Hodgson to MotoGP

[chunder]

As I understand it Hodge will ride a Duke in GP next year for a team made up WCM and HM PLant. Mainly cause Dorna won't let another team just join, much like Bernie does in F1. You eiter have to buy into a team or take over when one drops out.
As usual on here we have all the Brit rider hating Aussies saying Hodge is **** and all the Brits saying he is good. Usual stuff there then, but you can not discount what he did last year, beating Bostrom on the same tyres and an older bike. That is the fairest way of rating him. Remember Bostrom is the same guy that won five on the tro the year before, you don't just get **** all of a sudden!
Hodge wil get the ride coz Duke will have to give him summat for winnin WSB, they are gonna pull out of WSB anyway coz Flammini is messing around too much with it. (Introducing control Pirellis for example, no surprise they are an Italian brand then!)
Might be the best thing for it you know. No factory teams, think how good it would be this year without Fila Ducati rather than moaning about how **** WSB is. The racing has STILL been very good on occasion.

[racer69]

You can enter F1 with a new team if you want at the moment, because the 24 grid spots aren't full.

I agree about WSB, in my view the championship can still be very strong without the manufacturers entering works teams. The control tyre rule is a really dumb move though. That is the end of competitive wildcards......

[kevf]

Originally posted by chunder

As usual on here we have all the Brit rider hating Aussies saying Hodge is **** and all the Brits saying he is good.

not necessarily as usual a lot of brits slag him off as well me i think he is doing a good Job, yes maybe he has got the best bike out there so it gives him an advantage.. WSB has always been and always will be top of production bike racing otherwise it wouldn't be a world series..

Were as MotoGP is full of prototype backs with new bits new ideas, the bikes are lighter ( know i am a marshal and have had to pick both up) and faster... even bayliss said that it was a different riding experience fortunately he has adapted well other riders don't and come back to WSB... yes there are the bayliss's and edwards in this season so do we send them all back to WSB then MotoGP then becomes boring... and we say he's only winning because the only competition is a bunch of nobodies.... think not

lets all agree to disagree but i think we are missing the point I would like to see both championships have some good close racing... Hodgie may only be few points from securing the championship but he has had some close races...

So lets just enjoy the racing no matter what (you wanna try club racing thats even closer and more xuas's then ever)

[kevf]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
No no no Kev, I don't agree with much of that.

Hodgson isn't acheiving much this eyar, all he's doing is beating a crasher on an identical bike and a bunch of comparative nobodies (Chili and Toseland excepted) on aged machinery. You can't call it a topline chamopionship with the results guys like Borciani and amrtina re getting.

Rossi may have the top bike, but Biaggi's bike isn't far behind the pace, and we can't tell how much slower the Ducatis and Yamahas are. Certainly they are not as far back as everyone else is behidn the WSBK Ducatis.

Gibernau also has the works bike and is giving Rossi a run for his money in an increasingly thrilling title battle, and Ukawa and Hayden aren't brillaint, but aren't bad by any means. The overall competition level in MotoGP was always much higher than Superbikes, even before Bayliss and Edwards switched.

The works manufacturers won't return to Superbikes, Honda are the only possibility, and Suzuki will only stick around if the rules package is what they want. Even Ducati aren't certain yet.

so should everyone have identical bikes so we can tell..?? but didn't lavilla give hodgie a run for his money a couple of times the season? he is more or less a works bike...

yes agreed the competition level is and has always been higher but isn't that what bike racers strive to achieve... i am sure most don't want to stay in production bikes for ever...

Akin to a motor racing driver wanting to get into F1 don't think they say touring cars for me and thats it don't want to go any further.. they may end up there but that is not there ambition when the first start racing..

[Hunka]

Hodgson is not bad, but the competition is not there in superbikes anymore so you can't tell if he is that great. In my opinion if he was that good he would have got the Duke ride before Bayliss when Foggy went down.

[Rambo]

He was still in the British Superbike championship that year. Bayliss, his team mate, had just won it and was the logical choice.

[chunder]

Youa rew asting your time Ramb, you van never persuade and Aussie that a Brit can ever be better. THough this time he has a point, Troy was better for Ducati at the time, but only coz the Fog had his crash, otherwise he would have wasted away in the USA.
Also hearing now that the team will be the D'Antin team to run the bikes, not WCM and HM PLant as originally thought.
No idea aho the other rider might be, SPanish team, might be Xaus I reckon.

[gomick]

Originally posted by chunder
As usual on here we have all the Brit rider hating Aussies saying Hodge is **** and all the Brits saying he is good. Usual stuff there then,

i dont have a problem with british riders - what's with the complex

do you feel guilty having a wsbk champion on the best bike by a mile, i never had a problem with mick winning 5 in a row on a nsr 500