a couple of years ago when they were backing the bikes big time into the corner and breaking the rears loose this would have been true, but not now. boys got some serious tallent. watch out when they go 800CC

for sure, hows a boy supposed to concentrate on goin round at 200MPH with that quality in their faces on the grid. no wonder there in a hurry to finish the race and get back to the pits :D

What about Chris Atkinson in the WRC? You can add him to the list of kick-arse sporting Aussies.

Downhill? Top 20 from the last World Cup

1 Steve Peat (GBr) 1.58.30
2 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Team G-Cross Honda 1.59.47
3 Gee Atherton (GBr) Team Animal/Giant 1.59.55
4 Nathan Rennie (Aus) 1.59.99
5 Chris Kovarik (Aus) MS-Intense Factory-Racing Team 2.00.39
6 Cédric Gracia (And) 2.00.60
7 Fabien Barel (Fra) Kona Les Gets Factory Team 2.00.89
8 Filip Polc (Svk) Gravity Group 2.01.24
9 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) Team G-Cross Honda 2.01.41
10 Bryn Atkinson (Aus) 2.01.79
11 Michael Hannah (Aus) Cannondale/The Cut 2.02.08
12 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Racing Factory Team 2.02.09
13 Julien Camellini (Fra) 2.02.52
14 Samuel Hill (Aus) 2.02.91
15 Marc Beaumont (GBr) Team MBUK Santacruz 2.03.33
16 Andrew Neethling (RSA) 2.03.36
17 David Vazquez Lopez (Esp) Maxxis-MSC 2.03.55
18 Dan Atherton (GBr) Team Animal/Giant 2.03.95
19 Mickael Pascal (Fra) Qbikes 2.04.09
20 Samuel Zbinden (Swi) 2.04.55

We have 6, poms have 4, but two podiums, so let's call it even :p

Big losers? Where are the Seppos? NOWHERE, thats where! :beer:

The Aussie commetator (Martin? Mark??) was down there with his mike saying "It's like a Miss Universe pageant down here...until a bike race broke out!"

Hilarious quote from US State Dept. over three recent suicides at Guantanamo Bay, just aired on JJJ's 'Hack' show:

"It certainly wasn't a good PR move"

Officer in Command commenting about the suicides:

"It's not an act of desperation, it's an act of war"

Another US spokesman

"Inmates are actually being fed so much, they're becoming obese."

Sorry, just had to indulge in that quick diversion. Makes my blood boil. :mad:

Anyway, back to our regular Podium Girl programme! :)

With the MotoGP HDTV can you point me to an article about them moving to 800CC. I bet honda had a big say in that.

Hey, it's America, they're supposed to be obese. No, wait a minute, it's not really America, it's Cuba. No, it's... it's... well, it doesn't matter cause they're committing acts of war !!!

yup your right, dont have an article at hand but they have it the easiest apparantly. ironicly ducati is the 1st team to debut their 800cc bike and it looks quick....

Ducatis always look quick, but they corner like a Chrysler Charger :lol:

Awesome handling bikes, and gawd they can get out of a corner quickly.

Just ask Troy Bayliss ;)

Ahem! Maybe there's a few more yanks winning XC, or some foreign road race...

It's difficult to compete overseas when you think Belgium is somewhere in Pennsylvania.

"Yo, where's all the bike riders y'all? Durrrr.....maybe they're at Krispy Kreme?"

:p

Don't you mean "they can get out of shape in a corner quickly"!!! :D

The number of times I turned the telly off and went to bed in disgust after another Bayliss crash in the MotoGP. Why the hell do they have so much trouble in MotoGP when they are the kings of SuperBikes?

More power and less weight again!

The things were tearing the crap out of their front tyres. Almost every one of Bayliss' MotoGP failures was due to front wheel washout

its long and complex! Bayliss did v well on the Duc in motoGP, at least in his 1st year. in the 2nd year the bike was a dog, with caparossi also having big issues with it. after the phillip island round Bayliss finally managed to convince them to try a suspension fork hed been wanting all year but they had denied and he wound up somthing liek a second and a half faster on the new fork. unfortunatley that was the end of his time at Duc.

when he went to Honda, he didnt like somthing to do with the clutch. i think in the honda they dont use it as much, or they use it more. cant remember. either way he had a hard time getting used to it. couple that with the 16 inch front wheel that cmae in and he was way out of his depth. :( hard to ride a bike on the limit when you dont have confidence in the front end.

in superbikes hes way back on top, just killing everyone. and so he should. Superbikes is full of guys who never made the big leage and fallen stars of MotoGP. theres a lot of difference in technology between the 2 as well, 1 being a full on prototype, the other based on a production chassis. On the other hand, Alex Barros is having a bit of a hard time getting his head around the Honda superbike hes on, so it works both ways.

From Cyclingnews.com

Vogels to leave Davitamon
By Hedwig Kröner

Catching up with Australian rider Henk Vogels (Davitamon-Lotto), after some rumours about his departure had started to spread in the Belgian press, the 32 year-old told Cyclingnews that there was a "big possibility" that he would not ride for the team anymore next year, but that he could not comment on his ongoing negociations.

"My contract is running out at the end of the season, that's true, and I'm currently in talks with several teams," Vogels said. "I can't talk about it at the moment, but I definitely haven't signed anything yet."


No place for him in Robbie's train anymore? Will his age start to limit his options now - or should he have a few good years left?

I heard that on the news and my jaw dropped. The Ministry of Propoganda scores!
Someone really should whack that POTUS'd pig.....uh, on the bottom. He's a very naughty boy.:eek:

He's probably sick of leading him out, getting out to go for some wins himself. Go Henk !

http://www.wildhorizons.com.au/highlandfling/ entries now open for the highland fling. for those who are stupid enough theres now a 100 mile loop, but you have to be able to comlete it in 8 hours....

Alex Barros had a bit of a hard time getting his head around anything related to a bike. Had a nasty habit of crashing an awful lot. I can remember Sheehan (who wasn't one of his greatest fans) almost crying in dismay when he turfed it with a lap to go when he looked like taking out his first ever GP win.

When are people going to realise that marathons should be point-to-point?

160kms in 8hrs? AVS 20kph on a mountainbike? You'd have to have iron lungs.

i have a feeling it may be invatiation only. imagine finishing 8 hours 5 mins and being classified DNF. enough to make you cry....

could be exciting for them if it rains!

also, i dont know what sort of condition penrose is going be be in if it was logged a couple of months ago....

Sorry, not the MotoGP bikes, the superbikes. No time fer MotoGP.
The MotoGP bikes are so far removed from the real world it just ain't funny. The Ducati superbikes are just incredible pieces of gear... I've ridden Suzuki and Yamaha Superbikes and I also had a crack at one of the factory Ducati 996 Corsa's - it was down on outright power compared to the jap bikes but what it had could be used so much more and the confidence the frame/suspension gave was incredible.
They're sorta like a chooky with a V8.

I've ridden road 916/996's on the track and it's a similar sort of thing... not fantastic on the straights but when you get to the corners... yeehaaawww!!

and the sneaky buggers want a capacity increase as well!

has anyone heard from Berny? its been a while.... he did seem a bit down about his results at the masters... hell, even Hitchy was on here last night.