Cracking race the second one, Guintoli was hanging on to that Suzuki like a bronco rider on a couple of exits but all credit to him for keeping his place. Not sure what happened to linfoot in the first race, he was up in 3/4 at the start then all of a sudden he was 10th with no real explanation of how he lost so many places, did he run off? The Honda’s just didn’t seem to have the power of the leading bikes on that particular circuit however I had read somewhere that they have another 15-20bhp available but they want to get the handling sorted before dialling in more power. Hopefully with a years worth of data things will improve next season.
Interesting that, about the Honda Don't know what happened to Linfoot. There really was no hiding place at Assen on a clear sunny day like that - either have the power to stay with the leaders or get left behind - nowhere to hide. I would like to see Haslam win the Championship - Shane has started moaning all the time !
BSB - Brands Hatch - 14/15 October 2017 (Final Round) Race 1 6. Jason O'Halloran +8.994 sec DNF Dan Linfoot The Hondas started on P5 and P6 of the grid, on the first race of a sunny and warm weekend. On lap 4 Dan Linfoot's bike spilled fluids on to the track causing a pack of the following riders to run off into the gravel trap - causing quite a bit of damage to them. Linfoot himself got his bike off the track straight away, as he appeared to know something was up. He said after the race that liquid appeared on his visor. The race was red flagged. Lots of gaps on the grid for the restart - felt sorry for Michael Rutter as he was among the riders that crashed out and looked like he had a hard time of it. After the restart Jason O'Halloran was snapping at the heels of the duelling Leon Haslam and James Ellison, for a while, but could not pass them - he finished in P6. Race 2 5. Jason O'Halloran +8.147 sec 6. Dan Finfoot +15.053 sec The big story was the fight for the Championship. Leon Haslam on the Kawasaki was defending his title lead, that was slipping away from him. Shane Byrne meanwhile was on great form with a mathematical chance of taking the title - he needed good luck and wins for himself, and some back luck for Leon - then Shane Byrne could still win the title. Dan Linfoot made it to the starting grid, right at the back, whilst Jason O'Halloran made it to P8 of the grid. There was obviously something wrong with Leon Haslam's bike as he could not keep pace, and there was soon a traffic jam behind him - like a huge long queue of tightly packed riders behind him, and open space in front of him. Eventually everyone came streaming passed Haslam, including Dan Linfoot and Jason O'Halloran - obviously something amiss with Haslam's Kawasaki - clutch trouble apparently was the cause. Race 3 2. Jason O'Halloran +0.687 sec PODIUM 7. Dan Linfoot +5.281 sec 8. Shane Byrne +6.512 sec (Championship Winner) The last race - title really on the line for either Leon Haslam or Shane Byrne. It was going to need something special from Haslam as he started P11 on the grid, with Shane Byrne starting on P2. Haslam had a great start and actually passed Shane Byrne - but Byrne was just watching him and waiting for the traffic to clear - he was not beaten, just biding his time. Anyway, the matter was settled for him when Leon Haslam had a fast crash, after another mechanical failure. James Whitham, in commentary, appeared to call it right when he noticed Leon had tried to brake using his rear brake - which had left a trail of black lines, as he tried desperately tried to scrub speed before the corner. Haslam was powerless to stop the bike so he jumped off it at some incredible speed - championship hopes over. Incredible technology in the safety barriers (and airbag technology in his racing leathers) as Haslam went straight into it at huge speed - the kind of crash that makes you think it could be nasty - very nasty - but he was mostly OK. Safety car came out on lap 7, and Haslam was seen being taken away on a stretcher - which was (oddly enough) a relief. Again great informative commentary as Whitham knew that a seriously injured rider would not have been taken away like that so soon. It turned out that Haslam broke his ankle and wrist. Shane Byrne knew the score by now and got himself into a place where he was free of traffic and other challenging riders - to stay out of trouble, to finish in the points and take the title. Jason O'Halloran collected another worthy podium place to finish in second behind fellow Australian Josh Brookes. BSB - Championship Results - 2017 1. Shane Byrne - Ducati - 637 points 2. Josh Brookes - Yamaha R1 - 634 3. Leon Haslam - Kawasaki ZX-10RR - 631 4. Peter Hickman - BMW SRR - 578 5. Jason O'Halloran - HONDA Fireblade - 567 points 6. Jake Dixon - Kawasaki ZX-10RR - 562 7. Christian Iddon - BMW SRR - 238 8. James Ellison - Yamaha R1 - 228 9. Luke Mossey - Kawasaki ZX -10RR - 186 10. Dan Linfoot - HONDA Fireblade - 163 points
WSBK - Jerez, Spain - 21/22 October 2017 Race 1 16. Takumi Takahashi +1 min 16.011 sec DNF Davide Giugliano Race 2 15. Takumi Takahashi +45.421 sec 17. Davide Giugliano +1 min 42.654 sec I did not watch the races - some reason the old Sky Box did not record while away. So link here to a bit of a write up: http://www.bikesportnews.com/news/news-detail/jerez-worldsbk-rea-bags-double-win-in-spain
WSBK - Losail Circuit, Qatar - 03/04 November 2017 (final round of 2017 season) Race 1 12. Jake Gagne +38.237 sec DNF Davide Giugliano Race 2 12. Jake Gagne +32.656 sec In Race 1 Davide Giugliano retired into Pit Lane with 11 laps to go, and in Race 2 he did not make the start of the race due to gastroenteritis - if you're sick, you're sick - lets hope he is feeling better now. The story for the weekend was really about whether Jonathan Rea could beat Colin Edwards' record of 552 points in a season, that he did in 2002 on the Honda VTR1000 SP2. Jonathan Rea won both races to finish the season on 556 points - let the good times roll. All this after winning the Championship, then both races and more records - quite a lot to take in. The racing had its moments with two spectacular highsides - one from Jordi Torres that threw him spectacularly through the air, and on the same corner Chaz Davies was thrown but managed to land back on his bike smashing his screen. Lucky Chaz went on to finish second. Alex Lowes and Michael van de Mark battled for podium places on their Pata Yamaha R-1s ( the nicest looking bikes on the track IMHO !). The Milwaukee Aprilia riders, Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori, also battled each other for the whole race. Tom Sykes fell and lost second place in the Championship. Given that Jonathan Rea had as good as cleared off, and was not really involved in the racing - everything that was going on behind him was great to watch. Alex Lowes on the podium- some close racing that was covered by the TV cameras, rather than just following Jonathan Rea around at the front. Team mates battling each other on the same spec bikes was great to watch. Sadly the Honda Fireblades did not feature at all. Championship Results - 2017 1. Jonathan Rea - Kawasaki - 556 2. Chaz Davies - Ducati - 403 3. Tom Sykes - Kawasaki - 373 4. Marco Melandri - Ducati - 327 5. Alex Lowes - Yamaha - 242 6. Michael van der Mark - Yamaha - 223 7. Xavi Fores - Ducati - 196 8. Leon Camier - MV Augusta - 168 9. Jordi Torres - BMW - 158 10. Eugene Laverty - Aprilia - 157 Honda Riders 14. Stefan Bradl - Honda - 67 17. Nicky Hayden - Honda - 40 24. Jake Gagne - Honda - 14 26. Davide Giugliano - Honda - 13 29. - Takumi Takahashi - Honda - 08 And so endeth the first WSBK season for the new Fireblade - that was launched late but still with high hopes.
New Fireblade - 1st Racing Season - Conclusion (IMHO). Roads and TT Racing Really exciting start, with Guy Martin joining the team, alongside the legend that is John McGuinness. The bikes were delivered late, and it became obvious that the bikes were having problems. The thought of them racing the new Fireblade round the TT circuit, inches away from stone walls at huge speeds, filled me with dread. They were having difficulty keeping it upright on a test track - and they were planing on tacking it to the TT. In some ways lucky that John McGuinness broke his leg at the North West 200, when the bike had a mechanical issue and caused him to crash - it put him out of the TT, which was personally a huge relief - I could not bear to think what might have been if he had tried to ride that bike (like it was) round the TT circuit. Guy Martin crashed his No 8 bike early in the Superbike Race, and did not enter in the Senior, that was won by Michael Dunlop on the new rival Suzuki GSXR. So not only did they not make the start, suffered crashes and injuries, but were beaten by their new rival. Guy Martin tried his best to keep the corporate line - but in the end Guy is probably just not that kind of guy. Heavy times. British Superbike Championships The new Fireblade did much better here, and showed the way for what could be achieved. I believe the electronics to be different and they use MoTec ECU. They were soon showing results with genuine podium places and fastest laps and even Race wins - impressive and a delight to see as they were often in front of the cameras battling against everyone for the podium. World Superbike Championships A tough time for Ten Kate racing, to receive the new Fireblade so late - a completely new bike with sophisticated electronics would have been hard to adapt to, but almost impossible when delivered so close to the start of the racing season. Early results were understandably poor, not helped by the raging success of the factory Kawasaki team that made everyone else look second best anyway. Nicky Hayden appeared to get his head down and got on with the testing, doing all he could and providing valuable experience and feedback to the team. But sadly It got worse though when Nicky was killed in Italy in a road accident - when he was out cycling a car collided with him - and a few days later he died in Hospital, from his injuries. It is not unusual for new bikes to take a little time to develop, so all is not lost.
