It does seem a little odd that since all 3 cranks must be identical, and Spies and Hayden had cranks there that either were or were not identical to Mladin's, that it wasn't clear that something was, or was not, amiss. Assuming all 3 were identical then I would have to think that all 3 would either be under review or the inspection passed, and if they weren't then, again, why not compare all 3?

From the press release:

"Upon this inspection, the crankshaft was found to be in non-compliance of the 2008 AMA Superbike Championship Rulebook."


http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Aug/080821atf.htm


Nebulous at best.

The Cycle News story said the AMA doesn't have a time table to issue an announcement on the results.

wow that sucks balls - championship is over.

Ben just has to finish in 19th @ RA to clinch if he doesn't win pole.

So only Mladin, of the 3 Yosh bikes, had an illegal crank? Odd...

garyb425 - 21 August 2008 03:38 PM

So only Mladin, of the 3 Yosh bikes, had an illegal crank? Odd...

That does seem odd. And this does smell like a little political payback since Suzuki has been the most out spoken of the DMG. I wonder if at the next race, Spies just happens to get DQ'd by a minor infraction.

joe_b - 21 August 2008 03:46 PM

garyb425 - 21 August 2008 03:38 PM

So only Mladin, of the 3 Yosh bikes, had an illegal crank? Odd...

That does seem odd. And this does smell like a little political payback since Suzuki has been the most out spoken of the DMG. I wonder if at the next race, Spies just happens to get DQ'd by a minor infraction.

Wouldn't matter. Hacking has 402 points. I have also heard a rumor that the season ender at Laguna Seca may be canceled. Given that, Suzuki could not show up and still win the championship.

Well this blows big time. But what better way for DMG to drum up support for their new series than to get everyone to lose interest in US racing this long before the end of the season? BRILLIANT!

Meanwhile, Josh Hayes smiles... just a little.

Ned Kelly - 21 August 2008 02:57 PM

It'll be interesting to find out what they (AMA/DMG) finds "illegal". Often times the rules are very much open to "interpretation" by both parties. I'm looking forward to hearing what the "interpretation" is.

The reports I saw didn't say exactly what the problem was. Did it just "seem" differnt over a cup off coffee than the other ones? Did they just keep re-measuring something until they got the results they wanted?

Not that the Yosh team is filled with perfect humans but it just doesn't make sense, especially since they had two other Yosh bikes on hand.