Superbikes- Wow!!!

[Trevor Rossack]

I got up this morning at 5.00am to watch the Laguna Seca round of the World Super Bikes.

AMAZING!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

That was the best racing of the year. Even better than the Monza round. The Supers are proving to have the most entertaining racing of any of the major racing classes ( I know Bayliss is dominating - I am not too biased, however!).

They were some of the best races I have seen for a while. Nothing like good, close, no quarter asked, no quarter given racing to start the day.

It was great to see Nitro Nori going well before his misfortunes, it is awesome the places he can pass other riders. E. Bostrom in the second leg - the sound from the on board, fantastic! as he got every bit from his Kawi. Finally it was fantastic for Edwards to get to the top of the podium (especially in front of the home crowd). It has been such a hard season for him. Hodgson was riding as hard as he ever has without dropping the bike.

Those of you who attended the meeting must be over the moon with excitement - it was BRILLIANT!!!

An over excited
TREVOR

[pdonnell]

Great day today. Saw lots of S bikes. Had an opportunity to steal one too. Guy left his keys on the system case. Nice and wide open. But I took 'em out and stashed them near his forks.
.
The 'ol telephoto came in handy today.
.

[pdonnell]

[roger albert]

Hi all,

Nice Pix PD. I'm envious. Trevor, yeah, _really_ great racing, especially late in race 2. Felt sorry for Haga getting taken out by Hayden riding over his head. Hated seeing Ben drop the bike during superpole too. Young Eric spanked Ben a bit this weekend.
The great part was the Edwards/Bayliss/Hodgson struggle at the end of the 2nd. Wow! I think Hodgson's pressure removed any chance of Bayliss passing Edwards, so Colin should probably buy him a beer or three. God that was good racing! One cool moment in race one were the two ducs of Bayliss and Xaus side by side wheelying downhill out of the corkscrew. If that clip doesn't end up in the WSBK advert next year, somebody is screwing up bad. Ditto the side-by-side, fairing-touching, way-leaned-over battle for 2nd of Hodgson and Bayliss. Wow.

later
roger

oh yeah, and it looks like Hodgson has finally broken out of the 4 rider pack that had been vying for 3rd in the championship. Haga and Xaus have had too many DNFs, and Ben has been consistent, but finishing off the podium way too often. Seems the opposite of last year when Ben led Hodgson at both of their home tracks. Hodgson is very very likely to beat Ben at Brands Hatch this year, and that shoud probably cement 3rd for him. Given Bayliss being much more experienced than Edwards there, that should all but finish defining the first 3 places in this year's championship. (of course, I hope to be wrong and see something exciting happening to mix it up, but I'm not holding my breath. The current top 3 have been pretty darn consistent.

later
roger

[roger albert]

Hey Trevor and all you other down under folks.
Any good online bike websites like Motorcycle Online or the UK's MCN?

thanks
roger

[CarlosT]

Here's a nice thread form the Buellers board with some nice pics from Laguna.
http://www.sacborg.com/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=002545

Motoman were you there at the Labusas campout?

[ErricZ]

I was about to start *****in' that there weren't any BABE Shots, but you proved to me that you are wonderful guy!

[Bails]

What a race, I agree the best in the season so far. I got up at sparrow fart as well , glad I did . I also think the track is one of the most interesting , if they had more of this type in Europe then maybe the racing would be a little closer for the 750's.
Should be a great competition next year with the new rules. The GP on the other hand,on the night before, was the same old outcome. I would like to see some of the riders of the elk of the superbike pilots get a go on a GP bike.

[roger albert]

Couldn't agree more Bails,

The GP has become pretty predicatable. With dry statistics,
Rossi has won 7 and Bayliss 14 (two heat/outing) the the number of victorious weekends is about the same. In WSBK, despite Bayliss' dominance, you get the idea that someone else (usually C.E>) at least _could_ have won many of them. Too cut and dried in GP. Only that fact the Rossi is a bit more flamboyant of an entertainer than Bayliss make the GP worth watching at all this year. Going sidesaddle as he crossed the finish line was a nice touch.

Anyway, the first laps of Assen were pretty interesting. The Yams, and even the suzukis weren't completely out of it, and more importantly, the NSR500 two stroke was losing out on the back straights, but passing Rossi at will in some corners. It was fun for a while. The next race in Germany is on a pretty tight track, so maybe the GPs will be briefly entertaining again.

Still hate that Hayden knocked Haga down. Like Xaus, he's fun to watch on the odd occasion where he spends more time on his tires than his fairing.

later
roger

Roger,

Try www.mcnews.com.au or bikepoint.ninemsn.com.au/Home/HomePage.asp

Cheers,

Frank

[Raven]

I love the way Pat does his spectatng at spectator type sports!

[roger albert]

Hi FRank

Thanks for the post.
Nice site. A lot of great pix

thanks much

roger

[trublue]

I agree the quality of racing was awesome , I recall that was how Colin , Troy and Hodgson described it as well . Laguna is not every riders cup of tea , but you would never know the way they rode this weekend .

How good was Eric on the Kwaka ? . Gee I felt for Nori , Mick Doohan was at Laguna sussing Hayden out for Moto GP next year . Spoze home crowd , track complacency and heeps of pressuure may have taken its toll .

Cool pictures PD , dig the manditory babes in most of the shots .

Would have been an excellent event to attend . As Trev and Bails pointed out the Live coverage was a good way to start our Monday morning .After sitting up late Sunday nite watching coverage of the Brittish Moto GP.

Mick.

[fredman]

The Sugo round is still my favourite.Love that track.