I love it when a Briton wins a Superbike race because the British motorcycle fans go crazy. The premier elite motorcycle racing competition is MotoGP and the Superbikes are a rival comp which has MotoGP veterans that can no longer get a ride in the elite competition and also up and coming riders that do well in the Superbikes and then get a ride with a MotoGP team. A lot of the MotoGP riders come up through the lower classes of the MotoGP comp but some like Britons Cal Crutchlow become stars in the Superbikes and then get a MotoGP contract from that. Crutchlow has been riding in MotoGP since 2011 and he has finally won a race. This Cal Crutchlow is no James Toseland. Finally a Briton has won an elite GP race after 35 long years. British motorcycle racing fans must be ecstatic. Those hysterical British Superbike commentators must be so happy right now. http://www.bbc.com/sport/motorsport/37148661 I was a huge fan of Barry Sheene even though I was too young to watch him race. Sheene moved to Australia after he retired and he did the commentating for the Australian coverage of the MotoGP for many years and I thought that he was a good commentator and funny. I watched a documentary about Barry Sheene once and in it he is being interviewed and is asked what he liked the most about his time as a MotoGP rider and he said - " Probably the crumpet". Ha. I think it kind of sucks that there are no top riders that are British and I think it would be better for motorcycle racing if the Britons were more successful. Crutchlow is no Barry Sheene but his MototGP win is a great thing for British motorcycle racing and for all motorcycle racing. It really opens things up when you get a wet race and it gives guys that are riding lesser bikes a better chance to compete because you cannot push the bikes in the wet. The funny thing about motorcycle racing is that the top riders get the best bikes and this creates a kind of reverse handicap making it even more difficult for the guys in the middle of the pack to compete with the top group. If we really wanted to see the most skilled rider and racer we would have the racers all use the exact same bikes but top level racing isnt really about that so much as the competing companies/factories and the carnival circus party tour for wealthy guys that like to play with bikes and have people pay to watch them. So often you might see a guy that seems like a great racer but he gets stuck on a middle of the pack team and never really competes and you wonder what he might have been able to do if he had gotten a ride with one of the top teams. There was an Australian MotoGP rider called Chris Vermeulen a few years ago and he was outstanding in the wet but never had much success in dry races which are most of them. Vermeulen was stuck on a Suzuki that was not very competitive for most of his career but only took that ride due to the fact that Honda were only offering him a ride in the lesser Superbike competition. Another year in the Superbikes for Honda and he may have gotten a Honda contract for MotoGP but he chose to take a MotoGP ride with Suzuki to get into the elite comp. Being stuck on a non-competitive bike in the MotoGP meant that he didnt see any real success other than in wet races - so with Vermeulens career you cannot help but wonder what if. Crutchlow is on a Honda but he is riding for the LCR Honda satellite team not Repsol Honda. Who knows what Crutchlow could do on a Repsol Honda or with the Movistar Yamaha team. So like I said with a wet race the advantage of the top bikes is lessened since it is too risky to open them right up and this gives the guys in the middle of the pack a better chance of competing at the front. Winning in the wet is in many ways more impressive than winning a dry race because of the more level playing field that wet conditions create. Sure tyre choice is a factor but a rider has a say in that and is in control of the managment of those tyres throughout the race so in my opinion you can take nothing away from Cal Crutchlow and he deserves all credit for his historic victory. So I am happy for all British motorcyle racing fans. Good on Cal Crutchlow for being the first Briton to win an elite GP race in 35 years. - (google images)
