<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Mar 18 2009, 01:18 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>
Yes, I agree. Thanks BEN, this is a great forum you have created. It’s a magnificent place to exchange opinions and ideas related to our passion for motorcycle racing. It has proven to be a fantastic meeting place for life long friendships of which I have exceedingly enjoyed and appreciated. Ah, it’s been a great outlet and release from the daily reality of our lives and has served as a pressure valve from personal challenges. Not to mention, it has been an outstanding entertainment value. Like a great movie, you have several stellar performances, both heroes and villains, and of course what would a good movie be without the comic relief provide by the cameo appearances of dumb clucks--they makes us all laugh...at them.
So, yeah, thanks BEN, you’ve done a great job!
+1
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gaz @ Mar 18 2009, 04:58 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>With respects, if your allotting of greatness is as described then most riders will be great in your eyes?
Greatness comes from consistent high level performances across the longevity of your career, not from one or two individual performances over a very short period of time. Certainly a rider can put in 'great' performances but that does not make the rider great and IMO Spies has not done enough at World level yet to be considered a great (I can feel the flame now
)
You have also lost me a little with you 'just because you move on comment' but if you mean that just because he was great in AMA thence he will always be great then to a degree that is correct. If he was a great in one category he will alwyas be considered a great of that category, but it does not mean that he will be a great in the new category of the sport as a whole, and (IMO) nor should it.
Rossi is a great, Hailwood is a great. Roberts Sr, Rainey, Doohan, Lawson, Schwantz are greats. They achieved at the highest level of their chosen sport and achieved consistently, Spies has not .................... yet.
As for your judgement that winning races at tracks where you have not ridden before has to make one a great, well correct me by all means but didn't one Troy Bayliss win the last two races of his career at a track he had never ridden at?
Garry
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gaz @ Mar 18 2009, 05:04 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I like Mladin (sorry everyone) simjply because he is an Aussi who calls it as he sees it, but you have to look at the comment in full context.
First, Spies had beaten Mladin for the last few years and goes to WSBK.
If Spies becomes a mid pack rider (we know the current results so don't worry yet), then where does that leave Mladin?
It makes him look ordinary.
If Spies wins the World Title and wins it as Mladin suggests (2 rounds to go) it makes Mladin look a damn genius in two ways. One, that he made the bold prediction and two the questions then start to arise about how good is Mladin given that Spies who only just beat Mladin has 'obliterated' the World riders.
I have no doubt that Mladin is a smart man and believes that Spies will win or at worst finish top 3 so why not come out with such a prediction. This sport revolves around ego and all have it in varying degrees and all need constant reinforcement as to how good they actually are on the bike. What better way than to say that you adversary who has only just scored more points will obliterate the next category to which they choose. On other words, Ben can do it that easily so undoubtedly so could I?
Garry
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gaz @ Mar 18 2009, 05:36 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I have.
Mladin has a large ego, he wants it known that he is the best and if the person that beat him last year can smash the World field, then Mladin (by extension) could well be considered as likely to have done the same thing.
Nowhere do I think that Mladin is making this bold prediction simply for 'lip service' and I have no doubt that he genuinely beleives it to be the likely scenario based on his knowledge of Spies. But he also has little or no knowledge of the other riders in contention in the championship to use as a cross reference point
Garry
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gaz @ Mar 18 2009, 07:15 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>My full quote was on that bike in that category on that circuit and that is a 100% fact. I do not say that Bayliss hd no race experience on the 1098 as we know that is BS.
He had not raced the 1098 in WSBK on that circuit, just as Spies has not raced the R1 on PI or at Qatar or at any of the WSBK circuits.
Mladin has not raced against Biaggi, Haga etc so cannot judge them within that level (WSBK) of competition. He has raced against some former world WSBK champions (Hodgson)
You assume that he will be on the satellite Yamaha with no factory support.
I expect that he will either be #2 in Fiat to replace Lorenzo who it is rumored wants to be #1 in a team in 2010 (and IMO after two years he should be aiming that way).
When Spies first signed with Yamaha it was stated (reported) that his contract was for 2 years with Yamaha with the first year WSBK, no mention was made of year 2.
Besides, with Yamaha being very competitive in MotoGP throughout 2008 and expected to be as competitive in 2009 he would graduate to a very respectable package should he go the Yamaha route. Nowhere is it stated that he will leave WSBK mid-2009 to go to MotoGP.
Why would he not sign to go MotoGP prior to winning a WSBK title if MotoGP is where he wants to be and a worthwhile competitive ride is offered?
I dare say we are, just that I may not be as blinded by potential or country allegiances as your appear to be (IMO).
Garry
Thank you, Gaz. No doubt Spies has been very impressive in WSBK, far surpassing my expectations and I think it is only a matter of time before he is a World Champion and has a factory Yamaha MotoGP ride. But "great" is a strong word and I believe that Troy Bayliss is just that. If I were a team owner and I could have Troy or Foggy in their primes, I would take Bayliss 10 times out of 10. Even if you put the ...... baggery of Foggy aside, Bayliss is still a better rider. And not a pain in the ass, either.
Gaz. Level headed opinions.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (basspete @ Mar 18 2009, 06:17 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Or to be really picky, is Hopper .... or .....?
Pete
......
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ptk50 @ Mar 19 2009, 07:05 AM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>re ama s-bike - you are forgetting that spies and mladin wre the only 2 riders on anything like worksbikes - he's good, but let's not crown him just yet - there's still a lot of season to get through. the last ama champ who moved to moto-gp isn't exactly a superstar either
Tommy Hayden was on the same bike as Mladin and Spies. He looked pretty pedestrian. Yates was also embarrassed on the same bike on a regular basis as well. Hayden is a world champion. Next point please.
