[jimngo]

There's no glycol in race bikes, exactly for the reason you state.



Rain happens. Corser should get over it, and get on his bike. Everybody must ride the same course, in the same conditions, so there isn't any advantage by the weather. In the end, it's still a test of skill. Perhaps more so in rainy, windy conditions because the advantage of factory-sponsored 175HP superbikes becomes diminished and the playing field levels out. Maybe that's what Corser, and some of the other factory riders are about: That they can't out-muscle the privateers. Whatsamatta? You afraid, Corser?

 

[273]

Riiiight..It's fairly unusual to see so much balderdash packed into a single post. Having watched the first race, I didn't relish the prospect of watching another display of water sports in which the bikes were barely visible through the storm.

I'm sure the factory riders were quaking in their boots that they'd be outridden by riders who can't get a factory ride. Not.

But the topper is questioning the courage of Corser and his colleagues. It's all very easy to do from the warm, dry, and stationary position of piloting a keyboard.

 

[BammBamm]

I disagree. Rain is one thing, running water and mud, and standing water up to a foot deep at the edge of the track is another. This sport is dangerous enough under good conditions, but it the weather is bad enough to make the rain equipment negligable, postpone the race. This was not a normal rainy day.

 

[static]

If you would have seen race #1, you would realize how serious the weather was in that race. This wasn't a simple shower. There were sheets of water running down the track, and the wind was sending people all over the place. The announcers of the race were frankly suprised that the first race wasn't stopped.

 

[scorpionicko]

I agree with moving the event, it should be early in the year, i.e. March. I live in Melbourne (next to PI)and know that October and November are disaster months here. 5 years ago i raced at Philip Is the weekend after the world supers in a club round, the conditions were similiar to what you saw on the weekend. Unfortunately the weather in Melbourne is unpredictable and often extreme in comparison to the east coast i.e. Sydney. I would move the race back to eastern creek raceway.



As for Troy Corser i admire his stance as it is one thing to have rain and another to have sand/mud rivers flowing across the track and dark skies. PI has a history of forming mini rivers across the track due to the design of the grass banks on inclines. I once lost the rear end of my 250 production bike at 180 k's in one of the those streams in the middle of turn one - all i remember was the revving of the engine as per normal then this "sssssssippp" i saw the lord at that point.



finally it is clear that the world supers needs to develop some criteria to define whether a race should be run or not. riders should not be compromised as troy was.

 

[KJL]

I Think saftey should always be first. They rain out baseball games here in the states all the time and yes there is TV and radio, etc. involved with them too. I have a hard time believing that even a non factory rider would want to take the chance at messing up his bike in weather like that. The factory riders just get handed a new one....

Not saying they are spoiled or anything....6 digit incomes and all the bikes they can trash in a year!!

Stay between the ditches Ya'll

 

[thatguyjohn]

I thought they didn't run glycol because it ate the pavenment up when it soaked in.

 

[kenugly]

I was there!!!! you would not believe the rain and the wind! basically no one would go out in weather like that unless it was life threatening. The crowd was wet the entire three days and the mud was so deep in some areas it was over your ankles just walking back to the stands. On the two corners in front of us (turns 1 and 2) the water was up to the marshalls knees! It was a good decision not to race even if it meant we missed a race. But wasn't that 600 race just one of the best races you have ever seen.I have seen it on TV since and the pictures did not do justice to kevin Curtain going around the outside full blast inbto turn 2. Just amazing. Give this man a permanent 600 ride (even if he is 36).

 

[kenugly]

here here!

 

[ducatichick]

You obviously didn't see the state of the track.

Edwards said the only way he'd race is if it was on a jet-ski. Only a fool would race a Superbike through a flood , and if anyone did crash the ambulance would'nt have had a hope in hell of getting through the mud.

 

[TitaniumCanoe]

First off, accusing Troy Corser of being afraid is childish and disgusting. That aside, while I enjoy seeing the skill required to ride a bike fast in the rain, the Phillips Island conditions were beyond reason for both fans and spectators. Organisers need to exercise good judgement both for rider safety and spectator enjoyment. According to your reasoning they should schedule races in Colorado and Minnesota in January. Now that would really test the bravery of all and level the playing field -- ice, snow, and below zero windchill.

 

[BBD_Racing]

The thing that I don't get is why they couldn't just move the race a day. If it is soooo bloody expensive and soooo many people are depending on the race happening, then they can wait a freaking day.



Screw the organizers, I'm with Troy. As for the spectators, most of them would take the day off work to see the race and be happy they did because sitting in horrible weather for a sporting event is no fun.

 

[hindle]

As an AM racer in CCS and WERA I know that you aren't allowed to use anything in you raditor containg glycol. Most use distilled water with approved additives (redline makes it among others) that help the water adhere to the cylinder walls for improved cooling.

 

[RacinJason]

It is a shame that no one is standing up for the riders. Where the hell where the Team Managers? I can't believe that the team managers would allow their riders to go out? By the way, Tardozzi seemed to be in ususal form...

Don't make Corser out to be the bad guy, I truly think that he did the right thing. Well, I guess this will spark interest and there will probably be some standard procedures appear soon.

 

[jimngo]

OK, OK. First off, the Corser comment was a joke. Second: No, I haven't seen the first race. I have it taped off Speedvision, but I haven't had a chance to replay it yet. If the conditions were that bad, then cancel it. What I hate to see is something like what happened at the Sears Point AMA Superbike last year, where they made the crowd sit around all day then cancel the race because of a few measly sprinkles.



I did catch the last 5 seconds of the broadcast of what I thought was the second race. I saw Bostrom riding a victory lap and thought "good for Ben!" until I noticed that there weren't any logos on his leathers or bike, just like Kyalami. Then I thought, "wait a second...that IS Kyalami!"



So there's my mea culpa. Ya happy now?

 

[jimngo]

Off Topic: Why would rain affect the safety of a baseball game? I think the team owners love to postpone games so they can force the fans to come back again and buy more hotdogs and beers.

 

[stevegrab]

Actually Ben raced at Philip Island with the same lack of L&M logo on his bike. That may have been the Kyalami race you saw on Speedvisoin, but don't assume that just because they weren't running the tobacco sponsorship.



If you didn't see the race and have some idea how bad the weather was, why are you commenting on it. I can see you point a little, all the riders have to ride the same conditions. It seemed like Corser decided he was the boss, and was trying to go tell the organizers and race controllers what to do. That was wrong, unless he is some sort of rider's representative. But to say the factory riders were afraid of the privateers, yeah right. Those guys were being lapped more often than normal, especially by the 3 riders at the front.

 

[stevegrab]

Don't know if the FIM has any provision for postponing a race to the next day. But in this case, it still probably would not have been done. The next round of the series is in Japan this weekend, so they have a short week to pack up, and get their transporters to Sugo, to start setting up for racing again on Thursday or Friday.

 

[stevegrab]

Does anybody know, when they're talking about the organizers deciding whether to cancel the race, are these the event promoters? Or are they talking about FIM officials, race marshalls, etc?



If it is the promoters making the decision, that is the first problem. The decision to start/stop a race should rest with the people charged with running the race, and dealing with rules. The promoter will always want the race to be run, because they are afraid of not producing the product they promised the fans (then fans want money back etc.) The race officials should be asking the riders for their input.



But, no single rider (unless he is elected to speak for them) should go and try to tell them (people deciding) to cancel the race. That never looks good. That person then is considered to be a whiner, or too scared to race. As somebody else stated, "where were the team managers" Good question, if anybody is going to talk to the powers that be, it should be team managers, not the competitors.



I'm in no way saying that race 2 should have been held. In fact I agree with Troy that race 1 should probably not have been run either. But it was a decent compromise, one race was run, the fans got something, nobody was seriously injured or anything. And the fact that Edwards ran so hard and outpaced the pack indicates the conditions were not really that bad. Or else he is more crazy than I thought.



The FIM needs to get their head out of their collective a$$es and set up some procedures for handling these things. Waiting until it happens, then trying to decide in a pressure cooker situation, never has good results.

 

[tomaz]

Bravo1 Be strong, It was realy bed wether and emposible to race. Fortunatly you are still alive

and we well see you in next race. I am looking forward.



Tomaz, Slovenia