eastbaydave
Needs a job
Posts: 2245
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posted November 15, 2005 09:46 PM
More Max fun....
Now that he's down to begging Team Roberts for a ride...
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=2131978
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Enjoy the ride!
02' ZRX1200
00' ZX12R sold
  
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trenace
Needs a job
Posts: 3056
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posted November 15, 2005 10:10 PM
 Edited By: trenace on 15 Nov 2005 22:12
Following a link from Bay Area Rider's Forum, perhaps the inner link that you meant (above linky no worky), http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/v4/l0/s39/sport_lng0_spo39_sto790200.shtml
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junior s
Pro
?
Posts: 1644
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posted November 15, 2005 11:27 PM
I hear Denny's is hiring ......
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Get up off your ass and ride !!
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trenace
Needs a job
Posts: 3056
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posted November 15, 2005 11:34 PM
Edited By: trenace on 16 Nov 2005 00:07
The article said he tried seeing if he could ride for Kawasaki -- bringing Camel sponsorship with him, which would be a huge deal -- but was refused. Obviously because of his mouth and attitude.
Which really is a shame because if not for the mouth and attitude (of course he wouldn't have been available if not for them) his high-corner-speed style actually would be pretty suited to the Kawasaki. It's not unbelievable that his finishes, had he been riding Kawasaki this year, might have been higher than Nakano's, even quite substantially so.
Perhaps it wouldn't have been only Olivier Jacque that podium'd, had Biaggi been on the ZX-RR.
However, he simply wouldn't have the temperament to be a positive representative of the bike and Kawasaki instead of negative. So I have to agree with the decision to not hire him, unless something could have been worked out with a total "code of silence" (or is that "cone of silence") clause that was really enforceable.
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Outsiderzx12r
Zone Head
Street Racer
Posts: 841
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posted November 16, 2005 06:59 AM
I wish Kawasaki would get someone on that bike that could produce some results, other than 8th - 9th place finishes for a majority of the races...
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OutsiderZX12R
2000 ZX12R-A1
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted November 16, 2005 12:02 PM
is it possible that the riders they have ARE capable of producing results, but the bike is just not up to par?
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trenace
Needs a job
Posts: 3056
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posted November 16, 2005 12:15 PM
Edited By: trenace on 16 Nov 2005 15:27
The bike is virtually certainly not as quick around every track as the best Hondas and Yamahas. Some tracks it fairly clearly has not been performing well -- on the other hand, on the same tracks various Hondas and Yamahas have given equal lap time performance, so it could be setup and/or riders vs the bike itself even in those cases.
On the other hand, a lot of races, Nakano is finishing midpack among the Hondas and Yamahas.. as many of each behind him as in front of him. Without having specifically verified the stats, my impression actually is that most races he has had a couple of Hondas and a couple of Yamahas behind him. So is the bike itself slower than the Honda and Yamaha designs on these tracks? Or is it that he's drastically superior to riders like Tamada but the ZX-RR holds him back to equal? I am not so sure that he's drastically if any superior to those riders, actually.
In many cases the difference between him and the leaders is only 0.5 sec per lap or so... and no difference between him and various Hondas and Yamahas or a difference of him being faster, including sometimes riders like Biaggi.
Could a different rider like Rossi (as one example) be worth 0.5 sec or 1.0 sec per lap compared to Nakano? Impossible to say for sure but it doesn't seem an outrageously absurd possibility.
If there were more Kawasakis out there, if there were cases of riders established on other bikes switching to the Kawasaki and vice versa, it would be a lot easier to say. As it is, it's about impossible.
One aspect is that Nakano has not been doing greatly better than Hofmann... and Hofmann sucks (by MotoGP standards, not by how I ride of course.) So if accepting that, maybe the 10th place overall finish has more to do with Nakano than with the bike? Of course that might be a wrong analysis.
You also do have to wonder: why did Olivier Jacque podium this year (within a second or two of winning actually) but Nakano never did this year? "Rain" isn't the full answer, and Jacque while talented, no one would call the very cream of MotoGP.
My best guess but it's PURELY a personal guess is that Nakano would be a 5th to 9th place rider in total points were he on a Yamaha or Honda, call it 7th or 8th as best guess, vs 10th place on the Kawasaki; and several other riders could have done better on the Kawasaki than Nakano did though Nakano is a good rider for Kawasaki to retain. I would just like to see a rider already proven in MotoGP to be able to score high in total points for the season and to consistently podium being on a Kawasaki. That isn't the case for Nakano in MotoGP. We don't know that he could on a Honda or Yamaha either.
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ozzy
Needs a job
need guberment cheese
Posts: 3172
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posted November 19, 2005 04:53 AM
quote:
unless something could have been worked out with a total "code of silence" (or is that "cone of silence") clause that was really enforceable.
Isn' t that why the support truck carries rolls of duct tape?
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