WSB Qatar

On 1 Mar 2005 16:23:06 -0800, lemmy999.RemoveThis@gmail.com wrote:

 >Did anyone record the WSB races on speed this past
 >weekend? Since Speed didn't show the races on Sunday
 >(yes I have sent them email to complain about this) I had
 >to record it today while I was at work. Unfortunately I was
 >half asleep when I set up the timer and set it up for
 >11:59PM instead of 11:59AM. I do not think they repeat
 >them. Can anyone burn it to a DVD or something
 >and mail it to me? I can send a few blanks and self
 >addressed stamped envelope. BTW, I live in the USA.
 >
 >Thanks,
 >Shane

I've got them on VHS. E-mail me.

DaveW<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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On 1 Mar 2005 16:23:06 -0800, lemmy999.RemoveThis@gmail.com wrote:

 >Did anyone record the WSB races on speed this past
 >weekend? Since Speed didn't show the races on Sunday
 >(yes I have sent them email to complain about this) I had
 >to record it today while I was at work. Unfortunately I was
 >half asleep when I set up the timer and set it up for
 >11:59PM instead of 11:59AM. I do not think they repeat
 >them. Can anyone burn it to a DVD or something
 >and mail it to me? I can send a few blanks and self
 >addressed stamped envelope. BTW, I live in the USA.

I watched both races while I was taping them and have to say, I wasn't
sitting anywhere near the edge of my seat....maybe it was just all the
new numbers and bike colours/graphics that seemed a trifle generic and
so on, but I thought it was a bit of a snore.
It appears as well that, according to their programming sked, no WSBK
till Philip Island....on Tuesday April 5th....at 12-2pm...the scum...
I really hate the thought of a season of avoiding racing news, while
trying to remember to program the frigging vcr to tape in order to
finally watch the races on Tuesday night...
On the other hand, isn't it nice to know that including repeats, there
are 51 opportunities to watch some form of Nascrap programming from
Friday to Friday....
Amazing that Speed can spin that much airtime from a bunch of Bubbas
running around in circles for a bunch of Bubbas in the stands gorging
on Bud and pork rinds.... right my brothers?
If it wasn't for the fact that living in the frozen tundra of Canada
has toughened me up, I would surely weep.
Shel<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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Shel <shel243.TakeThisOut@allstream.net> Thu, 3 Mar 2005 22:07:51
 >I watched both races while I was taping them and have to say, I wasn't
 >sitting anywhere near the edge of my seat....maybe it was just all the
 >new numbers and bike colours/graphics that seemed a trifle generic and
 >so on, but I thought it was a bit of a snore.

Partly I think this is the track. It's wonderfully safe and looks a fun
place to ride, but it's featureless and hard to get a sense of how fast
they're going and trying.

The bike colours this year are hard. It's really difficult to pick out
who's who from a distance. The Ducatis, Kawasakis and Suzukis are fairly
easy but the Hondas and Yamahas all look the same.

The overriding feeling of the whole event was amateurish. Way too many
half finished bikes, half finished teams and messing around. Having a
big proportion of the paddock fighting flu didn't help. For instance, by
the time you turn up at the track, you really should have worked out how
to start the bike. Borrowing somebody else's starter and fighting and
failing with a slipper clutch is pretty pathetic.

Anyway, we get the Suzukis fast straight out of the box. Laconi fast
immediately with Toseland struggling after a big off. But Toseland
fought back well in the second race to grab points. Yamahas not far off
the pace. Hondas under the weather but also not far off the pace.
Kawasaki and Petronas going backwards. Of the riders, there's a lot of
people out there on fairly competitive bikes that are damn fast and
equivalent to mid pack MotoGP. I think we'll get some great races this
year. At any meeting 2 or 3 will be out front, but 10s back there's
going to be a huge dog fight. Like 125GP but at twice the speed.

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I reckon all TV broadcast races should have a little map of the circuit
with a dot going around to show where the leader is.
Otherwise unless you've ridden the track it's a bit hard to work out
where anyone is.

Bummers
We have the technology!

Julian Bond wrote:
 > Shel <shel243.DeleteThis@allstream.net> Thu, 3 Mar 2005 22:07:51
 >
  >> I watched both races while I was taping them and have to say, I wasn't
  >> sitting anywhere near the edge of my seat....maybe it was just all the
  >> new numbers and bike colours/graphics that seemed a trifle generic and
  >> so on, but I thought it was a bit of a snore.
 >
 >
 > Partly I think this is the track. It's wonderfully safe and looks a fun
 > place to ride, but it's featureless and hard to get a sense of how fast
 > they're going and trying.
 >
 > The bike colours this year are hard. It's really difficult to pick out
 > who's who from a distance. The Ducatis, Kawasakis and Suzukis are fairly
 > easy but the Hondas and Yamahas all look the same.
 >
 > The overriding feeling of the whole event was amateurish. Way too many
 > half finished bikes, half finished teams and messing around. Having a
 > big proportion of the paddock fighting flu didn't help. For instance, by
 > the time you turn up at the track, you really should have worked out how
 > to start the bike. Borrowing somebody else's starter and fighting and
 > failing with a slipper clutch is pretty pathetic.
 >
 > Anyway, we get the Suzukis fast straight out of the box. Laconi fast
 > immediately with Toseland struggling after a big off. But Toseland
 > fought back well in the second race to grab points. Yamahas not far off
 > the pace. Hondas under the weather but also not far off the pace.
 > Kawasaki and Petronas going backwards. Of the riders, there's a lot of
 > people out there on fairly competitive bikes that are damn fast and
 > equivalent to mid pack MotoGP. I think we'll get some great races this
 > year. At any meeting 2 or 3 will be out front, but 10s back there's
 > going to be a huge dog fight. Like 125GP but at twice the speed.
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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Julian Bond wrote:

 > The overriding feeling of the whole event was amateurish. Way too many
 > half finished bikes, half finished teams and messing around. By
 > the time you turn up at the track, you really should have worked out how
 > to start the bike. Borrowing somebody else's starter and fighting and
 > failing with a slipper clutch is pretty pathetic.

Julian on SB, 1/30/05: "And like I said, I still think this "factory"
thing is irrelevant"...<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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Mark N <menusbaum.TakeThisOut@NYETSPAMearthlink.net> Sat, 5 Mar 2005 00:36:07
 >Julian Bond wrote:
  >> The overriding feeling of the whole event was amateurish. Way too
  >>many half finished bikes, half finished teams and messing around. By
  >>the time you turn up at the track, you really should have worked out
  >>how to start the bike. Borrowing somebody else's starter and fighting
  >>and failing with a slipper clutch is pretty pathetic.
 >
 >Julian on SB, 1/30/05: "And like I said, I still think this "factory"
 >thing is irrelevant"...

Maybe I'm dumb but I'm having trouble seeing the connection and the
point you're trying to make. Yamaha France having a bike stall on the
grid and then having to borrow a starter to restart the bike in the pit
lane is a reflection on them having no factory connections, how exactly?
One of the Kawasaki teams frantically pinging the clutch to try and get
the engine to turn over is clearly lack of development of a non-factory
part, right? Have you never seen a factory team make those sorts of
mistakes? No it's all just amateurish. Factory or non-factory makes no
difference.

You'll have to try harder than that, Mark.

--
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Julian Bond wrote:
 > Mark N <menusbaum RemoveThis @NYETSPAMearthlink.net> Sat, 5 Mar 2005 00:36:07

  >> Julian Bond wrote:
  >>
   >>> The overriding feeling of the whole event was amateurish. Way too
   >>> many half finished bikes, half finished teams and messing around. By
   >>> the time you turn up at the track, you really should have worked out
   >>> how to start the bike. Borrowing somebody else's starter and
   >>> fighting and failing with a slipper clutch is pretty pathetic.

  >> Julian on SB, 1/30/05: "And like I said, I still think this "factory"
  >> thing is irrelevant"...

 > Maybe I'm dumb but I'm having trouble seeing the connection and the
 > point you're trying to make. Yamaha France having a bike stall on the
 > grid and then having to borrow a starter to restart the bike in the pit
 > lane is a reflection on them having no factory connections, how exactly?
 > One of the Kawasaki teams frantically pinging the clutch to try and get
 > the engine to turn over is clearly lack of development of a non-factory
 > part, right? Have you never seen a factory team make those sorts of
 > mistakes? No it's all just amateurish. Factory or non-factory makes no
 > difference.
 >
 > You'll have to try harder than that, Mark.

I don't recall factory teams in general terms looking like what was seen
in Qatar. Yes, it's an early start for all of them, but still. You point
out how amateurish the whole thing looked, and can you point out a race
featuring multiple factory teams where things so resembled an early
winter test? What this sounds like to me is world-level club racing more
than anything else. And I don't see how you can still claim that the
lack of factory teams and direct factory participation has absolutely
nothing to do with it.

Your head is in the sand, Julian, which I guess leaves your ass in the
air...<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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Mark N wrote:
 > Julian Bond wrote:
 >
  >> Mark N <menusbaum.TakeThisOut@NYETSPAMearthlink.net> Sat, 5 Mar 2005 00:36:07
 >
 >
   >>> Julian Bond wrote:
   >>>
   >>>> The overriding feeling of the whole event was amateurish. Way too
   >>>> many half finished bikes, half finished teams and messing around.
   >>>> By the time you turn up at the track, you really should have worked
   >>>> out how to start the bike. Borrowing somebody else's starter and
   >>>> fighting and failing with a slipper clutch is pretty pathetic.
 >
 >
   >>> Julian on SB, 1/30/05: "And like I said, I still think this "factory"
   >>> thing is irrelevant"...
 >
 >
  >> Maybe I'm dumb but I'm having trouble seeing the connection and the
  >> point you're trying to make. Yamaha France having a bike stall on the
  >> grid and then having to borrow a starter to restart the bike in the
  >> pit lane is a reflection on them having no factory connections, how
  >> exactly? One of the Kawasaki teams frantically pinging the clutch to
  >> try and get the engine to turn over is clearly lack of development of
  >> a non-factory part, right? Have you never seen a factory team make
  >> those sorts of mistakes? No it's all just amateurish. Factory or
  >> non-factory makes no difference.
  >>
  >> You'll have to try harder than that, Mark.
 >
 >
 > I don't recall factory teams in general terms looking like what was seen
 > in Qatar. Yes, it's an early start for all of them, but still. You point
 > out how amateurish the whole thing looked, and can you point out a race
 > featuring multiple factory teams where things so resembled an early
 > winter test? What this sounds like to me is world-level club racing more
 > than anything else. And I don't see how you can still claim that the
 > lack of factory teams and direct factory participation has absolutely
 > nothing to do with it.
 >
There may be teams in WSBK that have some factory backing but for all I
can tell, there is only one *factory* team, Ducati. That was painfully
apparent at Qatar. I've seen true factory teams "screw the pooch" from
time to time but it doesn't happen often or with any regularity. It may
only be a semantics thing but factory backed is one thing, factory team
is another, at least to me...

 > Your head is in the sand, Julian, which I guess leaves your ass in the
 > air...

Uh oh, I hate it when that happens!

Tom<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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T3 <nowhere RemoveThis @nospam.com> Sat, 5 Mar 2005 22:15:54
 >There may be teams in WSBK that have some factory backing but for all I
 >can tell, there is only one *factory* team, Ducati. That was painfully
 >apparent at Qatar. I've seen true factory teams "screw the pooch" from
 >time to time but it doesn't happen often or with any regularity. It may
 >only be a semantics thing but factory backed is one thing, factory team
 >is another, at least to me...

WSB. The biggest national championship in the world.

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On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 18:54:39 GMT, Julian Bond
<julian_bond.DeleteThis@voidstar.com> wrote:

 >Mark N <menusbaum.DeleteThis@NYETSPAMearthlink.net> Sat, 5 Mar 2005 00:36:07
  >>Julian Bond wrote:
   >>> The overriding feeling of the whole event was amateurish. Way too
   >>>many half finished bikes, half finished teams and messing around. By
   >>>the time you turn up at the track, you really should have worked out
   >>>how to start the bike. Borrowing somebody else's starter and fighting
   >>>and failing with a slipper clutch is pretty pathetic.
  >>
  >>Julian on SB, 1/30/05: "And like I said, I still think this "factory"
  >>thing is irrelevant"...
 >
 >Maybe I'm dumb but I'm having trouble seeing the connection and the
 >point you're trying to make.

You're not the only one.
--
Champ<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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Champ wrote:
 > Julian Bond wrote:

  >>Maybe I'm dumb but...

 > You're not the only one.

Well, you guys said it, not me...<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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"Julian Bond" <julian_bond.RemoveThis@voidstar.com> wrote in message
news:AJBJWgB5WBKCFACx@jblaptop.voidstar.com...
 > Shel <shel243.RemoveThis@allstream.net> Thu, 3 Mar 2005 22:07:51

 > Partly I think this is the track. It's wonderfully safe and looks a fun
 > place to ride, but it's featureless and hard to get a sense of how fast
 > they're going and trying.

Yeah, I don't care much at all for this track. It's too big and too flat,
not a decent chicane in the place. All of this helps reduce any sense of
speed or urgency.

 > The bike colours this year are hard. It's really difficult to pick out
 > who's who from a distance. The Ducatis, Kawasakis and Suzukis are fairly
 > easy but the Hondas and Yamahas all look the same.

Yea, last year everything was a pretty much solid color, and they were all
easy to see. This year they all look the same. I hate Chili's bike color,
can hardly see him at all.

 > The overriding feeling of the whole event was amateurish. Way too many
 > half finished bikes, half finished teams and messing around. Having a
 > big proportion of the paddock fighting flu didn't help. For instance, by
 > the time you turn up at the track, you really should have worked out how
 > to start the bike. Borrowing somebody else's starter and fighting and
 > failing with a slipper clutch is pretty pathetic.

True, but on the other side of the coin, look at the vast array of brands
and teams running this year. It seems like a new bandwagon that everyone
jumped back on to at the last minute. I mean, look at that freight train
behind Pitt in race 2. I don't know what that means for the future, but
theres a pretty large pack of riders there trying to make time, and even the
leaders weren't completely walking away from the rest. So, this year will
start out rough, but we get variety. This is in no way a Slam "Duc" for
Ducati, and that can't be a bad thing.

Regards,

Will Hartung
(willh@msoft.com)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 06:38:13 -0800, Mark N
<menusbaum.DeleteThis@NYETSPAMearthlink.net> wrote:

 >Champ wrote:
  >> Julian Bond wrote:
 >
   >>>Maybe I'm dumb but...
 >
  >> You're not the only one.
 >
 >Well, you guys said it, not me...

Nice post snipping. Good effort.

Do you not think you would enjoy discussing things here more if you
were able to be a little civil to the other posters?
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