Ben Spies top qualifier? He's never even ridden at Phillip Island until a couple weeks ago! Holy crap they better look out for Elbowz this year!

 

WSB? is that txting for wasabi? I didn't realize that you just had to drop the vowels.

 

What's texting? I'm 62 years old and don't know of this stuff.

 

I'm still a Nitro Nori fan...but it'll be good to see Mat Mladin jr get some REAL competition.

 

Smrz is now top qualifier on a 1098R, with Spies 8th. It will also be interesting to see how Corser and Xaus do on the new Beemer.

autoteach,
Smrz is not a text abbreviation.

 

Haga is second in practice so that means he has at least another second a lap during the race. If Haga is in the top 10 at any race he is my pick. Unless Biaggi takes him out or he pulls a Nori and throws it down the track which is about 50-50 I really hope Haga can put it together this season it is definitely his turn.

 

you guys know what channel/ time it's playing on? i checked speed's schedule for this weekend and didn't see it.

 

Oh-oh, it's usually Speed. I'll try to do some research.

 

Race 1 is on Speed Channel
Sunday 3/1
1PM PST / 4PM EST

Its labeled "FIM World Superbike" "Phillip Island-Race1"
http://www.speedtv.com/schedule/filter/date/2009-3-1

also found the listings for the both races all week...
http://www.speedtv.com/programs/fim-world-superbike/

Have to wait till Tuesday for race 2

 

That's great, thanks.

 

Thanks Moto Man.

 

Yep. Almost always a delay for Race Two. You won't see me around on any MC-related forums until Wednesday - don't want the ending spoiled!!

 

Start looking for the torrents on Sunday, they usually show up early afternoon or so. I hate waiting until tuesday...

 

In case you didn't know Ben Spies took Super Pole for this weekend in OZ. Looks like this cross plane cranked Yamaha will be strong and probably the bike to beat here in AMA/DMG whatever.

 

I wish the towtruck network gave a damn and we could let them know that 12 hours of nascrap a day is not equal to an hour of superpole coverage or live/same day coverage of all of the races (not condensed). But no amount of vocal bitching seems to make a difference. I can't even find a feed online to catch it...

rant/off

 

Crazy! What a mix of top ten places!

Can you say Max Biaggi? On a brand new, V4 Aprilia?

 

Sounds like alot of guys are Spies fans, does anyone else think he's kinda arrogant and full of himself? Personally I'm looking forward to seeing 1 the BMWs 2 the new Aprilla 3 Haga and most of all the hands down best competion in road racing.

 

I don't know him personally or anything, but no. I just think he's good.

 

In AMA I was always rooting for ANYBODY to beat Mladin, and Spies was about the only one who ever could. I think Mladin is arrogant.

Bottom line is...I just want to see good racing. And yes, Haga on the Duc will be tough to beat. Also, how can we help but to root for the V twin, Bayliss was a class act.

 

From what I can tell, Spies is anything but arrogant. The guy can ride. FWIW I'm looking forward to seeing Haga, the Bimmers and the V-4 Aprillia too.

 

Scoreboard
World Superbike Phillip Island Superpole

1. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1’31’069
2. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1’31.402
3. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1’31.596
4. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1’31.600
5. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1’31.837
6. Leon Haslam (Honda) 1’32.112
7. Carlos Checa (Honda) 1’32.537
8. Regis Laconi (Ducati) 1’32.649
9. Shinya Nakano (Aprilia) 1’31.843
10. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda)1’31.860
11. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 1’31.867
12. Tom Sykes (Yamaha) 1’31.881
13. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 1’31. 907
14. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1’31.916
15. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1’32.119

 

Damn... now that cast has quite a few new character's... and Corser's not even in the top 15? Wow!

Glad to finally have an American back in WSB. Colin Edwards really put on a show on the RC51 a few years back. Should be fun watching Spies draggin' elbows on world-class tracks.

And the new Aprilia qualifying 2nd... on a totally new machine, that's amazing! Should be a fun year to watch.

 

You guys know that the rest of the planet looks down on American racers as inferior right? They all thought that Nicky's title was based on luck that everyone else had a bad year! It is great to see Ben doing so well so soon. MotoGP is a bore-fest anyway. WSB is so much more real world. Besides, our beloved bike is an offspring of honda's world superbike effort to derail the ducati train.

 

In case you haven't heard Spies ran off track in race 1 and finished 16th, however the boy won race 2 narrowly beating Haga and Biaggi. Don't know the details yet. Now that's a damn fine show!

 

WoW, what a great finish...

tim