WSBK: Salt Lake City

mitch179 said:

Anyone know what's wrong with Chris Vermeulen?

He can't get much past second last these days :S

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Jay said:

I have to admit to being pissed off it's on Monday. Let me explain..... Racing happens on Sunday and while that's not completely true, as a whole it happens on a Sunday. For that reason Sundays during racing season have a special significance for me. While my routine is different to you Aussie's because we get most MotoGP races from 11am\12pm until 2pm and World Supers from 10:30am till 2pm\3pm the importance is the same. So roughly the same time every Sunday I get up earlier than my body would like to on the weekend and go downstairs and watch the racing. Because I sacrafice a lie-in for the racing I feel like I've acheived something because I was entertained in a way that speaks directly to me and who I am, so I was rewarded for my sacrafice. My only goal for the day is to watch the racing so anything I do after 3pm is an extra little reward. Basically it's a good day, Sunday. When the last race of the season is over every year I say the same thing, WTF am I supposed to do with Sunday now(I know, go riding) but it's so easy to watch the racing and be wow'ed. I have Sunday as bascially my day of bikes and racing worship. Bikes are something I am passionate about so to spoil myself with it once a week is a nice treat. I don't have to move from my house, I get entertained, it's a good deal. There are a few notible exceptions but every one with good reason. The Aussie WSBK race is the first race of the year so after 6 months with no racing, tuning in at just before midnight when you have work the next day is a small small sacrafice I'm happy to make. I'm like a junkie that's just got his dole, there's nothing more important than getting my first fix and all I do is lose an hours sleep that night, no biggie. Assen WSBK is still held on a Saturday because for many years before WSBK was around the track promised the locals they wouldn't race on a Sunday so it's tradition. I also don't mind this as this traditional was in place well before WSBK was even thought of(WAY BEFORE). WSBK respects that and I don't mind because I get one Sunday back to spend on things that you wouldn't normally rate higher than the racing on a Sunday. It helps me to not appear as selfish with nearly 6 months of Sundays spent watching racing before anything else can happen with family or friends. Priorities after all. The GP in Qatar is held during the night and it's suggested that's is because it'll appear on European TV at a normal time of around 12pm to about 2pm\3pm. But I can garentee, having lived in Qatar for a year that the real reason is because of the un-bareable tempuratures at that midday. Trust me, MotoGP is a meant to be test of motorcycling skill, not just endurance to blistering tempuratures. Eugene Lavery being Irish, and pastey white because of it would wilt. So level playing field at night, a night GP is a spectical not seen anywhere else on the racing calender and also European audiences get the race at the regular time. Everyone wins in my slightly spoilt European eyes. However, having the fucking racing on labour day suits only one thing, American profit. The Americans are all home anyway, more bums on the couch watching the ads in between the racing. So in my biased overly-sensitive passionate bike racing fan opinion WHO THE FUCK do the Americans think they are changing a bike racing tradition to suit the mighty dollar.... It cheapens the sport, it cheapens my expiernce of watching the GP because I'd have to take the day off work to see it live....all for the mighty dollar. In Europe we have traditions that define us and morals to remind us of whats right and wrong, American society and Capitalism is wholly based on the pursuit of the dollar. I'm not into politics so I niavely assumed everyone is motivated by the same good intensions and love of the SPORT. I understand I'm tarring everyone with the same brush and that's not right, but enough people with money at stake convinced WSBK(probably by waving loads of money at them)to change the way they do things. It robs me of my normal religious-like status of Sunday for the sake of something that I don't prioritize over my bike race watching. I'm gutted and a little angry at the same time(and I know at the end of it all I'm over-reacting but this does not suit Europe, and it does not suit Australia yet we have to suffer this change and if I am really honest it's only annoying me because it suits the people who as a whole, don't have as much passion about WSBK and MotoGP as we do. They have their AMA and thats the important championship in their eyes. Ours is just foreign racing. WE ARE WSBK AND MOTOGP, the Americans are only a big market that needs to be developed.

Drunk rant over...sorry.

I have vented, now I feel better....

To be reasonable for a second, I know WSBK and MotoGP are businesses are as such are just there to make money, but they provide me with my fix of bike passion and for the very first time this race is not tailored to suit me, the loyal fan who stood by both championships without question, no matter how boring a race was or no matter if the grid was 17 riders or 35. It's now taliored for a developing market instead of the core supporters, and yes I know I'm an over-reacting spoilt european, but GOD DAMN IT give me back my Sunday and go fuck your quest for 'maximizing advertising potential'.

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