robertorolfo - 07 May 2008 10:15 AM

Why not Hodgeson? Why not some guy from BSBK (do they have a race next week?)... or really, why not one of a million qualified Italian riders out there? Someone from WSS? Someone from Italian SBK?

Conversely, why not Zemke? Maybe a lot of those are viewed as known quantities and they'd like to try an unknown.

And so, with all the predictability you could ask for, I'd like to see Simoncelli get the ride. Or Pasini. Or Poggiali. Or Locatelli. Or Nanelli. Chilli out of retirement for Monza??

Odd that you would choose all these riders whose last name ends in 'i'. Could there be any other similarities?

In all seriousness, the reaction of most European superbike fans to Zemke would be, "Jake who????"

Why does that matter? It was 'Ben who?', when Bostrum rode his first WSB race, 'Kenny who?' when Roberts went, 'Fred who?' when Merkel went and it goes on and on. The fact that your buddies don't know Zemke doesn't mean that the ride should go to an Italian who has already tried and failed, solely because of his passport and the fact that you don't rate anyone who isn't Italian that isn't currently on top in MotoGP and don't like any rider who isn't Italian period. They generally look to see who is available and viewed as a prospect rather than what Italian is available. Startling, huh?

Let's face. Rolfo sucks this year - he won't be hard to replace. I realize you are big fan of his but every mediocre rider has fans, you happen to be his.

http://www.worldsbk.com/pubb_EN/news_ext.php?id=2245

Appears to be "official"...

I'd really like to see Zemke in there. It's hard to judge how good Mladin and Spies are against the regular AMA guys or is it the bike. Jake wouldn't have to win, but if he can mix it up with known fast guys, that would be some insight into what the Yosh team has.

Granted, Yates and Hayden has the same equipment but so does Melandri and Capiriossi did when came to the Ducati in GP. Is it the bike or the rider?

Rolfo has never podiumed in WSBK, so Zemke has nothing to worry about.

Even if he blows the bike up Zemke can say "Hey, I still have as many WSBK podiums as the guy I filled in for".

If he's in the top 20 he'll be where Rolfo is on the same bike, and he is very experienced on those tracks. I don't really expect top 10 with no Pirelli experience, but who knows?

Zemke gets the call.

http://www.althearacing.com/eng/home.asp

BSB are re-running the snowed off Brands GP race, so a non starter.
Weather going to be a lot better this time.

Sorry to hear about Roby, hope he heals soon.
Be a cat among the pigeons if Jake does something good though...

Zemke stinks. He has no chance of finishing in the top 10. Maybe he'll finish top 15 (thanks to his knowledge of the track). Except for Toseland, no one has had very good results on the Honda for a couple years (Checa is starting to bring it around). He has zero experience on Pirelli tires (that's an assumption on my part) and he hasn't ridden the big bike all year. Nothing against Jake, but I just don't think this will result in anything but disappointment for all involved.

And now the fly in the Zemke ointment, his manager!

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=32315

Rock On, Earthquake Jake -- !!!!!!

ilthomson - 07 May 2008 01:17 PM

Zemke stinks. He has no chance of finishing in the top 10. Maybe he'll finish top 15 (thanks to his knowledge of the track). Except for Toseland, no one has had very good results on the Honda for a couple years (Checa is starting to bring it around).

What track knowledge? Jake has never raced at Monza.

As for no one doing anything on a Honda, Vermeulen won quite a few races on it before Toseland, and Checa is not doing too bad considering they only had one test before the season. Also notice that the 2008 Fireblade is going pretty fast in BSB so it's no dog.

James Ellison seems a logical replacement... maybe BSB has a conflicting race?

bcoleman - 07 May 2008 01:38 PM

And now the fly in the Zemke ointment, his manager!

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=32315

Well that blows...

As far as Zemke not getting into the top 10, neither does the guy he would have replaced - so no tragedy there.

gonickygo - 07 May 2008 02:03 PM

James Ellison seems a logical replacement... maybe BSB has a conflicting race?

I thought I read elsewhere that the replacement for the snowed out BSB round (Oulton?) was being run that weekend.

MMsports54 - 07 May 2008 01:55 PM

What track knowledge? Jake has never raced at Monza.

As for no one doing anything on a Honda, Vermeulen won quite a few races on it before Toseland, and Checa is not doing too bad considering they only had one test before the season. Also notice that the 2008 Fireblade is going pretty fast in BSB so it's no dog.

Yeah, I got ahead of myself...I was thinking of Miller, not Monza.

Vermeulen? Are you serious? He hasn't raced in WSBK since '05. I don't think it's fair to say the Honda is good based on his successes from 3 years ago.

I did say that Checa is getting things turned around, so it's obviously not cut and dry that the Honda is competitive or not.

My point remains the same though. I don't think Jake could finish inside the top 10. Probably not even top 15. Rolfo couldn't do it unless a bunch of guys DNF'd in front of him, and there's nothing to make me believe Jake could do any better on the same bike.

It's all moot though, as it appears Jake is now out.

Sorry to hear he broke his clavicle. If Jake changed his name to ZemkI would that be more acceptable to you?