Til Midnight? They were on Saturday during the afternoon, back to back.

 

Have you guys noticed the anger of the other podium guys. Haga is PISSED! Biaggi is so disgusted that he refused to say ben's name in the first race interview, and they didnt even show him in race 3. I re-state; the rest of the racing world doesnt like the US guys. Did you hear jonathon green dis jason pridmore last year? "welcome to world SBK with the big boys" etc. No offense to him but pridmore was over even in AMA. Look at hodgson (SBK champ) who came to ama & flopped (or at least didnt win) AMERICA-WE'RE NUMBER ONE!!

 

Yeah it's really amusing to see their reaction. That's half the fun is all the other people he's pissing off along the way

 

I think you're reading way too much into this.

Colin Edwards has always seemed to have a lot of fan support in Europe. And I'd have to say the same for Nicky Haden from some of the Brit mags I've read. Most of the Nicky haters are here in the US. He's gotten alot more respect over there, I think, because so many Americans judge him or are embarrassed by his accent. All you have do is listen to the guy to see he really "gets" the technical part of the sport, too. The Euros tend to accept his accent/grammar quirks as just "local color", I think.

And one of the announcers at the Qatar WSBK race was literally gushing admiration for Ben Spies, talking about how he (the announcer) had lived & gone to school in Texas.

So I think this "the world hates us " stuff is a misperception. Of course there is a lot of nationalistic pride in WSBK and MotoGP, but I think the rest of the world is pretty fair to the American competitors.

Now when we become arrogant about how the US is so much better than the rest of the world... well, I'm sure that can **** some people off.... and rightly so.

 

I agree.

 

I don't think it is Nicky Hayden's accent per se people look down on. It's his hillbillie grammar. He ain't got and don't have no unnerstandin' of English grammar. Doesn't mean **** to me. He's a bright guy, great racer and knows what he's doing. Some people just get hung up on the fact that he speaks American hillbillie instead of proper English.

 

I am basing my observations on all the europeans that live here in NYC. They just feel that since they have been doing racing for more generations that they are better. It also doesnt help that nascar is our idea of auto racing, they compare that to F1 and rally cars & laugh. They are somewhat right about that. They also take biking way more seriously in euro land. both on the street with the respect two wheelers get and the zillions of fans at the races

 

a couple of good races... ben is the man !

hagga always has an excuse; but he did beat max on a slower bike.


tim

 

This is the euro-place I like to go for racing news. There are always lots of great quotes & pics.

http://www.crash.net/

They even cover NASCAR, but don't cover AMA. Don't get that, really. If I had to pick one auto raciing series to watch it would be V8 Supercars in Australia.

 

Nicky's accent is part of his personality, and I think it makes him more likable.

Some Brits, like James Tosland, don't exactly speak the "Queen's English" either.

 

I was thinking, and biaggi must be ready to blow his brains out. he starts off as the top dog in moto gp and then along comes this phenom kid on a yamaha(eventually), and just rolls right over him and everybody else. ok, after enough seasons of getting pounded on but the brat with the big bang I-4, he leaves and goes to WSBK where he can once again be top dog, and...what just happened? oh ****.

 

The old Roman Emperor never achieved the glory his title implied and to be no less upstaged by an Urbino peasant. So the fallen but still dangerous emperor may be rearing his head above all but cowboy from a mythical place also shaped like an even bigger boot.

 

max hasn't been 'top dog' since he went to the 500cc gp bike. he was fast on the 250's 'cause he rode them FOREVER.

rossi had his number... those were fun races ! just like seti, fast rider but lacks the mental game to be on top.

tim

 

HUH!!!

Are we waxing poetic on the Forum now?

 

I definitely believe that banging fairings with Mladin in the AMA series prepped Spies for the big stage...

 

I don't think Haga's pissed, I think frustrated is more like it...he's mentioned a couple of times now that he's ten years older than Spies, maybe he feels his long overdue championship slipping away...he could also be second guessing his move from Yamaha to Ducati...

 

I agree. Everyone thought that this was Haga's year to win it with Bayliss out of the picture. Then out of nowhere this rookie is kicking everyone's ***. I predict Biachii will crash Spies out of a race well before this season is over. He did it to Haga two years ago effectively costing him the championship, and has already run Ben off the track in Phillip Island race 1. Yeah, Ben would have won that race too, judging by his race-end lap times.