Ducati Monster Forum

Well, might as well start the what-if scenarios here.  ;D

What is the situation with the bike for Spies?
Does he have to use a previously sealed motor, or? ? ?

Edwards want 5th from Dovi.
4 point gap, seems it's all on the table.

Stoner wants 3rd from Pedrosa.
11 point gap, Pedrobot has his work cut out for him.

his engine allocation doesn't come out of yamaha's "limit" but I would assume it has to be sealed.. or just approved or whatever, before they stick it in the bike.  what i don't know is whether or not he could (economics aside, which makes this unlikely) theoretically use several engines over the course of the weekend.

interesting question however if the tech 3 bikes really have been de-tuned like colin claims and if therefore ben's bike is in fact faster.  you KNOW jt feels like he's gotta beat ben..   [evil]

Is Ben riding a third Tech III bike or just some "other" Yamaha they give him as a wildcard?  I don't remember.

My predictions:

• Someone from the DMF goes to the race, posts something about how awesome the food is. Derby finds this thread (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=30843.0) and calls it a derby.
• Spies upends Edwards from his usual 5th place in the race.
• Hayden starts off a every interview response with "Yeah man..."
• Stoner kicks Pedrobot's arse at his home race ;D

it's just A Yamaha, i believe.  don't know what livery he'll have.

Nevermind.  Google and crash.net answered my question:

"The World Superbike title contender, confirmed at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 for 2010, will 'participate as a single rider entry of a Yamaha Factory Racing Team, using YZR-M1 test bikes brought over from Japan' at the Spanish event."

http://www.crash.net/MOTOGP/News/153091/1/ben_spies_to_race_valencia_motogp.html (http://www.crash.net/MOTOGP/News/153091/1/ben_spies_to_race_valencia_motogp.html)

(full) factory test bike.

 [thumbsup]

Imagine if The Ben had to share a garage with Toseland at Tech III.  That'd be like if Toseland stole The Ben's crew chief during the off-season and then they had to share a garage.  Man, that'd be tense.

 ;D

i was going to wait until all the post-weekend race discussions settled down to hopefully avoid spoilers of said races.

you gonna keep the thread title updated over the course of the weekend?  ;D

there's at least one "spies over edwards" bet for the weekend... any other takers?

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=24757.msg541953#msg541953 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=24757.msg541953#msg541953)

I'll get in on that.  $25 says Spies over Edwards.   ;) 

[laugh]

oh, so NOW you're a spies fan.  [laugh]

why don't you just go ahead and make that donation now...  [cheeky]

The way Toseland's been going lately, I think The Ben is going to mop the floor with him.  ;D

I suspect Ben's bikes are going to be set to 'Full Tilt Boogie'.
I don't think the engines are really 'worth' all that much, assuming the 2010 motors are totally new.

Toseland and Edwards may only have some pretty tired motors left.


Dang. I guess I'm gonna have to.  :P

Been a Spies since he turned me around at Road Atlanta (at least that's where I think it was).  Ride through to 15th or so on the grid and then finished 2d?!?  Dayum.  I didn't like him much before that.  

OTOH, I'm also a realist.  Which is why The Ben *shouldn't* have won more WSBK races than Haga.  And why he *shouldn't* beat Edwards at Valencia.  Then again, he's also superhuman, which keeps throwing a wrench into my betting strategy.   ;D

I'll stick with Edwards.  The only advantages The Ben has this weekend are (a) he has nothing to lose, (b) he's on a 2010 factory test bike and (c) he's not human.  

is he on a 2010 bike or a 2009 test bike?

esp since ben has already spent significant, successful time on bridgestones and jt really can't seem to get on level terms with them



unless maybe ben's engines are 2010 engines.. or 2009.8 engines.  who knows.  valuable for yamaha not only to give him the best chance they can (especially now) and get some real race testing data for the new engines now... when they can't give them to the other 4 guys.

Errr . . . dunno.  All I know is that it's a test bike from Japan.  I assumed that meant it's a 2009.9 bike.  Not quite the 2010 bike, but further along (for good or for bad) than the existing M1.  

I can't imagine they're gonna give him a full-tilt boogie engine.  That'd be pointless in terms of getting him some testing time for the bike and some baseline data for next year.  He needs to learn to ride an M1 that's tuned so that they can get within the 8(?) engine limit for next season.  

[Edit:  I think I just said the same thing gm2 did.  Shoulda just went with +1.]

unless they really are giving him an early version of a 2010 engine in order to get data on it when it's turned up to 11.  better to understand then how to make it last for 2 or 3 races next year.

i dunno.. i can imagine reasons for going either way.

For 2010, do they have to allocate and seal *all* engines before the start of festivities?

not sure.

this year they were able to allocate and seal them in batches.

I thought I read somewhere that The Ben gets his own allocation of motors just like any other new rider. Did any of the other riders not starting at the first race have to borrow motors?

He gets 8 engines for 1 race  ;D   


mitt

Nice! ;D

(http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/710/AU564342.jpg)

(http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/710/AU564341.jpg)

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!

back to 11 eh...

That bike goes to 11.  ;D

guess that means colin gets 12th....   [cheeky]

i'm guessing that bautista has dibs on 19 since he was confirmed to motogp first.

that's ok, 11 is mobettah.

I'm thinking of it more as two 1's.

Soon to be followed with a third 1.  [beer]

that would be slight's number.

(http://www.wsb-archives.co.uk/Images/1999/R3Donington/111AaronSlight.jpg)

(he got tired of fishing 3rd in the championship and running #3)

I like that he's back to using 11, even though all the "Never-Heard-Of-Ben-Spies-Until-'09" Euros know him as #19. 

I'm curious how the sponsorship thing worked out.  How did it end up that he's using the Sterilgarda livery on his MotoGP wildcard bike?  I know that he was under contract with them for WSBK, but are they also funding his MotoGP wildcard spot?  Does that mean anything for Tech III sponsorship for next year?

Gawd, he's so much bigger than that bike than a WSBK bike.  He's as tall as Vale (almost) and has like 15 lbs on him. 

looks like it.. or at least they inked a deal with yamaha for this race.  he's not really tech 3 this time around.


he said a while ago (miller interview?) that if he went to GP he'd lose 10lbs.

http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/04/spies_to_sport_sterilgarda_livery_at_val.html (http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/04/spies_to_sport_sterilgarda_livery_at_val.html)

Maybe he can hang out with Kirstie Alley and they can share secrets ;D

something tells me that she doesn't have a trainer and nutritionist on staff.. at least not lately  

Cool :)

Ben's situation at Valencia, according to Lin Jarvis:

'bikes will be virtually identical to the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha satellite machines ridden by Colin Edwards and James Toseland'

'with enough engines to last the weekend'

Spec of said engines is apparently whatever Yamaha wants 'em to be.

http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/05/just_how_many_engines_does_ben_spies_hav.html (http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/05/just_how_many_engines_does_ben_spies_hav.html)

key word: virtually.

yeah, cause virtually all of the pople that regularly populate threads in this section are virtually porn stars with bajillions of dollars....

nice catch on that...any loophole for an escape!

Indeed.

I suspect it's more of a 2010 bike.

Isn't that the same word they used when he was going to do 1 more yr in WSBK and MotoGP in 2011

I dig the sterilgarda livery.  Its quite nice looking.

gotta be.  i mean, if you're yamaha, why the hell not.

It makes sense, why wouldn't Yamaha want to run the 2010 bike with their 2010 rider?

all comes down to regs.  if he's exempt from basically all the rules, like i said earlier: give him the full tilt boogie machine, give him 5 engines, use em all & use that data to help figure out how to contstrain the real 2010 engines so that they last all season.  find the limits on allocated engines by pushing past them on his engines.  minus the cash that would take, why not?

but something tells me it's not that simple.

what is? ;)

FP1

Pos No. Rider Bike Time Diff Diff Previous
1 27 Casey STONER DUCATI 1'32.813     
2 99 Jorge LORENZO YAMAHA 1'33.195 0.382 0.382
3 3 Dani PEDROSA HONDA 1'33.241 0.428 0.046
4 46 Valentino ROSSI YAMAHA 1'33.499 0.686 0.258
5 14 Randy DE PUNIET HONDA 1'33.910 1.097 0.411
6 15 Alex DE ANGELIS HONDA 1'34.106 1.293 0.196
7 5 Colin EDWARDS YAMAHA 1'34.123 1.310 0.017
8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO HONDA 1'34.382 1.569 0.259
9 65 Loris CAPIROSSI SUZUKI 1'34.427 1.614 0.045
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN DUCATI 1'34.462 1.649 0.035
11 36 Mika KALLIO DUCATI 1'34.696 1.883 0.234
12 33 Marco MELANDRI KAWASAKI 1'34.859 2.046 0.163
13 52 James TOSELAND YAMAHA 1'34.865 2.052 0.006
14 24 Toni ELIAS HONDA 1'34.873 2.060 0.008
15 11 Ben SPIES YAMAHA 1'35.052 2.239 0.179
16 7 Chris VERMEULEN SUZUKI 1'35.131 2.318 0.079
17 41 Gabor TALMACSI HONDA 1'35.258 2.445 0.127
18 44 Aleix ESPARGARO DUCATI 1'35.458 2.645 0.200

an answer to this question lies inside...

http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/05/just_how_many_engines_does_ben_spies_hav.html (http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/05/just_how_many_engines_does_ben_spies_hav.html)

...sorta.

welp, never been on the bike before and he's still faster than the mole.  =)


http://www.motomatters.com/results/2009/11/06/2009_valencia_motogp_fp1_result_stoner_c.html (http://www.motomatters.com/results/2009/11/06/2009_valencia_motogp_fp1_result_stoner_c.html)

"Ben Spies got off to a cautious start, improving on his times slowly as the session progressed. At one point, he climbed all the way up to 11th, only to drop towards the end of the session, finishing the day in 15th. But the Texan wasn't too far off the pace, just two tenths of a second behind Marco Melandri in 12th, and just over half a second outside the top 10."

wonder if Toseland saw all the conjecture online about people expecting Spies to be faster than him and hence why he has a small edge eeked out?!?!?!?

i'm pretty sure he doesn't need to look for it to know that everyone is saying it..

true enough....must suck to know that kind of monkey is on your back...

"about 70%"

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Nov/091106rydernotes.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Nov/091106rydernotes.htm)

Ben logging top speeds pretty close to the factory Yammies:

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/154449/1/ben_spies_sets_an_interesting_top_speed.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/154449/1/ben_spies_sets_an_interesting_top_speed.html)

Before the weekend speculation was rife that Yamaha might place some 'power-up' or 2010 development parts into the M1 of Spies - since he is not subject to the engine change limit - but Yamaha have publically claimed his bike is very similar to the satellite Tech 3 machines.

very similar... sure, like, it's an M1 'n all....  ;)

I'm with Ryder.  So far, the only thing worth watching this weekend is Spies.

Rossi has already won the championship, so mebbe he'll go ballz out.  That'd be cool.  But prolly not.
Lorenzo has to stay upright to get second.  So he won't go in with the win-or-crash attitude.
Pedrobot wants to win, but he doesn't dice much.  He either runs out front and takes off or starts to drop back.
Stoner is just gonna blaze.  Which is cool, but not that fun to watch.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that he and Rossi can give us some more of that PI action, but I just don't see it happening, particularly with Rossi's history at Valencia.
Edwards/Dovi is interesting for the points, but not so much for the racing.  Besides, who knows how much the cameras are gonna be focused on them. <sigh>

So, I'm watching for how Spies does.  All the speculation about whether he has a super-engine is gonna make for even more drama.  

Mebbe Toseland, Elias and De Angelis are gonna show us sumptin'?

  

I'm watching for the 250 race. Last one ever. And the championship is down to the wire.

Oh, and DeAngelis may crash into someone :)

Yeah, there's that.  Good point. 

Ace Cafe...Sunday. Hoping Rob has the 250s.

well... 19 points is not a foregone conclusion, but i wouldn't call it down to the wire.  hiro needs to crash, basically, not to take it.

still really looking forward to that race tho.

another thing i was just thinking... just to make sure my ben fanboydom is wicked up to, like, 11... let's say the bike really is tech 3 spec.  it doesn't have unobtanium rocket boosters, etc.

 -- remember what he did on nori's unchanged R1 on the monday after portimao, 2008. 

no, what?

at first they didn't change a single thing about the bike.  it's was 100% nori's settings.  he just threw a leg over it and went.  he'd never been on the bike, track, or tires before and in no time he was lapping just barely under bayliss' race time from the day before. 

...shortly thereafter troy tipped him as the man to beat in 2009.

Ahh yes but as you know Gp bikes are a completely different game from the Sbks. Spies has ridden Sbk's all his career. Gp is all about the cornerspeed. I wonder how he'll perform.

yeah, i know.  and he knows.  and he's said the same thing, yadda yadda.  i was just sayin'.

btw, ben rode 250s back in the day.  it's not like that type of riding is completely foreign to him.

..and 50s, and 80s, and 125s...  ;D

Stoner did maybe 10 hot laps the whole session... [roll]

Rest of the crew, 25 or so.

--------edit-----------

Stoner did 11 hot laps.
Lorenzo, 23.
Pedrosa, 21.
Rossi, 25.
spies, 19.

FP2

Pos.    Num.    Rider    Nation    Team    Motorcycle    Lap time    Km/h    Gap
1    27    Casey STONER    AUS    Ducati Marlboro Team    Ducati    1'32.819    313.862    
2    3    Dani PEDROSA    SPA    Repsol Honda Team    Honda    1'32.987    316.622    0.168
3    99    Jorge LORENZO    SPA    Fiat Yamaha Team    Yamaha    1'33.065    311.598    0.246
4    46    Valentino ROSSI    ITA    Fiat Yamaha Team    Yamaha    1'33.354    310.434    0.535
5    69    Nicky HAYDEN    USA    Ducati Marlboro Team    Ducati    1'33.664    310.344    0.845
6    4    Andrea DOVIZIOSO    ITA    Repsol Honda Team    Honda    1'33.717    312.771    0.898
7    5    Colin EDWARDS    USA    Monster Yamaha Tech 3    Yamaha    1'33.784    309.101    0.965
8    14    Randy DE PUNIET    FRA    LCR Honda MotoGP    Honda    1'33.857    312.228    1.038
9    15    Alex DE ANGELIS    RSM    San Carlo Honda Gresini    Honda    1'34.004    314.044    1.185
10    36    Mika KALLIO    FIN    Pramac Racing    Ducati    1'34.089    315.604    1.270
11    24    Toni ELIAS    SPA    San Carlo Honda Gresini    Honda    1'34.111    311.059    1.292
12    11    Ben SPIES    USA    Sterilgarda Yamaha Team    Yamaha    1'34.196    311.958    1.377
13    33    Marco MELANDRI    ITA    Hayate Racing Team    Kawasaki    1'34.210    310.612    1.391
14    65    Loris CAPIROSSI    ITA    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP    Suzuki    1'34.407    309.810    1.588
15    44    Aleix ESPARGARO    SPA    Pramac Racing    Ducati    1'34.626    309.721    1.807
16    52    James TOSELAND    GBR    Monster Yamaha Tech 3    Yamaha    1'34.673    306.731    1.854
17    7    Chris VERMEULEN    AUS    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP    Suzuki    1'34.693    307.955    1.874
18    41    Gabor TALMACSI    HUN    Scot Racing Team MotoGP    Honda    1'34.871    310.434    2.052

Qualifying

Pos.    Num.    Rider    Nation    Team    Motorcycle    Lap time    Km/h    Gap
1    27    Casey STONER    AUS    Ducati Marlboro Team    Ducati    1'32.256    312.771    
2    3    Dani PEDROSA    SPA    Repsol Honda Team    Honda    1'32.519    313.771    0.263
3    99    Jorge LORENZO    SPA    Fiat Yamaha Team    Yamaha    1'32.537    310.612    0.281
4    46    Valentino ROSSI    ITA    Fiat Yamaha Team    Yamaha    1'32.922    306.296    0.666
5    5    Colin EDWARDS    USA    Monster Yamaha Tech 3    Yamaha    1'33.085    307.692    0.829
6    69    Nicky HAYDEN    USA    Ducati Marlboro Team    Ducati    1'33.154    309.544    0.898
7    14    Randy DE PUNIET    FRA    LCR Honda MotoGP    Honda    1'33.391    306.818    1.135
8    24    Toni ELIAS    SPA    San Carlo Honda Gresini    Honda    1'33.475    312.138    1.219
9    11    Ben SPIES    USA    Sterilgarda Yamaha Team    Yamaha    1'33.539    309.278    1.283
10    4    Andrea DOVIZIOSO    ITA    Repsol Honda Team    Honda    1'33.678    309.988    1.422
11    36    Mika KALLIO    FIN    Pramac Racing    Ducati    1'33.809    312.319    1.553
12    15    Alex DE ANGELIS    RSM    San Carlo Honda Gresini    Honda    1'33.844    310.434    1.588
13    65    Loris CAPIROSSI    ITA    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP    Suzuki    1'34.097    307.779    1.841
14    52    James TOSELAND    GBR    Monster Yamaha Tech 3    Yamaha    1'34.107    306.992    1.851
15    33    Marco MELANDRI    ITA    Hayate Racing Team    Kawasaki    1'34.188    306.905    1.932
16    44    Aleix ESPARGARO    SPA    Pramac Racing    Ducati    1'34.308    306.992    2.052
17    41    Gabor TALMACSI    HUN    Scot Racing Team MotoGP    Honda    1'34.357    307.342    2.101
18    7    Chris VERMEULEN    AUS    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP    Suzuki    1'34.537    304.482    2.281

Who's still racin' for a ride?

DeAngelis I think is the only guy still holding out for a possible GP seat... pending some money being thrown at him.

Stoner had the f'n hammer down hard.
Big long slides.  [beer]

Hayden second row, Spies third row.  [thumbsup]

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93071-2/09MotoGP-17-fri-05.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93221-2/FYT_091106171329053_1.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93245-2/FYT_091106171329053_4.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93242-2/FYT_091106171329053_3.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93248-2/4080228653_a6bdb42367_o.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93368-2/_TIN5850.jpg)

Ducati reports Stoner forgot to turn off his ipod during the warm up lap.  The track he was listening to?...

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x175lf&related=0 (http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x175lf&related=0)

I think I'm going to cry

RACE SPOILER

Well, that's one way to ensure that next year stars off with harmony in the Tech3 pit.  From CE:  "And thank you Ben. I love Ben. He's not even my team-mate yet, but I love him."  BTW, Pay up, bishes.   ;D

I'm still trying to figure out WTF happened with Casey.   ???  Edit:  cold tires.  Youch, that's rookie.  http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80092 (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80092)  That's twice this year one of the aliens binned it on the warm-up (or was Lorenzo last year?).  Weird.  

Did you notice that both DeAngelis and Elias finished way up in the final standings but neither has a GP ride for next year?  Maybe it's cuz they were teh suck at the beginning of the season and didn't start riding like they meant it until after the silly season was well under way.  

I went with DanTheMan and datv.  This year's World President's Meeting was at Imola for WSBK, not MotoGP.  DanTheMan went.  Some of his pics are in the WSBK thread.

Worst race I have watched in a while.

mitt

^^ The 250 race was good.

Spies was pretty good there after he got in Elbowz mode.

agreed

mitt

I admire Ayoma for still going for it, but it almost cost him. If i didn't know better id say simocelli was trying to get Ayoma to crash by making some tight passes, but thats his typical style. He should have never been trying to fight for the win.

in the last half of the race, he was faster than everybody on track except for the guys that made the podium (including colin).

Elias in typical style puts in an effort a little too late in the season. The 250 race was great. I will definitely miss the 250's. Next year will be interesting, several talented new rookies in the mix. To another season gone... [beer]

maybe not for the win, but hanging back and taking it easy has it's own risk of losing concentration and making a mistake. sometimes it's actually easier/safer to push because you stay focused.

Ducati WSBK should make douchebrizio watch this GP race over and over and over again.  That's helpin' out a teammate.

I didn't see the race on Speed, but I found the motogp.com feed interesting enough.  Maybe because I was focused on the edwards/spies thing and not the front runners.  After Casey crashed on the warm-up, I didn't care anymore.  It was funny that they were trying to make seem like there was a race between Lorenzo and Rossi when there really wasn't.

 [laugh] Except Spies most likely had no idea he was helping Edwards.

Boring race though. Good showing for Hayden and Spies. Hayden's pass on...eh, can't remember...it was a sweet pass though!  [cheeky]

Actually he did.  He didn't know that he was the one point that made the difference, but he said in an interview that he saw Dovi ahead of him and knew that Colin needed the points and put his head down. 

I think the pass was Hayden on Elias?

Yeah that Hayden pass was nice.

Well for those who wanted some A-merican humble pie, Spies was quite the humble guy pre-race. Anyone see the interviews?


He should be fun to watch next year. It's going to be the Texan Garage. Come on. That's going to be funny as hell. If nothing else the soap-operaesque situation will give Colin some more air time.

And I live for Colin quotes.

Spies interview:
http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/spies+looking+for+a+good+start+in+valencia+week+end (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/spies+looking+for+a+good+start+in+valencia+week+end)

Spies continued, “Here at Valencia I’m not the person to win the race, or with the target on their back like Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi or Casey Stoner. Those are the top guys and I have nothing to prove right now. There’s no way I can do anything that they’re doing right now, it’s almost impossible. So I’m going out to learn the bike and have fun and enjoy it. My season’s pretty much over so this is more a fun race for me.”

btw, Texas isn't really in America, so you can stop waving the wrong flag when he does something good.  ;D

 [popcorn] [popcorn] [popcorn] [popcorn] [popcorn] [popcorn] [popcorn] [popcorn] [popcorn]

Of course, there are those who will rep Tennessee because he was born there.

what were you expecting? he's never been the cocky, in your face type.


i really don't see why people think that spies/colin as teammates is "soap-operaesque..."

Hunting

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93788-2/mgp_071109_val_110.jpg)

Wheelie

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93908-2/_TIN7708.jpg)

Monster Boobies

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93944-2/4083539736_3cbb947383_o.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/94016-2/4083541606_47c765b873_o.jpg)

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93968-2/4083540352_2ed0bccfbf_o.jpg)

Field of darkies

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93827-2/20091107144913_SUZUKI_4.jpg)

I wanna be that motorcycle

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/94079-2/11.jpg)

Is Casey ever not sideways?

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93863-2/_TIN6834.jpg)

Clearly taken sometime before the warm-up lap. 

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/93977-2/_TIX2237.jpg)

The Stork

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/94019-2/4083445312_bbab51b4ce_o.jpg)

The dork

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/94025-2/4082686183_eda337e551_o.jpg)

The Doctor

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/94013-2/FYT_091107165502602_15.JPG)

The Ben

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/94010-2/FYT_091107165502602_3.JPG)

George

(http://www.rideontwo.com/gallery/d/94022-2/FYT_091107165502602_1.JPG)

Cool pics.  [thumbsup]

What's up with Dovi? That's gotta suck being on a factory Honda, and getting hunted down and passed by some rookie on a satellite Yamaha...who's only been on a GP bike a few times, and only on that GP bike a few hours.  :P

Tell that blonde that, Leno wants his chin back.

hadn't noticed that at first, but you nailed it  ;D

mitt

You looked at her chin?   [laugh]

Er Ben's "satellite Yamaha" was actually a full factory test bike with more trick bits and a supposedly stronger engine than Vale's.

Agreed, definitely a yawn fest.

If I remember rightly, "The dork" qualified and finished higher in his first Moto GP that the "The Ben" on definitively second tier equipment, and he's won two WSBK championships.

P.S. That's one more than you know who. Let's give him break huh?

Dork rhymes with stork.  You got a better one?  I guess I could call him the fork because the Monster symbol looks like tines?  Or Mork cuz he's from another planet?  Or torque?  Cork?  Pork? 

I'm going with dork.  Cuz he was teh suck this year. 

you'll also remember that he had a full off-season of testing on said bike. i'd say ben did pretty well for for only having 3-4 hours on the m1.

but hey, since you're feelin' frisky, how about a bet for 2010: ben betters toseland's 11th place overall in his first full gp season.

You should offer him some championship positions as the spread.  That'd make it interesting.

lI gues
I suppose it would be charitable to ignore Ben's previous wildcard runs on the Suckzuki as not any kind of experience with GP bikes... ;)

as far as the bet.... hmm, I'm thinking of an addendum.

http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/09/2009_valencia_post_race_test_day_1_stone.html (http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/09/2009_valencia_post_race_test_day_1_stone.html)

Spies also reiterated that the bike he had ridden during the race was identical to the one ridden by the Tech 3 team, the only physical difference being the color of the paintjob.

Yeah...

he also said he was staying in WSBK. ;)

I'm not buying it, everyone else said it was Yamaha's test model and judging by the number of Japanese Yamaha execs and engineers in his pit I'd have to agree.

At the very least he had a fresh engine.

i'll give you the engine, but if you've been reading, you've also seen that ben pretty much hadn't touched a dial on the bike all weekend and monday (working on changing his style vs the bike).

colin, on the other hand, was down on the timesheets monday working on major chassis/geometry settings.

i'd tend to think that the 2010 bike didn't get rolled out of the shipping containers until monday cause i doubt they would've wanted ben to race on a blank-slate chassis with no baseline.

much like his post-season test on haga's bike last year, go do some laps on the old bike with the old settings and see how we ran the thing during the season.

It is funny to speculate as a fan, but really what do we know?  There are probably just a hand full of people at Yamaha that really know what that bike was made of, and I doubt any of them have given an interview.  And, I still don't see why it matters.  What is to say the '10 bike will be better than the '09?  Teams go backward all the time. 

mitt

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=31738.msg552314#msg552314 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=31738.msg552314#msg552314)

That is what we are reading, as reported by motogp.  There is probably a lot of gray area what are 09 and 10 parts, and I am guessing only the engineers and technicians that are building the bikes really know, not the PR guy that is reciting information to the reporters or the rider. 

mitt

man.. you're really chapped about this JT thing, huh?  

;D

I'm just wondering who the Eurosport commentators are gonna give obnoxiously undeserved praise to next year without a brit on the grid. 

A bit.   :'(

My guess is one of 3 mid-pack finishing Americans. ;)

yeah, well.. didn't work out for him.  i agree, it sux.

pulling for him in wsbk.  but i [not so] secretly think that cal is going to give him a run for his money straight away.  same with rea.

...i watched the eurosport feed of the race on sunday.  the announcers about shit a brick when jt was on camera.  that's it.  he was just simply on camera.

...embarrassing.  ;)

It's so much worse in WSBK with Rea and Haslam. I love how they'll be commenting on how Rea's swoopier lines are so much better than everyone else's as he gets passed. It's happened twice.

There's good reason for them to focus on Rea and Haslam.  Rea is fast as hell and is 50/50 for torpedoing someone (the other 50% taken up by douchebrizio).  And Haslam's girl has awesome boobies.   [thumbsup]

...i might still vote for cal's lady. 

may i cast vote for haslam's and cruthlow's girlies in a jello pit?

I don't know her (didn't have time for WSS this year).  Got a pic?   ;D

?!?!

well now you have all winter to go back and watch them... some great racing there this year.

here's one, but it's not very good:

(http://www.bikeracing.it/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/cal_crutchlow_starting_grid_imola.jpg)

Likey.  [evil]


Yeah, I started out watching and then caught on occasional race later in the season, but just couldn't keep up with AMA, WSS, WSBK, MotoGP, 125, 250s and local club races.  Cuz it's critical that I escape the race season (a) still married and (b) with 'Lil Bastard still able to recognize me.  It'll be my winter project, along with a coupla 125 and 250 races I missed. 

Interesting Spies interview re Valencia and difference between WSBK and GP bikes, particularly how the Bridgestones make a difference:

http://www.roadracerx.com/features/tuesday-conversation/tuesday-conversation-ben-spies/ (http://www.roadracerx.com/features/tuesday-conversation/tuesday-conversation-ben-spies/)

That was a cool interview.
Thanks for the link.  [beer]

Looks like Cider & I were posting at eggzactly the same time.  He won.   ;D

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=31635.msg553435#msg553435 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=31635.msg553435#msg553435)

Anyone know what happened with Cluzel?

Looks like his bike went sour

i hear ya.. i generally deprioritize the 125 races if i have to make the choice.  and the wife is pretty much into watching this stuff now... it was a matter of forcing her to watch, but we're there now =)

 [thumbsup]

i laughed when she said she watched 'em solo when you were out of town.

I find that the Buffalo Bill technique works well in persuading them to watch...

It mocks the Dani Pedrosa or else it gets the hose again...

she's down with the ben.  :)

..and really, lots of other riders.  she often asks how so-and-so did.  always surprises me.

My wife does that with GP & F1, surprises the hell out of me too. Reminds me that she actually cares about me enough to listen to shit that I say that she really has no interest in at all.

I was tellin' the Blonde the other day that Colin Edwards was happy cuz Spies got him the lone point that locked up 5th in the championship for CE.  She cocked her head and said, "How is that possible?  They race in different series."

Sexiest thing she's ever said.   [thumbsup]