1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

The paddock must have been like a Fast Bikes re-union.
Shakey Byrne. 1st and 2nd.
Sean Emmett. Deputising for Plater in Superbikes and then jumping
straight on an R1 Cup bike and coming 2nd
Gary Mason. 4th in the R1 Cup
Rob Frost. Somewhere around 12th in the Supersports race.

But mainly, what a great show Palmer has put together. With virtually
the whole thing shown live on Eurosport 2 with no ads in the races.
Burnicle, Witham and Carter were shoving mics in people's faces all
afternoon. And what a great circuit Thruxton is.

Great to see Michael Rutter back to his old self. And that John Hackett
can build a 1098R that looked just as good as the Airwaves bikes. But
ride of the day I think goes to John Laverty on a half converted
Superstock 1098R. They still had 17" wheels on it so were using
superstock rubber but he still managed to come in 12th and 11th 25s back
and way ahead of the next Cup runner.

You have to feel for Karl Harris and Yamaha. He was going really fast
but had an engine blow in the first race and was ripped off the back of
his bike by a flying Suzuki in the second race. He was being walked into
the ambulance so hopefully nothing was broken.

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Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:39:13 GMT, Julian Bond wrote:

> The paddock must have been like a Fast Bikes re-union.
> Shakey Byrne. 1st and 2nd.
> Sean Emmett. Deputising for Plater in Superbikes and then jumping
> straight on an R1 Cup bike and coming 2nd
> Gary Mason. 4th in the R1 Cup
> Rob Frost. Somewhere around 12th in the Supersports race.
>
> But mainly, what a great show Palmer has put together. With virtually
> the whole thing shown live on Eurosport 2 with no ads in the races.
> Burnicle, Witham and Carter were shoving mics in people's faces all
> afternoon. And what a great circuit Thruxton is.
>
> Great to see Michael Rutter back to his old self. And that John Hackett
> can build a 1098R that looked just as good as the Airwaves bikes. But
> ride of the day I think goes to John Laverty on a half converted
> Superstock 1098R. They still had 17" wheels on it so were using
> superstock rubber but he still managed to come in 12th and 11th 25s back
> and way ahead of the next Cup runner.
>
> You have to feel for Karl Harris and Yamaha. He was going really fast
> but had an engine blow in the first race and was ripped off the back of
> his bike by a flying Suzuki in the second race. He was being walked into
> the ambulance so hopefully nothing was broken.

x2 - maximum kudos to Eurosport. A superb afternoon's broadcast, with
exceptional camera work and high quality audio feed. The racing wasn't half
bad either :)

Two very ugly shunts, Harris's was particularly gruesome I thought.
Accidents like that normally crop up on the shock-sites in the section
marked "Fatal".

Interestingly when interviewed the Rizla Suzuki manager mentioned Jonathan
Palmer, airfences, safety equipment costs and Brands' Clearways in the same
sentence, the implication being that Palmer's MotorSport Vision
organisation will bring in plenty of safety funding.

And it was hilarious to hear Murray Walker answer the wrong question that
Chris Carter hadn't asked him, bless him.

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:39:13 GMT, Julian Bond <julian_bond@voidstar . com >
allegedly wrote:

> But mainly, what a great show Palmer has put together. With virtually
> the whole thing shown live on Eurosport 2 with no ads in the races.

Except for lots of audio cock-ups, it was pretty good.

> Burnicle, Witham and Carter were shoving mics in people's faces all
> afternoon.

Quite enjoy the first 2, and Whitham being nervous on the grid was funny.
However, I find Carter very annoying. Just seems to lack knowledge, tact
or any presenting skill at all.

> You have to feel for Karl Harris and Yamaha.

Very nasty accident, which I'm glad he walked away from. They all seemed
to be laying the blame on Sykes though, which was unfair.

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

Switters <me@privacy . net > Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:35:11
>Quite enjoy the first 2, and Whitham being nervous on the grid was funny.
>However, I find Carter very annoying. Just seems to lack knowledge, tact
>or any presenting skill at all.

Yup. He kept falling back on the old standby "So what are the riders
feeling moment"

>> You have to feel for Karl Harris and Yamaha.
>
>Very nasty accident, which I'm glad he walked away from. They all seemed
>to be laying the blame on Sykes though, which was unfair.

While watching I was more worried by the accident at the chicane. They
seemed to be flying into the air fencing awfully fast.

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Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

Watched the whole Thruxton show on Eurosport2 Sunday. Being a Yank
living in England, this was my first experience with BSB. I must say
I loved the broadcast and, particularly, Thruxton. What an amazing
circuit. With all that space available, though, I'd have thought the
walls could be just a little further away. I cringed a few times when
I first saw how close they were and how fast the riders were
traveling, even before the two accidents. Thought they were much more
serious than they turned out to be. Ugly looking, for sure.

-Dirt-

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

Dirt <christopher.l.cavin@gmail . com > Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:53:50
>Watched the whole Thruxton show on Eurosport2 Sunday. Being a Yank
>living in England, this was my first experience with BSB. I must say
>I loved the broadcast and, particularly, Thruxton. What an amazing
>circuit. With all that space available, though, I'd have thought the
>walls could be just a little further away. I cringed a few times when
>I first saw how close they were and how fast the riders were
>traveling, even before the two accidents. Thought they were much more
>serious than they turned out to be. Ugly looking, for sure.

I don't really know how safe or not safe Thruxton is. Even though it's
pretty unique and not like any other UK circuit, it seems to be the same
from a safety point of view. There are places where it's proper fast and
there's huge run off, but nobody falls off there. There are other places
where the riders are under hard braking or accelerating off a slow
corner or switching across the track where it feels like the walls are
awfully close. And then riders find new ways to crash and end up flying
into air fencing. Round all the circuits it's mostly grass and not
gravel traps so when they do fall off they tend to slide a long way. But
also they don't get tossed around the way gravel traps tend to. The last
hairpin through to the first corner feels dangerous with not much run
off on the left, but people don't fall off there.

The 1st crash happened early on the fastest part of the track into a 1st
gear hairpin. If they'd crashed in the hairpin it would have been fine,
but they touched well back when they're still going real fast. The
Sykes, Haslam, Harris crash didn't happen in the corner and was pretty
damn weird. If they'd touched in the corner the run off would have been
fine but it happened before the braking. I don't know how you allow for
that stuff.

If you're in the UK for long, do try and get to a meeting. Maybe rent a
bike if you don't have one.

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Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Apr 22, 8:37 am, Julian Bond <julian b...@voidstar . com > wrote:

> I don't really know how safe or not safe Thruxton is. Even though it's
> pretty unique and not like any other UK circuit, it seems to be the same
> from a safety point of view.

It's not as if the US doesn't have its share of unsafe circuits.
Pretty much anything run in a bowl (gag) falls into that category in
one way or another. Given the size of the country you'd think we'd be
able to put together more than just a small handfull of FIA/FIM
approved circuits that meet or exceed all current safety standards.
I'm struggling to think if any more than Laguna, Miller and Barber(?)
are FIM approved.

-Dirt-

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

Dirt wrote:
> On Apr 22, 8:37 am, Julian Bond <julian b...@voidstar . com > wrote:
>
>> I don't really know how safe or not safe Thruxton is. Even though it's
>> pretty unique and not like any other UK circuit, it seems to be the same
>> from a safety point of view.

Unique, how is that? Looks like just another flat air strip circuit to
me, in fact one might ask if it wasn't for the WWII air war would there
be any racing at all in the UK? ;)

Actually, one of the things that makes it look different from a lot of
the British circuits (at least on Google Earth) is that it isn't just a
bunch of straights connected by corners (like Snetterton, or Silverstone
used to be), it mostly seems to be fast bends, sort of like the north
half of Donington, without the dip.

> It's not as if the US doesn't have its share of unsafe circuits.
> Pretty much anything run in a bowl (gag) falls into that category in
> one way or another.

Eh, to some extent. Right now the AMA runs at only Daytona and Fontana,
and Daytona is considerably less safe than Fontana, where they only use
the tri-oval. The previous bowl used was PPIR, which was pretty
acceptable from that standpoint. And remember that MotoGP will be
running in a US bowl later this year. No, perhaps the biggest problem
with bowls today and in the future is that the layouts are terrible,
completely flat and uninspired. It's not like they're still running at
Loudon and Phoenix.

Given the size of the country you'd think we'd be
> able to put together more than just a small handfull of FIA/FIM
> approved circuits that meet or exceed all current safety standards.
> I'm struggling to think if any more than Laguna, Miller and Barber(?)
> are FIM approved.

The FIM only approves a circuit if it's being considered for a race. The
only other one in that category has been Elkhart, and the one big
problem there (from a WSB standpoint) was eliminated with the Billy
Mitchell bridge. I'm certain the new track in southern New Jersey will
end up on the schedule in the next year or two, and it should be safe.
The reason they don't run in the rain at VIR isn't runoff, it's surface
issues, although there are other issues (no gravel traps for one). Even
Road Atlanta is fixing its turn 12 problem this year. It's never going
to be FIM-approved, nor are Mid-Ohio and Sears, but the picture is
steadily getting better.

Well, I guess we do have to wait and see what DMG does - the return of
Talledega and Charlotte? Ugh...

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:43:51 -0700, Mark N
<menusbaum@NYETSPAMearthlink . net > wrote:

>Dirt wrote:
>> On Apr 22, 8:37 am, Julian Bond <julian_b...@voidstar . com > wrote:
>>
>>> I don't really know how safe or not safe Thruxton is. Even though it's
>>> pretty unique and not like any other UK circuit, it seems to be the same
>>> from a safety point of view.
>
>Unique, how is that? Looks like just another flat air strip circuit to
>me, in fact one might ask if it wasn't for the WWII air war would there
>be any racing at all in the UK? ;)

heh. Probably not

>Actually, one of the things that makes it look different from a lot of
>the British circuits (at least on Google Earth) is that it isn't just a
>bunch of straights connected by corners (like Snetterton, or Silverstone
>used to be), it mostly seems to be fast bends, sort of like the north
>half of Donington, without the dip.

Well, that sort of is how it is unique. And its high average speed.


--
Champ

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On 2008-04-23 08:48:13 -0400, Champ <neal@champ.org.uk> said:

> On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:43:51 -0700, Mark N
> <menusbaum@NYETSPAMearthlink . net > wrote:
>
>> Dirt wrote:
>>> On Apr 22, 8:37 am, Julian Bond <julian_b...@voidstar . com > wrote:
>>>
>>>> I don't really know how safe or not safe Thruxton is. Even though it's
>>>> pretty unique and not like any other UK circuit, it seems to be the same
>>>> from a safety point of view.
>>
>> Unique, how is that? Looks like just another flat air strip circuit to
>> me, in fact one might ask if it wasn't for the WWII air war would there
>> be any racing at all in the UK? ;)
>
> heh. Probably no

> And a hell of a lot of other places as well, Florida has a boatload old
> WWII strips, a bunch in Ga, and AL. too, though quite a few are now
> used for what they initially were built for. I've got a house about a
> couple miles from one that use to be a drag strip, but these days it's
> got an Embry-Riddle flight school and is KSC's executive airport.
> Moroso raceway down in West Palm use to be one and if I remember
> correctly they run the Gatornationals in Gainesville on part of what
> use to be an old air srtip. Ever heard of Sebring? It's one too, so
> it's not just the UK by any means...
>

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Apr 22, 8:37 am, Julian Bond <julian b...@voidstar . com > wrote:

> If you're in the UK for long, do try and get to a meeting. Maybe rent a
> bike if you don't have one.

Been here for about eight months now and have a little over a year to
go. I doubt I'll pick up a bike. No time to ride as I'm working on a
construction site 60 hours a week. Even if I had the time, I doubt I
could make it work. I'm over on a work visa and I get the impression
that a foreigner can't hire anything due to lack of credit and
insurance history.

-Dirt-

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:38:22 -0700 (PDT), Dirt
<christopher.l.cavin@gmail . com > wrote:

>On Apr 22, 8:37 am, Julian Bond <julian_b...@voidstar . com > wrote:
>
>> If you're in the UK for long, do try and get to a meeting. Maybe rent a
>> bike if you don't have one.
>
>Been here for about eight months now and have a little over a year to
>go. I doubt I'll pick up a bike. No time to ride as I'm working on a
>construction site 60 hours a week. Even if I had the time, I doubt I
>could make it work. I'm over on a work visa and I get the impression
>that a foreigner can't hire anything due to lack of credit and
>insurance history.

eh? Hiring a car should be no problem - how do you think
international car hire works? Bike hire is a small time business, so
may be a bit more complicated.
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Apr 22, 11:01 am, Champ <n...@champ.org.uk> wrote:

> eh? Hiring a car should be no problem - how do you think
> international car hire works? Bike hire is a small time business, so
> may be a bit more complicated.

I checked about hiring a 2nd car for my wife when we got here and the
lease company who supplies all the cars for our project told me
essentially that I was out of luck and that they couldn't rent to me.
This is probably different than simply hiring a car from the airport
for a week. I'm talking long term lease.

-Dirt-

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:35:05 -0700 (PDT), Dirt
<christopher.l.cavin@gmail . com > wrote:

>On Apr 22, 11:01 am, Champ <n...@champ.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> eh? Hiring a car should be no problem - how do you think
>> international car hire works? Bike hire is a small time business, so
>> may be a bit more complicated.
>
>I checked about hiring a 2nd car for my wife when we got here and the
>lease company who supplies all the cars for our project told me
>essentially that I was out of luck and that they couldn't rent to me.
>This is probably different than simply hiring a car from the airport
>for a week. I'm talking long term lease.

Oh, OK, I understand.

--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

Re: 1st BSB weekend. No Snow.

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:39:13 GMT, Julian Bond
<julian_bond@voidstar . com > wrote:

>But mainly, what a great show Palmer has put together. With virtually
>the whole thing shown live on Eurosport 2 with no ads in the races.
>Burnicle, Witham and Carter were shoving mics in people's faces all
>afternoon. And what a great circuit Thruxton is.

I got around to watching it last night - great stuff, as you say.
Four really good races, with loads of paddock access by reporters who
know their stuff.

--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk