Ducati Monster Forum

Schedule

(left coast time)

Friday, 17 July 2009
125 FP1   03:40 - 04:40
MotoGP FP1   04:55 - 05:55
250 FP1   06:10 - 07:10

Saturday, 18 July 2009
125 FP2   00:00 - 00:40
MotoGP FP2   00:55 - 01:55
250 FP2   02:10 - 03:10
125 QP   04:00 - 04:40
MotoGP QP   04:55 - 05:55
250 QP   06:10 - 06:55

Sunday, 19 July 2009
125 WUP   Sat-23:40 - Sun-00:00
250 WUP   00:10 - 00:30
MotoGP WUP   00:40 - 01:00
125 RAC   02:00
250 RAC   03:15
MotoGP RAC   05:00

on at 3pm PT on speed this time

whenever i decide to wake up on motogp.com   :P :P

http://www.motogpmatters.com/results/2009/07/17/2009_sachsenring_motogp_fp1_result_stone.html (http://www.motogpmatters.com/results/2009/07/17/2009_sachsenring_motogp_fp1_result_stone.html)

FP1

Pos.   Rider   Team   Bike   Time
1   Casey Stoner   Ducati Marlboro   Ducati   1:22.779
2   Dani Pedrosa   Repsol Honda   Honda   1:23.034
3   Valentino Rossi   Fiat Yamaha   Yamaha   1:23.088
4   Randy De Puniet   LCR Honda   Honda   1:23.133
5   Alex De Angelis   San Carlo Honda Gresini   Honda   1:23.282
6   Colin Edwards II   Tech 3 Yamaha   Yamaha   1:23.295
7   Tony Elias   San Carlo Honda Gresini   Honda   1:23.351
8   Nicky Hayden   Ducati Marlboro   Ducati   1:23.367
9   Andrea Dovizioso   Repsol Honda   Honda   1:23.370
10   Marco Melandri   Hayate Racing   Kawasaki   1:23.466
11   Jorge Lorenzo   Fiat Yamaha   Yamaha   1:23.496
12   Loris Capirossi   Rizla Suzuki   Suzuki   1:23.705
13   Mika Kallio   Pramac Racing   Ducati   1:24.090
14   James Toseland   Tech 3 Yamaha   Yamaha   1:24.317
15   Niccolo Canepa   Pramac Racing   Ducati   1:24.908
16   Chris Vermeulen   Rizla Suzuki   Suzuki   1:25.161
17   Gabor Talmacsi   Scot Racing   Honda   1:25.416

Those times look like it was wet.

Edit:  ah, wet then dry session.

Looks like Hayden may be turning the corner...hopefully!  [thumbsup]

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/149921/1/hayden_on_top_for_a_long_time.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/149921/1/hayden_on_top_for_a_long_time.html)

Wet conditions though and he's been consistently faster than most under those circumstances which is interesting in itself.  Still good to see him under a second off of the pace of the top runners with the exception of the alien wonder boy.

Hayden remarked that when he "really digs in" on his hot laps, the bike just doesn't seem to pick up more time even if he's riding harder.  When the other riders turn the screws near the end of the session, he just plummets down the order.  Having him less than a second off the pace is encouraging though.  I'm glad to see him inching closer to competitive racing again.  Hopefully by season's end, he'll have worked out a lot of kinks and next year we'll see him much more productive.

I don't think Hayden's "turned the corner" yet.  I'll need more a coupla middling showings to start thinking that he's come to grips (no pun intended) with the Duc.

Maybe now that they have some baseline data for him--and he's no longer using Casey's--he'll do better next year.  Assuming that is, Duc sticks with him and he sticks with them.  I wonder if Nicky-data is better for other riders than Casey-data, which seems to kill every rider who uses it (I'm assuming everyone started by using some version of Casey's baseline, which might be completely off).  Ducati seemed to say as much when Bayliss tested, i.e. they were going to develop Casey's bike for Casey and the other Ducs for everyone else. 

Funny, About damn time lorenzo started using the airbag leathers. He doesn't seem content with just crashing, when he does something, he does it right. Like highsiding 6 feet into the air  [laugh]


http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/149918/1/lorenzo_injuries_dont_feel_good_airbag_debut.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/149918/1/lorenzo_injuries_dont_feel_good_airbag_debut.html)

OK...for the first time I may be actually cheering for a rider to crash. I just want to see him balloon up like the stay-puff marshmellow man as he flies through the air!  [laugh]

I'm guessing he'll be there next year since they have a Hayden replica 848. But, I like Hayden...so I'm hoping he turns it around and has a good year next year.

Ya looking like another wet race. It's all thunder and lightning at ye ol Sachsenring today. Sat, rain forecast, Sunday partial rain.

Nicky seemed to be going well in the wet, so maybe this'll be a good one. <hope smiley>

Vermeulen got launched. Ow.  :-X

Hayden 4th in FP2, 0.458 off poll.

It's been a long time coming [beer]

Qualifying Results

1.   Valentino Rossi   ITA   Fiat Yamaha Team   1min   32.520   sec
2.   Jorge Lorenzo   SPA   Fiat Yamaha Team   1min   33.160   sec
3.   Casey Stoner   AUS   Ducati Marlboro Team   1min   33.759   sec
4.   Nicky Hayden USA   Ducati Marlboro Team   1min   34.404   sec
5.   Alex de Angelis   RSM   San Carlo Honda Gresini   1min   34.490   sec
6.   Randy de Puniet   FRA   LCR Honda MotoGP   1min   34.564   sec
7.   Colin Edwards USA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   1min   34.607   sec
8.   Dani Pedrosa   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   1min   34.725   sec
9.   Loris Capirossi   ITA   Rizla Suzuki MotoGP   1min   34.741   sec
10.   Mika Kallio FIN   Pramac Racing   1min   34.771   sec
11.   Andrea Dovizioso   ITA   Repsol Honda Team   1min   34.892   sec
12.   Chris Vermeulen AUS   Rizla Suzuki MotoGP   1min   34.937   sec
13.   Marco Melandri   ITA   Hayate Racing Team   1min   34.938   sec
14.   James Toseland   GBR   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   1min   35.005   sec
15.   Niccolo Canepa   ITA   Pramac Racing   1min   36.012   sec
16.   Gabor Talmacsi   HUN   Scot Racing Team MotoGP   1min   36.055   sec
17.   Toni Elias SPA   San Carlo Honda Gresini   1min   36.531   sec

do NOT miss the highlight reel that is sure to show the massive number of crashes, including elias' and de angeles' bikes ghost riding into the airfence, and nicky's late session highside that resulted in him flying through the air and taking canepa out.

Wow, the Suzukis (esp The Mole) are way down...was qualy wet?

Sopping.  Vermuleun normally rocks in the wet, but I'm sure he's pretty banged up right now.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/Pramac+Racing+Germany+qualifying+review (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/Pramac+Racing+Germany+qualifying+review)

Niccolò Canepa - 15th

"What a hit ! I didn't understand what happened until I saw the replay while I was in the mobile clinic. When I was on the ground after the accident I saw and heard Hayden saying to me "Sorry, sorry, sorry", but I didn't understand why. He doesn't have to worry because this sort of thing can happen and the most important thing is that both of us are ok and ready to race tomorrow."

for those with subs:

http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009/Sachsenring+2009+MotoGP+QP+Highlights (http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009/Sachsenring+2009+MotoGP+QP+Highlights)

Hayden had a nice dismount into half flip rebound Canepa gravel slide finish.  I'd give it a 9.6      That's gold medal worthy imo.

Elias' attempt to bull ride his Honda for a split second was worthy of note too!

some great action clips!

caption:  [laugh]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/2009/motogp/sackrace/3/7.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/2009/motogp/sackrace/3/7.htm)

free video:  http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009/Sachsenring+MotoGP+QP+Crashes (http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009/Sachsenring+MotoGP+QP+Crashes)

Carnage!  :o

wow

mitt

well at least hayden was able to hit a person so that ws probably a softer hit right there than pavement.. well at least until he hit the pavement .1 seconds later.

another good battle between rossi and jorge...

rossi
lorenzo
pedrosa
stoner
de angelis
elias
melandri
hayden
edwards

Heck of a race.  GP has had some closer races then wsbk this year.

Let me guess, stacy must be having stomach cramp!  He blamed the tires at the garage after the race but it looks completely fine even the commentator said so too.  Mysterious illness attack again since... hmmm last Friday...  [popcorn]    

In contrast, Marco Melandri did exceptionally well on a Kawi.   [thumbsup]

that's rather disingenuous.

http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009/Stoner+explains+podium+dropoff (http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009/Stoner+explains+podium+dropoff)

I don't know if Stoner is fully health, but its good to see him fighting and keeping pace for most of the race.  Watching the race, Stoner did make a handful of mistakes that hurt his bid to stay up front.  His rubber did look fine in post race pictures, but that doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't having grip problems.  Perhaps his setup was a bit off.

When Jorge learns patience, he's going to be a force.  This is two straight weeks that he probably should have postponed his pass until the last few laps.  He was trying to pass and then gap Rossi, but most likely would have been better to just sit on his butt another few laps.  We have a bright future ahead with him in the paddock.

And from Ducati.com,

Casey Stoner's after race Comments

And from Nicky Hayden

SPEED Channel was using that 1,500 frame per sec camera, during the race. Incredible footage.  [thumbsup]

The announcers call him, Horhay, Rossi calls him Yourgy.  ;)

What a race  [thumbsup]

Too bad Stoner couldn't hold it together in the end, but the Lorenzo-Rossi duels are getting good.

Exciting race!  [thumbsup] It's great watching Rossi and Lorenzo battle!

Too bad Stoner couldn't remain up front, but he looked good in general...and is only 28 points behind. Hayden also looked pretty good, despite turn 1 at the beginning.

The slow motion shots through the chicane were great...as was the shot of the start where Stoner got sandwiched.  [thumbsup]

I liked the shot where Stoner basically had his knee planted in the side of Lorenzo's bike  [laugh]

You did watch the race, right? So your theory is that Casey rode the hell out of the bike for 2/3 of the race and then got scared?   [roll]

Hard to read Jorge's expression in the press conference....disgust? shock? perplexed?

I think frustrated more than anything.  He said after Catalunya that he's not used to coming out on the wrong side of these battles.  He's young and will take it back to Rossi soon enough I'm sure.

That wasn't speed channel's footage, only food channel have this kind of technology in America. 

http://www.redlake.com (http://www.redlake.com)

I want some of whatever medicine they gave Stoner this week, even if it did wear off in the last laps.

Stoner had said he was feeling better and has been receiving treatment, but he had said prior to the race that he was still going to be tired towards the end of this race and maybe a couple more.
 
And maybe the tires were going off, just because a commentator says they look fine and we see they look fine does not mean anything, he or the Team may have chosen the wrong compound for the race, There may have been an internal carcass problem, or it may have felt like a tire problem at the time, but on closer inspection of the Data, they may have found another Suspension or Brake issue that he didn't know about.

But the problem is we'll never truly know, all the Teams play there cards so close to there chest, and they watch every little thing they say, knowing that every other team is looking at the bikes and the press releases trying to gain an advantage.

You can't tell always tell if a tire's gone by just looking at it (unless it's Dovi's --that thing was toast).

WTF is it with everyone talking about whiners?  If something is going on technically during a race, I want to hear about it from the rider.  That's interesting, not whining.  If a rider says they weren't getting the feel they want from their suspension or were having chatter or their tires went, knowing that helps my experience.  If they're constantly blaming the bike for their own slowness, I might grow tired of that.  But that's not been the case for pretty much anyone in GP.

That was a fun race to watch.  I wish Stoner coulda hung with the boys up front, and I would have liked to see what Nicky could do if he'd kept his starting position.   [moto]

Someone wanna tell me why the Gresini boys finally decided to ride after they basically gave away their spots for next year with their shitty performance thus far?   [roll]

Looks like were going to see this same four man battle for the rest of the season. With dovidioso in 5th, his bike can definitely do the business but results are inconsistent. Hayden in the 5-10 spots for the rest of the year, doing better but just too out classsed by the top 4.

the only whining has been from folks saying there's been whining.

stoner was very open about the fact that stamina-wise he only had about 1/2 (dry) race distance in him.

i also like to hear about set-up woes, etc..  that's a big time science.  in a weekend where it was wet and dry leading up to the race, very few are going to get it right.

maybe the Gresini bikes finally got their '08 chassis'

and if jor-ge goes to honda, i think he'll be making a big mistake.

Gresini may have.  I'm curious as to why anyone would expect the satellite Honda riders to accomplish anything on lower spec engines and old chassis.  The old chassis weren't even developed for bridgestones, so you're destined for failure there anyway imo.  I also don't understand why Honda would provide inferior bikes to the satellite squads as well.  I would think you'd want quality equipment given to everyone so your brand looks better and of course the racing is better.

Yamaha gives pretty solid equipment to tech-3 minus the immediate up to date stuff, although Yamaha hasn't really farted with their package much outside of suspension tweaks and electronic maps.  Its already the top package, no need to change it this year.

Jorge would be gambling by going to Honda for sure.  You escape some of the high pressure tension related to Vale ( and gain Puig/Pedro ), but you also lose access to the best bike developing combo in Rossi/Burgess.  Money moves the world though.  Most of the time.

elias' bike is factory-spec.  the main 'not getting the new parts' problem he's been wanting all year is to be able to go back to an '08 chassis, which is what pedro and dovi are using.

Anyone else notice that Stoner was the only one in the front 4 to choose a very hard front vs hard?  Maybe it greased-up on him?  Either way, it was a very exciting race!  The more lead swaps, the better!  I am def. looking forward to the top 3 battling all the way to the finish this year.

Good point and my oversight.  I forgot about Honda bungling up the new chassis.  I was thinking about when Yamaha was using the old Michelin chassis, then noticed a nice change when they finally updated to the stone's chassis.

....you mean rossi's?   [cheeky]

 ;D

One other note about this weekend.  I find it comical how Gabor Talmacsi is happy to have taken his first point in GP's... first for a Hungarian, however he was lapped!

are you kidding?  his hungarian oil sponsors were STOKED that he got lapped... he was on tv for, like, 5 whole seconds.  =)

i'd be pretty happy gettin' paid 3.5M euros to be lapped, too.

That was one of my favorite races so far this year. Too bad Nickey had such a crummy start.  Would have been fun to at least watch him and Stoner go at it some.  Maybe next week.

Some random pics . . .

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/77269-2/20090717160609_SUZUKI_1.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/77273-2/20090717160617_SUZUKI_2_crop.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/77956-2/mgp_2009_07_19_Sachsenring_AndreaDovizioso_7546.jpg)

Jebus, look at those lean angles.   :o

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/78046-2/3735492618_da3a993ce6_o.jpg)

 ;D

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/78082-2/20090719145645_SUZUKI_8.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/78376-2/FYT_090719164847682_7.JPG)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/78388-2/_TIN9946.JPG)

Nice pics.

The slow motion HD shots from MOTOGP.COM were SO cool. Anyone catch that?

gotta love the germans with their super-slowmo...

Spidey,

How the heck are you getting those pics?  [popcorn]

They're from rideontwo.com.  I go there to check out the pics.  Jim Race has access (I think as a member of the press) to the official photos taken at MotoGP events.  Or something like that.  He downloads them and then posts 'em up in their own thread for each race.  Here's the pic thread for the latest round:  http://www.rideontwo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2369 (http://www.rideontwo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2369)

Can someone tell me WTF with Rossi and his 2 kneesliders on the left?

they usually double-stack 'em for more reach in the wet... not sure why he's lopsided in the dry.

+1 The last two weeks with F1 and MotoGp have yielded some pretty cool shots.

On a side note, for some reason, I am really yearning to purchase some Rizla products right now.

This is just a guess, but, that track is all Lefts. They said there are really only 3 rights. A lot of knee time on the left?


+ its that wind thing he does hanging his leg out there to slow down into turns  [laugh]

Ya me too. It kind of burns inside. "Paper control?"  wtf is that? I need that.