Steve Parrish
I simply must start this month by saying how impressed I was with Chaz Davies at Laguna Seca, winning the first race just three weeks after injury. didn’t expect that, and I don’t think he did either as he seemed a bit shocked by it. He must have been really sore! Race one was pretty good with Chaz and Jonny Rea battling behind Tom Sykes, before the pair passed him and Chaz put the hammer down to drop Jonny and take the win. It was pretty impressive.
Race two wasn’t half as exciting, as Jonny got in the lead by about the end of lap one, while Chaz got caught up with the reverse grid and it was all a bit boring. And Jonny extended his lead in the series yet again. I think it’s time to let him have just one wheel!
The rules and regulations debate rages on when it comes to WSB too, we have no idea where it’s going. And I’m nervous about a spec’ ECU or similar, as then where is the top level electronics development going to come from? Undoubtedly some of the budget for WSB teams comes from a manufacturer’s R&D department. Why do you want to be racing a bike around a track, when the man in the stand has a bike that’s more advanced? I used to race in WSB, ran my own team, and even then the tuning rules were a lot more involved than they are right now, and they were pushed, pulled and bent out of shape by everyone. I honestly think, given how Dorna and Scott Smart have kerbed WSB machines over the past few years, that they’re already pretty close to stock. How much more stock can you make it? Do that and whoever has the latest, most powerful bike (and the biggest budget), will be the winner.
I remember when I was production racing and the first GPZ900 came out, and every top 10 was basically GPZs! And what happens to the Superstock class if WSB gets further hamstrung? That’s a really good class, riders like Danilo Petrucci came from that class, and look how well he does in GP now! The whole WSB thing is a knee-jerk reaction, which appears to be guided mostly from the MotoGP paddock. I just think we’re going through a period of having three
dominant riders, and we just need a couple more. If manufacturers are serious about it, get better riders on your bikes, simples!
BSB from Brands Hatch was good, well race one was at least with Shakey Byrne making his way through the pack. Race two was a bit of a doze though after Josh Brookes crashed, leaving Shakey to vanish. He’s starting to join all the dots now, I think he’s got it sorted, the rest better pull their socks up!
I did the Barry Sheene festival at Scarborough with son Freddie, us riding the 1976/77 championship Suzuki RG500s that Martyn Ogborne and Nigel Everett restored. Suzuki spent a decent wedge on them; it’s the first time they’ve run since they went to Australia with Barry, their first time back on track. Freddie and I flew up in Plummet Airways and we had a right laugh.
Then there was the World GP Legends at Silverstone, and I pulled a bit of a plank there. Everyone from Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner etc. were there, and they all got brand new Yamaha R1Ms to ride, while I didn’t sodding get one! I had an old RG500, so pestered Steve Wheatman who gave me a Sheene painted ex-BSB Suzuki GSX-R1000 – and I smoked all of the old gits! We also raced some cars there, and that was great until I span out on the last lap! It was an A35 noddy car, but Gardner did really well finishing fourth in the car race, he was the best of the bikers. Freddie Spencer and Maria Costello on the other hand, couldn’t ride out of sight on a dark night in the cars, they were absolutely hopeless! It was a giggle though, and such a huge event as it’s part of a classic car show; loads of stars were there and even Brian Johnson from AC/DC rolled a motor! What an event, check it out next year if you can.
Anyway, I got Martyn Ogborne really good at Scarborough. My old ‘plastic sick’ comes out on a regular basis; me and Freddie were waiting to go out for practice and I slung it under one of the bikes. Sure enough, pandemonium strikes, and Martyn starts putting on gloves and collecting paper towels to cover it, then gets a polythene bag to pick it up – it was brilliant! I’ve even got it on video when he twigs what it is, you’d have thought he surely couldn’t have fallen for it given he’s met me before! Speak next month!