Kawasaki will be officially be “unveiling” its 2011 World Superbike-spec ZX-10R at Nurburgring this weekend, but has released photos of the bike, finally showing the ZX-10R in its green livery. Team Green has slowly been leaking photos and videos of the new 10R through a massive online social marketing campaign, which centered around the company’s Next_Ninga twitter account.
Kawasaki is putting a lot of weight on the superbike’s shoulders after being un-competitive in World Superbike racing, and withdrawing completely from MotoGP. Hoping the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-1oR will turn around Kawasaki’s racing fortunes, Kawasaki is also hopeful that the bike will help spur its fading sport bike sales.
Carmichael Lynch, the ad agency behind Harley-Davidson’s “Screw it, Let’s Ride” campaign, has just announced that it will be parting ways with the Milwaukee motorcycle manufacturer. In a pair of “it’s not you, it’s me” press releases, the two companies, which have partnered together for the past 31 years, cite different reasons for their mutual departures.
We just think that Harley-Davidson is on Step 1 of our three part strategy on How to Save Harley-Davidson.
After holding an online contest to name its 125cc four-stroke based learner street bike, KTM has shockingly come to the conclusion that it should stick to its Duke nomenclature. Schedule to be the 2011 KTM 125 Duke, KTM debuted the concepts at the 2009 EICMA show in Milan. KTM’s plan is to engage young riders with the “Ready to Race” mantra, making them lifetime Team Orange riders with this stepping-stone model
The Mountain at Cadwell Park, as it is known, is like the British version of the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca: another one of those special points on a race track, that would not exist on the computer-generated courses we see today. Famous for lofting bikes into the air, The Mountain makes for spectacular photographs, and should be on every rider’s track day bucket list. Finding the fastest racing line over The Mountain can be difficult though, as riders have to contend with keeping the front of their motorcycles down, but such is not the case for HM Plant Honda’s Josh Brookes…
Track conditions were the talk of the paddock this weekend at the Indianapolis GP, as riders battled the changing tarmac surfaces, and undulating bumps of the Indy infield. Perhaps most vocal of his displeasure with the course was Ducati rider Casey Stoner, who called the Indianapolis Motor Speedway not a world class track, and specifically complained about plastic drains that would catch riders as the ventured in towards the edge of the track (Rossi also complained of these drains). Teammate Nicky Hayden was less critical before Sunday’s race though, saying that Stoner’s comments could be applied to many of the courses on the MotoGP calendar. However after losing a knee puck to one of the drainage grates that Stoner criticized earlier, Hayden may be re-thinking his tune.
Talking after the Indianapolis GP, Valentino Rossi explained that he is waiting to hear from Jeremy Burgess as to whether the Australian Crew Chief will retire next season. Assured of the fact that Burgess would not stay behind at Yamaha, and would not work with another rider, Rossi stated the buzz around whether Burgess would move with the Italian to Ducati, hinges as to when Burgess plans on retiring from motorcycle racing.
Under the lights of the Indy Mile, where motorcycle racing began for the Kentucky-born MotoGP racer, Nicky Hayden has signed a two-year contract with Ducati Corse for the 2011 & 2012 seasons. Not the biggest surprise in the paddock, Hayden’s contract renewal has never really been questioned this season as the American started the season off with series of strong finishes and continues to be a strong brand ambassador for Ducati in the United States. Hayden will be joined the next two years by former teammate Valentino Rossi, the pair rode for Repsol Honda in 2003, with Hayden finishing the season 5th in his rookie GP season.
Infront Motor Sports, rights holder to the World Superbike Championship series, has responded to the news that Ducati Corse will be leaving the series in 2011. Responding with an official press release, IMS’s message essentially boils down to poking holes in Ducati’s statement about technical regulations. Stating that the 2009 season was dominated by the Ducati 1198 Superbike, sans one Ben Spies, the Italian firm has clearly been able to be competitive with the current formula. IMS goes on to basically say that WSBK is about more than one manufacturer, and can’t cater to Ducati’s whims even if they do have a lengthy history together.
As expected, Ben Spies and Yamaha have announced that the current World Superbike Champion and MotoGP rookie will move up to the factory Yamaha team (noticeably not called Fiat-Yamaha in the press release) for the 2011 season. Spies’ move to the factory squad has lovingly been referred to as the “second worst-kept secret in MotoGP,” right after Rossi’s departure from the Fiat-Yamaha team to Ducati Corse.
No one makes the MotoGP media center come alive with emotion more so than Colin Edwards. A veteran of the sport, and born with no filter between his brain and mouth, the Texan Tornado captured the spotlight during the pre-race press conference at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. A stark contrast to the polished veneers of other riders, Edwards isn’t afraid to tell things the way he sees it, even if it involves some colorful language. To get an idea of what we mean, check out a portion of the press conference transcript after the jump.
I don’t get it, the title of the post and what is said in the post are completely contradictory…
“Mat Mladin: Spies Better Than Rossi”
vs.
“OTT asked Mladin what he thought about former rival Ben Spies as a racer. Mat’s response: the best rider of our time, or not far behind Rossi himself.”
So which is it?
If you watched the video, Mat talks about Ben’s abilities as a road racer and the amount of raw talent he has. There is no question as to Ben’s ability to ride a bike. As you can see with Toseland and Crutchlow on the Yamahas this season, Ben absolutely strangled the neck of that R1 last year, rode around a few bike issues and walked away with the title in his hand.
You should be cpmpletely drunk to say Ben Spies is better than Rossi.
For sure he is a great rider, but from that to being better than Rossi …. no comments
I’m gonna have to agree w/ caRRera…lol
rossi is great, but only because his competition has been mediocre. he’d get his ass handed to him if he raced in the days of doohan, schwantz, rainey, lawson, & spencer.
Watch and comprehend the interview. He doesn’t say Spies is better then Rossi so don’t get all upset about it. The title of the article is misleading.
@keet: You think Rossi has had mediocre competition for all of the last 14 years? I’m sorry but that’s preposterous. Not to knock Doohan, Rainey or anybody at all but Rossi should have more than proven his abilities to anyone, regardless of whether you like him or not.
Let Spies win 9 world titles and then make any comparisons.. to claim beforehand that he’s better than the greatest of all times is foolish.. sure he’s good, but let him prove it first in head to head battle.. :P
my comment stands… who has rossi beaten in the last 10 years? (i’m only counting the big-leagues, 500GP/motoGP) what great racers has rossi beaten? biaggi? gibernau? melandri? wow… BFD!
I agree with keet who has he beaten really the only one to give him a real run for his money is “Lorenzo” and then monkey boy spits his dummy out and demands that “Yamaha” doesn’t resign “Lorenzo” I think monkey boy should have a season or 2 in world superbikes I think then we would see how good he really is…..
i think the headline overstates it a bit…but it is, after all, a headline. mat certainly states that ben may be as good as or better than rossi, but not in a definitive way. i think it’s certainly possible, especially over time. what i thought was most interesting was how different post-retirement mat is from the mat we saw in interviews prior to his retirement. he’s always been somewhat matter-of-fact and not given to complimenting other riders, which has given him something of a reputation. i have always liked his unwillingness to pull a punch, but it’s also nice to hear him give ben his due. mat’s on the shortlist of guys i’d like to have in the commentary box when i watch races, and this clip certainly didn’t change that wish.
Matt is is a bigmouth, I’m shocked that would even continue to quote him on anything. Being bi-polar is not his fault, but I think we can all see that anything can and will come out of his mouth and its not all factual. Spies is going to be something to watch. Massive potential is a little different than massive results. That is why they run the races !
I would love to see Rossi in the WSBK paddock and on the Aprilia RSV4 of coarse! On that bike I am quite sure that he could add a WSBK title to his already massive list. As for him not having any competition, I thing people seem to forget that he was a winner on the RCV and then went straight on to be a winner on the uncompetitive M1,with all the other best riders in the world available at the time, and he rode the wheels off that thing to win on his first race on it.
I haven’t seen the name Keet winning in the Moto GP or WSBK , and yes the people you name are some of the greats for sure, but no of them have as many titles as MR ROSSI.
I also think the lap record to his name might mean something too!
“uncompetitive M1″ …i see you’ve memorized rossi’s biography. thats BS… it was crap BEFORE, but with rossi’s developmental help (probably more to do with burgess than rossi though), that M1 was probably the second best bike on the grid!
thanks, you support my claim… rossi HAS won so much because of the mediocre competition around him!
This is soundling like Mladin upping his own value since he was beaten by Spies. Can’t have some motivated AMA rider beating him. It has to be an AMA rider that’s better the Rossi. All told I expect good things from Spies but Matt would’ve had to get out there and play with the big boys to become an icon. He chose not to $$$$.
The trouble with all this is that nobody can say anything against “monkey boy” on one hand we have the likes of “keet & Me” basically saying what we feel and then on the other hand we have the likes of “Valendino” who has been brain washed and wont have anything said against “monkey boy” theres a lot of people like this who also have been brain washed, looks like it’s going to be another boring season in gp’s I only watch it when theres no WSBK on the tv mind the new moto2 looks interesting (just a rip off of WSS…IMHO) we’ll have to see how it go’s I mean the moto2 bikes have less power than the WSS bikes so whats the point of this type of racing they say that it’s going to bring close racing but we’ll see…….anyway that my 2pence worth……..
Sorry Maxx, I am not brain washed, I can just reconize talent and I think that all the world titles and lap records prove it. We will have to see if Ben can outdo Valentino on the race track and have more world titles to his name before he retires! I do respect that everyone is entitle to an opinion and it doesn’t mean that we all have to agree!
As for Moto2 I am not excited about the class and truly beleive that it was invented to kill off Aprilia’s dominance in the 250’s.
Come on man admit it who has pushed “monkey boy” for all of these years..???? mmmmmmmmm…………???????? I can’t really think of anyone really yes there are good racers in gp’s but no ones pushed him and that just makes him look good I suppose. Lorenzo will be back again this to push even harder I hope other wise it’s just going to the usual S**T..!!.
(I’m not doing this to wind up anyone it’s just a friendly bit of banter among race fans….)
As for the 2 strokes I agree with u.
spies and rossi were brought up on two different sides of the world in two very different approaches to road racing. while rossi had the quicker easier way to make it to the world stage (by already being in Europe), spies had to work his way up to the hard to earn factory seat. AMA is no slouch when it comes to talent that spies had to contend with and some former wsbk champs (Russel, bayliss, corser, kasinski, hodgeson and even former gp champ nick Hayden) can agree with that. Up untill 5 years ago AMA rivaled wsbk for being the best sbk class in the world with guys like the haydens, the bostroms, duhamel, maladin, yates, hacking, Chandler, gobert, hodgeson and the list goes on. while ben was coming up thru the AMA pro ranks he still has 6 titles to his name. they may not be world titles but 5 of those were on big bikes with one being wsbk. 5 years racing against maladin was the best thing for spies. who knows how many wsbk titles mat could have won but look what he taught ben. you gotta give props to ben for winning 14 of 28 races on 99% of tracks he hadn’t even seen in his rookie year!!!. that’s half of the races!!! I think rossi is a beast but think how many world titles he would have if he came thru America. yes ben has the talent. do I think he is better than rossi? no… but I do think he has equal talent and drive. with gp going back to 1000cc next year I think spies has a really strong chance at winning the gp title the same as rossi did his 2nd year.
Rossi has been pushed in the last few years, and been beaten. Hayden has beaten him once, Stoner once – and would have been twice if he hadn’t gotten sick. So, that would make it 3 of the last 4 years. He just happens to me the most consistent. Still a great rider mind you.
Both riders are good. Rossi continues to perform at the twilight of his career against riders much younger. It remains to be seen whether Ben or anyone else can amass wins at 30! Mick was also an outstanding rider and along with his peers has made comments about how good Valention is. All of the great champions have recognised his ability and they should know right… . Not one of them has made negative comments about his sheer talent and ability. I take nothing away from Ben but he has yet to prove himself in Moto Gp and we will need to wait and see.
i think keet should get a grip and stop talking so much b.s. and learn ,A manners , B respect and c to talk about something he actually know’s about, when all of the mentioned riders including aggo cite’s rossi as the best rider the sport has produced with the best natural talent and burgess see him soley responsable for the M1 improvement , so keet you should be keeping your amature and ignorant mouth shut about a sport you clearly don’t yet understand, i met him at the TT last year and it was a shame he couldn’t make it this year, but two other GREATS of the sport did
I have read all of these posts and to be honest I agree with some but as a fan of bike racing in general and a fan of no particular rider it baffles me that people on here are doubting Rossi’s talent.
The reason all the other guys look mediocre is because he is so good and it was the same things said about doohan when he was racing. Bottom line is if you get lap records and titles you are the best. Biaggi and Capirossi raced Doohan but Rossi was too strong for them like Doohan was. The best always wins and with 9 world titles who can argue with that.
Spies is good but how good remains to be seen. Same go’s for Lorenzo to. Rember Criville? he won the title when Doohan could not race but went to pieces after that so anyone that can stay on top as long as Rossi has is nothing to be taken for granted.
The M1 was made competitive by the whole team and remember the rider has to be able to use whats under him. Perfect example Stoners 2007 Ducati clearly the fastest bike on the grid but only Stoners talent could win on it. I would also like to point out that Rossi has never lost a title in a straight fight.
2006 it was tyre and bike reliability and anyone who thinks Nicky Hayden out raced Rossi needs an eye test. If you challenge that statement just review the season and see where Valentino was on a number of occations when he was forced to retire a race due to reliability, add up the points and you will see that Nicky would never have been in the running.
2007 similar story except this time it was due to a slower bike. Fairplay to Stoner for mastering it but if your on a similar bike to Rossi performance wise, odds are you will lose. Jorge Lorenzo has been great to watch as he has raw speed and a burning desire to be the best and has re-motivated Rossi into producing some awesome performances but despite being behind early in the season I honestly believe that under pressure Rossi is too strong for Lorenzo and I think he would have still won the title this year.
Lorenzo, Spies and Stoner are the future but since they all measure themselves against Valentino all your opinions have been answered by the best qualified people in the business like it or not. As regards seeing him in Superbikes, the best will always win no matter what. When he did the Suzuka 8 hourson production bikes he was fastest (even Colin Edwards commented on it as he thought it would have been the other way around).
Racing always produces exceptionally talented individuals from time to time and Rossi is one of them if not the best. Would he have beaten Doohan etc? of course he would have but in turn they would also have beaten him such is their talent. I look forward to Rossi’s return as it seems for now only he is able to run with Jorge.
Like him or not guys his achievements speak for themselves but like all records someday, somebody will beat them. Have your favourites if that’s how you like to do it but don’t let favouritism cloud your judgement. Some of the best racers of all time have even declared him the best so far, who are we to argue with that.
Cheers for reading my opinion and here is to great racing in Gp or WSB!
Well said J. Looking forward to tonights race!!
He’s not “better”, he’s “different”. He has aggression, acuity, skill and fearlessness that credits Mladin more than even his clear innate skill racing a motorcycle. See, Mladin’s one of, if not the, toughest, intimidating and dominating racers ever. After Spies’ tutelage under the Mladin menace, he’s become virtually unstoppable. It’s really as if he’s racing purely in his own head, and it doesn’t matter where he is, or who’s racing alongside him, he’s going to go as fast as humanly possible and past whatever’s in front of him. Period. Rossi has a total mental stranglehold on the entire field. Spies is the only one who couldn’t care less! Rossi, or no Rossi, just like mladin taught him, he’s gonna cream the field whenever he can!
I’M GLAD MAT DIDN’T MENTION HIS OWN NAME IN THE CONVERSATION. IMAGINE ROSSI EVER SAYING SOMEONE ELSE WAS BETTER THAN HE. HELL, YOU CAN TAKE CAPAROSSI OUT OF THE MOTOGP ON A SUZUKI AND BE A CHAMPION IN THE AMA SUPERBIKE SERIES.