What would you choose?

BSB champ,after all its touted as the best national series anywhere.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (#22 @ Jul 28 2009, 03:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Watching the coverage last night I was interested to hear about Leon Camier being given a tour of the Yamaha WSBK pit, possibly for a ride next year (who knows?) but it got me thinking. If you were a team owner in the series would you go for a frontrunning National Superbike rider (Such as Camier in BSB) or a frontrunning WSS rider (Such as Laverty or Crutchlow)?

The pros of a BSB/AMA rider is they have experience of superbikes, but little or no international track experience. The pros of a WSS rider is they have that track experience but then I guess they have to get used to riding 1000's? (That said if you can ride, you can ride!)

Discuss

If you can ride a superbike, you can ride a superbike. Being good on a 600 offers no guarantee at the next level. The world is scattered with great 600 riders who failed as big bike riders. Foret,the guy who won the WSS race is a lifer in that series. Superglue, RL Hayden etc: are afew more that come to mind. I say let Laverty or Crutchlow prove themselves in BSB before bringing them up to WSBK and possibly wasting a couple of years to find out they cant ride a superbike. Is Camier better than Sykes or do you think they are going to run a sattelite team with him .As far as series go, what i see on the horizon for AMA is scary. It seems like the majority of the good young talent is opting for the Red Bull Series and bypassing AMA all together. AMA Superbike riders are extremely long in the tooth and i cant see the next great thing on the horizon. Josh Herrin was supposed to be it but he has hit a wall. Blake Young, nice rider but would have to make a huge leap in the next year to be considerd a great rider, Spies and Hayden were winning championships when they were his age,on real superbikes.

Depends, a Rider like Crutchlow has superbike form and is using SS as a ticket to the world stage so i would consider him over a BSB guy. But i wouldn't pick someone who is a 600 specialist. I guess it could go either way depending on the riders available

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DRILL @ Jul 28 2009, 05:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>BSB champ,after all its touted as the best national series anywhere.

Maybe as far as racing goes, but racers I don't know about them moving on to the world stage. They didn't impress me when there was about 5 of them wildcarding at their home track.

I would take AMA. I would convince Mat Mladin somehow or other to take WSBK seat. I think that he could either win the championship or come close in his first season. That being said it looks like this is never going to happen.

Hayes, Young, Hayden, Bostrom. None of these guys would dominate but they can hold their own.

Crutchlow is looking pretty dominate right now but as mentioned a 600 racer is not a 1000 racer. I really thought that Sofoglu was going to make it and then he quite before the season was up went back to 600 and won right away. I don't think that the feeder series works the same way asit does over there in GP.

I would look at Laverty and Crutchlow before I looked at any rider from BSB or AMA (Mladin excluded because he'd never be interested anyways).

I've been watching BSB all year, Camier is the Mladin of the series right now. He is above and beyond the rest of the field. He is very talented, smooth, a clean passer that does the business by getting pole most of the time and should he get a bad start he quickly makes up positions by passing on the first few laps. Guintoli was his only competition, unfortunately he is out. At the Donington WSBK round Camier placed 13th and 6th, not living up to how well other Brits had done the year prior. I put him on level with Sykes.

Honestly it's a tough call. Camier would be a good pick for any team, but Crutchlow would be my pick. Not only is he dominating WSS, he placed 2nd at Donington last year during the WSBK round. Not only does Crutchlow have Superbike experience, he also has all the track experience. He's basically doing what J. Rea did last year, only Rea had a solid commitment ahead of time by Ten Kate that after 1 year he would move up. Not sure what, if any, deal Crutchlow may have.

Laverty is also someone of great talent, I'm not too sure of his past, if he has Superbike experience. I'd hate to see him move up and then struggle like Superglu did.

I don't think the series is that important. Many great riders have come from the series you've listed and many disappointments have come from the series you've listed.

Riders like Ben Spies & Johnny Rea & Haslam have done quite well.

Riders like Kiyo, Shakey, and Ben Bostrom have been big disappointments over the years despite showing some flashes of brilliance.

What seems to matter most is the person's talent and their mental toughness. Teams who've looked to recruit talent based upon series reputation have gotten burned more often than they've found the next prodigy.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DRILL @ Jul 28 2009, 05:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>BSB champ,after all its touted as the best national series anywhere.
You can't get me to respond, no you can't.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mylexicon @ Jul 28 2009, 01:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I don't think the series is that important. Many great riders have come from the series you've listed and many disappointments have come from the series you've listed.

Riders like Ben Spies & Johnny Rea & Haslam have done quite well.

Riders like Kiyo, Shakey, and Ben Bostrom have been big disappointments over the years despite showing some flashes of brilliance.

What seems to matter most is the person's talent and their mental toughness. Teams who've looked to recruit talent based upon series reputation have gotten burned more often than they've found the next prodigy.

Agree.