Keep in mind that COTA suits Elias' experience quite well. Its a sea of runoff with substantial grip and all in all, its quite smooth.
Road Atlanta is a different monster altogether. Its going to be interesting.
Keep in mind that COTA suits Elias' experience quite well. Its a sea of runoff with substantial grip and all in all, its quite smooth.
Road Atlanta is a different monster altogether. Its going to be interesting.
Expert #325
Boulder, Colorado
until a true privateer with some talent can show up to the races in a pickup truck, with a privately prepared bike and compete towards the front, the series is going to struggle to grow. plus, you cant sit in one place and watch a roadrace with a beer and hot dog in your hand and see all the action....
This. We need Elias and people like him here to help raise the level of competition. It's going to take time for the Americans to up their game. This isn't s short term project.Originally Posted by Neil Klein
I agree with most of the points you made, but I don't understand the line of thinking on Herrin. If his failing in Moto2 wasn't his fault, then whose fault was it? Also, why was putting him in Moto2 asking too much? He's a pro. MOTO2 is a proving ground on a world class level, on similar bikes to what he was racing in the US with great success. He just wasn't good enough, and he made some poor decisions as a professional that ended his world championship series career quickly and abruptly. As we all know professional motorcycle racing is a brutal and cut throat business. There are many riders who have gotten screwed, but in my opinion Herrin wasn't one of them. He made a series of bad decisions on and off the track that led to his premature dismissal from Moto2.
Those guys should want to have riders like Tony in their presence. It should make them step up their game. Having riders like Tony Elias, Claudio Corti, and Sheridan Morais in the mix should bring over more viewers as well. I think it's good for the sport.
Would you want to win against a bunch of amateurs or win knowing you beat some world level riders?
I think he would have a better chance of success spending a year doing a championship like the CEV Moto2 series to get him some time on the bike. I am by no means a fan of how Herrin conducted himself I just wish it didn't play out on the world stage. I think it would have been better for the future of American riders if he self destructed in the CEV series.
That's very true. I feel the same way.
Ya I see it the same way, how about MotoAmerica becoming a bid deal again, with world riders and factory support across the board. Ben Spies was a better rider because he had to beat Mat Mladin, Josh Hayes also had to go up against Mat as well as others.
Ummm DuHamel ring any bells, a fresh GP 500 rider coming and DOMINATING the 600/FX Class, Mat Mladin an Australian with so many AMA records it's mind boggling, but without those riders, and that calibur, would Ben Spies have been so successful??? 41 year old Josh Hayes would be forced out if that were truly the case?! Seriously Bro, Tony Elias and Hayden dicing it up on broadcast TV is a HUGE shot in the arm, besides in "Fastest" didn't Nicky Hayden say he owed his 2006 Championship to Tony Elias??? And as much as I despised the whole DMG catastrophe, all the blame cannot be placed on them, in 2008 a fast club rider could make six figures at club level, and DuHamel was reported to make $2mm. Go watch "The Big Short" if you really want to understand what happened to our sport's support. I was more upset that BeIN had no ticker tape to show Jay Newton's position or times at the time, nor did they show where everyone else was in that 7th through 12th spots, that was on BeIN Sports, NOT MotoAmerica. As to the BIGGEST crime DMG was a part of, was paper pushing Josh Herrin into Josh Haye's Championship spot, they did the same thing to our own Dustin Dominguez's Championship spot, they used suspect rulings to strip those two of the Championships OFF the TRACK. So Josh Herrin capitalizing on a fluke wasn't really to be blamed, he knew he didn't earn that #1 spot, so he saw his shot and took it, but it really but a bad after taste in the rest of the world's view of an AMA Superbike Champion. Obviously for Josh Hayes, he has no ambitions beyond the AMA, so based on your premise, he should be forced to retire??? Lastly, they should NOT be issuing "Pro" Licenses to all the riders, they should be issuing Amateur and Professional licenses based upon whether you pay to ride, or get paid to ride, that whole "Pro" License is what we should really be talking about, in my opinion. Feel free to disagree, but regardless, let's have a GREAT weekend at MSR Cresson ;)
To have an apples to apples conversation you need to look at the hard facts. The Moto2 bikes were half a second FASTER than the MotoAmerica superbikes. That's not all horsepower people...those guys are on another planet fast! And, they're using frames and suspension that doesn't exist on the production platform. Further, if you look at the entire MotoGP field, virtually all of the front running 10-15 riders came out of the 125/250/Moto2 ranks. I had a chance to speak with an ex GP racer (name withheld) on this subject and he felt wholeheartedly that the lack of US interest and subsequent funding is the source of the problem. Club level racing has reverted to non-GP based bikes because of cost and availability. Having little Johnny start out on his dirt bike is perfectly understandable. Expecting him to end up in Europe racing 250/300's, 500's, and SV650's is lunacy. MotoAmerica, IMHO, is really working hard to bring the right people into US roadracing in an attempt to help develop the programs needed to get American youth back to the world stage. Years ago, Kenny Roberts took a few kids and helped develop them on proper machinery and a couple have gone on to huge success. More of that approach might be necessary to get the next American to Europe. Just my .02.
Hellcats Course Endurance Team
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