Discussion
Drabbesttunic said:
slopes said:
Brad Ray confirmed as re-signed to MotoXRacing for 2024 and doing the full season
Ah good stuff, hope he does ok.Edited by slopes on Monday 20th November 14:43
FredericRobinson said:
Donington tickets for next year have gone on sale, anyone wanting a trackside camping pitch will need to be quick
Not that quick, last year when I booked mine they all sold out within five minutes. When I looked earlier they had 90% of the top level pitches left. First indicator of reduced fan interest and or budgets? Abdul Abulbul Amir said:
Not that quick, last year when I booked mine they all sold out within five minutes. When I looked earlier they had 90% of the top level pitches left. First indicator of reduced fan interest and or budgets?
There’s only 3 or 4 trackside zone b pitches left, a few more of the zone A but they’re silly money 
According to Josh Close (MCN reporter) on Twitter Sylvain Guintoli and Bradley Smith have joined BMW as part of their new test team.
It seems they are going to be taking things quite seriously! I wouldn't wonder this was all part of the promises made to Toprak to make him believe and jump ship.
It seems they are going to be taking things quite seriously! I wouldn't wonder this was all part of the promises made to Toprak to make him believe and jump ship.
slopes said:
The Maniac confirmed at Go Eleven for 2024, that ought to give a few riders sleepless nights and will add some spice to things next year
I didn't quite click that you meant Iannone! With Sam Lowes, Tito Rabat, Dominique Aegerter and Scott Redding too, it is getting to be a bit of a MotoGP minor classes reunion. Whether any of them can keep up with the power to weight ratio of Bautista on a Ducati remains to be seen.trevalvole said:
slopes said:
The Maniac confirmed at Go Eleven for 2024, that ought to give a few riders sleepless nights and will add some spice to things next year
I didn't quite click that you meant Iannone! With Sam Lowes, Tito Rabat, Dominique Aegerter and Scott Redding too, it is getting to be a bit of a MotoGP minor classes reunion. Whether any of them can keep up with the power to weight ratio of Bautista on a Ducati remains to be seen.I expect we'll see Nicolò Bulega up there this year too, but I doubt very much if Toprak will be in the mix, certainly not in the first half of the season anyway and I can't see Redding doing any more with the Benovo team than he did on the factory effort
Hopefully JR is back up the front again
Redding has already been quoted as saying Toprak has already found things he can't on the BMW, so I doubt he is going to set the world alight, Toprak is a very special rider and I think Rea's form this year and Toprak's on that bike might be a surprise for a lot of people. He should have been in the GP paddock years ago sadly his manager got burned in GP's and seems think SBK is better.
We will see of course.
We will see of course.
flatlandsman said:
Redding has already been quoted as saying Toprak has already found things he can't on the BMW, so I doubt he is going to set the world alight, Toprak is a very special rider and I think Rea's form this year and Toprak's on that bike might be a surprise for a lot of people. He should have been in the GP paddock years ago sadly his manager got burned in GP's and seems think SBK is better.
We will see of course.
That's not technically trueWe will see of course.
Toprak had a test of the Yamaha towards the end of last season, and just wasn't fast enough
His style is very out of shape, and getting the bike to do things other riders can't. That style doesn't work on a GP bike
He's an unreal talent, so I'm sure could adapt, but potentially wasn't prepared to put a poor season in to start with to get up to speed on a GP bike
Also, he's probably too tall for a GP bike too
My point was that for that sort of talent you would make an exception, in time he would adapt, the best riders do, and he would too, I don't think he is too tall, tall can be an advantage but it would take a manufacturer time to develop a bike to suit him, if he went to say Aprilia and they put him into a 5 year deal and said we will make this bike about YOU and you alone, they would work at making him fit the bike build it around his style.
Sadly these days the identikit GP riders is always round the corner, Dorna has a constant supply of them rolling up so no manufacturers would take the risk sadly. I do believe he has the talent to win GP's, but I doubt we will ever know.
You may be right about his style never working on a GP bike but do you not think he could adjust? The very best usually do or can. I just feel it would be amazing to have him there, he could really shake up the order.
Sadly these days the identikit GP riders is always round the corner, Dorna has a constant supply of them rolling up so no manufacturers would take the risk sadly. I do believe he has the talent to win GP's, but I doubt we will ever know.
You may be right about his style never working on a GP bike but do you not think he could adjust? The very best usually do or can. I just feel it would be amazing to have him there, he could really shake up the order.
graeme4130 said:
Toprak had a test of the Yamaha towards the end of last season, and just wasn't fast enough
His style is very out of shape, and getting the bike to do things other riders can't. That style doesn't work on a GP bike
Perhaps his style particularly didn't work on the short-of-power, high-corner-speed Yamaha GP bike? May be he would have done better on one of the V4s?His style is very out of shape, and getting the bike to do things other riders can't. That style doesn't work on a GP bike
graeme4130 said:
trevalvole said:
slopes said:
The Maniac confirmed at Go Eleven for 2024, that ought to give a few riders sleepless nights and will add some spice to things next year
I didn't quite click that you meant Iannone! With Sam Lowes, Tito Rabat, Dominique Aegerter and Scott Redding too, it is getting to be a bit of a MotoGP minor classes reunion. Whether any of them can keep up with the power to weight ratio of Bautista on a Ducati remains to be seen.I expect we'll see Nicolò Bulega up there this year too, but I doubt very much if Toprak will be in the mix, certainly not in the first half of the season anyway and I can't see Redding doing any more with the Benovo team than he did on the factory effort
Hopefully JR is back up the front again
I see it being Bautista's year again but Toprak is going to make that BMW do what nobody else has been able to do in WSBK.
slopes said:
graeme4130 said:
trevalvole said:
slopes said:
The Maniac confirmed at Go Eleven for 2024, that ought to give a few riders sleepless nights and will add some spice to things next year
I didn't quite click that you meant Iannone! With Sam Lowes, Tito Rabat, Dominique Aegerter and Scott Redding too, it is getting to be a bit of a MotoGP minor classes reunion. Whether any of them can keep up with the power to weight ratio of Bautista on a Ducati remains to be seen.I expect we'll see Nicolò Bulega up there this year too, but I doubt very much if Toprak will be in the mix, certainly not in the first half of the season anyway and I can't see Redding doing any more with the Benovo team than he did on the factory effort
Hopefully JR is back up the front again
I see it being Bautista's year again but Toprak is going to make that BMW do what nobody else has been able to do in WSBK.
I've heard he's really not happy, and has got himself a good legal team to try and worm his way out of the contract having ridden the bike now
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