MOTOGP » Hopkins: Everything is up in the air

Bayliss is the only WSBK rider to win a MotoGP race, end of story as far as Im concerned.
I don't think any other WSBK rider can challenge the top MotoGP riders consistently as they use different lines ,lean angles,brake points etc, witness Toselands lines at PI in 08, he was blocking Rossi with his Superbike lines.
Haga tried,Edwards,Vermeulen,Hopkins,Toseland ,Hayden won 2 races and got lucky and hasn't done much since his championship.
The reverse seems to be true in WSBK, none of the ex MotoGP riders have done much there either.
I would love to see a Rossi V Bayliss Superbike weekend ( not just one race) I don't think MR Rossi would have it as easy as some seem to think.

Ciao

Tax Dodger you are forgetting MotoGP bikes are now 800's, which are far different to ride than the 990's... Many good riders, Capirosi, Melandri, Hayden etc haven't addapted to the 800's too well. There's nothing about Baylis' past that would suggest he would do well on an 800...

Tax Dodger,

Biaggi, with a good package, finished 3rd in WSBK for his rookie season.

Flange, Bayliss finished 6th in his first and only 250GP ride as a wildcard at PI in 1997 ( he was 3rd into the last corner on a very slow Dutch Arie Molenaar Suzuki.

Biaggi showed some form on the Suzuki in 07 (on a championship winning bike )but didn't have much luck in 08.

And my comment wasn't about Bayliss racing 800GP but Rossi racing WSBK..

Ciao.

Zane I think you got a good point there. Gardener (Honda 500 screamer) 1 W1 JB
Mick Doohan (Honda 500 screamer)5 should have been 7 WCs JB engineer
Alex Griville (Honda 500 screamer) 1 WC JB engineer
Vale (Honda 500 screamer) 1 WC JB engineer Vale ( 990 Honda 2 WCs JB engineer.
Vale (990 Yamaha) JB engineer 2 WCs JB engineer.
Vale (800 Yamaha) JB engineer. Not taking anything away from any of the above riders I seem to recall even Vale thought his first year on Yamaha would not be successful and Honda was so sure of themselves they said anyone could win a WC on a Honda.
Now 4 totally different bikes 4 different riders but only 1 engineer.
Engineer for 13 WCs the stats speak for themself

Sorry to say that but Hopkins did help Kawasaki a lot in a bad way, drunk on monday morning in Brno didn't show up for the test,later on drunk again on friday morning for pratice during a GP didn't show up the whole day,then after that the guy is telling you the bike isn't good enough, to me it just show how immature Hopkins is, he has speed for sure but is he the rider you can really trust? Melandri's attitude at Ducati wasn't good either, so when it comes the time to question why are you in Motogp, thoses facts don't help.

Auldpat, JB engineer for Criville? Where did you find this?

errr where did you find info on hopkins being a boozer??!! am i missing something?

Patrice, Hopper was going through a bad time in his recent marriage and had just had a big bust up with his wife apparently. I suppose you're gonna say that doesn't matter, he should put bike racing first. Yes it was a silly thing to do but give the guy a break. Simple fact is, Hopper went to Kawasaki for the money, they offered him a big wadge of cash. Even though the bike at the time (and still isn't) as good as the Suzuki

Tax Dodger,

I know you were talking about VR to WSBK. If Biaggi can finish 3rd as a rookie, what VR, who beat Biaggi for many years, can do with a good package? Who knows. Another thing to think about is, VR was faster than CE on the RC-51 during Suzuka 8 Hours, and CE was able to beat Bayliss on that same machine.

auldpat,

JB never teamed up with Criville. Mamola and Ron Haslam were also under JB, but he wasn't able to make them champ. My point is, no matter how good JB is, the bike and rider have to be good too.

flange,

If that's true, then he should be faster. I forgot which one exactly, but one of the GP or WSB champs, he was faster than ever and won a title on the year after his wife left him.