2019 banter & Silly season thread for MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3

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Vassago
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#211

Post by Vassago »

Bottom post of the previous page:

Yes, during the summer break it was announced B.Binder will replace Hafizh Syahrin at Tech3. Iker Lecuona will take his Moto2 place in the Ajo team.

Lorenzo Dalla Porta confirmed he's moving to Moto2 Italtrans team in 2020 as well.

Tony Arbolino will stay in Moto3 as he wants to do another year even though he says his knees & elbows are hurting because he's too big for this bike anymore :haha:
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#212

Post by Andy »

Vassago wrote: 4 years ago ......
Big news yesterday was KTM pulling out of Moto2 after this season. The Red Bull Ajo team will remain with Iker Lecuona as the new signing. KTM will introduce the dreaded Husqvarna brand back to Moto3.
.....
Actually, I can understand KTM's point here and I would understand other factories pulling out of Moto2 as well. There's simply no point for a bike manufacturer to stay in a class where they are forced to use a different engine brand. This might work for Paton (would have to look that one up but they definetly do use a different engine) or Norton (=Aprilia) but for a manufacturer with complete own solutions this is simply a no go, being forced to advertise not their own engines but a product of the competition (=Triumph), that is.
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#213

Post by John »

Andy wrote: 4 years ago
Vassago wrote: 4 years ago ......
Big news yesterday was KTM pulling out of Moto2 after this season. The Red Bull Ajo team will remain with Iker Lecuona as the new signing. KTM will introduce the dreaded Husqvarna brand back to Moto3.
.....
Actually, I can understand KTM's point here and I would understand other factories pulling out of Moto2 as well. There's simply no point for a bike manufacturer to stay in a class where they are forced to use a different engine brand. This might work for Paton (would have to look that one up but they definetly do use a different engine) or Norton (=Aprilia) but for a manufacturer with complete own solutions this is simply a no go, being forced to advertise not their own engines but a product of the competition (=Triumph), that is.
But Honda was the sole supplier between 2010-2018 and KTM supplied chassis then. Or are you referring to the triples that Triumph produce?
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#214

Post by Andy »

John wrote: 4 years ago
Andy wrote: 4 years ago
Vassago wrote: 4 years ago ......
Big news yesterday was KTM pulling out of Moto2 after this season. The Red Bull Ajo team will remain with Iker Lecuona as the new signing. KTM will introduce the dreaded Husqvarna brand back to Moto3.
.....
Actually, I can understand KTM's point here and I would understand other factories pulling out of Moto2 as well. There's simply no point for a bike manufacturer to stay in a class where they are forced to use a different engine brand. This might work for Paton (would have to look that one up but they definetly do use a different engine) or Norton (=Aprilia) but for a manufacturer with complete own solutions this is simply a no go, being forced to advertise not their own engines but a product of the competition (=Triumph), that is.
But Honda was the sole supplier between 2010-2018 and KTM supplied chassis then. Or are you referring to the triples that Triumph produce?
Yep Honda did. Actually, I'm quite surprised that KTM and any other single solution manufacturer jumped onboard to provide chassis only to an engine not of their own
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#215

Post by Vassago »

KTM riders keep complaining about chatter in the Triumph era. I agree with the pull out tho, no other regular manufacturer enters a bike in Moto2 and even with the Kalex dominance, Speed Up is doing well enough to warrant an expansion IMO. Navarro is 3rd in the standings and di Giannatonio also scored a podium. KTM would be better off focusing on MotoGP.
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#216

Post by DoubleFart »

Had the local news on today and Danny Kent wins the WTF news story of the day.
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#217

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Lol at the defense of he and his brother “collecting a debt”. Idiots. Hadn’t realized he was from Tetbury.
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#218

Post by Andy »

kals wrote: 4 years ago Lol at the defense of he and his brother “collecting a debt”. Idiots. Hadn’t realized he was from Tetbury.
What is it all about ?
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#219

Post by John »

Andy wrote: 4 years ago
kals wrote: 4 years ago Lol at the defense of he and his brother “collecting a debt”. Idiots. Hadn’t realized he was from Tetbury.
What is it all about ?
https://www.autosport.com/motogp/news/1 ... fe-offence

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-glo ... e-49355787
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#220

Post by Vassago »

The British camp in GP racing has gone belly up fast. Redding & Kent back to BSB and Sam Lowes is on his way out of Gresini. I suspect he ends up at SBK either way now. Crutchlow keeps running his mouth about his bike flaws for like ages and then we have John McPhee aka a glorified Jakub Kornfeil. This reminds me of Efren Vazquez to a degree, he's too small to ever make a career beyond Moto3. Let's see if Jake Dixon salvages some hope if he keeps going beyond the rookie season.
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#221

Post by kals »

Kent is back in BSB? Not after his recent court ruling.

I get your point but don’t necessarily agree. Crutchlow is doing a decent job and is well respected at Honda. Redding may have gone to BSB but he’s still in the Ducati fold (like with Bautista in WSBK) and challenging for the title. That could earn his a place with Ducati in WSBK in 2020.

I don’t enough about McPhee to comment. Although missing from your grouping in Bradley Smith, who’s always been a let down since he showed promise initially in Red Bull Rookies and first year of 125cc.
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#222

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Kent was in BSB for like 5 seconds aka two rounds on the MV Agusta.

BSB is just a step too far down for Redding, he gains nothing by winning the title. BSB is like for stalwarts who have no desire to move up or a graveyard for has-beens. Now it's Barbera's turn to provide the lulz and Xavi Fores who I think could have stayed in WSB if not for Honda totally blowing that project apart.

McPhee is like Vazquez 2.0. He's way too small and fragile build to enjoy a great deal of success in the non-stop elbowing pack racing that is Moto3. He'll win one-off races, score the odd podium and get onto a streak of Top 10 finishes but he's never gonna be THE guy. Reminds me of a string of Japanese riders in the 90s like Tsujimura or Manako who did likewise. Youichi Ui had that evil edge which enabled him to have more success even if he crashed a lot. McPhee or Vazquez don't quite have that IMO.

Bradley Smith feels like a poor man's Scott Redding. He had like one great MotoGP season and then he went back to being Mr Anonymous. I thought Redding would achieve more even though he blew the Moto2 title campaign but Pol Espargaro was viewed as the far superior talent and it was a surprise to see Redding lead the points for as long as he did.
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#223

Post by kals »

Vassago wrote: 4 years agoBSB is just a step too far down for Redding, he gains nothing by winning the title. BSB is like for stalwarts who have no desire to move up or a graveyard for has-beens. Now it's Barbera's turn to provide the lulz and Xavi Fores who I think could have stayed in WSB if not for Honda totally blowing that project apart.
You’re looking at it the wrong way around. There’s a good depth of talent in BSB, always has been. It’s been one of the best regional superbike series for decades. But that’s not the point. The point is that Ducati have many riders under contract but few top level series seats available. Bautista and Redding had no options available to them in MotoGP for 2019, so Ducati offered them options elsewhere or alternatively they could find other employment. Bautista likely was given first refusal of the spare WSBK seat, whereas Scott was probably offered privateer WSBK or PBM in BSB. The latter was the right choice, because of being part of the Paul Bird outfit. Easily one of the top privateer Ducati squads globally and could move back into WSBK in 2020 along with Redding.
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#224

Post by Vassago »

I believe there are more entries in BSB than WSB which is strange. The Kawasaki chokehold has scared eveyone away or what? No real top privateers in WSB anymore, even Ten Kate went bankrupt at one point. This reminds me of the early 00s in MotoGP with like 16-17 entries and no real competition.

BSB is the best regional series because it's just about the only one with a deep entry field left. But there are so many riders being a big fish in a small pond it's not that exciting anymore. Josh Brooks couldn't cut it in SuperSports or WSB and now he's the main threat to Redding? Sheesh... Shane Byrne never seemed to stick to WSB either and he like dominated the show for years. It's basically the level of BTCC where I see Jason fuckin' Plato is eating suspensions like it's 1999. And his old buddy Matt Neal is still there as well. This is weak stuff for 2019 racing.
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#225

Post by kals »

I was wondering what happened to Ten Kate. Seemed strange to see Honda go to another team and have TK appear with a privateer Yamaha.

WSBK has suffered the same one bike / one manufacturer dominance issues since the series inception. Either it’s been Ducati fairly exploiting the engine regs, or Aprilia doing the same, or Honda, now it’s Kawasaki.

Interestingly though, some ex-BSB talents have gone to great things. Rea, Lowes, Sykes, Haslam are all BS -alumni. And even Shakey Byrne had a 100% hit rate in WSBK back in 2003. In today’s BSB there are some great talents to watch out for.
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#226

Post by Vassago »

Well, I used to think O'Halloran would move up quickly but then he broke his leg at Imola as a wildcard and I have no idea if he ever recovers from this setback. Also what was the year that C.Iddon looked like he will run away with the BSB title but thanks to the stupid playoffs he didn't? I mean these playoffs are even worse than Chase in NASCAR. What is the damn point of it anyway? :angry:
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