Suzuka 8hr 2015

Jumkie said:

Twas mere bait, ah the irony. Like you taking MdubSTYLIE bait?









'lol'




( don't get donnish, was just having fun mate.)

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Jumkie said:

.View attachment 11051

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Arrabbiata1 said:

Agree - I've always like Josh, aside from the time that he chose to transform Shaw's hairpin into a ten pin bowling alley.

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Geonerd said:

So that's all PS is these days, a forum for trolls and rants? Funny, I vaguely remember people talking about a faraway place called 'Suzuka,' about 8 pages and many days ago. (Or was that just a dream? It's all gone so fuzzzy....)

As the forum's Godfather, you must be so proud. Set the bar low enough and success is guaranteed! Maybe you oughta take one of those Tony Robins achievement seminars and learn to aim a little higher?

Naw! So long as you get your daily ego exercise, it's all good.
Unless it isn't.

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Geonerd said:

Aw... .... it.
Once Lord of the Flies, always Lord of the Flies.

Kesh, I'll send a Suzuka vid to your NY store.

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Jumkie said:

What u mad at bro? Didn't I say "sorry, you're right. I do the forum a disservice."

You see, this is how the forum works. As Kesh has told us, nobody is allowed to throw a dart and not expect one back. Or is not Keshav's forum etiquette formula valid anymore?

And why deprive the forum, u should post the video here. So we can discuss "the racing." But don't expect Kesh to say much about the track action. For someone who proclaims he's only interested in talking about racing, scrolling back his last 20 posts, he's said nearly .... all about it. But if you want someone to play the forum nanny via chastising self-righteous insults, then he's your man.

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SuperManatee said:

Well someone did ask Geo a few posts back about a certain classic project bike he used to work on in hopes to generate some "motorcycle" talk. He didnt bother to respond. Maybe his "ego" was too inflated to converse with a floating, lettuce munching mammal.

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Keshav said:

You're not in charge of anything here - but you do by way of seniority and force of personality do your best to influence the narrative of this forum. And it's obviously a real and not exaggerated thing. Everything was chill here and folks were getting along having all kinds of interesting and often intense dialogs without them devolving to name calling and personal insults. Not long after you stopped lurking and came stopped posting under sock-puppet avatars JKD who was reasonably civil took it as a license to act like a .... again and Kropo split. And the whole vibe of the forum changed, for the worse again.


And for the record; I didn't character assassinate Rog. He did that all on his own. I was hardly the only person who berated him for his ........ and tantrums and gratuitous abuse of other members. That .... he pulled with me was merely the straw that broke the camel's back. And when the smoke cleared - Rog and I both acted like adults, put our egos and resentments aside and made peace and were able to have dialogs on his site with absolutely no acrimony. Can you take the challenge and be as reasonable as Rog? I'd like to think you can.

Nobody controls anything here. That was one of the first things I pointed out when you came back; that nobody was playing the roll of fearless leader or trying to dominate anyone else into submission or maliciously ridiculing anyone till they left the forum. While you were gone - people kept popping in and saying how enjoyable the forum was again with the absence of bickering - so yes some of us resent the fact that you are re-introducing this social dynamic of hostility and pettiness.

You've been around long enough to know that nobody "Wins" internet flame wars. None of this other .... is any fun for me, and it's boring the .... out of everyone else. If you dislike this pissing match as much as I do lets put it to an end. I say again.... If you want to talk racing - lets do that. Ball's in your court.

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Dr No said:

Dub needs to be funny again, topographically-challenged one.

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No Americans Entered For Suzuka 8 Hours

The first provisional entry list for the 2015 Suzuka 8 Hours world endurance race slipped out of the Suzuka PR office this week.

In some corners, the 8 Hours of Suzuka remains one of the most important races in the world. In 2015 riders like Casey Stoner, Bradley Smith, Michael van der Mark and Pol Espargaro will race the Suzuka 8 Hours.

However, as it stands now, there are zero Americans entered for the prestigious race known in Japan as "Hachi-Tai".

Americans won the very first Suzuka 8 Hours race held, in 1978. Mike Baldwin and Wes Cooley rode a Pops Yoshimura Suzuki GS1000-based machine that year and came home with the victory.

Through the history of the race, many different US riders have won the Suzuka 8 Hours including Doug Polen, Colin Edwards II, Wayne Rainey and Scott Russell.

Held in brutal conditions, some current American riders are probably too happy to not be in Japan in late July. This is nothing new, the quote of the race, maybe for all time, can be attributed to American world champion and a man who was probably a curmudgeon before he turned 21--Eddie Lawson. In 1990, Lawson teamed with Tadahiko Taira to race the event; they won it by two laps.

Like most GP riders of the era, Lawson didn't like four-stroke motorcycles—at the time. He came home for the '90 race and dismissing the accomplishment almost in entirety.

He was quoted at the time, "I just kept doing laps. Later, someone said that we won it."

This story didn't speak to a new behavioral pattern for "Steady Eddie". Lawson finished second at the 8 Hours in the early 1980s and famously abandoned the second place trophy in the Tokyo airport. He grew tired of carrying the gigantic beast of a trophy and left it sitting in the middle of the terminal.

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Casey Stoner answers questions about a return to MotoGP ahead of debut in Suzuka 8 Hours

IF you squint hard enough, it will look for all the world like Casey Stoner is taking another step towards a MotoGP comeback.

This weekend will see the two-time world champion back among the MotoGP paddock for the Catalunya Grand Prix, where he will cut several demonstration laps aboard Honda’s new MotoGP-bike-for-the-street, the wicked RC213V-S.

Next month he will take part in his first motorcycle road race since his shock retirement from MotoGP at the peak of his powers in 2012, Stoner emerging from a three-year exile from two-wheel racing to take part in the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in Japan.

But is this an appetiser for a full-fledged return to MotoGP?

It’s a question that continues to haunt Stoner whenever he steps in front of the press, most recently on Tuesday to reveal the new design his Nolan helmet will carry at Suzuka.

To be fair, the events of the last few months have given us plenty of dots to connect.

He started the year testing Honda’s MotoGP bike at Sepang. Honda revealed he will race for them at Suzuka. Stoner even made a genuine, mouth-watering offer to replace the injured Dani Pedrosa at MotoGP’s Austin round.

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While it is easy to suggest those dots form a path leading him back to the sport he left so abruptly, Stoner maintains that a full-time comeback is not part of his agenda.

“I’m not planning on doing any wildcards, I’m not planning on coming back or anything like this,” Stoner said.

“I was going to fill in for Dani. I was approached, I was considered, and then unfortunately they decided against it. It would have been a lot of fun to ride a new track that I haven’t been on with Austin.

Stoner retired from MotoGP at the end of 2012.

Stoner retired from MotoGP at the end of 2012. Source: News Limited

“But there were no expectations there. I was literally going there to be a fill-in rider for one race, maybe two, and that was it.”

So why, then, is he doing the Suzuka 8 Hours? The answer is straightforward.

Like his beloved fishing trips, go karting and motocross riding, competing in the 8 Hour was one of those bucket-list dreams that the demands of the MotoGP season always prevented him from chasing.

“I’ve had some pressure from Honda for some years now to do the Suzuka 8 Hours, and this has been something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he explained.

“When I was growing up all of my idols were doing this race, it was part of their season. It was very prestigious.”

If you’ve never heard of the race, Stoner’s description of “very prestigious” is no hyperbole. If anything, it’s a colossal understatement.

The start of the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours.

The start of the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours. Source: Supplied

The 8 Hour is traditionally the biggest race on the international calendar for all of Japan’s big motorcycle companies; bigger than World Superbikes, bigger than MotoGP.

In its heyday, crowds in excess of 130,000 people flocked to watch Japan’s big guns go head to head. MotoGP stars would headline the entry list, their factories writing the gruelling events into their contracts to ensure their bikes were armed with the best possible talent.

The list of winners reads like a roll of honour: Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson, Kevin Magee, and Daryl Beattie all took victories there.

But the lineage stops with Valentino Rossi’s victory alongside Colin Edwards in 2001.

“It sort of lost that character because our seasons became too busy and it was impossible to do it during those seasons and still fight for a championship,” Stoner said.

“The privilege to do it this year was really something nice. I needed a couple of years off, away from motorcycle racing, so it’s really nice to come back and do this endurance race with a little less stress.”

To give you an idea of just how much the event means to the Japanese factories, consider this: Honda has a finite budget for its MotoGP program; it is said that they have no budget when it comes to spending resources on winning the 8 Hour.

Honda’s leading factory machines in last year’s race.

Honda’s leading factory machines in last year’s race. Source: Supplied

Yamaha, Honda’s fierce rivals, have also stepped up their attack for 2015, employing MotoGP riders Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro to lead their campaign on the lightning-fast new R1M. Initially, they had asked two guys named Rossi and Lorenzo to race the bike ...

Honda have won the last five years on the trot, with Stoner leading their challenge to make it six aboard a bike he will share with World Superbike racer Michael van der Mark and Japanese championship rider Takumi Takahashi.

Stoner will gain more experience of a machine that is different in character to his beloved MotoGP Honda with a pair of test sessions in the weeks leading up to the race.

While he relishes the challenge of being back in the saddle, he is under no false impressions of how tough the gruelling 8 Hour will be.

“Suzuka’s going to be hard work, for sure,” he said. “I’ve had a few friends that have done it and have warned me enough that it’s going to be very hard work.

“Suzuka that time of year is always very, very hot and it’s going to be a challenge for sure ... more fitness than anything, to make sure we finish in some sort of decent level towards the end of the race rather than losing too much time.

“The race itself I think is going to be quite enjoyable. Having to do something with teammates is something very unique, and I’m looking forward to it this year.”

The Suzuka 8 Hour will take place on July 26.

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