Chili
 

Just been watching WSB, just a thought but why doesn't Chili get a factory ride?

he got ditched after he tried to beat up foggy
and he dosn't like the 999 chassie so that would be no good

Mmm..He just needs a bike with that "little" bit more. He is amazingly talented (and loverleeeeee looking...sigh);)

I think he has passed it, (which means I have), he has about as much chance of a factory ride as I do. He is a character though and WSBK is lacking them, - Borsoi attempt and B Boz copy leathers is the next closest thing.

Frankie has spoken out too much this year against his home town factory, and against his own team, he is hign maintanance, teams don't need that. If the 998 setup is so much better why did n't he do it at this weekend handling track, Assen. Sorry to disagree with some of you.

The hardest thing must be to know when to quit.

Are you really suggesting that Frankie should have quit by now or do you mean it will be hard to know in the future? If the former, I strongly disagree with you. Totally regardless of the fact that he is mixing it at the front with lads 20 years younger, why on earth should he stop if he's still enjoying himself and can raise the funds for a competitive bike? You only live once, do what you want to do, not what other people think you should do. In any case, most people would want him to go on as long as he can (well, I would anyway ;) ).

More to the point, why didn't he get a factory ride earlier in his career?

I thought he was a factory Duke rider in the mid-nineties ...

Wasn't the suzuki a factory ride?

I meant a Ducati factory ride.... but when I got back into bike racing he was on a Suzuki, so you may well be right if it was before that. In that case, why didn't he succeed on a factory Ducati ?

coz foggy and troy beat him

Frankie was a factory Ducati rider in '98 alongside Troy Corser in Virgino Ferrari's team.The other works team that year was the Ducati Performance team with Foggy as the sole rider.
Frankie had a good chance of winning the title but blew it in the infamous Assen incident.That left Corser,Foggy and Aaron Slight to battle it out in the last round.Corser crashed in practice and was too injured to compete.Slights nerves got the better of him and he was way off the pace.Foggy did enough to win the title.
As good a rider that he is,I dont think that the Ducati factory will ever give him a ride again.He is very outspoken and has p*ssed off quite a few people.I also think that he revels in being the underdog.He loves getting one over on the factory and the fans love him for it.
Sounds like he'll be riding a Kwaka next year tho!:(

in fairness to Frankie I did not realise at the time i posted the above and that he may well been off the idea of racing, in race 2 "as young Alessio Perilli (20 yo from Rome) died at Assen. 2 riders run over him after his fall during the european superstock race. the tragedy shocked both Frankie and Michel Fabrizio (who was very near to Alessio Perilli). by his own admission, frankie didn't run 100% in race 2... "

When are they going to realise that Superstock is damn dangerous, - dirty great heavy road bikes with all the h on road tyres.


However I do think Frankie has passed his chance of winning a world chamionship, - just a therory i have that you get 1 chance on the way up, if you miss it you rarely get another, - Hodgson is the exception.

And for me Frankie has seemed a bit of a moaner now for the last couple of years, which is what happens when you get older, as I say in my sig...we turn into old gits, or grumpy old men....
:P

[Edited on 7-9-2004 by Ian]