WSBK » Suzuki Alstare sign Young for Donington

Wow. I expected Young to come over the pond but not so soon. Hopefully he'll take his time and not get chewed up and spit out. Someone asked a couple of weeks ago who was the next "big thing" in AMA and me and a couple of posters stated Blake Young. Let's see what he can do.

Schwantz must still have some serious pull. I think Suzuki is paranoid they might lose out on another Spies. When Kevin says someone has talent they are forced to listen.

That'd be me Rawdawg...glad he's got the chance!

Do you reckon he will he beat Hacking? Got to be one of his benchmarks.

Unfortunately the weather forecast isn't great at the mo, but they qite often get it wrong so fingers crossed for a dry raceday at least.

I'm not expecting any miracles this weekend. Like the Kawaski, the Suzuki is not better than the Ducatis, Yamahas, Hondas, or the Aprilia for that matter. Where as Hacking has tons of experience, Young is just in his first year riding a factory Superbike in AMA. So we'll see how he handles himself in adverse conditions. I would normally say hanging around between positions 10-15 would be a very good result for him. But there will be TONS of riders on track at Donnington that are very knowledgeable of the track. This will be a very difficult challenge to say the least.

Young came out of the same M4 Emgo Suzuki program that Spies did. Currently getting schooled by the old master.

Martin Cardenas is winning races in the Daytona series on an M4 bike. He has a bright future also.

I think the Suzuki is a decent bike, but in the right hands.....Neurkirchner would have been getting good results on it and Guintoli was absolutely flying on it in BSB....shame he had that accident, he really would have been an interesting wildcard this weekend.

Hope the kid has a good weekend and enjoys the experience.

Michael Laverty would have been well suited for the Suzuki package.

I like Blake Young a lot. He reminds me of a young John Hopkins and I expect him to do well in the future...

...but like RawDawg alluded, Young is "young" and inexperienced. Objectively, it's very likely this will be a difficult weekend (near the back) so I hope he gains valuable experience and not let it affect his psyche.

Blake's has a good opportunity but it would have been great to see Mladin race in WSB but I'm sure with him leading the AMA Championship he doesn't want to get injured in such a race. Plus they probably didn't even bother asking him.

I like Blake young a lot. He shined last year in the Supersport series on the M4 bike (as is Cardenas this year) which got him the Yosh ride. He has already eclipsed Tommy Hayden on that team so maybe this is a logical progression. That being said I think Jeff May might have been a better choice personally. He has done very well against the factory boys on the Jordan Suzuki this year. But he doesn't have Kevin Schwantz in his corner! And since Schwantz mentored Spies coming up I guess he knows what he is doing!

AMA will be a ghost town next year! I doubt Mladin will continue under the current regime & Hodgson has to be growing weary of it. Bostrom, Hacking, Yates & Pegram may be next.