BSB 2012

[AL-]

British Superbikes 2011 was one of the best seasons in living memory so it's hard to see just how they are going to top it this year!

For the first time in the history of the BSB we have an overseas round at Assen. Is it a good idea, time will tell but I am looking forward to the weekend there, hopefully the weather is good

Also the new rules came into effect this season which will make it an even more level playing field. Of course the best guys will still be at the front end you would expect but I think a few guys will surprise us

Following the success of Hopkins last year it seems more and more riders are taking BSB seriously. You have only got to look at the line up so far to see evidence of this and you have to admit that it is pretty impressive:

Swan Yamaha
Tommy Hill and Noriyuki Haga

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki
Shane Byne and Stuart Easton

Tyco Suzuki
Josh Brookes and Alastair Seeley

Honda Racing UK
Michael Laverty and Jon Kirkham

MSS Kawasaki
Michael Rutter and Peter Hickman

PR Racing
Gary Mason

Team WFR
Graeme Gowland, James Westmoreland and Alex Lowes

GB Moto Racing
Tristan Palmer and Luke Quigley

Buildbase BMW
Dan Linfoot and Barry Burrell

Pr1mo Bournemouth Kawasaki
Chris Walker and James Hillier

Splitlath-Redmond Racing
John Laverty and Florian Marino

Padgetts Racing
Luca Scassa and Ian Lowry

Supersonic BMW
Ant West and Patrick Muff

Jentin Doodson Motorsport
Alex Polita and Tom Tunstall

As well as all them there is still 1 seat available at PR Racing, 2 seats at Quay Garage Racing and 2 at Moto Rapido Ducati

So new rules, new track and new riders. Could this year top last years?

[Al]

Looking down the rider list at least half the riders are potential race winners so it should be another good season.

I wonder if Ant West is still a wet weather specialist? as that is about 90% of the races over here so he'll be in luck.

I think West, Haga and Scassa have a lot to live upto if they are going to out do Hopkins debut season, he picked things up so quickly and seemed to be able to learn new tracks in just a couple of sessions.
Good to see Tommy Hill is still there, it is always good when you have a defending champion.
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[Al]

Moto Rapido have named their rider line up of Scott Smart and Binladen

https://britishsuperbike.com/news/moto-rapido-launch-mce-bsb-title-attack-with-former-champion-and-saudi-newcomer.aspx
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[rac3r]

[rac3r]

He is! (3rd Gen)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Laden_family
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Bikes : 2006 CBR125R - 2004 Monster 620ie - 2004 ZX-6R B1H - 2005 Monster S2R 800 - 2011 Street Triple - 2009 Streetfighter 1098 - 2014 ZX-6R 636

[AL-]

It is such a shame that better riders were turned down just so Binladen can have his 5 minutes of fame and bring a huge wedge of cash to the team!

[DXB]

Abdulaziz, is a top bloke, spent a lot of time rode riding with him, not to shabby on the track either.

https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcircuitprodigital.com%2F2012%2F02%2F22%2Fbsb-rookie-saudi-rider-abdulaziz-binladen-teams-up-with-scott-smart-in-his-british-superbikes-debut%2F&h=BAQH4s-uXAQGq7eIz2s26m--u-cx_m2n8SUhXJkXSRFCdGw
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superchargers good

[AL-]

He may well be a top bloke, but there are better riders more deserving of the ride than him

[DXB]

Maybe so mate, but at the end of the day a lot of it comes down to cash, and the Saudis ain't short of that.
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superchargers good

[AL-]

Apparently he raced in 7 BSB rounds last year in SSTK 1000 on the BMW (although to be fair I don't remember him)

Best qualifying was 35th at Knockhill

He also qualified 42nd at Oulton, 45th at Brands GP, 42nd at Cadwell, 42nd at Donington, 36th at Silverstone and 36th at Brands GP - missing the cut for a number of these races!

Even with the new rules and given a Ducati Panigale, will he fair any better or will he miss out on the 107% cut off point in BSB?

Time will tell I guess...

[Al]

I think they need to be careful in what direction BSB goes, It should be a a top class domestic championship that feeds British talent into the international championships, which it has been recently. Not a last chance saloon for international racers that have not been able to find anything else.
It's good for us to watch with ex GP and WSB riders coming to our local tracks, but if they let it go too far it will end up being WSBK division two with a few underfunded Brits lining up at the back of the grid.
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[Deano]

TBH AL I think thats exactly what Jonathan Palmer wants, as its where all the money come from if the sponsors see its as the fastest and most competitive domestic championship in the world then more money will come into the series and be more self sufficient.

The German IDM championship will be coming to brands and will result in changes to the back straight because of it.

alot of top riders are going to ss1000 as i think this will be the new benchmark for british talent.

Dont be fooled to think talent is what wins rides, big backing does + talent. For a good BSS 600 ride you need to find 100k to get a seat with a top team. 35-50k is needed just to ride for a good ss1000 or ss600 team.

I was speaking to a team this year about a ride in the Ducati 848 cup who wanted 30k to join .

Alot of people are under the impression riders get paid to ride a bike but infact alot of people are paying for there rides even at world level championships.
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EMRA 2012 final standings, Formula 600s 3rd, Superstock 600s 3rd.
www.triplesevenracing.co.uk: www.ljmotorcyclerepairs.co.uk www.gettaylored.co.uk BN RaceScience, Now officially run out of money to carry on racing

[DXB]

True it may be a case of being a big fish in a small pond, but good luck to the fella.
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superchargers good

[Al]

West is out of BSB! quit his ride at Supersonic BMW to race in Moto2 where he will replace Damian Cudlin. The Ozzy rider that had a couple of wildcard entries last season on a Ducati in MotoGP.
Supersonic BMW must be pissed as it leaves them only a week to find a replacement rider.
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[AL-]

Never rated West anyway

[Al]

I think he's a pretty decent racer but he seems to fall out with every team he rides for. The moto2 team he's joined are basically one of the back markers so I don't expect we will see much of him apart from the odd wet weather performance. Then he will probably fall out with the team and leave half way through the season.
Not sure the Supersonic bike is exactly going to set the world alight though, they've only had one test session with West that I know of.
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[Deano]

there is a reason why he does and thats because of money, he is a good rider and always ends up with bad teams and rides because riders get half way through a season and realise that there contract states they need more money to pay etc.

If you read last months Motorcycle Racer magazine there was a big interview with him and he explains what has been happening to him financially with the teams and its very honest as this sort of thing is usually hush hush and nobody talks about it.

Not sure why he left supersonic bmw but that won't do him any favours but there'll be more to it than it looks.

And there are plenty of riders out there without a ride at the moment.
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Dean Stone #777
EMRA 2012 final standings, Formula 600s 3rd, Superstock 600s 3rd.
www.triplesevenracing.co.uk: www.ljmotorcyclerepairs.co.uk www.gettaylored.co.uk BN RaceScience, Now officially run out of money to carry on racing

[robbieguy2003]

I was up at brands today, will be up tomorrow and monday as well. Got quite a few pics. To be honest, WSBK and MotoGP seem to have a select few that'll be at the pointy end, but BSB looks like it'll be quite interesting.

I can see quite a few different winners, and the race pace will be interesting, especially with no electronics etc.

Anyway, should be a fun weekend, glad the racing has got going again.

Here's a few pics, I took loads but they're all ~6MB, so i've just resized a few. If I get any interesting ones, I'll post them up as well.

https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/small1.jpg

https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/small2.jpg

https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/small3.jpg

https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/small4.jpg
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Old Bikes: Suzuki Intruder 125 LC - '2001, Honda CBR 600F - '92, Honda CBR 600RR - '03

[Llama-Farmer]

Annoyed I've gotta work Easter Monday, especially as I recently got Eurosport added just so I can watch BSB Live

[Al]

Was going to drive down but a 200 mile round trip to stand in the rain for 8 hours didn't really seem worth it so Eurosport it is.

1. Josh Brookes AUS Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 52.877s
2. Jon Kirkham GBR Samsung Honda CBR1000RR 53.155s
3. Shane Byrne GBR Rapid PBM Kawasaki ZX-10R 53.361s
4. Tristan Palmer GBR GBmoto Honda CBR1000RR 53.585s
5. Freddy Foray FRA Quattro Plant Kawasaki ZX-10R 53.767s
6. Noriyuki Haga JPN Swan Yamaha YZF-R1 53.811s
7. Tommy Bridewell GBR Supersonic BMW S1000RR 53.847s
8. Michael Rutter GBR MSS Bathams Kawasaki ZX-10R 53.883s
9. Luca Scassa ITA Padgetts Honda CBR1000RR 54.496s
10. Stuart Easton GBR Rapid PBM Kawasaki ZX-10R 54.526s
11. Ian Lowry GBR Padgetts Honda CBR1000RR 54.082s
12. Gary Mason GBR Quattro Plant Kawasaki ZX-10R 54.133s
13. Alastair Seeley GBR Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 54.324s
14. Graeme Gowland GBR WFR Honda CBR1000RR 54.384s
15. Peter Hickman GBR MSS Bathams Kawasaki ZX-10R 54.385s
16. Chris Walker GBR Pr1mo BKR Kawasaki ZX-10R 54.427s
17. Patric Muff SUI Supersonic BMW S1000RR 54.541s
18. Luke Quigley GBR GBmoto Honda CBR1000RR 55.063s
19. Barry Burrell GBR Buildbase BMW S1000RR 56.062s
20. Florian Marino FRA Splitlath Redmond Aprilia RSV4 56.299s
21. Michael Laverty GBR Samsung Honda CBR1000RR 50.606s
22. James Westmoreland GBR WFR Honda CBR1000RR 50.662s
23. Scott Smart GBR Moto Rapido Ducati 1199 50.724s
24. Dan Linfoot GBR Buildbase BMW S1000RR 50.849s
25. James Hillier GBR Pr1mo BKR Kawasaki ZX-10R 50.881s
26. Alex Lowes GBR WFR Honda CBR1000RR 51.173s
27. Aaron Zanotti GBR A Plant Suzuki GSX-R1000 51.241s
28. Alex Polita ITA Jentin Doodson Ducati 1199 51.485s
29. Tommy Hill GBR Swan Yamaha YZF-R1 51.931s
30. John Laverty GBR Splitlath Redmond Aprilia RSV4 51.999s
31. Jenny Tinmouth GBR Hardinge Honda CBR1000RR 51.968s
32. Tom Tunstall GBR Jentin Doodson Ducati 1199 53.772s
33. Abdulaziz Binladin KSA Moto Rapido Ducati 1199 56.275s

[Fowlersrs]

Its looking very wet, just been watching the first race and all the first 4 bikes went down under braking, very slippy..

gonna be an interesting day, especially without advanced electronics!!

[Al]

Glad I didn't bother travelling down now. Not sure if they will risk sending them out again
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[Al]

Boo game over
Now they want rule changes and all sorts!
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[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Fall off bike. Stay off bike.

Can't see anything wrong with that.
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[Al]

Yeah I can see the sense in it.

I think they are trying to pin all the blame on Pauli Pekkanen as if he did something really stupid and irresponsible when I think any of the top guys would have tried to jump back on. I didn't see Laverty checking his bike over before getting back on when he crashed in race 1.

On a positive note Norwich have just beaten Spurs and the sidecars are now racing.
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