[Turbo329]

 

[Rocket51]

One of my all time favorite clips.

 

[Old Baldy]

And he's the man who couldn't ride that Duc MGP...worse than Rossi/Hayden or any of the others. Amazing, eh!

 

[mattmansell]

In all fairness, Marco is a good pilot but I don't believe he will win the championship next year. He will be fast and win races on the Bimmer however.

 

[Jami6989]

And he's the man who couldn't ride that Duc MGP...worse than Rossi/Hayden or any of the others. Amazing, eh!

Shocking actually! Stoner scored 280 to his 51pts that year. He scored twice as many pts on the Kawi the next year. And we all thought Rossi was lost.

 

[Turbo329]

Shocking actually! Stoner scored 280 to his 51pts that year. He scored twice as many pts on the Kawi the next year. And we all thought Rossi was lost.

He definitely gets a "HERO award" for making the podium with the Hayate Kawasaki. Hahahahahahhahahaha

 

[sqd8r]

Would love to see Melandri win on any bike, esp. on the BMW but I still don't think it is ready and tbh I don't think BMW needs the title to prove the bike, iow, I don't know if they are really going to invest heavily enough to make the title run. I do believe that if they get a sniff of it, they will turn finances towards it.

BMW sales are above expectations and I doubt a WSC title will make a (sales) difference. The CBR1RR has been one of the best sellers since inception and has won 1 title. The GSXR 750 / 1000 combination has 1 title in over 25 yrs of racing in WSC, also top sellers. In this economy I'm impressed BMW decided to race it instead of just release it; probably learning a lesson from KTMs dismal, comparatively, sales results with their excellent RC8 - something I do beleive could have been boosted by racing in at least WSC, BSB or one of the other mjr domestic series.

 

[sburns2421]

He is on the BMW, maybe they should concentrate on winning a race before thinking about the championship

 

[Turbo329]

You heard it here first.

 

[sburns2421]

BMW has had fast riders capable of winning races, the bike just seems to be missing something that prevents them from doing that in WSBK. And I will predict it gets its butt handed to it in Superstock by the Panigale too.

Is it better than the Aprilia in World Superbike trim? I doubt it. At best it is equal.

Is it better than the Ducati? Probably not, the Duck with Checa will be formidable again this year.

The changes to the BMW for its facelift for the 2012 model year won't really do much to help the Superbike. IIRC they finally dumped their own in-house electronics for Marelli. That is probably a positive move, although this also removes any opportunity to be better than the field too in this area.

Melandri might win a race or two this year, but I would be very surprised if he is in the championship hunt.

 

[johnyisthedevil]

I recently heard some interviews on motopod about the bmw. talk is that the electronics are way over complicated, but they have promised to give Malandri "what ever he wants"

 

[mattmansell]

As a Superstock platform the BMW and the 1198 are both excellent, it will be interesting this year for sure to see if the Panigale is a step forward. Superstock is going to be intense. WSBK is also going to be knockdown fight this year. It is too hard to pick a Championship favorite because there are so many bikes and riders capable of winning including the BMW. I don't believe Checa will run away this year like he did last year because of the weight penalties hung on the 1198 as well as it's lack of top-end steam evidenced last year at all the tracks with long straights. Personally, I think the weight penalties and the TB restrictors are absolutely stupid, yet people still complain that twins can run 1200cc even though they are obviously way down on horsepower.

BMW has had fast riders capable of winning races, the bike just seems to be missing something that prevents them from doing that in WSBK. And I will predict it gets its butt handed to it in Superstock by the Panigale too.

Is it better than the Aprilia in World Superbike trim? I doubt it. At best it is equal.

Is it better than the Ducati? Probably not, the Duck with Checa will be formidable again this year.

The changes to the BMW for its facelift for the 2012 model year won't really do much to help the Superbike. IIRC they finally dumped their own in-house electronics for Marelli. That is probably a positive move, although this also removes any opportunity to be better than the field too in this area.

Melandri might win a race or two this year, but I would be very surprised if he is in the championship hunt.

 

[sburns2421]

I agree it should be closer this year, I don't think anyone really expected Ducati to do so well considering they had disbanded their team at the end of 2010. Checa seemed to finally be consistent and was rewarded with the title.

Weight penalties for twins has not historically proven to be very effective at slowing them down. Back in the 90's in the AMA the 916 was slapped with 20+ pounds to make them equal to the fours (353 to 375 IIRC). At the time Ferracci just said it made the bikes handle the same, they just added lead weight ballast and it didn't affect balance at all.

The restrictors are another story. It would probably neuter the Panigale, that thing without restrictors is going to be a monster (pardon the pun).