Update: moving along; Pre-Mugello and Miller

Hello avid readers,

just quickly.

Keyboard has been a little tetchy - I've decided against doing a full article this week.

I will however point out that this weekend at Mugello is shaping up to be a great contest: FP1 sees Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner in fairly close contention, Pedrosa a couple tenths down. Other Ducatis off the pace, good form from De Angelis, Edwards, Dovi.

WSBK at Miller (Salt Lake City) sees Spies not taking the dominance he might have hoped for, and championship leader Haga down the timesheets.

I have finally kicked off the season's punting. I've opened accounts (including sign-on bonuses) with Centrebet and Sportingbet, and transferred some liquid back into my Betfair account. They both seem to be offering decent odds - the former especially. I've bypassed a few generous sign-on offers from Sportsbet and ISABet on account of them offering appalling odds. MotoGP is obviously a fringe market and they appear to be taking upwards of 20%. My only concern is that I have been unable to work out the withdrawal requirements for these agents, both in general and on bonuses.

I have signed up with moto-live.com (ESPN) in the hope of some non-MotoGP.com - I missed FP1 because I couldn't get my account organised (important email went to spam). I couldn't get much easy info on content, but the selling point was the monthly subscription (10USD) - unlike MotoGP.coms huge upfront commitment. I'll be able to review soon.

Betting tips? win: Rossi has been quite short (<$2), partly deservingly, but the trend is exaggerated (it often is with popular riders). Stoner's offered some good long odds (which I have taken up), and I expect Pedrosa will after FP1 (not yet realised), though he's been too short so far. Qual: Rossi has been too short - yes it's his home track, but he's never had a qualifying advantage - but Betfair hasn't had a developed enough market to match anything.

Finally, http://spcbet.com/sportsbookreviews.html seems to offer some good agent reviews, but Idon't know that many of them will be accessible from Australia.

Over and out.

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Researching, Learning, Procrastinating: MotoRacing Information Sources

Friday night on the net - tossing up between going out and doing the socially acceptable thing, or staying home to watch live-timing of MotoGP free practice 1 at Jerez. I assume all my readers are in a similar position.  Right?

If you're reading this in anticipation, having checked out last week's entry and wondering whether I have anything valid to say - I assume you are someone for whom MotoRacing is more than just a pretty race and occasional social event.  I assume, like me, that you have an interest in what is going on - the information as well as the spectacle.

If not, you're probably best tuning out for a few weeks.

As promised, I will gloss some of the sources I use for information on MotoGP - my knowledge of news sources and writers might not be special, but it is enough to satisfy me, and should be more than enough for most fans.

Anybody willing to share their information sources I would love the input -see the comments section below, or however else you might prefer.

MotoGP.com

This is the most obvious stop, and should usually be your first stop.  Please, though, don't make it your last stop.  As I wrote in my notes on these sources, it is 'so good, yet so bad'.

The site is dedicated to MotoGP (+125s and 250s - these last two seemingly becoming sidelined with the new site layout), carries reasonably timely news, has summaries and previews (quite general in nature), lots of interviews and articles on what people have said, extras like videos and articles on rider equipment and tracks etc (usually quite basic and uninteresting).

For the keener, the site maintains a live timing system which is simple but effective - when it works - and a pretty good database of results in various formats (e.g. lap-by-lap analysis - mainly in pdf).

For the richer, willing to subscribe to membership, there are a pretty good range of videos of interviews, on-track-laps, highlights and other footage, and of course live-streaming and replay-streaming of all races.

This all sounds pretty good, right?

Well - much of the site is geared towards encouraging you to take out a membership, and that which isn't is held together by a frustrating structure which is of use only to the casual netsurfer.  It is a real pain to navigate, exasserbated by the hugely image-, ad- and flash-heavy pages which take forever to load what will likely be a few sentences you want to read, a simple link or a single picture.

 Unfortunately, forking out for a membership does not solve these problems, more often than not adding 'unsatisfied expectations' to the list: having signed up in 2008, I never will again.  I found myself writing numerous complains letters about faulty videos and live timing (among other more minor irritants), requesting some sort of partial refund - never getting a response of course, and not really expecting one given the difficulty of contacting them at all - and using virtually none of the services I paid top dollar for.

I have heard of people happy with MotoGP.com, and if you spend a lot of time on YouTube watching random videos, are lucky enough for the site to work, and have some $$ to burn, then it might be for you.

Personally, I still download the pdfs of practice/qualifying lap-by-lap results and analysis (invaluable in determining the pace that riders are actually able to lap at), and the news articles I subscribe to via RSS.

There is a reason that many MotoGP news sources are more-or-less rewritten from this site, as passionate as I am about its shortcomings.

www.moto-live.com

An ESPN-run site (apparently), with a variety of general (apparently original) news stories, on both MotoGP and WSBK.  It is solidly MotoGP focussed, and I can't find any WSBK-specific sections (just the odd article).  I don't bother with the news as it generally covers little original ground, and the RSS feed never worked for me.  But that's not why you use moto-live.

When I get the shits with MotoGP.com's live timing (often), this is where I end up.  The system is a little archaic, frequently refreshing a page with basic rider details and order, but it has always been very reliable.

The site offers premium-memberships (quite cheaply, especially in comparison to MotoGP.com), and I think this is the site I have had recommended for coverage of GP races - when I get off my arse I will look into it and probably subscribe this year.  (Ping me if you want an update.)

Crash.net

A pretty good source of general MotoGP news, a worthy alternative first-stop over MotoGP.com - I unsubscribed from updates, however, as the general news seemed largely to double up on what was available at MotoGP.com

HighRevs.net

Quite a basic, unoriginal, infrequent (and poorly written) MotoGP news feed - I love the RSS, however, as the feed text is a proper summary, and is very convenient on the mobile phone when I'm away from real news.

MotoGPMatters

http://www.motogpmatters.com/

I love this blog, it is awesome.

The site is run by David Emmett, a journalist with a genuine passion, who writes his own summaries (based upon on-site or telecast action and other information - not rehashed motogp.com articles like many minor news services) and previews, and frequent genuinely insightful, provocative and well-considered articles.  He would not suffice as a primary news source, but as a primary point of discussion he should be your first stop.

His site contains a few other less-interesting sections, though also a seemingly decent forum (not yet having joined) for enthusiasts like us.

My only real complaint is that I haven't been reading it for long enough to make a proper comment on it.

MCN

Motorcycle News

British bike-mag's online presence - heaps of articles, all mixed together in news feeds, often of dubious quality and where not they are often mere placeholders for articles in their magazine.  People seem to read through these (the articles are linked to often enough), but don't set your sights on enlightenment.

Other Info

Australian Foxtel TV guide

https://www.foxtel.com.au/whats-on/tv-guide/default.htm

Because we can only dream of a day when MotoRacing is broadcast live on free-to-air.

Missing?

I just realised how little good WSBK (or any SBK) sources I refer to.  No wonder I'm so far out of the loop.

Well, only 35 minutes now until FP1 - I think my social life can deal with a little more postponement.

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

2009 - a Moto-Racing Junkie's Introduction

What do you know - the 2009 racing season is well underway and I haven't posted a single entry on it.  Well, while I have your attention, I will make grounds rectifying this deficiency.

MotoGP - the 'big league', the 'premier class', the 'F1 of motorbikes' - is a bit of a late starter.  The first round of the year was a couple of weekends ago in Qatar.  A relatively novel calendar entry, the track is in the middle of the desert, and runs in the middle of the night (for telecoverage reasons I believe). In the end, it was delayed a day for novel reasons as well - rain!  Rain is wet by day, but under lights it was an unprecedented danger.

In the end, the inevitable occured one day late: Stoner won, Rossi was the only who kept up the appearance of competition, and Someone Else came third (Lorenzo in the end - third-place qualifier, and the only real expected pointy-end challenger with Pedrosa injured).  Pedrosa and Hayden struggled with injuries; Edwards and Dovi showed signs they need to be taken seriously; De Angelis surprised everyone by staying on the bike (and got a top-six place as a result); Vermeulen and Kallio will be looking to build on positive results; the rest were uninspiring, in particular Gibernau, Melandri and rookie Takahashi (wtf is he in MotoGP for?).

Stoner has dominated preseason testing and round 1 in no uncertain fashion, and should he manage to shake off the pressure from Rossi and his inner deamons the result will be emphatic. There is little doubt of a top-two result for the Great Man Rossi, and it feels like the rest of the field are fighting for third place.  Dovi, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Edwards have once again had positive starts, and Kallio, De Angelis and both Suzuki riders (the other Aussie Vermeulen and Capirossi) are making habits of exceeding expectation.

The field heads to Motegi (Japan) this weekend for round two, and the expectation is that Stoner will be setting the pace come Friday afternoon.  Fortunately for the Aussie contingent we have a rare afternoon timeslot for this round, so take advantage of it while you can and get yourself back into the swing of things (I assume nobody got up to watch the 4am Tuesday Qatar race?).

Far as the 125s and 250s go... well I haven't paid much attention to the 125s yet, but the 250s Qatar race was gripping - and with some bad results from big names the championship is alive and kicking.  Watch Barbera (first at Qatar), and a few MotoGP hopefulls in the making in Bautista, Simoncelli (2008 250 champion), di Meglio (125 champ was it, or was that T?), Pasini and Talmasci, also family names like Faubel, Pesek, Debon, Locatelli and Luthi, hoping to finally put a good season together.  Riders like Cluzel (2nd at Qatar) and Wilairot (Indonesian/Thai/something) are always around to spice up the standings.

The World Superbike championship (WSBK - production-based machines) is the dark night in a sense.  When it is not being led by an Aussie (Bayliss or Corser in recent years) it receives little public attention and irregular television screenings.  It has a cult-like status among racing fans, however, many of whom much prefer it to the occasionally urbane chastity of the world's fastest bikes - and for good reason.  I personally am a little turned off by relatively unappealing machinery (GP bikes are sexxy), but they are fast no matter what way you look at it, and the racing is always hot. Round 1 was at Phillip Island this year, and those of us lucky enough to attend enjoyed some rivetting racing.

We are much further into the WSBK season, with round 3 up this weekend (the Netherlands, somewhere - presumably Assen?), and some solid headway into the championship (with two races a round there have actually been six races already).  'Nitro' Noriyki Haga is opening up a worrying lead over American Ben Spies (for a number of years relatively uncontested 'AMA' American SBK champion - and head-turning MotoGP wild card), who has often looked the goods with some very fast times and good consistency.  His results have been more explosive than Nitro Nori's, however, with a number (three? or was it only two?) crashes interspercing some convincing wins.  Neukirchner and Fabrizio have wed some good times with surprising consistency to round the top four, as a few big names appear to be struggling on new machinery (Corser and Xaus on BMW, Nakano and Biaggi on Aprilia).  A second Aussie in Broc Parkes is struggling to make much of an impact on a green-looking Kawasaki, and I just noticed John Hopkins with one more championship point on a Honda (that's how bad his season has been).

If anything, the world's best racing is probably to be seen in the World Supersport (WSS - 600cc productions) races.  You have to hunt to get news on this championship, but if you can get into it the close racing and strong Aussie contingent (Andrew Pitt and Ant West tied for 3rd with French Laverty, Aitchison 7th and McCoy the leading member of an ininspiring two-man Triumph lineup) should prove rewarding.

On which note, why the hell haven't I been following it?

Somebody tell me how the Australian Superbike Championship is going, because I would like to think that somebody pays attention to it.  I know a few who enjoy watching the racing (sporadic coverage on Ten/SBS I believe), and many pay attention to the results, but it's sad it is such a private series in a country with such a strong auto-racing interest.

Anyway, that's my start-of-season rant.  I won't be investing heaps of time into writing about these series, because frankly I don't see the point in doing what others are already doing - and much better than I ever would.

I will make the effort, however, to write a few articles over the next few weeks to help you along the way.  I will try to make these weekly commitments.

First up, I'm planning an article on where you can get your racing-info fixes - the hot blogs, useful websites and timing and video hotspots; if I still haven't given up after that I will tell you a little about one of the ways I personally enjoy a race weekend, by putting money on the line - both the places to do it, and a few of the tips I have learnt to make the most of it (I averaged 5% returns per round of the MotoGP for most of 2008 - a hell of a lot better than my stock portfolio).

Until next week.

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Mid-March rainwatching

As you may have noticed, the blog has gone quiet, quite quiet.

Partially, I have been a little busy (thankfully, finally!) here in Melbourne, between work and grad applications.  I haven't been blogging much, or otherwise spending heaps of time online without a reason.

Mainly, I haven't been riding!

I did do WSBK at Phillip Island a couple of weekends ago, which was pretty good - stayed at a place rented off friends of friends, actually got to visit Cowes and wander around the Island a little.  The racing was incredible! - Especially the supersport (Aussie's 2 and 3 in the end, but that wasn't decided until halfway down the straight).  It's convinced me of the merits of WSBK, which I might just get in to watching this year.

Compared to MotoGP?  Well it was annoying that I couldn't recognise any of the riders - though if you need me to tell you about a WSBK weekend you probably wouldn't recognise all the MotoGP riders either, would you? As for the atmosphere?  I have not heard anyone yet that favours the MotoGP weekend, but I think WSBK is overhyped.  There are far fewer people, and as much as that makes it easier to get a good seat on race day, it is nowhere near the spectacle.  It is novel being able to ride around the track, and to oggle all the machinery on display is great, but to be honest it doesn't factor into the weekend all that much. I think, being able to move around and still actually see means if you could only attend one day, WSBK might have more value, but if you can do more of the weekend - and can wander around on Friday or Saturday instead - nothing beats the GP.

So - not riding much;

looking forward to the start of the GP season.

Thank you for hanging in with me in these times, lean for all of us (and now that I have some work that should hopefully be changing).

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)