that was an awesome display by Cal. when his bike stopped on warm-up today it looked like he wasn''t going to be racing, as he was hobbling along while pushing his bike to the side of the track.
then he went and challenged for the win in the first race and took the second. kudos to mr crutchlow for braving it!
Mercer was thrown from his bike, the narrowly missed by a couple of riders behind him, then Ellison came out the chicane and before he had chance to brake properly, he was hitting the fallen bike. Then it took the chumps marshalling too long to get to him lying motionless down they track. They were too busy tending to the bikes for some reason. There were a lot of people fearing the worst after such a huge crash, but thankfully Dean's ok (relatively.)
Not all the marshalls were appalling at the scene though, as some were clearing the track of debris and warning the other riders to keep to the left and slow down (Stuart Easton was riding like a pr**k under red flag conditions.)
plus KTM showing up to play in the next couple of years, things are definately looking up for WSB. i don't think you can compare this to the foggy petronas effort though, as BMW have been putting plenty of effort into the endurance side of things with the boxer, so the new superbike'll have plenty of backing.
would you put an underdeveloped bike into a world championship when the reputation and sales of your company are at stake? the germans aren't egomaniacs like a certain over-opinionated 4xWSB cahmpion and will use their heads in testing and competition.
most of the people commenting on here so far don't seem to know enough about the tibet situation and are just using this comment by some of the riders to have a snipe at them.
they're not politicians, granted, but isn't it nice to see them actually have an opinion, unlike some of the vacuous primadonnas in sports like football. even cricket has shown political awareness (S.A. apartheid and zimbabwean political climate with the evil mugabe)
the fact that the IOC allowed (read: were bribed) the olympics this year to be held in beijing has lead to an increase in awareness, which people have been trying to achieve for many years - like the free tibet concerts that have occurred in the past.
i've not seen stoner commenting on his overtaking, but i know vermeulen was complaining about his moves, while dovi and capirossi said it was hard but fair. i'd give the lad a break, he was up to his eyes on antibiotics. maybe chris is just peeved about his lack of world superbike titles?
i can only see him and edwards improving race by race with the pneumatic valved-engine, especially as edwards seems to be relieved he's still got a ride this season and it's with his old bud james! either way, they're neck and neck with dovi's team for satellite performers of the top-flight GP class, pushing team green and suzuki so far...
max was following the racing line, he didn't leave the door open. checa took him out, pure and simple. you must've been watching the same screens the eurosport commentators were viewing.
Careless Chucka went in too hot for a pass that was never on the cards, robbed Neukirchner of his first win and in the process broke his collarbone apparently...
It was on a par with Biaggi's kamikazee move on Haga at Vallelunga (i think) last season.) After the clean passes he made before it was a stupid move.
But the '08 Fireblade is a new bike too and HM Plant have had the bike for a longer period before it's first races than WSB teams had before Qatar. Looking at the race pace Checa showed (and Kiyo and Sofu were starting to show) at Philip Island, the pace Muggeridge had at Valencia Testing and the fact that the Ducati will have less modifications allowed in the domestic championship, i think we're up for a good season, as well as Sykes and Watanabe on the Gixxer, which under Neukirchner and Nieto has competed well.
after chaz winning the daytona, brad getting poll and messrs redding and webb having such strong races, JT's strong showing at a horsepower track was the cherry on top for one of the strongest weekends for british motorcycle racing since the days of bazza, read and smart.
i don't know if you'd noticed garry, but it wasn't just bayliss at the front of the pack on italian machinery making the points average pretty high for the dukes...
actually, it has been honda (toseland), ducati (bayliss), suzuki(corser), ducati (toseland) in the past four seasons, but the suzuki looks good and so do the yams, it's just a shame their tyres were appalling and nori was too busy shaking his fist in a comic manner to bother finishing the first race. yes the dukes look good, but they always do and they've got some awesome pilots, but so have the other manufacturers.
as for honda, if HRC weren't too busy giving no-hope Neil his '08 blade for the AMA before they gave it to Ronald and co. who happen to have delivered not one, but two world championships for them last season, then the blades would have been challenging at Losail.
Although the administrators and moderators of this website will attempt to keep all objectionable comments off these pages, it is impossible for us to review all messages.
All messages express the views of the poster, and neither Crash Media Group nor Crash.Net will be held responsible for the content of any message.
We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.
If you find a message objectionable, please contact us and inform us of the problem or use the [report] function next to the offending post.
Any message that does not conform with the policy of this service can be edited or removed with immediate effect.
