The 1in5
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
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
