The post weekend interview with Toprak was very telling. A couple of times he referred to this year's championship as the "Ducati Cup" (he has a point) and if it were to pan out this way, he would not want to continue in it. WSBK is in danger, as is the case in MotoGP, of every team wanting to ride on the successful coat tails of a dominant bike, but all the arbitrary rules and penalties levied left right and centre are just hampering the grid as a whole and do nothing to close up the field. The 500rpm increase for the Panigale V4's has elevated most of the Bologna machines back into the top ten, but has done nothing to drag Kawasaki or Yamaha any closer. I am not sure what the answer is but with Suzuki out of the equation it also limits any team's choice as to the hardware they go with for a season. I am naturally pleased to see the likes of Lowes and Redding up there in the mix, but I do feel as if it's "dominance by numbers" now, and sheer presence on the grid, that is shaping the course of the race series.
I’m going with Craig jones unless anyone can beat it? No idea in this country though. Has shakey had a corner named after him?
Yes I agree, in 2020 Alex Lowes came 2nd in R1 and won R2, 4th in SR and so he lead the WC after Round 1 and then never probably again.
Ya, the second Supersport race is amazing! Well worth watching if you haven’t seen it! The commentary is poor, so you might want to reduce the volume...
I’m surprised there has been no discussion about TR’s late braking stunt in the first lap of the sprint race. His skill set is braking but it was clear, or at least it was clear to me, the BMW brakes weren’t working. The display of frustration after the pit stop in race 2 is becoming a bit of a TR trade mark. Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki (not Bimota) have made no improvements in the off season which is very disappointing. JR actually made a valid point that none of those manufacturers have the market following to support a premium homologation bike like Ducati and the V4R. Both Bimota and BMW have a proven engine in a new chassis to develop so I expected them to be average. I’m absolutely certain, when Ducati dominate at Portimao, their fuel flow will be decreased which to my mind will only benefit one rider, Toprak because none of the other rider/bike packages are remotely competitive. Andy
What on earth is he blathering on about now? Toseland added a comparison with Ducati’s compatriot brand, Ferrari. “It’s like Ferrari, isn’t it,” he said. “They build cars just to go racing, and Ducati are very similar: they build bikes to go racing; whereas the other manufacturers build them for the people on the roads to enjoy, and that’s a completely different concept. https://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/106...ied-ducati-world-superbike-best-riders-theory
Hmmm - so the Fireblade is 'Born to Race' but not in the same race as the Ducati?? I'll get me coat...
So it was alright for Toprak to dominate on the BMW last season with the bike benefitting from the concession rules but now the BMW has to compete without concessions, he’s bitching. When (not if) Ducati get throttled back after Portimao, he (Toprak) will be the rider who benefits most. JT has a propensity to spout absolute rubbish but in this instance, I think he is correct. BMW, Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki don’t have the customer demographic to give them a reason to build anything other than a road bike that gets modified to race. I don’t care who provided the financial backing for Ducati to sell the number of road bikes to homologate the race bike but they did, many times over. The competition declined to go that route and bleated about the unfairness before the V4R even turned a wheel. As has been said in the MotoGP thread, IMO, the FIM and Dorna have made a rod for their own back and all the fiddling about is in danger of destroying the sport. Andy
He only had three more podiums than Bulega, the Ducati was still on a level playing l field last year even if the dwarf couldn’t ride it. Should have left it as it was for this season imo. No evidence to suggest the bmw was in need of restricting, as evidenced by the rest of the bmw riders . I think he has a point
“No evidence to suggest the bmw was in need of restricting, as evidenced by the rest of the bmw riders”. Exactly what could be said for AB when they bought in the minimum weight rule. It’s not the number of podiums, Toprak had 13 straight wins. You can’t have one rule for one and another rule for everyone else. Andy
Andy i know we wont agree on this one but the last time AB won a title he had 27 wins out of 36. Absolute dominance and yawn fest. Toprak had 18 last year. Not absolute dominance and a yawn fest. In fact you could say Toprak made the BMW look too good. And you can say one rule for one and all that but its simply not true is it (or shouldn't be)....the rules are made/amended to even things out/make better racing (which imo they achieved to a degree last year - unless you are an AB fanboy) , but the gulf between Ducati and second manufacturer looks to have never been bigger this year.
