Interview with Kurtis Roberts

[G.Irish]

Personally, I can't stand most of the Roberts family. Not for lack of talent but their seeming huge egos and raging arrogance. But I 100% agree with him - electronics is ruining the sport. It is turning into Formula One and Formula One fucking blows. I don't know how y'all watch that. What are there? Like two passes per race other than pre-turn 1 shenanigans?

The lack of passing in F1 has very, very little to do with traction control and everything to do with aerodynamics and the fact that the difference in performance in the cars is very large. Next year they are doing away with traction control and I doubt you will see much more passing, but you will see more driving mistakes and crashes. You will also see the smoother drivers gain an advantage.

There are other electronics involved in motorcycles, like the ones that keep the front wheel down coming out of a turn (or launch control, but I don't consider it a valid point for this argument). I'd say electronics for yaw control but it's probably the same ones handling traction control.

But that doesn't invalidate the point, F1 is boring as hell and GP is probably only a few years to a decade away from being the same.

The lack of passing in F1 is because of AERODYNAMICS. The leading car leaves a dirty wake that reduces the aerodynamic efficiency of the trailing car which slows the trailing car through the turns. GP bikes have very little downforce so they flat out do not, and will not have that problem.

If you think GP racing will be boring because the bikes don't slide and wheelie as much, that's a matter of opinion. Personally I've seen great racing in the 250 and 125 classes and none of the riders slide those bikes either.

The bikes are a lot easier to ride for sure but the best guys are still going to win. They just might not win by as big a margin, which is fine by me. Some people like to piss and moan about how TC is making the bikes too easy to ride but I think they're missing the big picture. With easier to ride bikes you have more people who can ride the bikes to the maximum and less crashes and injuries.

But I don't care if anyone can ride them, I'd prefer to be watching the best of the best. If anyone can ride them then the only people who are going to start bumping up from other competitions are those who happen to be standing at the right spot at the right time. I want to watch the bikes move and see who's pushing them to the limits. These days you can typically only tell when someone crashes.

Just because more people can ride them doesn't change the fact that the best riders will go to Moto GP, and only the best riders in Moto GP will win. You don't see guys like Hoffman or Checa winning races do you?

As for average riders getting bumped from the lower classes, that's been happening for decades based on who has the right passport and sponsors. But again, just because you can get into GP doesn't mean you'll do well or will be able to stay in the class.