**SPOILER CONTENT** Phillip Island 2008 WSBK thread

[DogBoy]

Phillip Island 2008 WSBK thread.




















First practice times are in from one of the coolest circuits in the world.

[Jeff N]

Would it be a spoiler to mention that Xaus crashed again?  

[squeezer]

Would it be a spoiler to mention that Xaus crashed again?  

No.  We'd have all guessed that anyway.

Speaking of crashes, does anyone have an update on Kagayama?  I never heard how badly he was hurt.

[DogBoy]

Broken collarbone.

link to SPEEDtv.com article

After their win in Qatar last weekend, Team Suzuki Alstare headed to Australia in good spirits, with Fonsi Nieto and Max Neukirchner, but without Yukio Kagayama.
The Japanese rider crashed in the second race and broke his left collarbone...

[JonS]

Bayliss crashed too, but Soup said they just stitched him up again and he did take pole. Should I have said that part?  

[greench440]

Holy crap,   what a start.  How does your boot get taken off like that?

Pretty intense crash after the red came out too.  

[greench440]

Race 2- Biaggi what a moran.

[tomek]

WSB is becoming joke again,the rules,it comes to one sentence,what can we do to make sure Ducatis are winning ??

Ducati wanted displacement increase so they "can run production based engines".So they built homolagation special 1098 R,not really production based,even that was not enough,they are allowed special parts like pistons on top of that.It is fucking joke,whatever improvements R4 guys make they will be to respond to it like in day or two of R&D.

[Yamadog]

Race 2- Biaggi what a moran.

That was a scary off! Offs in race 1 and 2 what a moron! Lucky to have just a broken wrist.
Ducks will pick up some weight after this Bayliss runaway I'd lay odds.

[falcofred]

FACT: Ducati did not have the highest top end speeds, some of the in-line fours actually posted faster top end speeds.
OPINION: Ducati does seem to be able to get the HP to the track coming out of corners better than the Japanese.
FACT: Fonzie Nieto is second in the championship and Honda took their fist podium of the season.
OPINION: If you factor out Troy Bayliss, argueably one of the all time greatest riders on his home track, Ducati does not really have an advantage.
Forgeting Troy on his home track, I saw Honda, Suzuki, Ducati and Yamaha (until Troy Corser crashed) all in the hunt for the podium.

[Nouroog]

FACT: Ducati did not have the highest top end speeds, some of the in-line fours actually posted faster top end speeds.
OPINION: Ducati does seem to be able to get the HP to the track coming out of corners better than the Japanese.
FACT: Fonzie Nieto is second in the championship and Honda took their fist podium of the season.
OPINION: If you factor out Troy Bayliss, argueably one of the all time greatest riders on his home track, Ducati does not really have an advantage.
Forgeting Troy on his home track, I saw Honda, Suzuki, Ducati and Yamaha (until Troy Corser crashed) all in the hunt for the podium.

Caught some of the second race this morning. I'll agree with fred here.   It's also early days in the season.

[Jetpilot5]

Is this the last year for Bayless?  I hadn't heard that he was retiring.

Some pretty wild crashes in those races.

[Gaolee]

Who needs the big bikes, Triumphs are running in WSS, and McCoy is a GOD!

[Busy Little Whiner]

Yea the Vs won... (stinky inlines) and it's going take the new V to defeat the old V... like Ducati's own son... the D16RR V4...

[Specter]

Holy crap,   what a start.  How does your boot get taken off like that?

I watched that on Tivo - slow mothion. You can see the boot fly into the air and land down range to the right. I think the bike that passed him on the right impacted it so hard it split in two. I wonder who his boot sponsor is?

[DFH]

Yea the Vs won... (stinky inlines) and it's going take the new V to defeat the old V... like Ducati's own son... the D16RR V4...

Ducati have repeatedly made public statements that they will not homologate the D16RR for WSBK. Bikes cannot be homologated for WSBK or any other FIM championship by a third party, only by manufacturer. Let it go Larry...

DFH

[Yamadog]

FACT: Ducati did not have the highest top end speeds, some of the in-line fours actually posted faster top end speeds.
OPINION: Ducati does seem to be able to get the HP to the track coming out of corners better than the Japanese.
FACT: Fonzie Nieto is second in the championship and Honda took their fist podium of the season.
OPINION: If you factor out Troy Bayliss, argueably one of the all time greatest riders on his home track, Ducati does not really have an advantage.
Forgeting Troy on his home track, I saw Honda, Suzuki, Ducati and Yamaha (until Troy Corser crashed) all in the hunt for the podium.

Since when are facts the determinant? Even the Jonathan Green and Steve Martin were already talking about weight penalties. BTW I don't care for Steve Martin as a color man. He seems kinda lost.

[st ryder]

Ducati have repeatedly made public statements that they will not homologate the D16RR for WSBK. Bikes cannot be homologated for WSBK or any other FIM championship by a third party, only by manufacturer. Let it go Larry...

DFH

I thought the number of street legal, "production" units sold to the public to meet the new sbk homologation requirement was 1000, up from the previous 150. Even if the D-16 is a "LE", 1500 units isn't enough?

[st ryder]

WSB is becoming joke again,the rules,it comes to one sentence,what can we do to make sure Ducatis are winning ??

Ducati wanted displacement increase so they "can run production based engines".So they built homolagation special 1098 R,not really production based,even that was not enough,they are allowed special parts like pistons on top of that.It is fucking joke,whatever improvements R4 guys make they will be to respond to it like in day or two of R&D.

The joke is that I-4 fans just can't accept that when the playing field is leveled with technical accommodations, the desmo L-twin is a superior racing engine on tighter circuits due to its power delivery characteristics.  This has been the story since the 851.

I-4 fans used to rave that in a no holds barred racing series, (ie MotoGP) where there were very few requirements, that Ducati couldn't win without the so-called "displacement advantage." Wrong again I-4 fans.  With no such "advantage", Ducati beat the best the big four has to offer, but still there are some complaints about rev limits, as in Ducati has an advantage with its antiquated desmos.  

I really wish Ducati would take a 10 year hiatus from factory racing at any level, and concentrate on developing dealer and parts networks in North America, while allowing privateers to race their developments. Ducati doesn't need to prove anything more to anybody. Let the I-4/big four apologists continue to whine rather than give credit where credit is due, and maybe one day they can all accept the simple truths that:  the technical rules level the playing field so both engine designs can compete equally, (since Ducati is such a small company, with sales that are a fraction of Honda and Yamaha, and who sell only motorcycles, not a plethora of weekend recreational products, it makes NO SENSE that a racing series intended to bolster the sales of STOCK motorcycles, would "conspire" to make the smallest player the most likely to win) that the L-twin delivers more tractable power, that the trellis frame works very well and is pleasing to look at, that Ducati's electronic fuel injection and traction control are probably the best, that the desmo valve train is superior for performance, then they may accept that Ducati builds better race bikes period, and that their winning history is based on much more than a displacement accommodation.  

[greench440]

 I wonder who his boot sponsor is?

I was thinking the same thing.