Are Brits negative?

[patnicholls]

This is a very good thread Mark, nice one I've been pondering it for a while.

As with everything, it's a complicated issue.

The point Silver makes about the Ekerold team is a very valid one - last year they were an immaculately turned out British Supersport team running Cal Crutchlow (who went on to be 2006 BSS champ) and Leon Camier (who was 2005 champ), with plenty of sponsors on the bikes. Now they're a one-rider team with a plain white bike - the sponsors don't want to come onto the world stage as they can promote best for their needs at home. And we all know that money talks in motorsport.

Certainly over in GPs, we suffer somewhat from the same problem as the Aussies - if no-one's backing our riders with money, teams will go for Spaniards, Italians, etc who may have money. And let's not forget that those riders have pedigree in their own national championships, of which Spain is one of the top ones. And common sense says that if there's a language barrier in a team, it can cause problems - look at how Neil Hodgson struggled against Ruben Xaus at D'Antin Ducati after soundly beating him in WSB the year before.

Some of the perceived negativity in Brit press about a lack of GP riders is down to hype and extremism - which Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are currently experiencing opposite ends of over in F1. It is true that there's only a small number of Brits in the lower classes, but again that's down to the chances afforded to them as with many nations. Look at Eugene Laverty in the 250s this year - he was a title contender in British Supersport last year, ahead of Tom Sykes and Leon Camier although injury put paid to his chances of challenging Cal Crutchlow in the end. He got what looked like a dream ride with LCR, but it's not been as expected by any means (the bike is totally private, rather than the full factory effort like when LCR ran Stoner's Aprilia) and I suspect at the end of it he'll be back to Britain for career-saving measures.

There's plenty of riders who want to be in GPs on the Brit scene (check out rider websites or pick up the info cards at an autograph session - most do list their ambition as 'MotoGP champion'), but unless you're going to get a really top-line 125/250 GP ride then staying in Britain or going for WSB/WSS is your best option. And Dorna has taken a piece of the British Championship pie - they're looking for talent for GPs there for sure.

[axxexs]

just like Hayden, Hopkins and Vermeulen were able to skip the 250 process

Hayden did some race with a Yamaha TZ250 what I understand. It was at the time he did run 125GP bikes.

Hopkins did run some race on a aprilia RS250 production bike.

Vermeulen did 2 seasons with 250 on a Yamaha TZ250. He was 8:th in the Asian Championship.

Pics on Nicky Hayden on a Honda RS125R and Vermeulen on a TZ250 is here http://www.chrisvermeulen.com/imaged...-Days_0019.jpg.

[ozrevhead]

Here's an interesting extract from an article on crash.net:

The only Brit in the Supersport class [at Silverstone] was Craig Jones, the 22-year-old who is backed by Gary Ekerold's Revè Ekerold Honda Racing team. Ekerold is a South African - the son of the 1980 350cc world champion Jon Ekerold - and has a pretty good fix on why Britain doesn't produce a stream of world class riders.

"BSB [the British Superbike Championship] is just too good," he said at Silverstone. "It's simply too strong. It's too easy for British riders to race in England.

"When an Australian rider comes to Europe he's travelled 10,000 miles and there's nothing for him to go back to. The same applies to a South African like me: I've come here to be world champion and I'm going to make sure that that happens."

In Ekerold's case, he means a world champion as a team owner. Last year he won the British Supersport title with Cal Crutchlow as his rider, and used that as a springboard to launch into World Supersport. But problems arose.

"It isn't just the riders, it's the corporates, too," Ekerold said. "Why would British companies get into world championship racing when they can get everything they need from the British series? I lost Nokia, Northpoint [a powder coating company] and Jewson [builders' merchants] as sponsors when I moved to World Supersport.

"We had one of the best funded teams in Britain. Now we're struggling for funding, and it's showing in our results."

Similar debate on the other forum

Except one bright claims we getting the better treatment then more talented British riders - ugh!

I think its a mental/lack of application thing rather than talent wise - like it has been said before Aussie Rides have to come half way around the world with nothing to fall back on...We have to and are willing to work harder and cant rely on talent alone!

Do you realise how many time Westy could of said 'this is too much of a head f----' and gone home...but no he didnt

I also think there is an 'I wont go to MotoGP unless its for a top team' attitude. LRC Honda wasnt the quickest bike going around was it and it didnt do Casey any harm!