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Racing flat track from what i hear
Road America AMA (practice & race)
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Racing flat track from what i hear
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Some great racing in the AMA today, hell it's been good all year.
AMA SBK has a lot of guys capable of running at the front and winning, but right now the championship favorites have to be Hayes and Hayden. Those two produced some great races this weekend. Great job by both Hayes and Hayden, swapping wins and giving us two exciting races up to the last corner. Hayden was really impressive, I thought for sure Hayes would be untouchable all weekend, but Tommy managed to stick with him both races and pull off a win as well. Zemke, solid results but I have a feeling he's going to keep slipping to Hayes and Hayden. Pegram was no where near his performance last year when he straight up beat Mladin. I swear Blake Young is the Fabrizio of the AMA, he looked so loose and a bit out of control with running wide a few times in an desperate effort to catch back up to the front.
DSB I'm going to have to go on the record and say that it is presently the most exciting racing I have been watching this year. Normally the 250's (now gone), 125's or WSS is the ...., but this year, DSB has provided some great entertainment. Eslick must of been having some issues this weekend, we didn't see his usual aggressive self. In race 1 he wasn't even there, and in race 2 he dropped off. PJ Jacobson, had some great results for a rookie, hope to see him gain more experience and confidence and add to the mix up front. Good win for Cardenas, no crashing and some clean riding. Josh Herrin, is the Tony Elias of the AMA, hanging off the side of the bike, backing it into the corners. It was great watching him race today. I'm starting to like the guy, we're seeing a real smart calculating racer more then the hang it all out there kid of his past. This could be his year.
With the way the AMA has been this year I am quickly forgetting all the drama and ........ of last years DMG ran series. The focus is back on the racing where it should be. Looking forward to the next round.
You get that when you drop performance to the level where everyone is comfy with the speeds.Same reason Moto 2 is such close racing. The better riders will still find a way to win most of the time, but it brings a lot of riders closer to the front. If you put them all on faster bikes, the ones that are comfortable with the faster pace will leave the others behind. As it is, there are numerous riders who feel safe with the current pace.
oops, I doubled up by starting a thread.
Don't know about Road America. If WSBK have a second round in the states, it needs to be close to a major population center.
I predicted that the AMA would have close competition this year. In my opinion it is mainly because two major things have happened in the last couple years. First was Spies leaving, 2nd was Mladin retiring. Those two were above and beyond the skill of the rest of the field, who have always been close in competition. So with the two best gone, it was likely to happen that we would see some close competition. So is the recent parity and close racing due to decreasing the amount the teams spent on the bikes to go around a second or two faster or simply because two of the best riders have left?
Sure, they are not going as fast as they could provided they wanted to spend X more dollars to squeak out a second or two a lap. But what is the purpose of Superbike racing? Is it to entertain the race fans that watch on tv and attend the races or does it exist only to please the engineers and the well informed techno geeks behind the scenes? I get the feeling you expect Superbike racing to be as advanced as possible with it's technology, but that seems contradictory to the point of racing production bikes. Of course a certain level of modification has always existed but how far should they take it? To the level of MotoGP? Should a national series be on par with a world series (WSBK)? The BSB tried that and found out they can't afford to do it. They have majorly curtailed the tech side to rope in the costs and keep the series alive. I think in an ideal world with unlimited budgets it would be nice to see more technology in the AMA Superbikes, but they have to be realistic and keep the series going.
With the way the AMA has been this year I am quickly forgetting all the drama and ........ of last years DMG ran series. The focus is back on the racing where it should be. Looking forward to the next round.
Same. Atlas has done a good job of getting the hell out of the way. After the jump start debacle at Road Atlanta, I thought "here we go again". Somehow, the people at AMA managed to find a solution that was relatively uncontroversial and drew little criticism from the media and the fans (shocked the hell out of me). That is a good indicator that things can get better for AMA before they get worse, imo. They are still hurting for money, but if they keep racing like this, the AMA will be rediscovered by a new generation of fans.
Really happy to see that Tommy went 1 better in Race 2. He's a solid rider who deserves all of the perks of a Yosh ride and a Yosh salary. I just hope that the money returns quickly b/c these guys are getting older, and they deserve to make some pay for going through financial hell over the last 2 seasons.
Also, some of these rumored rides need to materialize. Kurtis was allegedly going to make a return at Infineon, but that never happened. I hope EBoz is at Laguna ready to ride with no issues. Somebody also needs to get Hacking off of the couch as well.
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Both. I have said all along that once Mladin and Spies exited the series, the racing would be just fine. I dont care about parity, thats for little league soccer and T ball. This is big boy sports where the best should be able to push the limits of performance and advance their careers. Do you honestly think Steve Rapp and Larry Pegram would run up near the front in WSS and WSBK. Not no, but hell no they wouldnt, not even if they were put on a factory bike. That extra 2 seconds you refer to separates the advanced riders from the ones that cant ride that pace. All this current rules package does is limit what an advanced rider can do, down to the level of the seconday riders. It makes for good racing but stunts the growth of the better riders, and in my opinion, will make it harder for an American to make the move to the bigger stages.
I certainly agree with you that having lower performance machines makes it harder for an American to make the move to the bigger stage, but I have hope that things are this way now in order to rebuild the series. Good racing means more interest and more dollars coming in. Having a guy like Mladin around for a decade who dominated like he did (with exception of the Nicky year and Spies years) can certainly kill interest in the sport, it did for me. But I'm not blaming everything on Mladin, there were more factors at play. For instance, from a fan standpoint the prior class setup of supersport, superstock, formula extreme, and SBK was convoluted and seemed unnecessary. I think they have reorganized things well with the current class setup of supersport, DSB, SBK. Minus the Buell debacle of last year in the DSB class and other DMG fuckups, I think its going well this year. I'm with you in that I would like to see more performance that is on par with what is ran at the WSBK/WSS level, I want to see our young guys get a chance to make us proud at the international level. But I'm also happy that the series did not fall apart, that it is rebuilding and gaining interest by having good racing. And with more money the technical regulations can be raised to allow more performance.
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Great racing this weekend in all classes. DSB is mental.
I also want to add, I find the podium finishers to be very gracious.
Also, can Speed field a worse commentary team? Greg White and Michael Barnes where by far the worst duo I've ever heard, equally as bad as those On The Throttle interviews. ....... awful ....!
I also want to add, I find the podium finishers to be very gracious.
Also, can Speed field a worse commentary team? Greg White and Michael Barnes where by far the worst duo I've ever heard, equally as bad as those On The Throttle interviews. ....... awful ....!
I think Hayes demonstrated last year that other riders can compete with Mladin and Spies. Povol (and Mladin) both like to say that dumbed down equipment makes anyone competitive, but Hayes didn't come from the world of dumbed down equipment. His FX bike was just as sophisticated as most of the AMA SBKs. Hayes also came from a series where two front runners cleared off every weekend, and I think Hayes proved in Portimao that he is one of the best 600 racers in the world not just the US. I think the same can be said for Zemke. Bostrom ain't half bad on a 600 either.
The big problem with the old AMA arrangement was not that Mat and Ben won everything. The ugly side of SBK only manifested itself when one of the Yosh riders was 5-10 seconds off of race winning pace and there was no one remotely close who could challenge. It was 1-2 every weekend for Yosh unless a DNF or disqualification allowed someone into the #2 slot. Some people say it was the Dunlops which were clearly built for the Suzuki. Some people say it was the technical regs that gave Suzuki an advantage. Some people say it was all Mat and Ben. Some people say the other manufacturers gave up.
I think all of them ring true which is why it is important not to obsess over a single factor like Mat & Ben (besides it's not fair to the other great riders we had in the AMA). The tires are controlled. The technical regs have been drastically simplified. At least Yamaha is actually trying again in SBK. Mat & Ben are gone. If you add Mat & Ben back into the equation, I don't think the AMA would fall apart again. A national series shouldn't fall apart when great riders come through the ranks. As far as I'm concerned, DMG have addressed that problem, though, there is obviously room for improvement in the technical regulations they have adopted.
The big problem with the old AMA arrangement was not that Mat and Ben won everything. The ugly side of SBK only manifested itself when one of the Yosh riders was 5-10 seconds off of race winning pace and there was no one remotely close who could challenge. It was 1-2 every weekend for Yosh unless a DNF or disqualification allowed someone into the #2 slot. Some people say it was the Dunlops which were clearly built for the Suzuki. Some people say it was the technical regs that gave Suzuki an advantage. Some people say it was all Mat and Ben. Some people say the other manufacturers gave up.
I think all of them ring true which is why it is important not to obsess over a single factor like Mat & Ben (besides it's not fair to the other great riders we had in the AMA). The tires are controlled. The technical regs have been drastically simplified. At least Yamaha is actually trying again in SBK. Mat & Ben are gone. If you add Mat & Ben back into the equation, I don't think the AMA would fall apart again. A national series shouldn't fall apart when great riders come through the ranks. As far as I'm concerned, DMG have addressed that problem, though, there is obviously room for improvement in the technical regulations they have adopted.
+1
When has Speed ever fielded anyone decent to listen to?
-Ralph Shaheen, fail, guy comes off fake sounding.
-Fast Freddy, fail, intelligent and ex-great racer, but comes off like a wet noodle.
-Greg White, massive fail, talks like the viewers are watching moto racing for the first time, makes stupid comments that are wrong all the time, gets overly excited over simple incidents (does he really have to tell us every time someone is backing it into a corner?)
-Michael Barnes, fail, ex-racer but the guy was uncomfortable as hell, who knows maybe he will loosen up and get better
-Scott Russell, reasonable, another ex-racer, at least he concentrates on watching the race and commenting on the action, but still not the best out there.
-Jason Pridmore, only guy I can tolerate, although he was getting a little too excited this weekend and was trying to make too many predictions of what was going to happen next, but still I don't mind his commentary.
Speed needs to find a good journalist/moto racing fan that is into the sport and pair them with a good ex-racer. Keep Pridmore in the trenches for paddock commentary. Watch BSB for how good a national series can be covered.
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What?!
I think that was one of the best crews so far. Greg White has got a long way to go, but he's passionate about the sport and his knowledge is minimal so I think he's finally in the right seat. I don't know whether or not he will pan out, but he's in the right place finally. Pridmore is solid and I like his analysis. Barnes is a no-nonsense ex-racer.
You can't ask for much more than that, can you? All of them need work, but that's the nature of the beast when you make frequent commentary changes. I prefer White's complete lack of pretension, to Sheheen and Diffey who are both their to push a Speed agenda of some sort. I prefer Pridmore to Spencer and Russel, though I think Russel might actually make an okay paddock guy. I prefer Barnes to White as the paddock man.
It's never going to be as good as Europe b/c motorsports broadcasting isn't mainstream unless it's NASCAR. Unless Speed digs really deep into their pockets, no way they can get a decent team who's trained in motorcycle racing.
The sad but honest truth.
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Sometimes you stumble on a fair take, but then you throw it all away on epic failures. But taking into account what you consider "fair and balanced"; I shouldn't be surprised.
Greg White....
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Disagree, they just haven't tried. Or they themselves are so ignorant as to employ people like Greg White and Michael Barnes that there is no hope. Only and ..... would give any props to such atrocious commentary as we painfully were forced to listen to this weekend.
Talent development for TV is the same as talent development for sports. It's all about potential.
White is a genuinely excitable goofball who states the obvious. He still needs experience.
Barnes has more experience than most of the guys in the paddock and he even has Macau experience. He still needs experience.
I can't say much more than that. I don't know them well enough to know whether or not they will succeed, but their placement makes sense. Now they just need to reform. That will take some time.
Gotta say big ups to Jake Holden. He achieving almost identical results to John Hopkins which means the team is giving up nothing. It's sad to see Knapp and McCormick underachieving so spectacularly, but Holden has gotten a raw deal in this DMG change over. He's never been great, but he clearly deserves a paid ride on someone's team.
Holden's a cool guy, chatted with him at the his team tent last year after he won the invitational at Miller. I don't see Hopkins coming back any time soon, looks like he'll have that ride for a while. McCormick seems to be cracking a bit under the pressure to fill Yates shoes. Knapp always seems like he's the guy that is right up there but behind the main front pack. Wasn't he on a Buell at Road America?
