WSBK Aragon : the old guard, or the new protagonists ?

[weeksy]

So we're into the first race at Aragon, FP2 is over and Superpole today along with Race1.

1 Chaz Davies GBR GoEleven Ducati 1:50.400s
2 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +0.290s
3 Scott Redding GBR Aruba.It Ducati +0.380s
4 Alvaro Bautista SPA Team HRC +0.414s
5 Leon Haslam GBR Team HRC +0.600s
6 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +0.637s
7 Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Ducati +0.779s
8 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha +0.802s
9 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +0.831s
10 Garrett Gerloff USA GRT Yamaha +0.838s
11 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha +1.381s
12 Eugene Laverty IRL RC Squadra Corse BMW +1.581s
13 Tom Sykes GBR Motorrad BMW +1.661s
14 Isaac Vinales SPA Orelac Kawasaki +1.699s
15 Kohta Nozane JPN GRT Yamaha +1.838s
16 Tito Rabat SPA Barni Ducati +1.906s
17 Michael Van Der Mark NED Motorrad BMW +1.977s
18 Lucas Mahias FRA Kawasaki Puccetti +2.044s
19 Jonas Folger GER Benovo BMW +2.092s
20 Christophe Ponsson FRA Gil Yamaha +3.194s
21 Leandro Mercardo ARG MIE Honda Racing +4.565s
22 Loris Cresson BEL Pedercini Kawasaki +5.172s
23 Samuele Cavalieri ITA Pedercini Kawasaki +5.341s

For me, i don't really care who wins or which team wins, as long as there's battles... good solid battles i want.

The Ducati of Chaz is pretty though this season.

[weeksy]

Well it was, pretty much wsb as we know it. Rea clears off and the rest are up and down with tyres, some half interesting bits but overall a bit lacking again. Last 2 laps got a bit oooohhhh with Lowes, toprak and Redding.

[Skub]

The SSP 300 had good racing!

[weeksy]

The SSP 300 had good racing!

Sure did, proper racing and fine entertainment

[formula400]

Didt catch the race today but Redding made his intentions clear, he wants to win and go back to MotoGP, hope him and Jonny have a good battle this year. Both top boys

[weeksy]

Nightmare for Redding this morning, which I'm ok with as I don't like him.
Rea dominant once again, I may just give him the title today in honesty.

Rinaldi still having a terrible weekend on the factory Ducati

[Yorick]

That's more like it

[KungFooBob]

I'm going to mostly support Topcat this season.

He's got some proper style on a bike. A few time I've been convinced he was off, but saved it and made it look easy.

[Skub]

Good to see sportsmanship all round after Gerloff's heat of the moment lunge on Rea. Two decent spuds.

Redding's gamble worked for him second time around,he has some balls to go against the field on tyre choice.

I think the conditions flattered the BMWs,but it's good to see them up there and progressing.

In supersport,Tuuli was riding the wheels off that MV and it's a pity it ended the way it did,both riders deserved better. Cluzel has some crazy bad luck the past while,I hope he doesn't further get injured.

The entertainment was great,even if the racing was a little compromised due to tyres and weather.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The SSP 300 had good racing!

Best racing I watched today, shows that you don't need lots of power for a good race

[weeksy]

JONATHAN REA 57 KAWASAKI
ALEX LOWES 45 KAWASAKI
SCOTT REDDING 40 DUCATI
TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU 30 YAMAHA
TOM SYKES 23 BMW
GARRETT GERLOFF 23 YAMAHA
MICHAEL VAN DER MARK 21 BMW
CHAZ DAVIES 17 DUCATI
ANDREA LOCATELLI 13 YAMAHA
MICHAEL RUBEN RINALDI 9 DUCATI
JONAS FOLGER 8 BMW
LEON HASLAM 8 HONDA
ALVARO BAUTISTA 8 HONDA
LUCAS MAHIAS 7 KAWASAKI
KOHTA NOZANE 7 YAMAHA
AXEL BASSANI 6 DUCATI
ISAAC VINALES 6 KAWASAKI
CHRISTOPHE PONSSON 1

[lostboy]

Nightmare for Redding this morning, which I'm ok with as I don't like him.
Rea dominant once again, I may just give him the title today in honesty.

Rinaldi still having a terrible weekend on the factory Ducati

Why don't you like Redding? You've probably said before but I don't remember.

[weeksy]

Nightmare for Redding this morning, which I'm ok with as I don't like him.
Rea dominant once again, I may just give him the title today in honesty.

Rinaldi still having a terrible weekend on the factory Ducati

Why don't you like Redding? You've probably said before but I don't remember.

In simple terms, he seems like an Insta chavvy wanker. Simple as that. His whole persona i see (only online as i've never met him) screams of "look at me i'm a cool bad boy wanker"
I watched one video where he was in Thailand or somewhere, in between races and was wankered and couldn't find his hotel. Screamed to me of unprofessionalism, maybe he's changed, i dunno. But this was around the time he was battling for the factory bike option and lost out... i can't help but wonder if "maybe if you were tucked up in bed at 10pm instead of getting back at 6am, you've have got the factory bike"

[lostboy]

Nightmare for Redding this morning, which I'm ok with as I don't like him.
Rea dominant once again, I may just give him the title today in honesty.

Rinaldi still having a terrible weekend on the factory Ducati

Why don't you like Redding? You've probably said before but I don't remember.

In simple terms, he seems like an Insta chavvy wanker. Simple as that. His whole persona i see (only online as i've never met him) screams of "look at me i'm a cool bad boy wanker"
I watched one video where he was in Thailand or somewhere, in between races and was wankered and couldn't find his hotel. Screamed to me of unprofessionalism, maybe he's changed, i dunno. But this was around the time he was battling for the factory bike option and lost out... i can't help but wonder if "maybe if you were tucked up in bed at 10pm instead of getting back at 6am, you've have got the factory bike"

And that's a very fair assumption. If I hadn't had the benefit of seeing a few years in Losail and saw a very different side to him I'd feel very much the same. As you say his social media feeds are (were?!) "check out my latest shag/tattoo/bling etc" and I stopped following him on anything as a result so they may have improved.

The Redding we saw around the five days of Qatar was completely different. He's held in huge esteem by his former teams* and it was noticeable that the VDS guys in particular were very close to him. His Pramac team really rated him and again it was noticeable how hard he was working to try and make it work for him.

*I posted on TRC at the time that one of the years that we were there (17, I think) was massively problematic with rain and the schedule changed to allow qualifying and racing on the same day and the riders were all hanging around the pit lane and the only issue with Redding seemed to be that he couldn't talk to Vinales (as he was shagging his recent former girlfriend) other than that he was clearly very popular with riders and teams alike.

It's quite funny as the one that I struggle with is Miller. The whole MotoGP apparatus constantly bang on about how popular he is but he must have changed incredibly in the last few years as he was a complete cunt.

[Supermofo]

It's quite funny as the one that I struggle with is Miller. The whole MotoGP apparatus constantly bang on about how popular he is but he must have changed incredibly in the last few years as he was a complete cunt.

I thought the same about Miller. BT sport guys love him and his 'Goon' riding etc, but in Moto3 he was an utter arsehat in interviews and on track. He didn't change much when he came across to MotoGP either. Having said that he seems much better recently. Albeit I only see what's on telly.

[Skub]

I'm going to mostly support Topcat this season.

He's got some proper style on a bike. A few time I've been convinced he was off, but saved it and made it look easy.

His flamboyant style on the bike makes me feel he channels the rider spirit of Haga,great to watch and a demon on the anchors. We'll be seeing a lot more of him this year.