World SuperBike: Maxed Out
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 6:04 pm by rhino
In case you’re a race fan and still haven’t heard, Max Biaggi is leading the World Superbike Series. After the first round, the Italian shares that standing with James Toseland, the two trading wins at the inaugural event of the 2007 season. Both taking 2nd position at the race they didn’t win. Big deal you say? It is huge!
How many times has a racer joined a new series and won the very first race he entered? After a year off? Not many! But it turns out this is not uncommon for Max. After multiple 250 GP championships in the 90’s, Max made the ultimate impression on the MotoGP paddock by winning his very first rookie race in that series also. Ya gotta like the way this guy comes out of the gate!
Let me preface the rest of my comments by saying I’m NOT a fan of Max Biaggi. The Roman Emporer as he and his fans like to refer to him, is an arrogant ass. He credits himself with his wins and blames his team, bike and fellow racers for his losses. But there’s no denying the man’s talent on a motorcycle. He spent last year with no ride whatsoever. For all intents and purposes, being kicked out of MotoGP for several reasons: mostly a lack of consistent results and an alienating personality. Not even a satellite team was willing to deal with the Max factor.
What remains to be seen is if Max can ride with the week in, week out consistency it takes to win the championship. He did it repeatedly in the 250 GP class, but that was a long time ago.
I’m glad Max is back. He’s the kind of racer most of us love to hate. Think Kocinski. But he adds some much needed freshness to the “Ducati Cup”. With Corona Suzuki (Max) and Ten Kate Honda (Toseland) taking the early manufacturer’s lead, reigning champion Troy Bayliss has a big hole to dig his way out of. He finished 5th and 8th, leaving him in 7th position overall. At least his teammate Lorenzo Lanzi managed a podium on the day.
Rhino
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I’m pulling for James to take the WSBK championship. I’ve been a fan of his for sometime. He has made the best of his machinery. As of Max, not a fan either but it is good to see him racing because when he, his bike and his team is on he is indeed fast. I know you have to have a little bit of an ego to be a great racer of any kind but Max seem to have the ego of an empire. I also hope Haga can be a little more consistent and learn that to win a championship you have to finish the race.