Michael Dunlop switches teams

[C00kiemonster]

Does he have to qualify? No idea how TT practice works to be honest.

He's now in a position where if he wins he is a god and if he doesn't come close he's a knob.

The top ones don't have to qualify as they have their slots decided before. The rest do have to qualify but I think they have to do 3 laps and a reasonable time (I think)

[DaytonaBuff]

Poor form. Dunlop only gets results when the bike is 100%. Don't get me wrong, when it is he's on a different level, but he has no interest/ability to ride around issues (not that any bike could be perfect all the way around an IOMTT lap). IMHO he should have stuck with it and developed the bike this season and come out fighting next year. It's certainly fast enough (although Hutchy did clear off and leave him in the weeds in that clip once he'd got his harris back in the seat). Suppose he wants quick fixes to get immediate results though, at any cost. Is there any news on what the Yam boys are doing (anyone on the bench?).

[DaytonAndy]

I suppose only time will tell but it looks like he felt the R1 isn't fast enough yet. To me MD is driven only by results and wants to win at all costs. Either there's some behind the scenes drama we don't know about yet or he just wasn't prepared to race on a bike he knew he couldn't win on. IF he wins on the BMW and the R1 wins nothing history will only remember his name on the list.

[Blade]

Didn't he ditch Metzler at the eleventh hour last year in a last minute switch to Dunlop.

If he is not careful he will run out of people to p1$$ off and if that happens it doesn't matter how much speed and talent you have your on your own.

[D6]

i hope someone else rides the R1 and beats him.

[Kwacky]

If Joey was around he would knock him out.

[duke63]

Rumours are the new R1 is sucking oil into the airbox when run at continuous high revs.

[Blade]

Can't they fit an external crankcase breather to a catchment tank ?

Is it me or is there blue haze behind the bike which could be as the above suggests oil is getting in the intake system ?

[Roadrace]

That was the main issue. Apparently it was also a problem at the NW too.
I'd have walked away from that ride. It's all well and good to slate someone for leaving a team, but he had no chance of winning on a potentially dangerous bike. He's already impressed on the BMW stocker in practice, and now there's extra practice time with the superbike race moving to Sunday, I'd say he's made a good choice.

[Blade]

I can see your position road race and agree he is likely to win on the BMW and obviously this is his only priority but its more the timing of the decision imo. If problems occurred at the nw200 it would have been better for him, build base BMW and Yamaha and all its sponsors to speak up earlier. The amount of people let down and the loss of money is huge. Imagine how the Yamaha team must feel ?

[Roadrace]

Potentially MD was told that it would be sorted for the TT, and discovered after the first practice session on the island that it wasn't?
Total speculation, granted. But without all the facts, I don't feel that berating MD is fair.

[Blade]

Good point Road race if that was the case then fair enough. But if it was MD would be better speaking up and explaining himself to avoid any bad press, although saying that he probably doesn't even care, but perhaps should as his image to potential future sponsors is important.

[rocket]

looks like yamaha have thrown the teddies out as he is now riding a honda in the supersport i can not blame them. As i agree with what your saying about the R1 racing is not just about winning and like blade has said he seems to be running out of people to piss off.

[duke63]

I guess he needs to make his own decisions for his own reasons. I must confess i wouldn't want to push a bike i wasn't happy with at a place where any error may be your last ever.

I suspect in the future he will have to run his own team though as you eventually run out of options by chopping and changing and leaving a bad taste with race teams. I would have thought any future contract he signed would be made completely watertight by any teams lawyers.

Here's a vid of his interview after making the decision.


[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuY5Cuy ... e=youtu.be[/video]

[Blade]

I'm still waiting on the call from Shaun Muir but he better be apologetic and be writing big cheques out too. as I don't like being anyones second choice