Colin Wright answers your questions! (Pt.1)

Top man Colin

As open and honest as possible whilst still remaining politically correct!

You could not afford him.World class cost a little more.

Colin, you'll never get Gregorio ... Never, do you hear me, baldy man ?

In response to Colin's view that his BSB Bikes are 20 bhp down on the WSB bikes, how does he account for Tom Sykes' success on BSB spec machinery? Neukirchener couldn't get past it in a straight line and he has one of the fastest bikes in WSB ! Come on Colin, come clean, why won't you race? Is it cos tou don't want to upset Ducati by beating their man and so jepordise your WSB plans for next year???

He's talking about his team's bike - a twin cylinder ducati and comparing it to the Xerox Dukes. The four cylinder bikes are a different kettle of fish, surely?

Anyway, good answers by Colin. He keeps going up in my estimation after he was so low in it for the debacle involving his sore losing to the HM Plant machines and asking for them to be stripped down and checked last season (or was it the season before, either way Kiyo had beaten Lavilla and Haslam.)

i think brians got it bang on about upsetting ducati in WSB.
it would seem logical, as shane has won the double header WSB before and would certainly give troy a run or beat him harming the championship for them.

In theory, apart from the pistons and rods, the british factory ducatis are exactly the same as the factory WSB ones. maybe slight electronic differences only. If you compare like what brian said about the suzuki comparison, you would have to think it would be the same for twin cylinder machines because if anyone has had an advantage this year in BSB its been the ducati.

BSB ain't WSBK. The man has stated that they are 20hp down of WSBK spec Ducatis. What is so hard to understand about that? They don't have the same internals and Colin said they didn't have the spare parts to build a WSBK spec motor. Unless you got evidence that says other wise we have to take him on his word.

still don't believe there is a 20 bhp difference between the bikes....

If there is a 20hp difference, then Byrne knows how to get the most out of the GSE Ducati as Bayliss was less than 4/10ths quicker this year in Superpole on a factory Xerox at Brands than Shakey was in April for BSB Brands on the GSE bike. Imagine what he could have done with race spec internals or even if he'd got a wildcard ride on a third Xerox Ducati. THAT's why he wasn't there. Tardozzi didn't want Bayliss being shown up by another Ducati outfit. Stupid thing is... surely it would have been better for Byrne to take the points than an existing WSB rider !!! In the end, without Byrne there, Kiyonari ended up taking the points, but Xerox didn't know that in advance did they !!

Come on Colin, is it not more a case that if Shakey had performed well on his favoured Brands Hatch circuit that it would of attracted all the WSB teams, and you dont want to lose him.?? And why would you not want a World Class performer like Max. Since his MotoGP days he has come in for a lot of unfair criticism, but he has added a lot of class to WSB.

Bit of both 'truefan' if we're all honest about it. GSE want to keep Byrne's true abilities on a factory spec Ducati under wraps so that if they go to WSB, they take him with them, or if they stay in BSB, he's not been showcased on the world scene for all to see. Additionally, Tardozzi and Ducati Corse have probably had a hand in it somewhere to prevent Byrne showing Bayliss up (or even just giving him a run for his money at Brands). If another wildcarder does it on a 4-cyl they can blag it away with all manner of excuses, but an inferior 1098 Ducati in the hands of Byrne would be too much of an embarrassment. Still don't see why he couldn't have a go on a third Xerox Duke, but there you go.

Too many people asked why GSE Didn't race at Brands, and not enough asked if they'll race at Donny! Shakey and TB could both be home and dry by then, and so can just give us the race we want to see

Good point 1098RH, but Bayliss doesn't have it in the bag yet. The next WSB meeting IS DONNY !!, and Bayliss didn't have it bagged after Brands. Shame 'cos Shakey v Bayliss would have been the icing on the cake, with Haslam, 'Low-crutch' and Sykes in hot pursuit. Very disappointing.

I am confused! Colin says that BSB will be stronger next year. If that is what he thinks why consider WSB?

Using non- wsb rods and pistons reduces revs and power, so you'd expect less power from a bsb spec bike, why's it so hard to believe that it's 20 hp?

As for Sykes, well they do have a hell of an engine in that thing, but where did they ever look for top end over the weekend? Maybe that minimised the impact of less power anyway?

Just saying, doesn't mean Colin's lying does it? Or that other things might of influenced the decision.

Hey Collin do yourself and team a favor and get James Ellison on your team. He is doing an awsome job racing, on a non factory ride,and the man has a winning attitude!! JT

James Ellison should ride the HMPlant Honda in WSB next year in place of Haslam if you ask me...

I really, really hope Byrne goes to WSB next year so we can all say what he is (not) made of. He's had it easy this year. However all things being equal, (which it never really is in WSB, but anyway) he would get his ass kicked all over the track.

I think he deserved to have a fast bike this year. Before he was catapulted into
Motogp on a very inferior machine (KTm). He was the 'next best thing' He is as
Good as Toseland and deserves to go to WSBK (as do many Brits).

He's just as good as Toseland, if not better on a Superbike. Beat him with room to spare (twice) in the same afternoon in 2003 as a WSB wildcard on similar machinery around Toselands home track. Byrne was 26 then, and Toseland 22, so JT wasn't exactly a newbie to Superbikes or Brands at that point.
He ain't gonna get his ar5e kicked anywhere unless he ends up on a duff bike, which I don't think is likely. I think he'd rather stay in BSB on competitive machinery than run at the back of the WSB field next year. Learnt his lesson with MotoGP for sure. Even the least risky option next year for Byrne in WSB looks like being a GSE 1098 with race internals, so he can't really go wrong can he ?