There is no way Haga will win the championship unless Ducati finds a way to get more power out of the 1198, or if the governing body will allow Ducati to open up the air restrictors. Spie's bike is super fast, blows everything away, its pretty obvious that is the case. It will be a miracle for Haga to maintain his slim lead and I worried earlier he was showing some signs of inconsistency. In the past he would blow up the field and the very next race he would look like he didn't really care, he just cruised. I hope I'm wrong, I feel Haga deserves it, but he is gonna have to dig deep and I don't think that will be enough based on the power of the Yamaha.
I don't see the power of the R1 really, its actually under powered compared to its Japanese brethren (210rwhp). Valencia has a LONG straight, yet Haga still clocked the fastest times and took the double without anyone getting near him. What we're seeing is a
rider who is really a step above the rest. I think Ben could ride any bike out there, even the "under-powered Ducati" and pull the same results.
Per our discussions previously, if Spies didn't have his two crashes and multiple break-down's, he'd be 100+ points ahead of Haga.
A broken collar bone and a broken ulna are not really comparable... With a collar bone break it is hard to lift your arm above your head, but pushing and pulling on handle bars wouldnt be affected much other than pain... I think with the ulna it is going to be a different story. I think Haga will be very limited when it come to pushing and pulling on the bars..... Haga can ride through the pain, but when you body is broken sometimes it just wont work pain or no pain.
Pushing and pulling on the bars is very hard to do with the collar bone injury as well. In fact, in roadracing its very rare for someone to ride with a collar bone injury, broken arms are pretty standard. I think he'll have no problems riding the bike from that injury. Don't forget, it will be 24 days since released from the hospital to the next time he's on a bike. Thats not a long time to heal, but it is something. Mick Doohan rode with completely destroyed legs before, with casts on and still won a championship.
Why does Bens knowledge of the track keep coming up? Almost race this year has been on a track that Ben didnt know. It wasnt an issue then and it won't be an issue now.
I should have re-phrased; Tracks Spies doesn't know BUT Haga has won at. There are lots of tracks Spies didn't know, but they were Haga's strongest tracks. Valencia, Kaylami, Donington Park, Brno, Nürnberg, those are Haga's strongest tracks. I assume he'll go well at other circuits, but he's done some amazing things at those tracks and won Valencia/Kaylami... lets hope he can do the double at Brno and Nürnberg.
I agree that by the end of Brno it should be Spies championship to lose, but considering the bad luck this year you cant count Haga out.
Its been Spies championship to loose from day one. He's got a knack for qualifying (of which the other teams are slowly picking up) and it makes him seem like a god out there. I think Spies is due for some more bad luck and Haga seems to have learned his lesson pretty well. Five more rounds and its all over, seems like it just started!
