2012 WSBK Phillip Island - Racing Season Opens **Spoilers**

[Cam D]

Max was on fire in the second race. He is so smooth!

[Sloth27]

A tough weekend for many at Phillip Island. Biaggi and Checa continue to embarrass the rest of the WSBK field - I mean they're 40+ years old and handing out lessons. Respect to them both.

[JanBros]

That second race from Biaggi was outstanding , probably one of his best.

And the power from that Aprilia No wonder Randy De Puniet is already close to the satelite Duc's on his ART.

[RatsMC]

The real news we can take from this weekend is that Kawasaki have sorted out their tire problems and BMW have made huge progress in getting the electronics sorted. The Kawis were still going backward but got a lot further up and went only a little bit back - and only at the very end of the race. Very nice to see.

The other big news? Effenburg Ducati have apparently sold their souls to the devil. Damn impressive seeing all of the fighting that close to the front.

[Gustav O]

A shame Yamaha is not in their any more. I think they would have been competitive this year as well.

[RatsMC]

I would so love to have seen Haga back on a Yamaha in WSBK.

[Faster1]

,, well I liked it, and after only two races, I reserve the right to be optimistic.

wishful observations:
That Aprilia looks stupid fast (it's got to be illegal ),, yet I don't see Max locking up the championship quite yet
Melandri is sooo underrated and, when comfortable can stay with anyone. 13th to second.. MOTM for me.
That Bimer' looks to be almost as powerful as the aprilia.
Checa is still looks to be the favorite but it's should be down to the wire.
Sykes/Kawi have come a long way but,,, he's still wearing the black off of the hoops before anyone else does

Props to Haslm and Laverty for riding broken,, they'll both should be podium bound a few times this year.
Honorable mention to Gintoli,, nice guys don't finish last.

Only disappointment for me? Rea/Honda - My pre-season pick for the title. Did Honda pull a Ducati and use up the resources on the gp effort, saving nothing for the street racers.?

[Nachlauf]

A shame Yamaha is not in their any more. I think they would have been competitive this year as well.

I think so too. Sure, what Spies did with the R1 was nothing short of amazing. But Crutchlow and Melandri made it a winner too. It's sad they simply left. With a decent rider it should have been good enough to fight for podiums at least.

[RatsMC]

Sykes/Kawi have come a long way but,,, he's still wearing the black off of the hoops before anyone else does

The Hondas were wearing tires even faster and it looked to me like the BMWs as well. Kawasaki is still eating tires but it looked like they were at least able to make it to the end before the tires were gone, unlike last year.

[Gustav O]

The young guys really have to step up their game though. Checa and Biaggi showed them no respect and really schooled them. Both of them were really impressive.

[Cam D]

I realise the Aprilia is bloody quick but something that I thought stood out is that Max was quite a bit faster through, and out of, the last turn (coming onto the straight). In fact he seemed faster into and mid turns as well. That was a very well sorted bike and he made the most of it. Carlos is doing the same thing with his bike. Those two old blokes have the edge on the rest of the field.

[oldboyonrgv]

Both have spent most of their racing lives on proper GP bikes, I wouldnt expect any different.....

[Hansd]

Effenburg Ducati have apparently sold their souls to the devil. Damn impressive seeing all of the fighting that close to the front.

It's Effenbert.

[RatsMC]

I was corrected in the CRT thread.

I was actually just sorting that out. Several articles (including one here on the main site as well as on Crash and The Guardian) have it spelled Effenberg. Since we don't have the brand over here, I wasn't sure.

[Faster1]

,,Finally saw the WSS race from PI, not because I waited, but because that Sh*t-hole network SPEED Channel which pretends to be about racing doesn’t think that anyone would watch so they find some empty random hour to fill sometime @ Wednesday after the Sunday event. There are few things I despise more than the scum who run SPEED channel. There is no organization less equipped or qualified to cater to the “real race fan”. None of their bike racing coverage is live so you would think that they could stop the tape during those over abundant commercial breaks, but no,, they just roll off the sound mid sentence go away for 2 minute, then come back and the running order is changed, but you don’t know how. Die Speed channel! Anyway, the race was very good!!

Kenan Frikin Sofoglu!! , he had a forgettable moto2 debut last year, injuries and family tragedies and all. But PI showed why he is still one of the fastest around. He called his shot right around the half-way mark, picked up two places in two turns to take the lead and never looked back. It's going to be a good year. Damn shame that Yamaha didn’t field a bike after winning the title on a 2 year old machine last year. I doubt it would have broken the bank to roll the R6 out one more time. And Suzuki??? WTF. Why do they still make a new hyper-sport 600 if they’re not going to show it off on the world stage? It’s Super sport,, probably one of the least expensive classes of international racing by a long shot.

In spite of all that, this is what MC racing is all about, lots of passing for the lead, great riders on closely matched bikes ringing the piss out of them. I love yelling at the TV.

[Cam D]

What is the general opinion on why Keenan didn't go so well in Moto2, but easily runs up front in WSS? He floundered in SBK but there were understandable circumstances involved. My gut feeling is the level of competition in Moto2, is higher than in WSS. I'm not talking about outright speed or lap times, more about the competition from other riders. From memeory the ride he had in Moto2 was reasonably decent, but he seemed to get carved up pretty easily. He hasn't cared about dishing it out, but in the past he has complained about his competitors aggressive riding. Maybe Moto2 was a bit robust for him?

edit: Having a bit of a search..... finished 17th, broke his foot in a huge high side @ Indi and took out J Simon in Catalan. Couple of dnf's, and it sounds like there was no money in the team. Also seems he paid 350,000 Euro for the Kawaski ride? http://www.habermonitor.com/en/haber/de ... 39i/72332/

[RatsMC]

He had a really bad season off track last year with his father dying, injury and a team that just wasn't coming together. I think the level of talent is higher in Moto2 but I also think there is greater discrepancy between bikes. I'm fairly certain the Sofuoglu could do well in the series but circumstances have interfered.

[Cam D]

I wonder if Kevin actually watched the racing? http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Feb ... -34x34.htm Oh! And a belated congrats to Broc for the win!
"Broc Parkes, the local kid, won the Supersport race. I think that's kind of what we saw in practice and testing. He's been fast all pre-season, whether they've been testing at Phillip Island or anywhere else. He was one of those kids last year that you watched him gain more experience, more confidence, and race closer and closer to the front, and threaten for race wins. "

Broc has been running at the front for far longer than just last year......Ol' No:34 is losin' it.

[sam30]

I wonder if Kevin actually watched the racing? http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Feb ... -34x34.htm Oh! And a belated congrats to Broc for the win!
"Broc Parkes, the local kid, won the Supersport race. I think that's kind of what we saw in practice and testing. He's been fast all pre-season, whether they've been testing at Phillip Island or anywhere else. He was one of those kids last year that you watched him gain more experience, more confidence, and race closer and closer to the front, and threaten for race wins. "

Broc has been running at the front for far longer than just last year......Ol' No:34 is losin' it.

Not to mention the fact that Broc was 3rd in that race

[Nachlauf]

What is the general opinion on why Keenan didn't go so well in Moto2, but easily runs up front in WSS?

I don't care about the general opinion. But there was an interview late last year where he stated, that his riding style was the problem. We know he had a leg injury which caused him to limp for much of the season. But on top of that he stated that his riding style caused him to fatigue too early. I'm sure he tried to balance it out somehow, but it didn't seem to work either in fitness or in results. Why it works in WSS I don't quite understand either. Tires? Competition? Distance? No idea...

[Cam D]

What is the general opinion on why Keenan didn't go so well in Moto2, but easily runs up front in WSS?

I don't care about the general opinion. But there was an interview late last year where he stated, that his riding style was the problem. We know he had a leg injury which caused him to limp for much of the season. But on top of that he stated that his riding style caused him to fatigue too early. I'm sure he tried to balance it out somehow, but it didn't seem to work either in fitness or in results. Why it works in WSS I don't quite understand either. Tires? Competition? Distance? No idea...

I meant general opinion of the guys on the forum.

[Albert]

A tough weekend for many at Phillip Island. Biaggi and Checa continue to embarrass the rest of the WSBK field - I mean they're 40+ years old and handing out lessons. Respect to them both.

The young guys really have to step up their game though. Checa and Biaggi showed them no respect and really schooled them. Both of them were really impressive.

Biaggi and Melandri both said last year that the biggest difference between themselves (ex MotoGP guys) and the rest of the grid was that they were more used to the intricacies of set up parameters like electronics etc, which have crept into WSB.

Not sure that I believe it – but it’s strange that the MotoGP refugees all seem to doing well!

[Albert]

Effenburg Ducati have apparently sold their souls to the devil. Damn impressive seeing all of the fighting that close to the front.

It's Effenbert.

A lot of the 4 cyl riders will be calling it "Effing" Ducati!