23' MotoGP/WSBK/MotoAmerica discussion thread **SPOILER ALERT**

[madvlad]

WSBK teams and riders head to Jerez for a two day test. This test will be super important for US rider Garrett Gerloff so he can get acquainted with the new BMW bike given his first test was only a wet one and very limited due to crappy weather, so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the BMW in the dry. Race season slowly but surely gearing up!

https://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/202...0twoday%20test

[The Black Knight]

WSBK teams and riders head to Jerez for a two day test. This test will be super important for US rider Garrett Gerloff so he can get acquainted with the new BMW bike given his first test was only a wet one and very limited due to crappy weather, so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the BMW in the dry. Race season slowly but surely gearing up!

https://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/202...0twoday%20test

Gerloff off the pace at 1.8sec behind. Petrucci is right at 1.0sec and the top three look to resume their battle again this year. Toprak, Rea and Bautista all within .180 of each other. Next closest is Rinaldi at .377 and then a huge gap to Lowes who's .906 off. Geez talk about lack of consistency. Sure it's testing but usually we see closer times in testing. Redding is 1.44sec off the pace and just four tenths ahead of Gerloff. Which tells me it's the bike more than the riders. BMW need to develop that bike, which in turn would help their riders get closer to the front.

Yeah, I'm itching for some racing. This winter has sucked and seems to be dragging out. WSBK is first at the end of February, Formula 1 ramps up first week of March and we have to wait until the end of March for MotoGP. So we've got just under a month until proper racing resumes.

[madvlad]

Gerloff off the pace at 1.8sec behind. Petrucci is right at 1.0sec and the top three look to resume their battle again this year. Toprak, Rea and Bautista all within .180 of each other. Next closest is Rinaldi at .377 and then a huge gap to Lowes who's .906 off. Geez talk about lack of consistency. Sure it's testing but usually we see closer times in testing. Redding is 1.44sec off the pace and just four tenths ahead of Gerloff. Which tells me it's the bike more than the riders. BMW need to develop that bike, which in turn would help their riders get closer to the front.

Yeah, I'm itching for some racing. This winter has sucked and seems to be dragging out. WSBK is first at the end of February, Formula 1 ramps up first week of March and we have to wait until the end of March for MotoGP. So we've got just under a month until proper racing resumes.

First day Gerloff had a decent outing given it was his first actual full dry session on it but yeah it does seem like the BMW is lacking that extra step somehow, even though they went with the sutter swingarm and made a world of difference as we saw Redding get up there in some races but started to tumble down the line. BMW definitely needs to invest in the right areas and not so much aesthetics if they want to stay relevant in this championship. Sure hope Garrett can figure things out as he starts getting seat time on that thing, would suck to see him fall off but after Yamaha turned his back on him, not like he had much choice but to bail. Hopefully BMW is serious and not just using this as a sales tactic since they've been selling S1K's like a mofo these last few years.

Did notice that Petrucci hit the ground running and he could be a threat if they can manage to get a consistent set up under him. I am surprised that Kawasaki kept Lowes around, he's been falling off the pace more and more each season. Also surprised that Ducati stuck with Rinaldi instead of giving Bassani a shot, he was killing it on that satellite V4R and had a tremendous season. Inching slowly but surely to race season and man can't wait!