Bike Racing Forum Awards 2009

[jonny hurlock]

http://www.motorsportforums.com/foru...d.php?t=130174

think all the championships are done, reward time I guess (is it too early?), same rules as last few years

-Top five riders of the year
-Top three rookies of the year
-Top team of the year
-Top manufacturer of the year
-Best race of the year
-Best championship of the year
-Special mention award
-Coolest moment of the year

how about its end of the decade how about rider of the decade or top 5? aswell?

[patnicholls]

I'll lead off then...

Top five riders of the year

1. Ben Spies - by an absolute mile, this was the year of The Ben.
2. Hiroshi Aoyama - outperforming his machinery by some distance throughout to take a deserved title. A massive victory for one of the nicest guys in the paddock.
3. Cal Crutchlow - excepting a couple of mechanicals, his WSS rookie season was just as impressive as Ben and gave Yamaha the glory after years of Ten Kate domination.
4. Eugene Laverty - stunning turnaround from two years in the 250 doldrums and also far exceeded expectations in honouring Craig Jones' memory for the Parkalgar team.
5. Valentino Rossi - clearly not ready to relinquish his crown to the young scamps just yet.

Top three rookies of the year

Weird to pick this one since three of them are above really. Jonathan Rea as well, since he IS a WSB rookie let's not forget.

Top team of the year

Matteoni Racing (250cc) - responsible for one of the discoveries of the year in Jules Cluzel, who nearly scored arguably the biggest shock ever by coming second in the season opener at Qatar. The shock value wore off through the season as he kept putting in great performances for a minnow team, after scoring nothing at all in 125s the year before.

Top manufacturer of the year
Yamaha by a mile, dominant everywhere.

Best race of the year

I'm starting to sound a bit Brit-centric here, but I don't care
WSB Misano race 2 - Jonathan Rea's first win
WSS Qatar - Eugene Laverty on the line for an emotional first win for the Parkalgar team
250cc Jerez - Hiro Aoyama winning with a masterclass in intelligent racecraft to beat superior bikes
250cc Donington - Hiro Aoyama again but this time keeping wet tyres working on a rapidly drying track

Best championship of the year
Three great championship battles this season in WSB, WSS and 250s.

Special mention award
Casey Stoner for the obvious comeback from his health issues, Leon Haslam who didn't make the top five but produced the season of his career, and Nori Haga who was once again the bridesmaid.

Coolest moment of the year
http://www.crash.net/world+superbike..._see_this.html

[The Phantom]

-Top five riders of the year
1. Spies
2. Fabrizio - a coming of age
3. Aoyama
4. Crutchlow
5. Stoner - take away the illness and he'd have his second title

-Top three rookies of the year
1. Spies
2. Simoncelli in WSB
3. Espargaro

-Top team of the year
Aspar Aprilia 125 - not only a great result but two brilliant riders

-Top manufacturer of the year
Aprilia for their WSB efforts.

-Best race of the year
250s at Misano.

-Best championship of the year
WSB! How close do you like it?

-Special mention award
Kallio for binning Stoner's bike twice in one round

-Coolest moment of the year
Spies at Valencia, knocking Dovi out of 5th, and Edwards running back to his pit to thank him after the race

[jonny hurlock]

-Top five riders of the year

1. B. Spies
2. V. Rossi
3. H. Aoyama
4. C. Crutchlow
5. L. Camier

-Top three rookies of the year

1. B. Spies
2. C. Crutchlow
3. M. Kallio

-Top team of the year

Fiat Yamaha

-Top manufacturer of the year

Yamaha

-Best race of the year

agreeing with pat 250cc Jerez, almost forgot about that race, but best race by far

-Best championship of the year

250cc

-Special mention award

Casey Stoner at Estroil with three races out coming back 2nd place at Estroil

-Coolest moment of the year

V. Rossi overtaking J. Lorenzo at Barcelona on the last lap, last corner for the win, cool

[Corny]

-Top five riders of the year
1 Rossi - Seemed like getting beaten to someone with the same equipment but bounced back.
2 Lorenzo - Not a fan of him, but he was the better one on Rossi for quit a time in the beginning of the season.
3 Spies - No words needed
4 Aoyama - Haven't followed 250's too much this year to be honest, but he's done a great job
5 Simon - Great great season from him.

-Top three rookies of the year
1 Spies
2 Haslam
3 Kallio? Haha

-Top team of the year
FIAT yamaha for sure

-Top manufacturer of the year
Yamaha

-Best race of the year
Barcelona's MotoGP for sure! MAN what a race. Though for me personally Sachsenring was better, as I was there

-Best championship of the year
Should be WSBK

-Special mention award
MANY MANY MANY thanks to the man who gave me his paddock card on Sachsenring's GP! That gave me some pictures I'm proud of for the rest of my life

-Coolest moment of the year
For me: meeting the GP riders

[mx311]

Here are my awards for season 2009...

Top five riders of the year

Ben Spies - WSBK champ in his first year racing abroad. I guess picturing animals and collecting key chains really works.

Valentino Rossi - what needs to be said, he's Valentino Rossi.

Hiro Aoyama - 250 champ on a Honda, great year for a great guy.

Julian Simon - Did what he was expected to do on an Aspar Aprilia but the way he won the 125 title was very impressive.

Cal Crutchlow - Fantastic in WSS, look forward to seeing him in WSBK.

Top three rookies of the year

Spies, Crutchlow, Mika Kallio

Top team of the year

This is a tough one but I'm going to give this award to Hayate Racing, Stiggy Motorsport and BQR Blusens purely on that fact that despite very trying times they showed up week after week and never gave up.

Top manufacturer of the year
Yamaha. World titles in MotoGP, WSBK, WSS, MXGP MX1, World / AMA Supercross, other than that a poor year really.

Best race of the year

Honesly I don't think there was one, plenty of good races but I can't really pull one out as the best.

Best championship of the year
250cc.

Special mention award
Raffaele de Rosa, his save during qualifying at Mugello was amazing, as was Nick Harris and Gavin Emmett's reaction to it.

Coolest moment of the year
As mentioned above - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zED35_I2ehE

[TheFamousEccles]

-Top five riders of the year - Spies, Rossi, Lorenzo, Stoner, Aoyama

-Top three rookies of the year - Spies, Kalio, Rea

-Top team of the year - Ducati (Stoner's team) - for composure in the face of much whispered innuendo and outright bullsh!t.

-Top manufacturer of the year - Yamaha
-Best race of the year - pick any SBK race
-Best championship of the year - SBK
-Special mention award - Stoner, for much the same reason as I gave for his team nomination - then comming back and showing that actions speak much louder than words
-Coolest moment of the year - de Rosa, without question.

Other categories:

Most annoying TV commentator of the Year: take your pick, but the excitable, screeching pom from the SBK broadcasts (whose name escapes me at the moment) gets the gong for my money. What an annoying prat!

Most gracious in defeat: Sadly, I'll have to give this to Nori-san. I still think he has a championship in him, but surely time is running out?

Most perplexing non-event: BMW's SBK offering. I hope they ramp it up a bit for 2010 - hopefully they don't become the Euro version of Kawasaki...

Thanks for going: Gibbo - what a waste of money and time. Honourable mention to Toni Elias. Bye guys, your time is up.

Best TV vision: de Rosa again, closely followed by Stoner and Rossi performing synchronised slides around the Bass Straight left-hander @ P.I. Great stuff.

[NinjaMaster]

Top five riders of the year

1 - Ben Spies
2 - Hiroshi Aoyama
3 - Cal Crutchlow
4 - Valentino Rossi
5 - Jason Crump

Top three rookies of the year

Ben Spies, Cal Crutchlow, Josh Waters

Top team of the year

Aspar Aprilia or Fiat Yamaha

Top manufacturer of the year

Kawas...damn, Yamaha

Best race of the year

Sepang 250

Best championship of the year

Australian Superbike - three riders within 9 points heading into the title decider.

Special mention award

To 'old man' Colin Edwards for being the next best rider to the aliens despite general opinion he should be shipped back to WSB. Stick it to 'em Colin!

Coolest moment of the year

Jay Marmont winning a round of the Australasian SuperX only a couple of days after his baby daughter passed away.

Most perplexing non-event: BMW's SBK offering. I hope they ramp it up a bit for 2010 - hopefully they don't become the Euro version of Kawasaki...

Ooh, you're a tough judge!