[Texas_Rider]

Wow..first post and my first post



You know Honda will be on top again soon...At least it makes it interesting to watch....

 

[sportbikebandit]

Me thinks American Honda will ask HRC to step back in.....How many Formula Extreme commercials can Honda make? i.e they aren't fooling anyone.. I am sure sales of CBRs are down compared to GSXRs.

No if things continue i.e. no SuperBike wins. Heads will roll. Maybe it's not the tool? Just a thought/question. Zemke seems real hungry though...Can't figure out why Roberts is doing so badly this year.

 

[147]

I'm pretty sure the reason American Honda is running the show on their own is because their hands were tied by HRC last year. They couldn't change anything on the bike without a blessing from on high, and that sometimes took too long. Now, when American Honda needs to change a shock linkage, spring rate, clutch setup, etc., they can do it right away.

 

[Fenton]

I heard a mc gang called the VAGOS stole HRC engines and blueprints from the honda testing facility.

I'm sorry, sometimes I just can't help myself.

 

[yzedf]

That does sound like the HRC way.

 

[SeanAlexander]

Bingo. That's the most likely reason for the newfound independence of the American Honda team. I would imagine that in a camp full of winners, someone is bound to "fix" the problem soon. Those guys hate to lose. -Sean

 

[39970]

AMA Superbike Honda's seem to be coming along. HRC and American Honda, who knows. I'd think that a collaberation of the two would benefit both. I gave up trying to figure out Honda's actions.



Competing against Mat on less than superior equipment would seem a daunting task these days... No disrespect for the other Top riders over here but he seems to have picked up his "game". Until others do the same he looks to have the field covered.

 

[49605]

Rumor mill has Matt Mladin committing to three more years with Suzuki in AMA superbike.



The rules have been stabilized, Suzuki has a more than competitive bike, they've put together a good team... I don't think anybody currently racing in AMA will consistantly beat Mladin over the next couple years.

 

[rock06r]

Diguised in pink gore-tex?

 

[seruzawa]

Corporate bureaucratic micromanagement, eh?



Yep, sounds like Honda. Soichiro must be spinning like mad.

 

[yzedf]

That is tough to agree with considering the only other factory effort is Honda and Ducati (both suffering from different dis-advantages). If Kawasaki and Yamaha were in it to keep everyone honest...?

 

[nokneedragin]

I'm not sure if this is still true, but Ducati was racing using pump gas (the rules of WSB), probably to keep the Data consistant with their WSB teams. The other superbike teams in the AMA are runing racing fuel. The interviews with Eboz and Hodgson has the saying they are down on power coming off the corners. So maybe they need to switch fuel to compete but Ducati racing heads arn't letting them.

 

[nokneedragin]

I believe that HRC is doing the big picture development and letting the different factory supported teams mix and match to get a bike that suits their needs. The Brit team has some sucess (they lead the points). So the USA squad needs to find the right mix of parts to suit the tracks here.

Maybe the riding styles of are so different that they can not get a good base setting to work from.

With the rules set for afew years Yamaha and Kawi better come back in to superbike

 

[BBD_Racing]

Excuses, excuses, excuses. Last year, Honda got beat "because Japan moved too slow," and this year they are getting spanked because "it's a learning curve." Whatever. That is the beauty of racing - the BS is obvious.



Last weekend, Jason DiSalvo qualified on a Superstock R1 faster than all the Honda Superbikes, except Miguel.



You can change the rules, change bikes, whatever. Yoshimura Suziki, through 2 revs of the 750, 2 revs of the 1000 and wholesale changes in the team, continues to dominate.



BTW, I have been a Honda lover for a long time, so this is no Honda-hater bashing here, more like toughlove.



I just want to see the Hayden bros, DiSalvo, Yam and Kawi join the fray. Just as it is, they'd be competitive on their Superstock bikes.

 

[bod]

taking viagra by the handful and going blind for reasons yet unknown

 

[acecycleins]

American Honda Racing chose to R&D their own bike for the same reasons Ten Kate does. They want to know if they can compete without the factory all up in there business. When HRC owned the bike they made sure they called all the shots on development. That is no longer the case. Am Honda will trudge through the year and make improvements along the way. They will work with American suppliers and companies like Ten Kate (you did know that Erion already is doing this?) to make a better race bike without having to wait on HRC to send them parts. Makes sense to me. Am Honda will be more than competitive by seasons end and next season Jake will be winning races left and right.

 

[mscuddy]

at about 15,000 rpm.

 

[DonM]

I was wondering if anyone else on the planet saw the humor in that news story. It sounds like a "NEWS virus" that some one planted to see how far it would go.

 

[8489]

FWIW (which ain't much), my understanding is that HRC is devoting its time and money to MotoGP and there is none available for direct WSB and AMA efforts at present -- a mixed blessing as others have pointed out, given HRC's top-down approach.



The HM Plant team in BSB apparently DOES get some HRC help, which explains why those Hondas are very competitive against the Suzukis and Yamahas and Ducatis. It appears that HRC is using BSB as their development series in case the factory decides to officially re-enter WSB.



All very convoluted, but for the moment, it sort of looks like Honda wants to spend its money in MotoGP and is not willing to risk its FACTORY reputation in the other, lesser, series.

 

[Fenton]

I find humor in most stories. But, I'm not old enough for it to be a "hangover" from the 60's.