 0 Comments
(And probably in memoriam of Vale's MotoGP championship chances.)
¶ 4:52 PM 0 Comments
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Il Ritorno!
According to the Autoblog, a US legal Alfa Romeo is in the USA. Detroit, no less.
And they said it would never happen.
Though the 8C is way out of my league, the Brera might do, with an Alfa V6.
In the meantime, back to sniffing Liquid Wrench fumes in the garage, while trying to pull my old head.
According to the Autoblog, a US legal Alfa Romeo is in the USA. Detroit, no less.
And they said it would never happen.
Though the 8C is way out of my league, the Brera might do, with an Alfa V6.
In the meantime, back to sniffing Liquid Wrench fumes in the garage, while trying to pull my old head.
Labels: Alfa Romeo
¶ 7:21 PM 0 Comments
