well let the games begin... heres qual. from today :

1. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 1min 42.412s
2. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 1min 42.996s
3. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1098R 1min 43.015s
4. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 43.126s
5. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 1min 43.523s
6. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 43.526s
7. Fonsi Nieto ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 1min 43.553s
8. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 44.719s
9. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 1min 43.240s
10. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1098R 1min 43.377s
11. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 1min 43.406s
12. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 43.461s
13. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 43.671s
14. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 1min 43.717s
15. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 44.050s
16. Matteo Baiocco ITA Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 1min 45.439s
17. Matthieu Lagrive FRA Althea Honda CBR1000RR 1min 44.453s
18. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R 1min 44.458s
19. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 44.483s
20. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 44.851s
21. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 1min 44.978s
22. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 45.153s
23. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR 1min 45.518s
24. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 45.676s *
25. David Checa ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 1min 46.006s
26. Roland Resch AUT TKR Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R1000 1min 46.596s

this is shaping up to be a great season finale, spies on pole and hagas in tenth... but it wont be an easy day for spies as both fabrizo and rea are right up there as well as shakey and theyve all been fast this weekend and im sure looking to give spies fits.... and im sure well see haga blasting to the front.... i cant wait for this race!

Haga really missed out when his bike didn´t handle when he put on the Q´s. The bike just wanted to go striaght and understeered badly so he was pissed after his first tire and right after Spies goes out and stomps them.

Haga is a notoriously great starte though so he will probably be right up there. Spies will be hoping to get away at the front but Fabrizio and Rea will sure make it hard for him.

What really troubles me is that I have this gut feeling we will see one of the title contenders in the gravel, and I see a big risk of Fabrizio joining him...

ya I"m concerned for that too. Realistically if either one of them bins it, that's the title over.

I think it will be Ben and Fab in the gravel.... and there will be some suspensions coming to Fab for next year for it.....

I can't wait to watch this race.... damn it's going to be good.



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Spies for the championship....... well done Ben......

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



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unbelevable...is all i can say...and what a great ride by Haga in the 2nd race....if his teammate had let him get the win and biaggi got past ben he'd be champion...kinda selfish from fabrizio as he had no clue exactly where Ben was...imo

I'm sure they'd have signalled him if he hadda been in a position to make the title.

Was a pretty calm ride into the championship for Ben, very "take no chances"

What a big range of mixed emotions. I am ahve always been a Haga fan, all since his rides from 1998 and onward, so I really feel sorry for him as he once again showed he can not really stand the pressure as he has looked pretty uncomfortable all week end. That crash in the first race sealed btu as a consequence he could ride without pressure in the second race and was much better.

The way Spies handled it going in to the week end is very impressive as he knew he had to win and he did just that.
I have to admit I am happy the title went to Yamaha instead of Ducati though. :

well it was a great finish to a remarkable season for spies... now if he could only go out and win the motogp championship in the future he could make a new record as the 1st rider to win ama,wsbk,and motogp championship

congrats to ben on a well deserved championship!!!!!

you know whats sad....we have gotten to the point where we dont even make threads for the Gp Race!

Congrats to Spies - I gotta hand it to him he rode a hell of a season and silenced his critics but I was still praying for Haga to pip him for the Championship.

Guess I'll just have to wave my Nitro Nori flag for one more season - hopefully he's got one more left in him 'cos Rea, Fabrizio and Biaggi all look as if they will be more than happy to bang fairngs with him.

what's even sadder is that I watched 250's live and then went to bed before the 800's came out, even tho I was quite certain that the championship would be decided.

dont forget haslam, he should be up there more consistently now that hell have factory equipment, guintoli seemed to have start off ok with a decent qual. but idk what happen to him in the race....did he go down?

rather sad that the pinical of motorcycle racing has come to this.... and now theyre taken away 250s which ive just started to get into....

The stupid thing is that I don't mind watching a dull race if it's high tech and there's development going on, or one guy has introduced a very different riding style or something like that. I'll watch it just to see what direction stuff is going in. But with the 800's, they're pretty much cookie cutter copies of each other, 2 V4's and an inline 4 that fires as a V4 out front, the development is taking place inside the electronics box where I can't see it or predict what next years streetbike is gonna be like from it.

Lack of visible development AND lack of close racing makes me wonder what the point is? And now 250 is about 1 step off of the "bike of tomorrow."

I do notice tho that the last 10 years it's been pushed as entertainment more than as racing/development. Conflicts between known personalities, more focus on the riders personalities rather than their styles etc. Moving in the direction of reality TV. There's something to be said for it as it's certainly grown the fanbase and brought in tons of moola for them. I wonder if it's sustainable tho. There's a lot of griping but we mostly still pay for it.

When they start locking them all in a house in Monaco between races and leave a full bar stocked with booze for them to get into then I'll buy the 'Reality TV' comparison.

It's always been about the racing from my perspective; personalities are part of it - there will always be riders that you like or dislike based on your perception of their personality / their riding style / their aggressiveness of lack thereof / whatever.
At the end of the day whoever wins a World Championship I take my hat off to them; whether it's Stoner - whose personality I don't much care for but whose riding is phenomenal, Hayden - who I like for his persistence, his refusal to blame others for his poor results and his dogged determination, Roberts - whose personality I loathed but who is the only man since Schwantz to win a World title in GP on the persistently crappy Suzuki and one of only a handful to defeat both Rossi and Doohan; or Rossi - who i.m.o is quite simply the most gifted athlete of our generation on two wheels.

Racing is entertaining (or at least it should be) - that's why they sell tickets and broadcast it on T.V. If nobody was interested in watching it then the riders would be making shite money, nobody would be watching and sponsorship would be unheard of - once in a while rivalries develop but that's not a bad thing.
The last 10 years ?
Come on...
Have you forgotten about the intense rivalries between Schwantz and Rainey, Sheene and Roberts Sr, Hailwood and Ago, Doohan and Criville - just to name some off the top of my head? Rivalries are what make competitive sports interesting and part of what polarize people into fan groups - if you didn't prefer one rider over another for whatever reason you wouldn't give a shit who won and from spending time on these boards that's just not the case.

i.m.h.o
Naturally...

oh forsure there's been rivalries LONG before the last 10 years, I just notice that it's being marketed differently the last 10 or so.

Don't joke about the Monaco house, someone might think that's a good idea.

And ya, my hat is off to Rossi today. But it doesn't mean I like him as a person, same as I know you don't like Casey as one.

I'm just saying that the method that they're using to sell it to the public is a lot more about personal confrontation now whereas I remember it used to be about "super high tech motorcycles."

Also, I should clarify that I shouldn't bitch, I stopped watching when the racing was bad and Mick was crushing everyone. Which I kinda regret 'cause reading up on it after the fact I missed some important development stuff.