Ducati Monster Forum

Free practice delayed b/c of rain.

They gotta change this race to after Qatar. At this time of year Barry Sheene called PI the 'gateway to hypothermia".

I bet Pedrobot is just chomping at the bit to go out in the rain.   [coffee]

We've been treated well by the weather gods this year... didn't it rain every race last year?  [laugh]

Now they're forecasting snow in the nearby hills on the outskirts of Melbourne [thumbsdown]. Better keep an eye on the bottom of Lukey Heights and MG corner :D.

The weather sounds awful. Hard rain at night, soaked track, then came the gail force gusty winds. Yuck... :P I hate riding a faired bike in winds like that. North TX can have seriously gusty days sometimes, especially in the early spring riding weather. I can't imagine trying practice, qualify or race when you don't know if you'll be blown 5 feet off your line at the exit of a turn. [bang] Makes me think back to the first Indy MotoGP when the remainder of that hurricane blew through as a tropical depression. I couldn't believe how the hard rain was coming in sideways and you could see trash and debris blown across the track by 50-60mph gusts. Even Rossi was throwing his hands up wanting the race called. That says something.

Hope the weather at PI settles down over the weekend.

I kid you not, it snowed around Melbourne last night, and we are well into Spring here. A few days ago we had warm days of 24 deg C. But as they say in Melbourne you can have four seasons in a day.

Stoner's on another planet.  :o

FP2

1   Casey Stoner   Ducati Marlboro   Ducati   1:31.243
2   Colin Edwards II   Tech 3 Yamaha   Yamaha   1:32.000
3   Ben Spies   Tech 3 Yamaha   Yamaha   1:32.101
4   Jorge Lorenzo   Fiat Yamaha   Yamaha   1:32.168
5   Nicky Hayden   Ducati Marlboro   Ducati   1:32.209
6   Andrea Dovizioso   Repsol Honda   Honda   1:32.226
7   Randy De Puniet   LCR Honda   Honda   1:32.449
8   Valentino Rossi   Fiat Yamaha   Yamaha   1:32.667
9   Marco Simoncelli   San Carlo Honda Gresini   Honda   1:32.739
10   Marco Melandri   San Carlo Honda Gresini   Honda   1:33.092
11   Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Racing   Ducati   1:33.303
12   Mika Kallio   Pramac Racing   Ducati   1:33.742
13   Hector Barbera   Paginas Amarillas Aspar   Ducati   1:34.055
14   Alvaro Bautista   Rizla Suzuki   Suzuki   1:34.065
15   Loris Capirossi   Rizla Suzuki   Suzuki   1:34.454
16   Hiroshi Aoyama   Interwetten Honda MotoGP   Honda   1:34.718
17   Dani Pedrosa   Repsol Honda   Honda   1:34.804

Poor Pedrobot  :-\

Dunno WTF he's doing.

For some reason he's got to go out in the worst weather of the year.

-----------------

"Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Ben Spies gets the third front row start of his career, setting his fastest lap in the middle of a race simulation."

http://motomatters.com/results/2010/10/16/2010_phillip_island_motogp_qualifying_pr.html (http://motomatters.com/results/2010/10/16/2010_phillip_island_motogp_qualifying_pr.html)

I like the second half of that sentence a lot.  [moto]

Go Spies!!!! [thumbsup] [moto] [clap]

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2010/Pedrosa+decides+against+racing+at+Phillip+Island (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2010/Pedrosa+decides+against+racing+at+Phillip+Island)

125s on track!

Who would have thunk it? Too bad for Nicky, I was hoping for a 3rd.
Well done Casey.  [thumbsup]

Casey, dominant as always on his home track.

Lorenzo, nice solid ride.

Rossi, fought back and did his thing.

Nicky, finally rode aggressively and had a chance for a podium.

Stoney by 8.6 seconds! What happened to Spies? I was hoping he would be up there.
I am dissappointed that Nicky (my future Son-in-law) didn't get Rossi back at turns 7 and 8 (the Hayshed). He often rides right over 'em on the transition there. It's a big move he pulls off quite well.
Having ridden there I remember the front pushes easily. It must be crazy at their speed.

Did you Stoner sliding both wheels?!

No wonder he has trouble finishing races.   [cheeky]

these guys are sliding both wheels all the time... it's the only way to ride a bike that fast.

if he'd waited two more laps to make his move on rossi, he might've had one.

edit: in nicky's defense, he thought he had rossi covered. in his post race interview, nicky was very disappointed to finish 4th. being off the podium is no longer acceptable for nicky. this makes me happy.

If he had waited two more laps to pass Rossi wouldn't have the race been over? I thought he passed Rossi at the end of the penultimate lap and Rossi overtook him in the same spot on the last lap and outdragged him to the line?

his initial move on rossi was with 3 laps to go.

My bad, thought it was the second to last. [roll]

Yes but it's like he's taken it to a new level? 

Up to 11?

The funny thing is every one was pregnant doging that he waited too long to make the move, but this time he made it too early.

Keep in mind Stoner always rides at an insane level for Philip Island.  That bike was out a shape quite a bit.  50% he takes a huge win, 50% he dumps it in the gravel.  Fortunately for his home supporters, he's managed to ride like a crazy man and not dump it at that track.  Wait until next year on the Honda.  He might lap someone.  ( kidding, kind of )   [thumbsup]

Last lap moves seem to be the best tactic anyway if you aren't 100% sure you have the pace to gap the person you passed.  Nicky did the right thing on Lorenzo and should have waited on Rossi.  If you can't gap either of those guys, 95% of the time they are going to beat you on the last lap if they are close.  They are simply better tacticians, better on the brakes, and have balls of steel ( Rossi has hardened steel balls, Lorenzo simply steel ).

A few weeks ago we botched because Nicky was not being aggressive enough he had the bike to pass And catch up, but was being held back by a way slower bike. This week he was being aggressive but the bike was not significantly faster. Rossi took a while to get past him. Once Nicky passed he made it very difficult for Rossi to take back the position. That was very good racing on his part.

No, you bagged on Nicky a few week ago. Most of us thought it was good race craft on his part.  ;)

Great battle between Hayden and Rossi...too bad Nicky couldn't hold him off.  [bow_down] [bow_down]

hayden did all he could do to win he just got beat at the end, looked like rossi had the faster bike, there ws nothing more hayden could do, he was sliding that thing all over teh track and doing well, sometimes you just lose

stoner just killed everyone.  have no idea what happened to spies he was there and then he wasn't.

Hoping to see battles like this from team mates Rossi & Hayden next season (for 1st & 2nd)!  [thumbsup]

I think it will be five Aliens next year with Spies on a factory bike. Mladin made him tough. He won't take any shit from Rossi.

As much as I love Mat, he is no Rossi. If he was or even thought he was on that level, do you honestly think he would have "settled" for AMA?

that's not what he's saying. having mat as a teammate made ben a better racer in many ways, including the "ignore the stupid shit your teammate does to try and get in your head".

also, if you follow mat's career, he didn't exactly "settle" for the ama. he was thrown to the wolves on the cagiva (500gp) team in the mid 90s and subsequently ended up racing ama superbike where he became one of the highest paid motorcycle racers in the world. he was making more than most (if not all) the worldsuperbike racers and most of the gp racers (with obvious exceptions).

we've covered this elsewhere.

Yep, this is a derby.

Spies is the one guy who right now I think is level headed enough to not be lured by Rossi's mind games. Just like in Stoner I already see the cracks in Lorenzo's armor. If he's not dominating right away next year he will crack and begin to crash again. Remember Stoner was crash prone before that dominant  year with Ducati and is now back to his old ways. Lorenzo will be the same.

Spies however, is pretty ice cold and just seems like the kind of guy who is more than willing to bang fairings. I've said it before, I'm more worried about him than anyone else. Ben seems like the silent but deadly type.  :P

fixed that for ya.

I like Ben, but he did get roughed up pretty good in the beginning of that race.

No one is immune from getting set back a bit.

Yeah, Mladin seems like a hard man, and being exposed to that at such a young age and still prevailing shows the kind of stuff Spies is made of. He overthrew Mladin and withstood all his pressure, this will prepare him well for Rossi who is revealing just how ruthless he is behind the clown mask. Smiling assassin Vs Silent assassin.

Just ask Biaggi, Gibernau, Stoner, Lorenzo and now Nicky. When Spies wins the championship one day he will look back and think how much of a favour Mladin did him (well maybe).

Sorry, but I can't get enough of Stoner's slow-mo slide.

I like that Rossi rode like he was pissed. Looked that way anyway.

Spies post-race interview upon being told he was rookie of the year:
“I hate to burst everybody’s bubble but the rookie thing is not something I really set out to do,” said Spies. “If I was second I wouldn’t have been upset because everybody was riding well. I’m focused on my own deal and worried about everybody finishing in front of me, and not who has been finishing behind me. It’s an achievement but not something I’ll go and have a beer for. I’m just happy to be fighting and we had a good race.”

Spies = 2011 Moto GP Champ. I'm printing the t-shirts and building the bandwagon now.

Large, ;D

I missed the Rookie-of-the-Year to Spies bit.....

Although I don't have the stats handy, I was surprised that Dovisioso didn't get it...thought he had much better rides/finishes, especially in the last half of the season?

yeah, i suppose if they'd ignored dovi's 2008 and 2009 seasons in motogp (finished 5th and 6th respectively) he would've gotten it this year.  ;D

Good luck selling all those shirts when he doesn't win the championship.  I think next year will be one of the most competitive in recent memory, but Spies won't be the guy on top.  I'd give him another year.  The rise of the 990's and two years experience will give Spies a better shot in 2012.

Taken by itself, that quote sounds like a guy who doesn't know how to accept a compliment graciously.  It seems a tiny bit disrespectful to his team and the rookies that finished behind him.  I'm sure there's context that I'm missing, though.

yup, there is.

New bikes, quick learner, I'm making my t-shirts.

It certainly does.
It also sounds like a fiery competitor who can't settle for second.

fwiw, here's the interview:

http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2010/Spies+takes+Rookie+of+Year+2010 (http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2010/Spies+takes+Rookie+of+Year+2010)

poor colin and his tequila shots (side bet between him and ben for getting beat my simoncelli).

How many shots? [laugh]

[laugh]

so yeah.. great riding by nicky, bummer for him.  but you knew that was gonna happen -- this makes 13 out of 14 trips to PI that rossi has been on the podium.  he wasn't going to give that up very easily (as if he ever does...)

stoner was in a different world.  8 seconds.  sheesh.

I was standing at MG corner and 95% of the crowd were cheering for Nicky, just saying
Don

Anyone find any good pics of Casey sliding?  Some of those were insane.

that slow mo shot on tv was the business

Didn't want to start a new thread, but I found this interesting.

http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-racing-news-moto-gp/dorna-phillip-island-risks-losing-motogp/16594.html (http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-racing-news-moto-gp/dorna-phillip-island-risks-losing-motogp/16594.html)

"Dorna want the date changed. Rossi wants the date changed. The AGPC are holding firm. This one's going to run and run."

being that it is practically winter when they have the round there...why not make it the last round in October then as it is much closer to the temperate nature of the requested march timeframe in terms of weather?...seems like the next best option to me...

That would require another track, perhaps one that Dorna can't muscle, into changing their date too...

and it makes sense. ;)

Or they could make it later in the year. say November, which is closer to summer. Victoria (the state) is known for its four seasons in one day, unless they have a word to the man upstairs they will always have the problem with the weather

What's the temp like in October? It's spring down there and that's why they get the rain, but it's probably neither hot nor cold.