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
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Moto Racing Rundown
MotoGP racing has had all the excitement of F1 the first couple of races. It seems that Dorna has figured that to be a real premier class, it must ban passing. This message hasn't sunk down to the 250 class, that had more excitement in three laps in Spain than MotoGP had in in all of Qatar. The Duck has the horses, and that'll work in Qatar and maybe in Shanghai. It was sad to see Ilmor give up, and KR racing almost have to give up due to sponsorship. I'm glad KR at least got a cool skull and crossbones to put on their bike, but heck, if Rizla can sponsor a team, it's time for Zig Zag to step up - cause, y'know, motorbikes zig and zag and what not. My man Colin has got a podium, and I think wild man from Cali will get his soon. I'll put money on a 2.5 Americans on the podium at Laguna, depending on whether the rumors about red-headed nature of Honda's stepchild Hayden are true.
(Not to be so harsh on F1. I actually watched some of the moto-pantomime in Malaysia, and it came close to being more exciting than Seniors golf. I'm thinking that Lewis Hamilton may entice my F1 apostate friend back from her prolonged boycott. But he's driving a Mclaren, and is from Woking, which could work for or against him.)
The real drama has been in WSBK, though. The return of the new, improved and maybe less pugilistic Biaggi alone has made for exciting racing. The pinky-amputating, nut-crunching, crash of Troy Bayliss followed by recovery in Monte Carlo and a pole for this weekend has been inspirational, though I don't know if I should consider the picture on the front page of his web site ironic or out of date. Ducati will have a hard time making the WSBK folks change their minds on twin displacement so long as they have a racer like Bayliss on the team.
AMA? Daytona provided some laughs in Formula EXXXXTREEEEMEEE. The Honda CBR600RR Daytona 200 Race Brought to You By Honda and The New Honda CBR600RR provided a season's worth of hubris when the Brand New Honda CBR600RRs putter to the gravel traps after a few laps. AMA Superbike looks like Hot Yosh on Yosh Action: Volume II, only not as hot this time around. They should turn loose a couple Ducati 1098s mid-season just to make it interesting.
Oh, there's a Turk whipping up on World Supersports. Which is cool. And Locatelli is recovering, which is also a good thing. ¶ 10:46 AM 0 Comments
(Not to be so harsh on F1. I actually watched some of the moto-pantomime in Malaysia, and it came close to being more exciting than Seniors golf. I'm thinking that Lewis Hamilton may entice my F1 apostate friend back from her prolonged boycott. But he's driving a Mclaren, and is from Woking, which could work for or against him.)
The real drama has been in WSBK, though. The return of the new, improved and maybe less pugilistic Biaggi alone has made for exciting racing. The pinky-amputating, nut-crunching, crash of Troy Bayliss followed by recovery in Monte Carlo and a pole for this weekend has been inspirational, though I don't know if I should consider the picture on the front page of his web site ironic or out of date. Ducati will have a hard time making the WSBK folks change their minds on twin displacement so long as they have a racer like Bayliss on the team.
AMA? Daytona provided some laughs in Formula EXXXXTREEEEMEEE. The Honda CBR600RR Daytona 200 Race Brought to You By Honda and The New Honda CBR600RR provided a season's worth of hubris when the Brand New Honda CBR600RRs putter to the gravel traps after a few laps. AMA Superbike looks like Hot Yosh on Yosh Action: Volume II, only not as hot this time around. They should turn loose a couple Ducati 1098s mid-season just to make it interesting.
Oh, there's a Turk whipping up on World Supersports. Which is cool. And Locatelli is recovering, which is also a good thing. ¶ 10:46 AM 0 Comments
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Why I Am A Colin Edwards Fan Now
1. He's fast on the 800. Wicked fast on two continents.
2. The carbon black and red Yamaha with the black and red leathers looks bad ass.
3. He's a Texan.
4. After watching The Doctor, The Tornado and the Kentucky Kid, and listening to some interviews with him, he seems like he has his head screwed on right.
5. He sounds uncannily like an accordion player I know. The accordion player is an alright guy too.
6. Nicky is a bit too Hollywood.
Now, who to root for in WSBK? Because Biaggi makes such a good villian.
1. He's fast on the 800. Wicked fast on two continents.
2. The carbon black and red Yamaha with the black and red leathers looks bad ass.
3. He's a Texan.
4. After watching The Doctor, The Tornado and the Kentucky Kid, and listening to some interviews with him, he seems like he has his head screwed on right.
5. He sounds uncannily like an accordion player I know. The accordion player is an alright guy too.
6. Nicky is a bit too Hollywood.
Now, who to root for in WSBK? Because Biaggi makes such a good villian.
Labels: Colin Edwards, MotoGP
¶ 4:05 PM 0 Comments
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Nicky Can't Sell Motorcycles
Interesting series of reactions to Honda's apparent cluelessness in using Nicky Hayden to market cycles in the US.
But when marketing to the sport bike crowd, you'd think Honda would expend a little more effort (despite their banking on Dani Pedrosa to be the new RCV messiah). Watching SPEED, you can't help but realize that Ben Spies and Matt Mladin ride GSXRs (one came on as I typed this during a Barrett Jackson auction show) and that the grinning Italian fellow rides a Yamaha. Nicky is a good looking, down home dude. Why not exploit him?
Interesting series of reactions to Honda's apparent cluelessness in using Nicky Hayden to market cycles in the US.
But when marketing to the sport bike crowd, you'd think Honda would expend a little more effort (despite their banking on Dani Pedrosa to be the new RCV messiah). Watching SPEED, you can't help but realize that Ben Spies and Matt Mladin ride GSXRs (one came on as I typed this during a Barrett Jackson auction show) and that the grinning Italian fellow rides a Yamaha. Nicky is a good looking, down home dude. Why not exploit him?
Labels: MotoGP, Nicky Hayden
¶ 5:52 PM 0 Comments
