Should SUZUKI return it's title(s)?

In baseball people are talking about putting an asterisk next to Barry Bond's name if he surpasses Hank Aaron's record. This due to the alleged steroid use matter. I wonder if Mark McGuire's hasty exit from baseball was due to the fact that if he played one more year on steroids he would literally explode and leave hunks of flesh all over home plate.

In the AMA Superbike chase, our pal Mat Mladin (and Suzuki) have probably been cheating for a few years now. It was plain to see the difference in acceleration out of the corners between the Suzukis and everyone else. Bystanders at the track could hear the sound of the engine cutting out to reduce wheelspin. Smells like cheating to me.

Mladin whined for years when he thought his bike was underpowered and he wasn't winning. He then labeled everyone else a whiner when they complained about the Suzukis being so dominant. All the while using an illegal traction control device to win races. I knew there was a reason I didn't like that guy. It was a gut thing. My guts were right.

Perhaps all of his titles should have an asterisk next to them and at the bottom it could just say *Cheater. Do the right thing Mat, give the number one plates back. That goes for you too Spies!

Supercross Mania

I watched the opening round of Supercross from Toronto and I made the mistake of watching the tape late at night. I was having fits of stress during the night just reliving ONE CRAZY RACE! It was great seeing Carmichel back in action as well as the healthy Stewart and newly recommitted Reed.

Stewart seemed to be making enemies left and right with the Ivan Tadesco practice incident and then the Travis Preston crash mid-race. It was great seeing Stewart catch Reed and even more amazing to see Reed come back at him. Rarely in motorsport does someone come back to battle like that. Reed and Stewart must have swapped the lead four times until Reed punted Stewart off course after the Start/Finish line jump. Stewart certainly made a mess of things by reentering the course without making sure the coast was clear. That could've ended up in a much more serious crash than it did. It's worth reading Stewart's letter to the public (http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=10257).

Carmichel recovered brilliantly after taking himself down on a tuff-block early on. It looks like it's going to be another great season.

Motoczysz: Where are you now?

Hey folks at Motoczysz. What's up? Are we going to see that thing on the track anytime soon? Or are you going to keep coming up with excuses and enlisting the help of moto-journalists to keep up the facade. By the time you get it running the rest of the racing world will be light years ahead. Maybe not light years, but certainly many advances will be made in this off season.

I'd like to go through Rossi's trash...

I'd sure like to go through Rossi's trash and get a hold of his world championship tee shirts, and hats. I'm sure they had a big box of celebratory swag on hand. Can't blame them. Who knew Rossi would tuck the front end like a rookie. You could see he was in trouble on lap one, and the trouble only got worse.

Hayden could hold up Rossi's championship tee for the photographers like Truman held up the Dewey headline. (Wouldn't be very sporting though, now would it?) Hayden had his tees all ready. He really did believe.

Nice fireworks after the show too. (Oops, I guess Camel yellow was all they had.) Way to go Dorna!

Thank you Nicky! Thank you very much.

I'd say Congratulations! (but I'm not worthy). What a season it was. Many twists and turns throughout the year. Clutch performances (Hayden's win at the USGP), ridiculous mistakes (Pedrosa's blunder), unfortunate errors (Colin's last corner crash at Assen), and a small crack in Rossi's armour (which cost him the title). We also had some big crashes which definitely affected the rest of the field, e.g. Capirossi, Melandri.


A was a great battle all year long, albeit an indirect one for the most part. There were the occasional photo finishes and shoulder rubbing going on. That's an incredible on board shot at the start of Valencia where Hayden lets Rossi know ”It's on!“ with a little elbow shot.


Can't wait to see Hayden and Rossi mix it up next year. Perhaps Hayden can develop his block pass. Rossi will be out for blood. Pedrosa and Capirossi will be digging the 800s and there will be so much more.

I think Hayden and Edwards II should do some testing on a 250cc to develop their corner entry characteristics. It does seem the faster way around. Less point and shoot and more flow.

Who cares what Gordon thinks!

Let's call Brad Pitt and ask him what he thought of Pedrosa running
into American Nicky Hayden. Oh, wait; I could care less what rambles around in his bleached blonde, baby adopting, head.

And on another thought, the same could be said for Gordon.

Having an inferior race series (NASCAR) ”superstar“ comment on a superior race series (MOTOGP) product is like having a 7th grade quarterback commenting on girl's golf. Or something like that. Who gives a S%#T?!

It was a race. Things happen in races. Pedrosa is still a dick.

Nixon off to Valencia

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2006/Oct/061019o.htm

This also from Superbike Planet. I know, why bother reading this blog? But maybe Nixon will get all liquored up and go kick Pedrosa's arse in the paddock at Valencia. It's not impossible. (The arse kicking or the liquored up part.)

I won't say I told you so...

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2006/Oct/061019a.htm

I just read this on Superbike Planet. I knew someone would find a way to blame Hayden. At first the idea was just an absurd joke in my head. Now the joke has gone public.
Bravo!

Apparently, I failed to factor in the Repsol (Spain) angle in my original equation. Valencia will be one of the most interesting races to watch in some time. That is if Hayden can bring it!

What's up SPEED?

Hey SPEED Channel. Why put MotoGP on at the half hour mark? (The Premier Class was aired at 11:30am on Sunday, no respect.) Of course they put the 250cc race on next. That way we could find out who won the race ahead of time instead of having to actually watch the broadcast to find out. The announcers shouldn't be to blame for giving away the results as everywhere else in the world people see the 250s first. They are also treated to seeing qualifying and even (gasp!) the 125s.

Did SPEED move MotoGP to the half hour because of live coverage of NASCAR's Dale Jr. coming out of a porta potty? Was Jeff Gordon seen at the Taco Bell drive through?

The US needs a motorcycle channel. VERSUS should take over the heavy burden of actually airing the world feed for MotoGP. That way SPEED could show even more NASCAR!! We could find out what kind of cheese Rousch Racing puts on their burgers or what shoe size all the drivers are and so on.

How cool would it be to see qualifying and even free practice for MotoGP. I wouldn't care if they showed it live at 3am or whatever.

DORNA loves Pedrosa

While reading the DORNA press release from the Moto Live site I picked up on a little nationalistic slant to the article. In fact they just came up short of blaming Hayden for the crash.

http://motogp.racing-live.com/motogp/en/headlines/news/detail/061015172331.shtml

DORNA (Spain) and Pedrosa (Spain) and all they could talk about was how wonderful Elias (Spain) was after winning his first race. The major headline should have read PEDROSA MAKES HUGE BLUNDER. Then repeat.

Superbike Planet had it right. Just view the reader's poll.
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/getVote.jsp?pn=blame1015

Pedrosa wins Idiot of the Year Award!

I'm sure all of us Nicky Hayden fans were on pins and needles watching the Moto GP of Portugal. We knew it would take a massively clutch effort by young Hayden to stop the steamroller that is Rossi. Who knew the end of Hayden's chase would be from his own teammate Dani Pedrosa? I know teammates have taken each other out in the past, but has anyone ever dashed hopes for a championship?

I'm still a little stunned from the race. It was some consolation to see Elias pip Rossi at the line. It was great to see KRJR in the lead as well. Too bad he didn't realize the race had another lap to go or he might have put Rossi back to third, or better yet, gotten the win for KR.

Other highlights were seeing Gary McCoy back out on the track on the Ilmor effort. Electrical gremlins kept him out of the points, but he looked pretty good out there. Not bad being 190cc down on the rest of the field. Next year will be interesting all around.

Of course the championship isn't Rossi's yet. All we need to do is to ask Pedrosa to do the same stupid thing only Rossi. Hayden can very well win next weekend unless he's in jail for kicking the crap out of Pedrosa and throwing him into the ocean. No one would blame him.

I wonder what Pedrosa's team orders were. ”Hey Dani, take out Nicky on the second lap. We've been trying to mess up his season with a bike that doesn't work all that well but he won't go away. Do it early in the race in case he gets away.“

Can Barber fix his track?

Wouldn't it be cool if they could put a straightaway at Barber? Perhaps something that would allow the bikes to get out of second gear. Then we might be able to see a World Superbike race there someday. MotoGP would be cool (but somewhat unrealistic). It wouldn't be too difficult to top the Laguna Seca circuit.

Hacking back to his old self

Jamie Hacking had an incredible season, no argument there. (Although rumor has it that an imposter was riding for him.)

After clinching both the Supersport and Superstock titles, the real Hacking was back in the saddle as proven by a bonehead move that took out Danny Eslick in Supersport. Followed by a bonehead move to take out Jason DiSalvo in Superstock. This time Hacking got what he deserved.

I especially enjoyed it when he threw up his arms in disgust as he stood in the gravel trap. He needs to see the tape.

AMA does it again

How much of a head start does Mladin get?

In the final Superbike race he got a nice jump on the start. I guess they'd call him on it if he made it to turn one. Maybe.

Who does he think he is? Valentino (I didn't see the waving yellow flag as I passed Casey Stoner but I got a free pass anyway) Rossi?

Or, perhaps they mistook him for Michael (I can cut the chicane and still keep my postion while you penalize Alonso for slowing down Massa who was a mile away during qualifying) Schumacher.

I was still nice to see Spies take the championship.

MotorCycle Talk

When will HRC give Nicky a chance to actually win a race? 2007? They seem to keep going backwards each time out. They can borrow my friend's clutch from his VFR. I can get it for cheap!