Racing Silly Season - Who's Going Where For 2017?

Racing Silly Season - Who's Going Where For 2017?

Author
Discussion

George29

14,707 posts

164 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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Gavia said:
BSB has one simple problem and it's not Higgs or Palmer, it's Paul Bird and Shakey Byrne. Until someone can stop Bird throwing obscene amounts of money at his team, and it really is obscene compared to what most can do. Secondly until Byrne retires there really is no point in others competing. I know he's only won it every other year, but every time someone beats him, they vanish to WSB and he wins it the following year. The challenge really isn't there from any other team, even Haslam struggled to compete against him.

The support races have been better racing and closer fought for a few years now, but don't think that SS1000 is a cheap place to race, even that usually requires a rider to buy a seat for upwards of £50000 a year, so they have to have a day job to feed themselves.
Disagree completely.

The issues that BSB has are stuff like the amount of riders paying to ride, no prize money and organisers taking sponsors. Why is it a bad thing that Paul Bird is there? If anything it makes others up their game

No racing is cheap. Superstock is one of the cheapest forms though.

Gavia

7,627 posts

91 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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George29 said:
Disagree completely.

The issues that BSB has are stuff like the amount of riders paying to ride, no prize money and organisers taking sponsors. Why is it a bad thing that Paul Bird is there? If anything it makes others up their game

No racing is cheap. Superstock is one of the cheapest forms though.
Why do you think riders are having to pay to ride? Because the other teams can't attract sponsors paying enough, because they can't run at the front all the time. It's a vicious circle and PBM is definitely in the vortex.

SS1000 isn't cheap. Most people on here would baulk at the cost which is at least £150k a year to have any chance of being consistently competitive. No team owner can cover that cost on their own so needs sponsors, but has zero chance of covering the cost with sponsorship alone and that excludes paying wages to a rider.

I agree with you to some extent and the BSB issue is always going to be the same as other sports where the top riders / teams / players get the lions share of the money and everyone else lives on rice and peas.

George29

14,707 posts

164 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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Gavia said:
Why do you think riders are having to pay to ride? Because the other teams can't attract sponsors paying enough, because they can't run at the front all the time. It's a vicious circle and PBM is definitely in the vortex.

SS1000 isn't cheap. Most people on here would baulk at the cost which is at least £150k a year to have any chance of being consistently competitive. No team owner can cover that cost on their own so needs sponsors, but has zero chance of covering the cost with sponsorship alone and that excludes paying wages to a rider.

I agree with you to some extent and the BSB issue is always going to be the same as other sports where the top riders / teams / players get the lions share of the money and everyone else lives on rice and peas.
If the sponsors aren't paying enough money to run the team, then surely the organisers need to look at what they can do to attract more sponsors. What do you think would happen if PBM left? It wouldn't really help draw in the crowds, therefore appealing to sponsors.

Superstock is very cheap for a form of motorsport. It's not at least £150k per season either, I know people racing consistently at the front for much less. There should be prize money in it along with wages, have a look at Spanish superbikes, someone was telling me they got £350 for finishing 17th there. Why can't something similar be brought in at BSB? I don't get where all the money can be going - the majority of the circuits are owned by MSV, teams pay entry fees to the races, they pay for tyres (even if very slightly discounted), TV rights must pay, so where is all the money?

egor110

16,860 posts

203 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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Shared out between higgs palmer and bird wink

Gavia

7,627 posts

91 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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George29 said:
If the sponsors aren't paying enough money to run the team, then surely the organisers need to look at what they can do to attract more sponsors. What do you think would happen if PBM left? It wouldn't really help draw in the crowds, therefore appealing to sponsors.

Superstock is very cheap for a form of motorsport. It's not at least £150k per season either, I know people racing consistently at the front for much less. There should be prize money in it along with wages, have a look at Spanish superbikes, someone was telling me they got £350 for finishing 17th there. Why can't something similar be brought in at BSB? I don't get where all the money can be going - the majority of the circuits are owned by MSV, teams pay entry fees to the races, they pay for tyres (even if very slightly discounted), TV rights must pay, so where is all the money?
The organisers do look to attract sponsors, but then get slated for doing so. They also pay the wages, or contribute to them for top end riders who they're bringing into the series. Sadly, they also play god with those sponsors and poach them from one team to another.

I didn't say all teams run at £150k, but Tyco and Hawk will be pumping a huge amount into their teams and they are the ones running up the sharp end consistently. I think our definition of the sharp end needs clarifying. I'd describe it as podium finishes at over 50% of the races. Anything else gets scant TV coverage.

Bike racing will always struggle for sponsorship, as it's very much a minority sport, enjoyed by a noisy, but small group of people in the U.K, comparing it to Spain, where it is the No.1 sport is a bit disingenuous. I'd love bike racing to be mega competitive and well funded, but it won't happen in this country. There could be similar arguments raging over mountain bike racing, or MX racing, or showjumping, or hockey, or any other minority sport.

Anyway, all of the above are just my thoughts and I don't want to argue with people, I'm just putting my opinion across.

FredericRobinson

3,698 posts

232 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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George29 said:
...., so where is all the money?
F1 drives don't come cheap

Gavia

7,627 posts

91 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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FredericRobinson said:
F1 drives don't come cheap
Even if Palmer is taking out large dividends to fund his son in F1 there's nothing wrong with him doing it. The problem only comes when there is no paddock in the top races, like MotoGP suffered a few years ago. At the moment the grid remains reasonably healthy, albeit dwindling.

FredericRobinson

3,698 posts

232 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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The grids are big across the programme, the crowds are very healthy too at the rounds I go too, can't see BSB dying any time soon myself

egor110

16,860 posts

203 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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FredericRobinson said:
The grids are big across the programme, the crowds are very healthy too at the rounds I go too, can't see BSB dying any time soon myself
But the last few years shakeys challengers have been in well funded teams.

Those teams are leaving and quality riders like brookes can't get a seat.

FourWheelDrift

88,512 posts

284 months

Friday 9th December 2016
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Mar-Train Racing withdrawals from motorcycle racing.

http://www.crash.net/road-racing/news/235564/1/mar...

Gavia

7,627 posts

91 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
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Taylor Mackenzie and Guintoli confirmed in BSB for Bennetts Suzuki (was Buildbase BMW, not Halsall).

Cooper drops back to SS1000 for the same team

http://www.britishsuperbike.com/news/superstock-ch...

FourWheelDrift

88,512 posts

284 months

Thursday 15th December 2016
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Turn7

23,608 posts

221 months

Wednesday 21st December 2016
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Kiyo racing in Japan 2017....

http://speedofjapan.com/eng/20161221-1/

Turn7

23,608 posts

221 months

Wednesday 21st December 2016
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Good to hear that Kyle Ryde has been picked up to ride as team mate for Sofuoglu @ Puccetti racing.

I do rate him and hope he learns well from the master of WSS....

John D.

17,845 posts

209 months

Wednesday 21st December 2016
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Turn7 said:
Good to hear that Kyle Ryde has been picked up to ride as team mate for Sofuoglu @ Puccetti racing.

I do rate him and hope he learns well from the master of WSS....
That is a great pairing.

theshrew

6,008 posts

184 months

Wednesday 21st December 2016
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His ride with whoever only fell through in the last week I think. Couldn't fall on feet any better than that. Good luck to him, I think the boys got some talent biggrin

tight5

2,747 posts

159 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/motogp/m...

a bit on what improvements are planned for motogp bikes

voyager600

118 posts

130 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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Brookes has a deal to do something somewhere "to be announced soon"

George29

14,707 posts

164 months

Wednesday 4th January 2017
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Peter Hickman and Lee Jackson riding for Smiths BMW

egor110

16,860 posts

203 months

Wednesday 4th January 2017
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still no seat for bridewell frown