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*Liam's Wild Ride*

Had a nice time visiting with Foggy Petronas after SuperPole, and was startled to find that one of their workers recognized me from our meeting in Laguna Seca! We had chatted previously when he worked for the Suzuki GP team, and here he was with the Petronas squad. I think I may have misconstrued the press release about Foggy Petronas' team dropping out of the series at the end of the year, because I was told,
"Yeah, Petronas is out, but we'll still be here with another bike! We're still sorting that out."

Hi Grail, thanks for letting me hang!
I finally got a chance to check out the Petronas up close and personal before they became collectibles, haha.

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Lunch was fun, and I caught up with Dennis Noyes interviewing Alex Barros intently. Expect some good information in Motociclismo soon. The Brazilian is running a *very* patriotic paint scheme this season, and I was informed that he will have the very best bike shortly. . . . . .

What do you think? Bright enough? And speaking of bright, he's no longer running the yellow Suomy and has returned to Shark helmets. At speed you can't tell his head from Corser's!

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Norifumi Abe. . . . . . and his spectacular style! No matter what, I can always tell it's him because of his body positioning. Will he come to terms with the Yamaha this year?

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Just some Kawi :laughing

Note the fork compression in this shot. The Kawi's sound amazing this year, and have a loud "Poomph" sound when they shift that literally explodes from the bike. Fonsi's bike was laying flames two feet long in the last corner, but I wasn't prepared and couldn't get the right angle for the shot. Next time, next time :)

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MotoLiam said:
Some Kawasaki guy waving down pit lane. The '06 looks amazing in race trim!

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Click to expand...

That's Regis Laconi, and yes, nice to see PSG-1 painting their Kwaks green this year.
 
More of Roby Rolfo. Not the flashiest bike, but maybe that's why I like it so much. K.I.S.S.

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MotoLiam said:
My gut instinct tells me this Ducati might win some races this year.

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Click to expand...

And this here's Roby Rolfo on the SC Caracchi Ducati. Can't see *this* one winning anything this year though. But the bright red ones with Xerox on the side might grab a victory or 2.... :laughing
 
Troy Corser definitely has to watch his back if he wants to keep his number one plate this year :)

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I think we all know who's gunning for the championship this year.

May I present to you Mistah Baylisstic!

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Okay, now I'm officially jealous - WSB will be insane this year, back the golden days of the late 90s, early 00s. Why can't they come out this way this year????
 
nicebloke said:
And this here's Roby Rolfo on the SC Caracchi Ducati. Can't see *this* one winning anything this year though.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the same team that put a relatively unknown on the top of the box last year? The same satellite team that beat all the factories with Lanzi? The more I see, the more I realize a strong team makes the difference, and the right pairing is unstoppable :)
 
MotoLiam said:
Are you talking about the same team that put a relatively unknown on the top of the box last year? The same satellite team that beat all the factories with Lanzi? The more I see, the more I realize a strong team makes the difference, and the right pairing is unstoppable :)
Click to expand...

A fair point, although the depth of talent in WSB this year may make their job a bit more difficult. And I'm guessing Lanzi proves to be a better Superbike rider than Rolfo, although Roby's a talented chap.

I guess we'll wait and see. I'm ready to be proven wrong!
 
liam are you going to be working any gp events this year? namely the German GP?
 
The tank shape comparison (corser vs kagyama) is very interesting!! :thumbup

Just a few more hours from the start of the first race. You guys right there must be really excited.
 
I'm PUMPED! Racing starts in an hour and twenty minutes and it's time to get to the track! Questions will be answered on Sunday or Monday, depending on the travel schedule for me. Gotta go, I hear the sound of music in the sands. . . . . . .
 
I just listened to live audio/commentary of Race 1. It's INSANE! Man.....this season is gonna be really good. I am sure Liam gonna tell us more first-hand stories later...
 
Liam,

I have a question for you.

The GP guys in the Quatar WSB races yesterday seemed conspicuously quiet..why do you think this is?

I have my own theory, and I'm not suggesting that you're some sort of oracle all of a sudden, but you've now been privvy to the behind the scenes workings of both MotoGP and WSB, so I figure that you might have an idea.

Personally, I'd have expected Barros and Rolfo (lack of testing or otherwise) to be right on the pace from the word go, but they weren't, same with Abe, Nieto etc etc. Now I know that those two weren't exactly awesome last year either, but you'd have thought that they'd up the game a touch now that they've got experience of the series.

I don't think that it's anything to do with "easing" themselves into practise and finding themselves on the back foot either, because by all acounts, they go flat out straight from the first second in MotoGP practise..so what is it?

My own theory, is that the teams are making the crucial difference.

None of the recent ex GP riders to crossover are with the top flight teams (that I can think of), and I truly believe that it is this that's making the difference.

How desperate was Rossi to have Jerry Burgess defect with him over to Yamaha?..you've read his book, he states that he was devastated when Burgess initially refused to go with him.

If Rossi went to WSB with a second grade team, how would he fare?

Thoughts please.

Oh and I hope the tan is coming along nicely.

Oh yeah, and Rossi is actually a robot...but that's another story entirely.

Cheers,

Tim :)
 
On the flipside.

Bayliss...In Gp's for 3 years, comes back to one of the top teams.

Bingo.
 
WSBK

Hi Guys sorry I've been offline thanks to BT for a week.

What a fantastic meeting it was a shame about James Race 2 pipped to a podium and fortunate about race 1, but as the fabled "Muddly Talker" (Murray Walker) used to say "To finish first first you must finish."

As for the first race Mr Tardottzi.......

Baylis was awesome as usual and has shown all at Moto GP that he has lost none of his verve. As for Alex I was pleased to see he is still hungry enough to work for "Free" But doe's he still have it? Did he ever? Always struck me that he reminded me of the bathroom sink which also comes hot and cold.

As for Lanzi being the second comming I feel that he was brought on by DT Last year and certainly seemed to get more moral support from him than his own team riders.

"Please feel free to read the last paragraph in the Knolwdge that i am very possitivly biased in favor of JT and feel that DT wanted him out at the end of the last season but was deeply pissed off when he had the Gall to win the series but did not have the ball's to sack him then but seemed to not support him last season.

Well Done James Now keep up the pressure. Oh by the way take the Brands weekend off You did last year. Ha!

:laughing

Great to see the Kwaks back to Green.
 
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