3 races this year and the margin of victory is less than 1 second COMBINED.Good decision guys.

Helluva race!

Zemke was riding like his cam was polished, treatened and metal was removed from it!

OR... they're not getting rid of ss, they're beefing up the bikes and bringing in the bigger names. sounds to me like they see the value and are fueling it in thier own way.

seriously, i'm gonna go on record and say i don't hate their ideas so far. it isn't what i'd have done but i'll never have that decision. the US is a totally different market from the rest of the world. we buy different, watch different and we don't know motorcycles as a whole. their plan, imo, looks like it could get closer racing... better racing. how many here are tired of suzuki run aways? how many said "YEAH!" when jordan spoke out about unobtanium a few years back?

it won't be the same as wsb but i really don't care. if i want wsb i have wsb. besides, when was the last time an american went to race wsb? colin? bostrom? been years. doesn't seem having the same classes promotes much crossover to me.

a spec tired, equal hp'd 600 "superbike" class with the top riders and plenty of great privateers sounds like good racing to me. sounds like somewhere the best rider will win and you'd be surprised who's the best on a given day.

everybody wants better but is afraid of change. kinda catch 22 don't ya think? free yo minds, people.

i don't know that it will work but i think it has a good chance.

i also bet that many here will enjoy it when they finally see it.

ok, go ahead and hate me now

First off, why does Martin Cardenas hte the Haydens so much??

As far as what DMG want to do with 600s, it doesn't bother me so much. What gets me is the fact that they want to make 600s the main class.

I haven't watched MX since Bubba has been out. Not that he's the big personality in MX be he is the main competition. On the flip side having BBoz in 600SS has got my interest for the first few races at least. Not so much that he's a big star, but he is a very accomplished rider on a very good 600. It fair to judge other riders compared to him. IMO, DMG would use that situation completely different.

1) Graves Motorsports would be the main story
2) There would be team orders beteen BBoz & Herrin
3) The R6 would be identified only as "the Yamaha".
4) They would somehow work the phrase "areo push" in for no reason at all
5) Buggity Buggity

warning.....some spoilers for those who haven't watched the races.....
























I think this weekends races were a little statement to DMG that they don't need to radically change class structures to make for better racing. Racers and teams just need to step up their efforts to make for a better show. Being at fontana today, you could tell the fans are certainly into the action as well. SBK started out as the typical Mladin show, but who would've guessed that Spies would come from behind, at the stripe, to win by .0011 sec? As I watched the race, you can literally count the intervals at each split (s/f and suzuki bridge between T11 and T12. at one point, the lead had swelled to basically 4 seconds. But towards the final 3 laps, you can see where Spies started making his time. The horseshoe T5 and T6, Mladin seemed to be braking a little harder for the 1st apex and Spies would close the gap. And then again thru T9 (I couldn't see 9 thru my viewpoint, but the interval by the time the pair reached 10/11, was significantly closer each lap). It'll be interesting to see if they'll run the 2009 rules for LiterBike next year. That should close up the field significantly.

I didn't think Superstock would be very exciting, but I was definitely wrong. Seeing Pietri (RRW.com) battle it out with Holden, Yates, and occasionally Blake Young, was intense. But to have a Honda finally pull off the top spot was incredible. And Jake had to do his rock star/glam rock/falsetto voiced "yeeeeaaaahhhhhh" during the winner circle interviews. Hillarious!

And what could i say about Supersport: the most exciting class of the day. Zemke, BBoz, and Herrin put on a fantastic display of racing. All three trading places for 1st, although Jake did look the strongest of the three. And his real gutsy pass (well at least from our view) on BBoz into T1 halfway through the race. T1 is not a very easy spot to make passes as the narrowness of the esses plus high speed direction changes lends itself to a higher degree of danger/difficulty.

But from watching these 3 races, it was obviously clear that if DMG wants "entertainment" they shouldn't have to interfere as the riders will clearly step up and make a good show out of it. All DMG has to do is entertain the sponsors and promote the races. But the tight racing between all four classes this weekend definitely makes DMG's class proposals for next year look even more ridiculous. I'm hoping the racing stays this tight, if not tighter, throughout the year and hopefully, DMG won't have to rid of SS racing.

hornet1 - 28 April 2008 03:58 AM

I haven't watched MX since Bubba has been out. Not that he's the big personality in MX be he is the main competition.

Then you missed a hell of a good Seattle SX.

hi-zoot - 28 April 2008 12:18 AM

seriously, i'm gonna go on record and say i don't hate their ideas so far. it isn't what i'd have done but i'll never have that decision. the US is a totally different market from the rest of the world. we buy different, watch different and we don't know motorcycles as a whole. their plan, imo, looks like it could get closer racing... better racing. how many here are tired of suzuki run aways? how many said "YEAH!" when jordan spoke out about unobtanium a few years back?

it won't be the same as wsb but i really don't care. if i want wsb i have wsb. besides, when was the last time an american went to race wsb? colin? bostrom? been years. doesn't seem having the same classes promotes much crossover to me.

a spec tired, equal hp'd 600 "superbike" class with the top riders and plenty of great privateers sounds like good racing to me. sounds like somewhere the best rider will win and you'd be surprised who's the best on a given day.

everybody wants better but is afraid of change. kinda catch 22 don't ya think? free yo minds, people.

i don't know that it will work but i think it has a good chance.

i also bet that many here will enjoy it when they finally see it.

ok, go ahead and hate me now

Will someone PLEEEASE explain to me how putting the same riders on different bikes is somehow going to make Matt Mladin or Ben Spies a second a lap slower.It's not the bike,its the riders.Tommy Hayden is equal in talent to the guys he is fighting with for 3rd 4th and fifth.Mladin and Spies are just that much better than anyone the class has to offer.Right now,the Kawasaki has more horsepower and top speed than the Suzuki.Give Maladin that bike and his input on setup and the Yoshimura Kawasaki would rule the roost.All the AMA needs to do is pay Mladin to go away and Spies to GP and all of a sudden you will have 4=5 bike fighting for the win.The combination of a great rider,commitment and team continuity is the difference.You put Mladin or Spies on a Yoshimura prepared 600 Superbike and the results will be the same.

you'll get no arguement from me, povol, about mat and ben being better. i doubt seriously tommy is better than the rest of the field. i don't care to argue tho that the yosh bike is better or that it's honda's own fault for dumping japan and going their own way with development or that kawasaki should have stepped up 10 years ago instead of running a 750 for so long. with what dmg is suggesting as i understand it, those arguements will be less relevant.

i have no idea what their total plan is. i don't know that it will be perfect. i just don't hate it at this point and couldn't care less that it doesn't follow BSB and WSB. it has some merit and i'm curious to see how it pans out.

povol - 28 April 2008 08:20 AM

Will someone PLEEEASE explain to me how putting the same riders on different bikes is somehow going to make Matt Mladin or Ben Spies a second a lap slower.It's not the bike,its the riders.

btw, if that were 100% the case Ben would have taken a few 600 titles in the past 4 years

hi-zoot - 28 April 2008 12:18 AM

seriously, i'm gonna go on record and say i don't hate their ideas so far. it isn't what i'd have done but i'll never have that decision. the US is a totally different market from the rest of the world. we buy different, watch different and we don't know motorcycles as a whole. their plan, imo, looks like it could get closer racing... better racing. how many here are tired of suzuki run aways? how many said "YEAH!" when jordan spoke out about unobtanium a few years back?

it won't be the same as wsb but i really don't care. if i want wsb i have wsb. besides, when was the last time an american went to race wsb? colin? bostrom? been years. doesn't seem having the same classes promotes much crossover to me.

a spec tired, equal hp'd 600 "superbike" class with the top riders and plenty of great privateers sounds like good racing to me. sounds like somewhere the best rider will win and you'd be surprised who's the best on a given day.

everybody wants better but is afraid of change. kinda catch 22 don't ya think? free yo minds, people.

i don't know that it will work but i think it has a good chance.

i also bet that many here will enjoy it when they finally see it.

ok, go ahead and hate me now

To be fair, though, you can't really have riders going to the WCs every year, because there aren't that many great riders.

I totally agree with the change thing. They all complain about the status quo then about the changes.

As long as they keep the Rookies Cup I'll keep an open mind.