Philip Island World Superbike

[cherryowen]

FP2 :-



Ominous Ducati dominance up front, one would think. But Rea and Toprak being well down the order doesn't - for me - represent their true performance. The top speed of the factory Dukes must still be of a concern to the other teams.

[poo at Paul's]

Domi Ag nearly had pole! 3rd is impressive.

[Drawweight]

Good race in SSP.

Brits did much better than expected.

[The Road Crew]

Kawasaki with some serious work to do, JR struggling quite a bit.

3 great rides from AB given the very changeable conditions over the weekend.

[Mr Dendrite]

Day SSP was very entertaining, day two a good race,
Superbike is a bit worrying. I hope Kawasaki and Yamaha get sorted otherwise it’s going to turn into a Ducati benefit. Honda still improving and BMW oh dear oh dear.
Superbike race one watching JR hang on to the Ducati with no quick shifter was an impressive piece of riding.

[trickywoo]

The Road Crew said:

3 great rides from AB given the very changeable conditions over the weekend.

The motor on that Duc is something else though.

[airsafari87]

Ducati cup and Philip Island factor aside, it looks like it’s going to be a decent ‘best of the rest’ season with some close racing between half a dozen or so riders.

WSS also shaping up to be a good season and hopefully Taz can show a bit more of what he can do once the drag that missing 20kph out of the bike.

[Drabbesttunic]

airsafari87 said:

Ducati cup and Philip Island factor aside, it looks like it’s going to be a decent ‘best of the rest’ season with some close racing between half a dozen or so riders.

WSS also shaping up to be a good season and hopefully Taz can show a bit more of what he can do once the drag that missing 20kph out of the bike.

Having the race engine should help

[egor110]

Those honda's have made some progress , bmw less so .

[Drabbesttunic]

egor110 said:

Those honda's have made some progress , bmw less so .

The Honda was quick last year too.

[zeb]

Not going to be much of a watch this season if the Ducati’s finish 15 seconds in front every race

[Turn7]

zeb said:

Not going to be much of a watch this season if the Ducati’s finish 15 seconds in front every race

It’s not great viewing that’s for sure….

[Rick448]

Other than the winner, the second SBK race was good IMO.

[Turn7]

There’s some thing not quite right the balancing rules currently I think.

I also wonder if the competitive days of inline 4s are numbered in sbk now as well…

[Drawweight]

Turn7 said:

There’s some thing not quite right the balancing rules currently I think.

I also wonder if the competitive days of inline 4s are numbered in sbk now as well…

There are serious discussions going on about a combined rider/bike weight penalty.

That should hopefully level the field back up at the expense of Bautista at least on acceleration.

Obviously riders like Scott Redding are all for it, Bautista not so much

[rodericb]

Turn7 said:

There’s some thing not quite right the balancing rules currently I think.

I also wonder if the competitive days of inline 4s are numbered in sbk now as well…

when Ducati and Aprilias v-twins became uncompetitive they sucked it up and built V4's which were proven, at the time, to be a better proposition than an inline 4. Ducati also found the tubular chassis was no longer competitive so they invested in what they have now. Certainly not flogging the same thing they were twenty years ago like other manufacturers.

[the cueball]

Kawasaki still being neutered by the powers that be.

Give them their full power back and let's get on with it..

[Far Cough]

Even Bassani on his "old" Ducati bike was embarrassing the supposed new improved 4 cylinders. Lets hope its not a Ducati white wash again in Lombok. Good for Bautista and Ducati but got to clever for the spectators.

When do the balancing rules kick in ? Is it after each round or not as often as that ?

[stang65]

rodericb said:

when Ducati and Aprilias v-twins became uncompetitive they sucked it up and built V4's which were proven, at the time, to be a better proposition than an inline 4. Ducati also found the tubular chassis was no longer competitive so they invested in what they have now. Certainly not flogging the same thing they were twenty years ago like other manufacturers.

Wasn't that when there were defined regulations without "balancing rules". That's the issue for WSB, that the balancing rules give an advantage to some manufacturers...or at least a disadvantage to one. I found this on the web:
"FIM leaves the Kawasaki ZX-10RR the same as last year in terms of engine revolutions per minute – 14,600 – not confirming the rumors that it could have another 500 revolutions per minute. At the opposite pole will be Ducati, with 16,100 rpm, followed by Honda (15,600 rpm), BMW (15,500 rpm) and Yamaha (14,950 rpm)."
So the current balancing rules let Ducati rev 1,500 revs higher than Kawasaki. Google tells me the production rev limits are ZX10RR 14,700rpm, Ducati V4R 16,500rpm, BMW 14,950rpm and R1 13,750rpm, so there is no relationship between FIM limits and the production bike. Basically the FIM decide who can have what power, and it seems that they thought six in a row was enough championships for Kawasaki for a while....

I guess that with the announcement there won't be rider/bike weight limits next year this is a situation that will continue. Is it too earlier to congratulate Bautista on his third championship in 2024, as there can't be many that think it won't happen without some form of regulatory intervention?

[airsafari87]

Got to love Petrucci’s assessment of Superpole race.

“It was a bar fight”