WSBK » POLL: What has surprised you most in 2009?

he was on the best bike in the paddock after all i.e. the equivalent of Haga's bike today, plus back then it was definitely still very much the era of the 'World Ducati Championship' which is less so now as Spies is proving. I'll put a small wager on the fact that Shakey will be the most improved rider in the second half of the season. And before any smug 'c0ck' jumps in and says "Well he couldn't get much worse could he ?", well... yes there is plenty of scope to get worse actually - he could be lobbing it in the bushes every race or crossing the line dead last every race, which isn't anywhere near the reality. Even Hacking round his own back yard couldn't stay on the black stuff all race.

WSBK » POLL: What has surprised you most in 2009?

Agree with you Openpipes (bizarrely ??) - Kiyonari on a factory Honda (special tweeks that Rea and Checa probably don't have), Nakano (with MotoGP pedigree and a factory Aprilia)and Kagayama on a factory Suzuki with several years of track knowledge under his belt are all doing sh1t all except trundling round for points. All three, and to some extent Biaggi too with his supposed talent, are all far more deserving of the grief that Shakey is getting just because he isn't top 3 every race. Did Bayliss get on the podium every weekend in his first year in WSBK after winning BSB ? I don't think so. Admittedly he was doing a bit better than Shakey at the same point in their maiden season but...

WSBK » POLL: What has surprised you most in 2009?

No, and I doubt anyone is even remotely surprised to see that big-mouth Dale has waded in with the size 10's on again for a bit more one-dimensional Byrne-bashing. Blah blah blah Dale. We are all aware of your opinions on the guy, so do us a favour eh ? put a sock in it. Why don't you really surprise us by slating someone else just as deserving (at least in your bath time) as you think Byrne is, i.e. Nakano, Kagayama, Biaggi. Plenty to choose from. Even Sykes for his p155 poor performance at Miller...

WSBK » Miller: WSBK team by team analysis

I think you're making up your own scenarios and drifting way off topic there 'c0ck-boy'. Wasn't any mention of Byrne anywhere, yet you've managed to bring it firmly back into the equation. With MotoGP struggling at the moment for stability, don't you think the major manufacturers and the organisers of MotoGP will be watching Spies performance with utter delight and cumming in their pants at the thought of getting him on a bike that can give Rossi and Stoner a run for their money and in turn steal the limelight back from WSBK a bit? Why don't you engage brain before mouth a bit more and then you wouldn't make yourself look like YOU'RE the pefect candidate for the villages missing resident.

WSBK » Miller: WSBK team by team analysis

Well best they get him into MotoGP a bit sharpish then before he's too much older and see what he can do do Stoner, Rossi etc... else we'll all be wondering whether he is or was the best...

BSB » Rutter stays with Crescent for Snetterton

Wouldn't say he's MCN fantasy team material to be honest. If you've got 1.5m to spend on a first-pick rider then there's riders more settled in their team / there for the whole season / bagging more points for the same money or less. If you've got 1.5m to splash on a BSB second-pick rider then you must have a pair of duffers in WSBK that's all I can say...

WSBK » Miller: WSBK team by team analysis

to do with out and out race pace. He showed he had that in all the practice and qualifying sessions as well as Superpole and maintained it in the race as the laptimes show. He got a bad start in race 1 and played catchup (which he did admirably) all race, then outbraked himself overtaking Haslam in race 2 (who was pushing for 3rd by the end of the race) and dropped back. Well aware that points make prizes. My point was that he has the pace at circuits he doesn't know, just needed to iron out the issues in the team (which apparently was largely done at Kyalami, according to Jonathan Greens commentary on Motors TV), hence he went much better at Miller in terms of quali and race pace.

WSBK » Miller: WSBK team by team analysis

No, ****brain. What my point highlights is not that Byrne is still 2/10s slower than a 'slowing' Spies 'cos he has the race in the bag, but that he's the next fastest by ONLY 2/10's. Spies may have stopped pushing by the last few laps, but the rest of the field didn't did they, espscially Haslam and Rea, yet Byrne was faster than everyone bar Spies. Work it out. Christ you'd hardly expect Byrne or anyone else for that matter to be wiping the floor with Spies in his own backyard, especially someone who hasn't seen the place before - we all know Spies is super fast - that's not the point in question!!! The mid-pack finish was due to outbreaking himself trying to overtake Haslam. Nothing...

WSBK » Miller: WSBK team by team analysis

Just been watching a re-run of Miller SBK on Motors TV. Commentary is better than Rymer and that other tool managed on Eurosport thats for sure, and surprise, surprise... by the last few laps of Race 1 Shakey was 2/10s of a second off of Spies pace. Now that ain't bad going round a track that Spies (who is fast everywhere so it seems, so especially fast in his own backyard) knows like the back of his hand, yet Byrne has never seen in his life. Been saying it all season but there's no way he goes from fastest in winter testing to mid pack and lower during the races. He said when interviewed by Jonathan Green that he'd got a lot off his chest at Kyalami. Well it appears to be showing...

WSBK » Miller: WSBK team by team analysis

Oh and just for good measure... Byrne's own website - Miller Motor Park report :- Quote :- 'We never changed a thing for the 2nd race as the bike was working mega, in fact at the end of the first race the only person on the track faster than me was Ben Spies.' I hardly think he's likely to blatantly lie about stats that can readily be checked by those in the know somehow do you ? With better luck he'd have been top 5 in both races. But as Dale and Fanboy keep telling us (cos they must know far more than the individual actually riding the damn bike) he's definitely a plank, a pudding, a clown and a mid-packer only worthy of demotion to AMA or BSB. Yeah right. Like f**k...