[crfsonly]

Ok...so, you saw in my previous post that I was at the Friday night U.S. Open to see Ricky lose a leed to Chad and eventually lose the main. I left hoping that somehow Ricky would be able to find a way to win the next night. Apparently he was running second when he had bike problems of some kind that put him out of the race...i.e. he ended up with a DNF!

i wonder how much it'w really worth to have a winning plaform? ricky ran an entire outdoor season without a single mechanical problem and in his first race event on a suzuki and he has mechanical problems. i'm confident this is not what ricky was hoping for nor the kind of publicity suzuki dreamed of when sign him. can you imagine if this happens again...and then again?

for those that don't know...most of the 250 class riders were riding 2-strokes. so this wasn't zuk's 4-stroke that failed but their 2-stroke...tried and tested. i was concerned about the outdoor season and whether or not their 4-stroke would stay together. i guess my concern was misguided!

[hondafan]

WOOPS!!!!! my name is ricky carmichael and i am stupid for signing with zoozooki! it isnt my fault i just like the yellow rims!

hehe.. wouldnt ya like to know what he is thinking right bout now?

[Robo]

Does anyone know if Ricky was able to retain his mechanic from Honda? Last I had heard (saw on TV) that was the rumor.

[crfsonly]

hey robo...good to see you! yes, ricky's mechanic, Mike Gosselaar, went with ricky. it looks like suzuki is calling it a 'clutch failure' and not something in the trans. ricky said right after the race that he was having clutch problems, was adjusting on the fly, it got better and then worse. this cycle continued, he ended up casing a double or triple and then it just went away shortly after that. his initial description sounded more like transmission to me but who knows. anyway, the good news is all that was on the line was cash...the bad news, for team suzuki, they used up what better be their only mechanical DNF of the year.

[Robo]

Thanks Ken! I'm never far away... Thanks for the info! That's good news for Ricky & Team Suzuki and bad news for Honda. I wonder if Honda will someday wish things had gone a little differently?

[crfsonly]

i'm sure they are already wishing things had gone differently...and i'm absolutely confident that feeling will only deepen as the season wears on..especially when the outdoor season starts. my opinion? they should have sent out a collection plate to the honda dealers to make up the difference between what ricky was asking for and what they were willing to give him. this will have a negative impact on sales...it just has to. people love to be associated with winners...and no one has won like ricky.