Toldya'...
T3
Mike Richardson
"T3" <not...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:46a90509$0$32586$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
> http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=11145
>
>
"It's believed Loris Capirossi is close to a deal, though he was to be
offered a third bike at Marlboro Ducati in a meeting in Bologna, Italy
today."
Umm, you know he has signed with Suzuki yes?
Mark N
Toldya what?
Mark N
> http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=11145
So this is kind of a strange article, and one wonders what really has
been decided yet. It sounds like Spies has talked to Suzuki-Japan or
their reps in MotoGP and they've at least verbally committed to
providing him with tests and some wildcard rounds over the rest of his
current contract, which runs through next year. But it doesn't sound
like he has an extended contract or anything firm for 2009 yet, just
some sort of verbal intent.
As for going over full time next year, it seems like that might be
dependent on whether or not Suzuki is successful in signing any of the
riders they might be chasing now to replace Hopkins, assumedly Capirossi
at the top of the list. But if Vermeulen has a new two-year deal and
Spies really has a factory team commitment for 2009, then whoever else
they're talking to has a built-in dead-end after 2008, unless they're
willing to do a three-rider team in 2009. Which probably means this
Aspar business isn't going to happen.
And Spies is talking quite openly about something that's still very much
in the formative stages, which is unusual. Maybe that's just because
he's in the middle of a contract and doesn't have any real negotiation
power here, who knows. But you'd think he'd be talking in less certain
terms about 2009, like "Suzuki says they'll give me a factory ride in
'09, but I'll have to weigh my options next year", and you'd think
Suzuki might want to nail down 2009-10 before they get too far down the
road with all this testing and wildcarding - why develop and showcase a
guy who might just leave?
Sounds like there's another shoe that has yet to drop. If not, I hope
Ben isn't being dazzled by the lights, and is watching his backside...
T3
"Mark N" <menu...@NYETSPAMearthlink.net> wrote in message
news:YtadnRVCw4Awnjfb...@giganews.com...
> And Spies is talking quite openly about something that's still very much
> in the formative stages, which is unusual. Maybe that's just because he's
> in the middle of a contract and doesn't have any real negotiation power
> here, who knows. But you'd think he'd be talking in less certain terms
> about 2009, like "Suzuki says they'll give me a factory ride in '09, but
> I'll have to weigh my options next year", and you'd think Suzuki might
> want to nail down 2009-10 before they get too far down the road with all
> this testing and wildcarding - why develop and showcase a guy who might
> just leave?
I kinda' came away thinking he was saying what his new agent wanted and if
so, that's a pretty good sign he's made the decision to, as they say, go for
the gold..
>
> Sounds like there's another shoe that has yet to drop. If not, I hope Ben
> isn't being dazzled by the lights, and is watching his backside...
I'd be really surprised if he got dazzled, that guy is mature waaay beyond
his years, however, getting back-stabbed can happen to anyone...
Andrew
news:46a90509$0$32586$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
> http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=11145
>
I'll ask him when I am hanging out with him tomorrow.
July 25, 2007
For Immediate Release to Press
Ben Spies to Join Holden, Davies, and Eslick at Seattle 100
2006 AMA Superbike champion and current points leader Ben Spies of Yoshimura
Suzuki will join Jordan Suzuki's Jake Holden, Chaz Davies of Celtic Yamaha,
and Matsushima Performance Suzuki's Danny Eslick at this year's 5th Annual
Renton Motorcycles "Seattle 100" Presented by 2Fast Motorcycle Track Days &
Instruction. Former two time Superstock champion Jimmy Moore will also be
on hand to talk about his recent successful ride in the Isle of Man TT. The
Seattle 100 is a charitable track day event that takes place this Saturday,
July 28th at Seattle's Pacific Raceways in the beautiful Northwest.
Proceeds of the event benefit the NephCure Foundation (www.nephcure.org), an
organization dedicated to helping children and families fight the
devastating effects of kidney disease.
"It's a cool event for a great cause" said Spies, who will now add his name
to the list of top tier AMA racers to lend support to the Seattle 100. Past
attendees have included Josh Hayes (four years in a row), Aaron Yates, Jake
Zemke, Aaron Gobert, Jason DiSalvo, and Jason Pridmore among others. Greg
White of Speed TV not only attended the event in 2004 and 2005, but featured
this unique fundraiser on his "Two Wheeled Tuesday" show both years with
some comedic help from fellow attendee and famous comedian, David Alan
Grier.
"We could not be happier that Ben has decided to come up to Seattle and lend
us his support this year," said Seattle 100 Director Brian Orton of 2Fast.
Orton created the Seattle 100 in 2002 when his own son was diagnosed with a
devastating form of kidney disease. "Ben's presence at this year's Seattle
100, along with our other celebrity guests past and present, is what has
made the Seattle 100 such an incredible and unique fundraiser for Northwest
motorcyclists. My sincere gratitude to Ben for helping this year's event
become an even better one, and a special thanks to Jake Holden and his
family for helping us get Ben interested in attending. "
Last year's Seattle 100 grossed over $108,000 in donations, and funds raised
are approaching the $500,000 mark in just five short years. This year's
event is likely to break last year's record amount of donations raised, as
the event is over-sold and record numbers of attendees are expected to come
out.
Josh Hayes of Erion Racing along with teammate Aaron Gobert had planned to
attend this year's event like they did last year, but schedule conflicts
have kept them from being able to participate. Spies presence will
certainly help fill their shoes, and this year's 2007 Seattle 100 is
expected to draw the largest motorcycle track day crowd of the year in the
Northwest's thriving track day scene.
For more information on the Seattle 100, please visit www.2-fast.org and
visit the Seattle 100 links. For questions or sponsorship inquiries, Brian
Orton can be reached at (206) 715-4161 or by email at br...@2-fast.org.
--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Infant
Jake
> "Mark N" <menusb...@NYETSPAMearthlink.net> wrote in message
> > Sounds like there's another shoe that has yet to drop. If not, I hope Ben
> > isn't being dazzled by the lights, and is watching his backside...
>
> I'd be really surprised if he got dazzled, that guy is mature waaay beyond
> his years, however, getting back-stabbed can happen to anyone...
I dunno, the Soup interview a while back where he talked about taking
a stake in a sushi restaurant so he'd have a source of income once he
stopped racing, and buying a condo in some new building down in Dallas
in an area that they were going to make into another Times Square
sounded a lot like more money than experience to me.
-jake
T3
"Andrew" <yogig.no.sp...@hotmail.nospamm.com> wrote in message
news:5guoseF...@mid.individual.net...
> "T3" <not...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
> news:46a90509$0$32586$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
>> http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=11145
>>
>
>
> I'll ask him when I am hanging out with him tomorrow.
Make sure you do...
Carl Sundquist
>
> "Jake" <jamc...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1185561091.5...@d30g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> agent, but trust me on this, she's still very much in the picture. Now,
> that report about a certain Bostrom with $300k in his checking account was
> prolly a little closer to the pin...
She's not? Why not?
T3
"Carl Sundquist" <car...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:OZuqi.6215$GO6....@newsfe21.lga...
> She's not? Why not?
Maybe she doesn't speak Spanish? Whatever the case, he hired some guy named
Gonga, or Honga, (something like that) a couple of weeks ago to test the MGP
waters...
Howard Kveck
wrote:
Perhaps that's Doug Gonda. Seen here:
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?next=yes&article=21936
--
tanx,
Howard
Never take a tenant with a monkey.
remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?
Carl Sundquist
Mark N
> "T3" wrote:
>> "Carl Sundquist" wrote
>> Maybe she doesn't speak Spanish? Whatever the case, he hired some guy named
>> Gonga, or Honga, (something like that) a couple of weeks ago to test the MGP
>> waters...
>
> Perhaps that's Doug Gonda. Seen here:
> http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?next=yes&article=21936
Yes, it's Gonda, who used to own Formula USA, and here's more on this:
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=29671
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=29758
It seems like there's more smoke than fire here, which perhaps is a
tactic on Gonda's part, build a story and momentum behind Spies' move,
right when America's position in MotoGP is on the front pages. I noticed
at Laguna that Spies was taking a very high profile in the paddock,
walking around and talking to folks more than he usually seems to do,
which might have been intentional as well. But in terms of concrete
progress, his position doesn't seem all that different from where
Toseland is now, or Vermeulen a couple years ago at this point.
I talked to a Suzuki team guy at Laguna, and he said pretty much the
same thing RRW hints at here regarding Hopkins, that his agent may have
been very material in getting John to sign that deal before the
alternatives had been fully explored. There seemed to be some bitterness
regarding rider "management", which we've seen before, of course. But
that would be the normal team position, I guess. Sounds like the team
was throwing promises at Vermeulen to get his signature on their paper.
T3
Carl, it's Saturday and I don't have time to re-read all that shit, that is,
if I even read it the first time. ;-) Suffice to say, Ben now feels the urge
to play in Europe and more than likely, both he and Momma recognized she
didn't have the expertise, or the connections to insure he gets a good look
at what's available. Now, whether that Gonga, Donga dude does, or not,
remains to be seen. My take on the deal is if Suz doesn't come up with
something iron clad and top shelf, he'll look elsewhere. Now, whether that
means he'll say fugit and stay here, or jump ship isn't really clear at this
point, though if he does go, I'm pretty certain there won't be any broken
hearts in the AMA pits...
Carl Sundquist
>>
>> http://groups.google.com/group/rec.motorcycles.racing/browse_thread/thread/4565b1b82618189/3bd8ba3e8af9e24c?lnk=st&q=&rnum=1#3bd8ba3e8af9e24c
>
> Carl, it's Saturday and I don't have time to re-read all that shit, that
> is, if I even read it the first time. ;-) Suffice to say, Ben now feels
> the urge to play in Europe and more than likely, both he and Momma
> recognized she didn't have the expertise, or the connections to insure he
> gets a good look at what's available. Now, whether that Gonga, Donga dude
> does, or not, remains to be seen. My take on the deal is if Suz doesn't
> come up with something iron clad and top shelf, he'll look elsewhere. Now,
> whether that means he'll say fugit and stay here, or jump ship isn't
> really clear at this point, though if he does go, I'm pretty certain there
> won't be any broken hearts in the AMA pits...
In summary:
"That's where I honestly think it could be a disadvantage having his mother
as his manager. A good manager has a helluva good black book that he/she can
tap into and make the phone calls that need to be made to get in touch with
the right person. And usually have already established a business
relationship with those people in one fashion or another previously."
"I don't view Mom as mismanaging his career. I doubt she is defalcating,
leading him into bad situations, or decisions. I just think that her
Christmas card list isn't as extensive as an experienced manager's would be.
"
Mark N
The plot keeps thickening on this, it seems. Just finished reading what
CN has to say about Spies in the Laguna edition just out, and it's got
pretty much the same stuff from Ben himself. Although he seems to
contradict himself, saying he'll be racing in the AMA next year "for
sure". He does make it clear he doesn't just want to jump in, he wants
enough testing to be sure he can ride it on the limit and compete. That
seems to be the product of his awareness of guys who have been thrown in
the deep end and have floundered and never gotten another chance.
They also have an article about Schwantz' involvement in Suzuki's GP
team, and it's a bit different than what I'd read before. It seems that
Suzuki approached him earlier this year about running a (factory) team
with Spies as the rider . That evolved into the Aspar team linkage over
time, as Suzuki was waffling on whether or not they could supply the
bikes for '08 and therefore Kev wasn't starting to build the team. Now
he's trying to get money together, as Rizla hasn't yet committed to next
year (supposed to announce that tomorrow), and that seems to be making
Denning sort of questionable beyond next year, when his contract
expires. So it kind of sounds like Schwantz might end up running the
factory team in '09. Meanwhile, Suzuki hasn't yet given him a definite
answer on a bike for next year.
His comment on Spies is this: "The mindset is, 'I got to go do it, I
want to go do it, and I want to do it now.' And that's the problem. I
think maybe the focus that he has or the desire that he has, if
something doesn't happen this year, Suzuki already has a couple riders,
and it doesn't work out the way he wants it to, he's not going to get
too disgruntled about it, keep his head up and keep his race face on in
America. He's got no easy job here." He also says, "It's easy when the
GP comes to town and say, 'Yeah, I want to be one of those guys.' That's
easy, because you can drive your bus out here. Show me how bad you
really want to do it when I say you've got to fly to Malaysia and test
and then you get to go to Valencia and ride the bike at the end of the
year."
Based on that comment and what Spies has said, it seems that's the plan,
test after the GP in Malaysia and then race at Valencia two weeks
later. Then we'll see if he stays on and tests at Valencia on the '08
bike, or goes back to Malaysia later in the fall. Although the third
bike will be known before that, I'd think, we may really not know what
Ben will be doing next year until later. Although that has a big impact
on Yosh as well, I suppose. But at this point my guess is he'll be
racing here next year.
Mark N
>
> "T3" wrote
>> that is, if I even read it the first time. ;-) Suffice to say, Ben now
>> feels the urge to play in Europe and more than likely, both he and
>> Momma recognized she didn't have the expertise, or the connections to
>> insure he gets a good look at what's available. Now, whether that
>> Gonga, Donga dude does, or not, remains to be seen. My take on the
>> deal is if Suz doesn't come up with something iron clad and top shelf,
>> he'll look elsewhere. Now, whether that means he'll say fugit and stay
>> here, or jump ship isn't really clear at this point, though if he does
>> go, I'm pretty certain there won't be any broken hearts in the AMA
>> pits...
> In summary:
>
> "That's where I honestly think it could be a disadvantage having his mother
> as his manager. A good manager has a helluva good black book that he/she
> can
> tap into and make the phone calls that need to be made to get in touch with
> the right person. And usually have already established a business
> relationship with those people in one fashion or another previously."
>
> "I don't view Mom as mismanaging his career. I doubt she is defalcating,
> leading him into bad situations, or decisions. I just think that her
> Christmas card list isn't as extensive as an experienced manager's would
> be. "
You're probably right about that in isolation, but does matter, is it
material? That discussion took place a year ago, and a lot has changed
in that year - Spies is a year older, he won that SB championship,
waking the sleeping giant in the process and still is headed for another
now, Hayden won the MotoGP championship, Hopkins has established himself
as a top-rated rider in MotoGP, Bridgestone has caught Michelin, Suzuki
has produced a fairly competitive machine, Laguna has survived its
problems the last two years, Indy has been added to the series, Hopkins
has jumped to Kawasaki. All this points to an increase in demand for
Spies in GP, particularly at Suzuki, even with all the pro-250 stuff
with the new 800s, and he probably feels much more confident about
getting a competitive ride in GP and doing something with it.
T3
"Mark N" <menu...@NYETSPAMearthlink.net> wrote in message
> But at this point my guess is he'll be racing here next year.
Unless of course, some deep pocket sponsor steps up and it's somewhat
surprising to me none have as yet, given the guy is a PR agency's wet
dream...
Andrew
I did...He's excited.
I also found out we are both Astros fans, it will be sad for us both when
Biggio retires. (No, not Biaggi)
We actually had a good long conversation about the Astros.
He signed my bike along with Jake Holden.
Anyone looking for a Dayglo Orange Triumph Daytona trackbike signed by Spies
and Holden?
Bikini Whacks
yogig.no.sp...@hotmail.nospamm.com says...
T3
>>
>>
>> Make sure you do...
>>
>
>
> I did...He's excited.
Yeah and about 2a this morning I was too, but WTF did the dude actually say?
>
> I also found out we are both Astros fans, it will be sad for us both when
> Biggio retires. (No, not Biaggi)
> We actually had a good long conversation about the Astros.
Cool and I like the Yankees but if I recall correctly this is RMR and not
RMLB...
>
> He signed my bike along with Jake Holden.
> Anyone looking for a Dayglo Orange Triumph Daytona trackbike signed by
> Spies and Holden?
Not me, but who knows, you might get as lucky as I was this morning...
Andrew
>
> "Andrew" <yogig.no.sp...@hotmail.nospamm.com> wrote in message >>>
>>>> I'll ask him when I am hanging out with him tomorrow.
>>>
>>>
>>> Make sure you do...
>>>
>>
>>
>> I did...He's excited.
>
> Yeah and about 2a this morning I was too, but WTF did the dude actually
> say?
Well his mom wasn't there; and I didn't ask about his new manager so a bunch
of the conjecture above will not be answered.
We talked about Europe, and he said he can't wait to get over there. He
said he was going to try and run at Valencia before season's end. He
mentioned that he likes doing days like Saturday because they are much more
fun than racing.
Yosh had told him he wasn't allowed to ride at this event, but he was out
there on a stock Gixxer 1K running laps with Davies, Holden, Eslick and our
local experts.
>
>>
>> I also found out we are both Astros fans, it will be sad for us both when
>> Biggio retires. (No, not Biaggi)
>> We actually had a good long conversation about the Astros.
>
> Cool and I like the Yankees but if I recall correctly this is RMR and not
> RMLB...
Jeez Louise, gimme a break.
http://groups.msn.com/mctrippics/oneofakind.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=732