HiaWATHA!!! WSB Monza Spoilers

[markgoodrich]

Woweee, what an afternoon! First turn, five guys are OUT, Tamada, Roberts, Neukirchner, Hill and Corser, with Max getting the worst of it with a broken femur and dislocated right foot. Tamada broke his wrist. Corser was unable to start the second race, but no news yet on his injuries.

 

Spies, Haga and Fabrizio had me out of my chair several times as they battled back and forth, and then at the end, unbelievable, as Ben goes from first to 15th within meters of the finish line, out of gas.

 

Then the second race he runs off and leaves everyone, confused no doubt, thinking he's back in AMA, and Haga gets hit on the arm by a bird at the start, hurts, loses feeling, drops to 16th or so, ends up throwing his Duc into the tires, with Fabrizio eventually taking second, seconds behind Ben.

 

Aside from the wonderful racing, not only for the front but in race 2 the 4-way battle for 8th between Smrz, Xaus, Checa and Laconi, looking like a 250 race, the best part was seeing Spies hit the end of the straight braking so hard his rear wheel was inches off the ground. The worst part was the big, big crashes.

 

No, the worst part was how yet another weekend of WSBK racing underscores the pathetic state of U. S. superbike racing.

 

EDIT: Corser got knocked down in the first turn, then one of the crashed bikes hit him hard on the upper back, knocking him hard forward onto his helmet, dazing him. Marshals carried him off, or tried to, but he walked to the medical tentand decided to take part in the red-flagged restart!He almost made it an entire lap before he got into Parabolica a little too hot, Muggeridge came alongside, Corser added more brake, and was down again, doing the cartwheel thing. He decided he was done for the day .

[David]

Both were just outstanding races. I was impressed with how good the coverage was further back in the pack, too.

 

The first turn could easily have killed someone if one of those flipping bikes had landed straight onto someone.

 

They described Spies as "clinical"--I think that's a great compliment. Every lap within 0.5 seconds.

[BanjoBoy]

Both were just outstanding races. I was impressed with how good the coverage was further back in the pack, too.

 

The first turn could easily have killed someone if one of those flipping bikes had landed straight onto someone.

 

They described Spies as "clinical"--I think that's a great compliment. Every lap within 0.5 seconds.

Yeah, it was great watching Xaus battling Checa, he's finally coming to terms with the Beemer.

Although Ben's lap times were clinical, he sure looked to be on the ragged edge; Stoppies, wheelies, and lurid slides all day long! The gas situation in race 1 sure sucked, but he took it like a man. (Instead of throwing a temper tantrum) That'll help him earn even more respect from his team and others.

 

[David]

Oh, I didn't think he was on the edge at all. The frame of the Yamaha makes stoppies non-dramatic. It's not that uncommon, either. I never saw an instance where he nearly lost it.

[bootzilla]

Heh heh - Ben was making it look a LOT easier than it was - that R1 was leaving black streaks all over the track - to be sure, he was using what his momma gave him. Winning by that big of a margin at Monza isn't an an everyday thing.

 

Haga ran into a bird in race 2...crazy. It hit him so hard that a doctor had to treat the injury, and he lost feeling in his arm (thus the wreck).

 

Wild stuff in both races. I feel bad for Neukirchner and Troy, because neither of 'em saw it coming.

[swfraley]

No, the worst part was how yet another weekend of WSBK racing underscores the pathetic state of U. S. superbike racing.

 

 

Man, that's the truth. The racing, the commentary.....everything.

[BanjoBoy]

Oh, I didn't think he was on the edge at all. The frame of the Yamaha makes stoppies non-dramatic. It's not that uncommon, either. I never saw an instance where he nearly lost it.

True the (Ben's) Yamaha was very stable doing 150 mph stoppies, but IMHO that's still wild! I've seen lots of other racers with the rear tire skipping off the track while hard on the brakes, but I've never seen anybody loft the rear end that high, lap after lap. And as Todd pointed out, he was leaving blackies everywhere too.

whether on the edge or not is debatable, but I think he was riding 110%!

It makes me wonder what Mladin could have done if he went to WSB?

[hopz]

Excellent racing.

 

Out of gas? I think the restart after the crash left the tank down some and no one refueled? If so- a bad pit decision if they could have. If not- just bad luck.

 

Spies is THE MAN! Of course the Italian Yamaha gets a huge part of the credit but Spies uses the tool and makes it happen. A talented guy.

 

BMW looking good too. Another top 10 finish.

[David]

Leaving black marks everywhere isn't a huge deal--brand new students do it on the track all the time without knowing it. And remember they have traction control, so doing it on acceleration is not dramatic. If you watch it in slow motion, most of the "darkies" are from the rear tire accelerating out of a turn. As pathetic as my skills are, I would very commonly do that on the exit of a turn, especially with a powerful bike. And the bikes they're on have top speeds 30+ mph more than any race-oriented production bike. It's pretty astounding.

 

In terms of lofting the rear, you'll see racers at higher levels use that precisely as the gauge of how much braking they're doing. In fact the drills that Spencer teaches required us to hit >100mph and KEEP the rear in the air, over and over again.

 

For us mortals, it looks like he's riding on the edge, well, because we'd be in a ditch if we did that. But he can feel everything on that bike, from the smallest slip of the front tire to the mildest spin on the rear. He's just not a guy who runs on the ragged edge, which is why he's so consistent. I don't get nervous watching him like I would Xaus or Yates or Edwards.

 

What amazed me more than anything is how well he ran that track after so little experience on it. That requires so much more skill than the actual mechanics of riding.

[David]

It was out of gas, because he ran the second race with the same amount. He just took it easier on the warm-up laps and short shifted out of turns to keep the revs down.

[90%angel]

Fantastic racing! While Race one was disappointing (I don't think Russell's mouth closed (after his jaw dropped when Ben stopped) for about 5 minutes!), it was still a GREAT race to watch. Race two was interesting further back in the pack, and I'm glad they covered it. The huge pile up in race one was terrible. Broken femur...ouch! That's too bad.

 

I wish JZ had done better. I really like him, but I think he is a 600 guy more than a superbike guy. Anyway, hope he was having fun.

 

As for the championship, I was thinking it was no harm, no foul for Haga and Spies since Spies was out the first race, and Haga was out the second. However, Ben did take 6 out of Haga this weekend since he did score one point in the first race (and Haga only came in second), and then Ben won the second race and Haga dnf'd. As the title chase in MotoGP 06 proved, every point helps, so we'll see what happens in the end. Should be exciting! (Actually, do they get any points in this series for being on pole? If so, then Ben would have another point for that...I don't think they do, though).

 

I love WSBK...totally my favorite series right now, hands down. Wish they could afford to pay the riders better; maybe then it would draw other great superbike riders there (Mladin, Hayden, Edwards). I wonder if Mladin would race for AUS or USA?

[David]

I was wondering about that. Is that why Mladin isn't in WSB?

[90%angel]

I doubt it; I think Mladin is just comfortable, and getting paid well, so why rock the boat?

[markgoodrich]

I doubt it; I think Mladin is just comfortable, and getting paid well, so why rock the boat?

 

I dunno...I watched the Suzuki 2 episode of "Twist the Throttle" the other night, and the big cheese at Suzuki said that the AMA race series is the most important series for the company...presumably because the U. S. is the biggest market for them. In which case it might make sense that Mat gets paid too much to switch to Europe.

 

Twist the Throttle can be found on HD Theater, or apparently online: http://tinyurl.com/p8lm8c

 

I hate the program. So far, I've only seen the Kawa and Suzuki episodes, and I NEED a GSXR 750, Kawa ZZR 1400, GT 1400, a Water Buffalo, a Z900, and about umpty others. There's worse to come: MV Agusta is up next, I think.

 

End digresssion; back to racing.

[russell_bynum]

The person at Speed who decided to put those annoying, obtrusive, obnoxious, loud, ads for their retarded reality show about tow trucks in Chicago over the racing after EVERY FRICKING COMMERCIAL deserves a very slow and painful death....while being forced to watch that idiotic show.

 

Otherwise, what a great couple of races! It's rare to see Haga out-braked, but both Spies, and Fabrizio (repeatedly) were doing it. Amazing stuff.

 

That four-way fight for 8th in the second race was quite interesting as well. How often do you get to see guys coming into Parabolica four-wide?

 

The interesting question is: now what? This was probably the longest stretch of consistency we've ever seen from Haga. In the past, he's done really well, and then he bursts into flames...or crashes in such a way that the largest piece of the bike will fit in a matchbox. This year (until yesterday) he hasn't put a wheel wrong. It'll be interesting to see if that was just a fluke, or if we're back to the same old Haga.

[bootzilla]

The person at Speed who decided to put those annoying, obtrusive, obnoxious, loud, ads for their retarded reality show about tow trucks in Chicago over the racing after EVERY FRICKING COMMERCIAL deserves a very slow and painful death....while being forced to watch that idiotic show.

 

omg that was the worst...and they relentlessly plug that show as if we are all somehow going to change our minds about it being a totally pointless waste of air-time.

[russell_bynum]

The person at Speed who decided to put those annoying, obtrusive, obnoxious, loud, ads for their retarded reality show about tow trucks in Chicago over the racing after EVERY FRICKING COMMERCIAL deserves a very slow and painful death....while being forced to watch that idiotic show.

 

omg that was the worst...and they relentlessly plug that show as if we are all somehow going to change our minds about it being a totally pointless waste of air-time.

 

There just weren't enough cuss words in the English language to effectively express how I felt about the 3rd time they did it. And it just got worse from there.

 

Seriously...I hope whoever did that contracts some sort of exotic flesh-eating venereal disease, gets audited by the IRS, get's 1,000 paper cuts, and then falls in a pool of lemon juice...while being forced to watch Wrecked.

[EffBee]

The person at Speed who decided to put those annoying, obtrusive, obnoxious, loud, ads for their retarded reality show about tow trucks in Chicago over the racing after EVERY FRICKING COMMERCIAL deserves a very slow and painful death....while being forced to watch that idiotic show.

 

omg that was the worst...and they relentlessly plug that show as if we are all somehow going to change our minds about it being a totally pointless waste of air-time.

 

There just weren't enough cuss words in the English language to effectively express how I felt about the 3rd time they did it. And it just got worse from there.

 

Seriously...I hope whoever did that contracts some sort of exotic flesh-eating venereal disease, gets audited by the IRS, get's 1,000 paper cuts, and then falls in a pool of lemon juice...while being forced to watch Wrecked.

You're such a wuss. Tell us how you REALLY feel.