Ben Spies
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Pie has got to go,another lackluster ride on the bike that won, pie lovers here will disagree but facts are facts easily out peformed by the allmost man Dovi and as for a comparison with injured Crutchlow on the satalite bike just puts Bens ride in perspective, no way is he keeping that bike and nor should he, i think Dovi will get it but Cal deserves a shout. Bye bye Ben.
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If Vale leaves and Yamaha bumps Ben I think the two yanks would be a Ducati Dream Team. Who the hell do you think would be better on the Duc?
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Dream team isnt one rider that is crap on a wining bike and another rider that is there to make up the numbers. Duke might as well bring up Redding or Iannone and pair one them with an experienced and posibly talented current motogp rider as their mentor. That second support mentor rider could be Spies (but only for a year)
Ducati need to find another Casey, and that is not ben or nicky....their time has passed....ben may have another year or two, until he realizes it is time to go.
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Not sure I'm understanding you here. You appear to be saying that the Duke is capable of winning in its current format with the right rider. Whilst Stoner in 2007 - 2010 showed that the previous incarnations could indeed win, it only happened in his hands (excepting Capirossi in the wet/dry lottery). You also seem to be saying that you think Hayden is crap. If I am misunderstanding, please blame the wine
If Rossi were to leave and Ducati brought up Redding or similar, who out of the current riders would you suggest could perform the task of being a mentor within the Ducati camp better than Hayden? At the end of the day he has outperformed Rossi more than should be seemly for a 9X blahblahblah and was one of the few riders who could come at all close to Stoners times and quali/race day positions on the Duke on a regular basis.
Why Spies, and why for "only one year"? If they did go for Spies then surely it would depend on whether he could ride the damned thing (though I'm unsure that he'd do any better than Hayden tbh).
Whilst I agree that Hayden is never going to become another Stoner, I'm very sure that the way forward for Ducati is not just to look for another mega talented rider who can ride around all the shortcomings that seem to have been engineered into their bikes since day one in MotoGP.
Do you remember just how unrideable their 990 looked, and probably was, when they first came into MotoGP? Only Capirossi could ride that thing fast - 19 podiums including 6 wins over 4 years compared to 4 podiums for Bayliss, 2 for Checa & none for Gibernau (though he was injured in 2006, but then again, so was Capirossi)
So, it's not just that since 2008 that things started to go downhill at Ducati Corse, rather that they've never really been that competitve in MotoGP except 2007, and even then it was probably mostly Stoner flattering them. Mind you, I'm glad they turned up and gave it a go, just a shame that they don't seem to be able to make the next step and take it to the Japs on their own.
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Not sure I'm understanding you here. You appear to be saying that the Duke is capable of winning in its current format with the right rider. Whilst Stoner in 2007 - 2010 showed that the previous incarnations could indeed win, it only happened in his hands (excepting Capirossi in the wet/dry lottery). You also seem to be saying that you think Hayden is crap. If I am misunderstanding, please blame the wine
If Rossi were to leave and Ducati brought up Redding or similar, who out of the current riders would you suggest could perform the task of being a mentor within the Ducati camp better than Hayden? At the end of the day he has outperformed Rossi more than should be seemly for a 9X blahblahblah and was one of the few riders who could come at all close to Stoners times and quali/race day positions on the Duke on a regular basis.
Why Spies, and why for "only one year"? If they did go for Spies then surely it would depend on whether he could ride the damned thing (though I'm unsure that he'd do any better than Hayden tbh).
Whilst I agree that Hayden is never going to become another Stoner, I'm very sure that the way forward for Ducati is not just to look for another mega talented rider who can ride around all the shortcomings that seem to have been engineered into their bikes since day one in MotoGP.
Do you remember just how unrideable their 990 looked, and probably was, when they first came into MotoGP? Only Capirossi could ride that thing fast - 19 podiums including 6 wins over 4 years compared to 4 podiums for Bayliss, 2 for Checa & none for Gibernau (though he was injured in 2006, but then again, so was Capirossi)
So, it's not just that since 2008 that things started to go downhill at Ducati Corse, rather that they've never really been that competitve in MotoGP except 2007, and even then it was probably mostly Stoner flattering them. Mind you, I'm glad they turned up and gave it a go, just a shame that they don't seem to be able to make the next step and take it to the Japs on their own.
Spies is the crap rider on a winning bike.
Hayden is just making up the numbers.
Rossi should stay on the duke and bring along Redding.
Ducati are in trouble and if rossi goes i would be surprised if they stayed in gps much longer as a factory effort. They could just supply crt engines and let others develop a winning chassis.
Arrabbiata1
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He quite clearly isn't a 'crap rider' and if it wasn't for your obvious disdain for anything American then you'd know this from his history in AMA. Add to that his WSBk title in his maiden year coupled with some great rides in GP - particularly Assen and Valencia last year. He's clearly not a 'crap rider' is he? Your prejudice betrays your ignorance of the sport.
You can argue that Ben does not belong on a factory M1 based upon his cumulative results in GP and particularly in view of his performance this year, I'm sure many will agree with you - if things don't improve then include myself. Crap rider though? - please elucidate
Ben Spies @BenSpies11
Heard the rookie rule is being changed back again......@texastornado5 sometimes I guess we need a diff passport?
Heard the rookie rule is being changed back again......
The reality is that Ducati started off on the wrong foot in MotoGP. Rather than deciding to go racing to win, they looked at their GP bike as an extension of the marketing department.
They were compromised in so many ways - trellis frame, 90deg V, red paint...
While Yamaha's and Honda's engines do resemble their road-going range, I don't believe that was the basis for their adoption (well, maybe Yamaha wanted to make a point). If the engineering called for a 3+1 176deg V with hamster-actuated, cream-cheese poppet valves, they would have designed that.
Ducati should have told the marketing department and the 'legacy' to go .... themselves and built a 60deg V with deltabox-style chassis - at least until they had won a few times... if they had the luxury of a bunch of championships under their belt, they could 'try' a roots-derived bike - which would have been binned as a disaster and the marketing wonk that came up with that design sent to work at the beltbuckle and bandanna store.
The CF Ducati chassis was needed to enable them to get an airbox big enough to service the engine in its current layout - there was no room to do it all with that 90deg V. Subsequent changes to employ alloy have not been as successful as they would have liked.
Perhaps they need to go back to the drawing board and design a bike that will win - if that means a narrow-angle V4, then fuggit - design a narrow-angle V4.
Most of the twonks buying Ducati for the road won't care that the engine in the race bike isn't what they are buying - who knows, it might make for a new range of road-going engines that become a marketing dream.
Or maybe BMW will come to GP with a parallel 4...
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You are right he isnt crap.....he is just greatly overrated and was over talked up when he came to GPs......
AMA isnt a world championship and Ben's only competition was Mladin really....mike didnt exactly have a stellar GP career...so beating him didnt make Spies is impressive for the AMA level only.
Spies WSBK championship win was great (especially in his rookie year)....so he ranks equal to Biaggi, Checa, Hodgson for WSBK title wins....Toseland won the title twice and James still couldnt hack it in GPs.....Bayliss struggled, and so has Colin over the years....so WSBK isnt exactly any the same as MotoGPs....
He is great at superbikes....and that is where he should return to.......unless he steps up and starts winning, not just placing in 2nd or 4th but winning....this is year 3 for Spies and Year 2 on the best factory bike, so time for the good to be delivered or be relegated back to the minors leagues....
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^ BS...
imo the team around Ben is the reason he's not putn in the results..i dont think they know what theyre doing
imo the team around Ben is the reason he's not putn in the results..i dont think they know what theyre doing
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House and some of the former WSBK team.. Im sure theyre awsome techs but maybe they need to be demoted to bring in a M1 wiz
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It may be both him and his team, Cal has said that Ben uses a setup that is different from that of him, Jlo, and dovi. He said it's because of Ben's riding style. Dovi talked about changing his style and we know Jlo was asked to change his style as well as Rossi when they first went to yam. It might just be Ben having a hard time changing his style to suit the bike. Either way the Yams are sharing set up data so it isn't like his team are being left in the dark. It sounds like the Rossi and Hayden situation at Ducati.
Like I said Spies is great at superbikes but I should have extended that to say him and his team are......they suck at GP bikes like the M1.
What a load of bollocks,do you think Yamaha would let there reputation be tarnished by bad technitions and crew chief? no they wouldnt,they do what Spies says is needed to be competative its the rider who is at fault here this is his third year and he still cant do it.
What a load of bollocks,do you think Yamaha would let there reputation be tarnished by bad technitions and crew chief? no they wouldnt,they do what Spies says is needed to be competative its the rider who is at fault here this is his third year and he still cant do it.
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Ben should talk with Casey's crew. They seem to understand "colonials", so who knows it could work well.
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You have always been an American hater! I have seen you crap post from crash to here over the years. Its always the same hate you have to offer. Which would sell more Ducati's? Cal & Scott or Nicky & Ben??
I don't think Ben is "crap". I believe one has to understand that Lorenzo is "the" in-form rider at this point. He is riding well. The bike obviously suits his style and I get the feeling Yamaha are bending over backwards to provide him with the machinery that will help JL win the championship. Ben is having a bad season so far. He has shown last year that he is capable of winning and riding well. But he needed to take a big step forward this season, not (seemingly) a big step back.
It may seem harsh to compare Ben to Jorge. But if you are getting thrashed every race by your team-mate, some serious questions must be asked. If he is good enough to ride for Yamaha, then he should be good enough to challenge his team-mate on most occasions. But he obviously isn't even remotely getting near Jorge. I like Ben - would love to see him stay on. Hell, we need some non-Spanish riders challenging. When Stoner leaves at the end of this year, we are gonna hear that Spanish national anthem EVERY GOD-DAMN RACE!
It may seem harsh to compare Ben to Jorge. But if you are getting thrashed every race by your team-mate, some serious questions must be asked. If he is good enough to ride for Yamaha, then he should be good enough to challenge his team-mate on most occasions. But he obviously isn't even remotely getting near Jorge. I like Ben - would love to see him stay on. Hell, we need some non-Spanish riders challenging. When Stoner leaves at the end of this year, we are gonna hear that Spanish national anthem EVERY GOD-DAMN RACE!
