World Superbike; Let the rant begin!

[rojodiablo]

What the hell are they doing with World Superbike? As if it weren't enough to finally be having a couple of good seasons, then they make a great move and pick up the race in Laguna Seca. FINALLY!!
And, by the twist of weird, which is how WSB always has been with their 2 race setup- they ran qualifying today (Saturday) and then moved on to race 1 of their series. Sunday will hold a bunch of Supersport races and Superbike race 2.
So, for todays' race. It starts, and they are off and flying. Then, Danny Eslick ran out of talent, and crashed. (He is a US rider, a wildcard entry.) Well, they stopped the race, at 6 laps. This was a real bugaboo, because Gintoli was winning. He's in second behind Tom Sykes and NEEDS the wins bad if he is to hold on and try to win the championship.
They restart the race. And then Roger Lee hayden crashes, at 8laps. (He is Danny's teammate, and another wildcard entry.)
So....... Gintoli was leading..... AGAIN.
Now, in the real world, when the race was stopped for stuff like this, if the race is stopped 2 times and the laps completed are better than 50%, they use a split time aggregate and call the race. So, we are 14 laps in, on a 26 lap race. So, WSB being WSB...... they take out a can of DERRRR...... and put a big pinch between their cheek and gum, and chew on some stupid for a bit.
And they then RE-START for a 3rd time! The 2 Americans are out, and because of this, racing goes as normal without motorcycles flying across the track without the rider in tow.

And, for the 3rd race, Tom Sykes wins it, and Gintoli is 5th.
So, like me, you might be expecting them to aggregate the 3 races and determine the winner on the elapsed time total, right?
WRONG. They claim the whole race on the 12 lap r3rd race session. Sykes gets max points, Gintoli and Aprilia are robbed as he finished 5th. Such a crock of manure.....
I am a Tom Sykes fan. I was rooting for him to win today. But it's not his win that bugs me. It's Gintoli being as robbed as Marvin Hagler was in his fight with Sugar Ray Leonard. It really stunk.
And, while I am venting; LOOK WSB; you can actually just push that PakaJunk broken bike out of the way, and let the race continue. In all the real racing series, that is how they do it. They sprinkle a little M.A.N. on the racetrack, and the riders do a testicular fortitude check, and they press on. Those with broken bikies go play in the sandbox for the rest of the race, and that is that.

Quit trying to ruin racing like NASCAR. For cryin' out loud.......

 

[Kanewpadle]

Isn't there a motorcycle forum somewhere?

 

[LVSteve]

Sadly, many motorsport organisers go into cranial-rectal insertion mode when things go wrong. All too often they are found to have been in breach of their own rules once the lawyers get in there. US organisers are especially quick to stop races when there are crashes. Then there is NASCAR and the "Competition Yellow". So half the field are way slower than the top guys, tough tacos.

 

[amazingflapjack]

Since the changes in the speed channel, I don't know where to find anything motorcycle. Does anyone know? Thanks, Flapjack.

 

[rojodiablo]

Isn't there a motorcycle forum somewhere?

This is the LOUNGE.
If they keep it up, I might shoot my TV; that would be a pretty solid show of cross interest in two of my favorite pastimes!!

Flapjack; I just get the series online, and stream them live thru my computer to my TV to watch races and qualifying sessions.

I gave up on cable like 4 years ago.

 

[amazingflapjack]

OK-thanks Bud.

 

[cloud]

Isn't it a WSB and AMA event? Maybe that is why the schedule is the way it is. I have not really been into motorcycle racing since they got rid of the 500's. or wsb since Edwards and fogarty . I did pay a attention when spies was racing the Yamaha. But that is why I like the rules of F1 .I would rather watch 6 cars go around the track (indy f1)under the rules than 40 under the race director discretion.

 

[rojodiablo]

Isn't it a WSB and AMA event? Maybe that is why the schedule is the way it is. I have not really been into motorcycle racing since they got rid of the 500's. or wsb since Edwards and fogarty . I did pay a attention when spies was racing the Yamaha. But that is why I like the rules of F1 .I would rather watch 6 cars go around the track (indy f1)under the rules than 40 under the race director discretion.

No longer a mixed event. There was just too much on the plate when they mixed the 2 series. No one got adequate track time, and there was always an issue of the AMA bikes entering the WSB event. The problem was, they are almost as powerful; but the suspension sophistication is not the same, and AMA is based on Dunglop tires (No typo kids, that's how I feel!) and WSB is based on Pirelli tires. So, the AMA guys either have to be allowed to ride their tires, or they ride the Pirellis; which are better tires, but require a much different setup. So, in the end, the AMA guys are too slow. And, as the race progresses, the WSB guys tended to get faster as they learned the track more, so the speed differential became a real safety issue.

I also miss the 500's dearly. The cost associated with the 4 strokes is blindingly high. And, as the rules are regarding electronics and modifications, the art of tuning is more lost than ever to the privateer teams.
I miss the 250's twice as much as I miss the 500's though. At least I could buy a good 250 and get it tuned for a reasonable cost.
Hoping tomorrow the race is clean and long, so the riders get to race the tires off, rather than run 3 more qualifying sessions.....

 

[cloud]

I thought this week end at laguna was a Wsb event and also a AMA event.Maybe that is why the race schedule was different .

 

[Malpasowildlifer]

Hope it is a good one. I'm from the Monterey Peninsula and have never been. Gotta go some day, since I'm getting into motorcycles a wee bit.

 

[rojodiablo]

I thought this week end at laguna was a Wsb event and also a AMA event.Maybe that is why the race schedule was different .

Ahhh, my bad. They changed things up- I was under the impression the only AMA race was back in July at Laguna Seca.

They ARE running the series together. BUT; if a rider enters AMA, they are not racing the WSB race. Which is smart. That caused a lot of exhausted and slower riders to jumble the field.
As it is, Josh Hayes won, and it looks like his best lap was a mid-1:24- which puts the best AMA superbike 2 full seconds off the fastest lap in WSB.
In a 26 lap race...... that means a guy is finishing a minute down. Or, nearly getting lapped. (And that would be the FASTEST guy.) Glad they totally separated the series' for the weekend.