Ducati Monster Forum

AND THEY'RE OFF!!!!!!  [moto]

Last year's thread:  http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=36887.0 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=36887.0)

ALL TIMES ARE PST

Thursday, 17 March 2011
125cc FP1   08:00 - 13:00
Moto2 FP1   08:55 - 09:40
MotoGP  FP1  09:55 - 10:40
125cc  FP2  10:55 - 11:35
Moto2  FP2  11:50 - 12:35

Friday, 18 March 2011
MotoGP  FP2  08:00 - 08:45
125cc  FP3  09:00 - 09:40
Moto2  FP3  09:55 - 10:40
MotoGP  FP3  10:55 - 11:40

Saturday, 19 March 2011
125cc QP  08:00 - 08:40
Moto2  QP  08:55 - 09:40
MotoGP  QP  09:55 - 10:55  
125cc  WUP  11:20 - 11:40
Moto2  WUP  11:55 - 12:15

Sunday, 20 March 2011
MotoGP  WUP  08:00 - 08:20
125cc  RAC  09:00
Moto2  RAC  10:15
MotoGP RAC  12:00


SPEED Viewing Schedule (PST)
MotoGP:  Sunday, 12pm
Moto2:  Also listed at Sunday 12 pm  (don't ask me?)
125:  Tuesday, 9am

TV schedule discussion is here:  http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=47223.0 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=47223.0)

Moto2 is listed right after the 125 race on Tuesday on my DirecTV guide.

Bring on the racing!!!  [thumbsup] [thumbsup]

goosebumps yet?

(http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/710/PA895591.jpg)

No, but there are familiar stirrings in other parts of my anatomy.   ;D

Never gonna happen, but I want a Simoncelli, Spies & Rossi podium.   [thumbsup]

I don't even care about the outcome. I am just happy the season is finally starting.

(But I do hope Pedrosa doesn't win)

Well, it won't be hard to see Rossi's colors on the TV  8)

Elias on top!!!  3 minutes into FP1

Jebus.  Stoner's third lap was a 56 flat.   :o

(http://7mzdt.com/images/qatar2011fp1.png)

Just finished watching it live.  Pretty much .2 gap from 2-8th.  Rossi picked up the pace a little, just missed out on top three on his last lap.  He seemed pretty happy with the progress.  It was a good looking session.  You know he has to be happy he's in front of Lorenzo and Spies for at least one session here.

Stoner is in a different league at the moment.  He ran a bunch of 1:55's.  Lorenzo probably the next most consistant, although he was mostly running high 1:56's and I saw a soft rear on his bike where Stoner set those times on a hard rear.  Rossi was on hard rear as well.

I've got a good feeling about Stoner. Just hope he doesn't get excited and toss it like last year. +1 on what pennyrobber said... and the Pedrobot comment. [thumbsup]

Sure, it's only FP1, but it already looks different than testing.   That said, Honda still has 3 works bikes in the top 5. 

Top 10
Ducatis:  3
Hondas:  4
Yamahas:  3

P.S.  crash.net says that barbera's time was a last ditch effort where he got a tow from Hayden.  I didn't see anything about whether his other laps had been near that time.

Hector pulled that time out of his ass and did get a tow, yes. 

Yeah, but in MotoGP 'Top 10' is over half the field ;D

a good feeling about stoner?  at qatar??  you go, you risk taker!    [cheeky]

this is what chaz was talking about years ago.. casey stands the bike up waaaaay before he's actually done turning

(http://resources.motogp.com/2011/03/14/FTC_QatarTest_Stoner01.jpg)

what are the odds on/against an all Honda podium?

I don't think we'll see an all Honda podium.  Lorenzo's outright pace isn't tops, but he's putting in a bunch of consistant laps that most of the other front runners can't match.  I'd say Stoner is the only lock if he doesn't dump it. The other two spots are open for debate.  Pedro only put in two decent laps.  Everything else was anywhere from 1:58 to over 2.  Maybe he was screwing with different setups, but he really didn't do much outside of that time he posted.

i think pedro is going to nearly kill himself to beat casey every round this year.

and valentino's 'discarded' setting will only get better.

No entiendo.  ???

yo tambien. "discarded?"

@motomatters:  Rossi very happy, found a setting they tried and discarded during test, went back and bike turns better. Shoulder OK, race distance tricky

Stoner ran a 1'56.069 on his 2nd lap.

Pedrosa set his best time on his 5th lap and then knifed his way backwards for the rest of the session.

Barbera's second best lap was a 1'57.349, which would have left him 13th.  [roll]

Lorenzo did 7 laps in the 56's, Simo did 8, Ben and Rossi both did 3.


Valentino may be able to pull a rabbit out of his ass for qualy, but the race will be long struggle.

just for good measure...

@motomatters:  Spies pretty happy with the work, made his time on the tires he doesn't like, hopes to be faster on different tires.

let's just be realistic: stoner will win this race.

[laugh] [laugh] [laugh]
I'm gonna watch anyway  ;)

oh hell yeah.  the rest of the podium is anyone's guess

is it time to review the bets for this season?  [evil]

My prediction:

1) Stoner
2) Spies
3) J Lo
4)Simo
5) Dovi
6+) Rossi

Pedro will get a blinding start but end up in the kitty litter.

And no, I won't wager on it.  [laugh]

i like where your head's at...   ;)

@motomatters:  Just spoke to Vito Guareschi: Hayden using flexi package on both bikes, 1 step softer chassis, rest same. Rossi on standard package. (cont)

Factory only has two soft chassis, so Hayden using both. This is future direction, Rossi will switch when they have two more frames to use.

Building flex in carbon fiber is easy, said Vito. All you need is time. Takes 3 weeks to cure Carbon Fiber to build a chassis.

1000cc bike will be ready in two months. Will test at Mugello, but not Brno. "Don't want to give secrets to our competitors!"

Just watched (again) Laguna Seca 2008..........  [evil]

spies/mladin or rossi/stoner?  ;D

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/167496/1/spies_lorenzo_stronger_than_they_look.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/167496/1/spies_lorenzo_stronger_than_they_look.html)

"We spent the whole time on tyres we hope are the worst for the track, a front I don't like and a harder rear and we matched our time from the test,” said Spies, who was 0.741sec from Stoner, but only 0.131sec from second fastest Dani Pedrosa (Honda). “I'm happy that we've made the bike a bit better, if we go to what we think is better with the tyres we should have a few tenths."

 [popcorn] [popcorn] [popcorn]

Speeddog sezs:

1)  (http://www.founditemclothing.com/halloween/slater-dazed-and-confused-pot-leaf-costume-2.jpg)

2)  (http://newsbythesecond.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/spy-vs-spy1.jpg)

3)  (http://highbridnation.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/lopez103.jpg)

4)  (http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQPmf6yyGjY6WP5FJIA710b7l0ydGPMN4nwfhh5ZvzgY6n618FDLA&t=1)
Reference:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4)

5)  (http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Hamptons+Gotham+Magazine+Celebrate+Summer+1NRQcuUQRH4l.jpg)

6+)  (http://www.windrifthill.com/Images/Farm/goat3a.jpg)

(http://scrimbrown.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/grouchy-smurf.jpg)  ------>    (http://gal-lori.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/g080123a1kittylitter.jpg)  

I was following up until the kitty litter.

Smurfy McDouchebag.  ;)

So shall Jorge now be referred to as Jennie From the Block?    ;D

Gigli.

don't make it more difficult than it needs to be. we've been calling him jlo for years.  ;D

FP2 just starting now.  [popcorn]

As long as Stoner keeps the rubber side down, he will win this race. I have Whoreghey second and the Spanish Turd third.

FP2 results--

http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2011/QAT/MotoGP/FP2/Classification.pdf?v1_94027ade (http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2011/QAT/MotoGP/FP2/Classification.pdf?v1_94027ade)

1 27 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 320.4 1'55.457  
2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 321.8 1'55.854 0.397 / 0.397
3 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 316.3 1'56.116 0.659 / 0.262
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 323.3 1'56.172 0.715 / 0.056
5 1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 317.8 1'56.220 0.763 / 0.048
6 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 316.4 1'56.259 0.802 / 0.039
7 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 318.7 1'56.378 0.921 / 0.119
8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 319.2 1'56.518 1.061 / 0.140
9 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 320.1 1'56.532 1.075 / 0.014
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 320.0 1'56.626 1.169 / 0.094
11 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 316.3 1'56.668 1.211 / 0.042
12 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 327.7 1'56.735 1.278 / 0.067
13 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 319.7 1'56.790 1.333 / 0.055
14 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 316.3 1'56.833 1.376 / 0.043
15 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 317.6 1'57.304 1.847 / 0.471
16 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 322.5 1'57.683 2.226 / 0.379
17 24 Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 316.5 1'58.801 3.344 / 1.118


Wow, the Yamahas are down on speed (just like last year).  <wishful thinking>  With Dovi and Spies so close--in terms of pace--maybe we'll get another braking clinic from The Ben?  

BTW, Hi Cal!  <waves>

whachutalkinbout maybe?  =)

Stoner laid down a string of 5 laps in the 55's, straight out of the box.
8 laps in the 55's, 4 in the 56's.

Pedrobot squeaked out 2 55's.
The rest of his good laps were low 56's.

Ben a tick slower than Pedro.

Dovi pretty consistent mid 56's.

J Lo more consistent mid 56's.

Trailer Trash back down in 12th.  [laugh]

Casey was on a soft for his fast laps.  I wonder what the others were running.

kickin the man while he's down...

http://yfrog.com/h8xp8igj (http://yfrog.com/h8xp8igj)  <~~~ not for the squeamish

I wasn't making fun of the man.  It's good to see him finally on pace and in the top 10.  And its especially impressive considering his finger.  That's gotta be one of the more painful things I can imagine.  There's a reason people stick stuff under the fingernails as a form of torture.  Youch. 

(http://static.blogo.it/motoblog/nuovo-casco-valentino-rossi/rossicasco09.jpg)

the most interesting new graphic of Rossi's isn’t on his helmet itself, it’s a new graphic element on the Desmosedici GP11 that’s a possible nod to trouble Rossi is having taming the machine. This characature of Rossi trying to desperately cling on to the Ducati, snapped by Motoblog.it ,adhered to his front fender is new this weekend. In the testing and initially in the free practises Rossi  has been struggling to turn competitive lap times aboard the GP11, and this is his humorous way to reflect exactly that.

FP3 underway now...

Spies 2nd @ 56 flat, pedro 1st @ 55.1.  23 mins to go

Holy doucheyspeed!

he looked only barely in control.. riding the wheels off that thing

bautista down.. staying down.  being stretchered.

no one has touched pedro's 55.1 yet

scratch that: stoner 55.035

rossi, 8th.  barbera, 6th.

Repsol 1, 2, 3.  Simo: 13th?!

Tell Hopkins to suit up.

it's sick hearing that HRC gearbox grab gears at full lean like the bike is straight up and down

FP3:

1. Casey Stoner AUS Repsol Honda Team 1m 55.035s
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 1m 55.193s
3. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 1m 55.740s
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing 1m 55.814s
5. Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing 1m 56.003s
6. Hector Barbera ESP Mapfre Aspar Team 1m 56.266s
7. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 56.302s
8. Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 56.306s
9. Randy de Puniet FRA Pramac Racing Team 1m 56.362s
10. Loris Capirossi ITA Pramac Racing Team 1m 56.434s
11. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 56.437s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 56.517s
13. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 56.540s
14. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 56.586s
15. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 1m 57.275s
16. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 57.601s
17. Toni Elias ESP LCR Honda MotoGP 1m 58.123s

Honda's got a double-clutch on their corporate boner right now. 

Hiding in The Ben's trailer again?  ;D

the audio from motogp.com is quite good  ;)

YEP.

@MotoGPJules: From good source: Bautista broken hip or femur - out for at least 10 weeks

makes ya wonder if Denning is going to catch a lot of flack from the Crescent BSB sponsors if he plucks Hopper away for that period of time....

He's getting his GP factory ride back b/c of his impressive results in WSBK, AMA and BSB.   [roll]

little too much pressure on alvaro...

and it's a broken femur.

That was pretty stupid on Hopkins' part.  If I were keen to get back into GP and a f'n professional, I'd make sure for this weekend that I was a lot closer to Qatar than CA.  How hard is it to schedule to be in England for these four days, you twit?

maybe not his choice.  but a weird one not to have stayed around to at least watch, hang out... see if alvaro crashed.  although i don't think hopkins has been on the bike at all.  i wonder if he even would have raced.  very tall order.

...how happy is carmelo right about now.

toby moody: Hopkins not actually worded as a reserve rider for Suzuki, just as every other team don't have one present here this weekend.

he is probably on the verge of shitting kittens....

so why not stick Ant West on the suzi?

uh oh...  http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90021 (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90021)

fwiw, i don't think anybody has found the limit on their new bikes.

Well, Bautista did. Kinda. But not in the way we like to see.

Yeesh!  Wish someone would post a version of FP2 that I could use on RU.

Guess it's time to renew the MotoGP subscription...

Oh my God!! Someone got Ed "Big Daddy" Roth to do a graphic of Rossi as the 1960's Rat Fink!!!

RIP....

Doubt it's an 'in trouble' image....http://tinyurl.com/4zdppsr (http://tinyurl.com/4zdppsr)

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program....  ;D

Pos     No.     Rider                      Bike     Time     Diff     Diff Previous
1    27    Casey STONER            HONDA    1'54.137         
2    26    Dani PEDROSA            HONDA    1'54.342    0.205    0.205
3    1    Jorge LORENZO            YAMAHA    1'54.947    0.810    0.605
4    58    Marco SIMONCELLI      HONDA    1'54.988    0.851    0.041
5    11    Ben SPIES                  YAMAHA    1'55.095    0.958    0.107
6    8    Hector BARBERA           DUCATI    1'55.223    1.086    0.128
7    4    Andrea DOVIZIOSO      HONDA    1'55.229    1.092    0.006
8    35    Cal CRUTCHLOW          YAMAHA    1'55.578    1.441    0.349
9    46    Valentino ROSSI          DUCATI    1'55.637    1.500    0.059
10    5    Colin EDWARDS           YAMAHA    1'55.647    1.510    0.010
11    14    Randy DE PUNIET      DUCATI    1'55.656    1.519    0.009
12    7    Hiroshi AOYAMA           HONDA    1'55.724    1.587    0.068
13    69    Nicky HAYDEN             DUCATI    1'55.881    1.744    0.157
14    65    Loris CAPIROSSI        DUCATI    1'56.323    2.186    0.442
15    17    Karel ABRAHAM          DUCATI    1'56.665    2.528    0.342
16    24    Toni ELIAS                   HONDA    1'57.992    3.855    1.327
     19    Alvaro BAUTISTA           SUZUKI

Seeing how Stoner can pretty much run into the 1:54's on hard tires if he has to, there is no way he's losing this race unless he dumps the bike, and frankly I don't see him doing that unless its a freak event.  He was slamming out 1:55.0 consistantly and there is no one else that can touch that pace every lap.  Pedro can run that pace in spurts, but I don't think he can run that pace over 22 laps.  I'm pretty sure Stoner had a 1:53 in the bag if he really pushed that bike to the edge.

The battle behind Stoner should have some great moments.

+1

Hopefully Stoner doesn't bin it.

wow, who would have thought Ducati=also runs, back of the pack

What does that say about Stoner as a rider, after what he did on that duke over the years? I wonder why and how he ever took pole positions and even a title with that bike.

best. interview. ever.

http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2011/Edwards+reviews+qualifying+in+Qatar (http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2011/Edwards+reviews+qualifying+in+Qatar)
 
;D

 [laugh] [clap]  h ah ah aROTFLMAO

I love Colin Edwards.

He paints a beautiful verbal picture.

Ducati has been living at the back of the pack for years now.  Just because Stoner didn't mind wadding up 10 bikes a season to achieve a good pace, doesn't mean the bike has ever been all that good.

Makes me want to really learn more about this Stoner kid and follow his career.

I don't see it up anymore  ???

2.5m left in morning warmup and casey is in the garage complaining about "no make the beast with two backsing grip..."

Did you see Cal about bin it during warmups  :o

are the temps anywhere near close to the nighttime temps?

looks like:

25C air
26C track
10% humidity
10km/h wind

not sure what they were fp1-qp.

He still turned the second best lap

morning wup:

pedro  1'55.345
stoner 1'56.505
jlo
spies
rdp
dovi
simo
rossi

The euro-sport guys were talking about how cold it was during fp and qualy.

I wouldn't count him out yet.

it was that good!

(i wish i'd saved it)

fp1 was 19°C air and 18°C ground.
fp2 was 21°C air and 20°C ground.
fp3 was 19°C air and 19°C ground.
qp  was 22°C air and 24°C ground.

hmmm...

5⁰C difference?

Doesn't sound like enough to lose all grip.

Must be sabotage.

ALT + 0176  ;D

(...or option+shift+8 on a mac)

seems to take you to google in chrome.... :P

I'll have to try it in ff

make sure you're not typing ALT (and then) 0.

hold down ALT while pressing 0176 and then release ALT.

of course I was... [laugh]

still opens the same tab as a new one with a google search for a square

I'll struggle with the mouse for now. ;D

really? Y'all are the racers, so I defer to you, but that sounds like a huge difference to me.

So no surprises there.

Great ride by Jorge and the Ben, though if Spies doesn't figure out that early race pace he'll never amount to anything. 

wow can you imagine if the whole season is like this ...great racing

agree about The Ben  he needs to figure this out

Ben got swallowed up on the start.

Good to see him tussle with Rossi.  8)

I was wondering if Stoner was just cruising behind Pedro.

Pedro was pissed

yup.. he had a horrible start.

lap times weren't that bad if you consider he was dicing w/ rossi for most of the race:

http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2011/QAT/MotoGP/RAC/analysisbylap.pdf?v1_a5d08ff9 (http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2011/QAT/MotoGP/RAC/analysisbylap.pdf?v1_a5d08ff9)

i'd say he's more frustrated that he couldn't feel anything in his left arm/hand.

Yeah it was odd how him and Lorenzo had a good battle going until the 3 to last lap where he just kinda fell off

stoner just killed them way too much today. 

after seeing how spies rode and him being out of the picture after the first turn of the race, i think he will get as good as 4th overall at the end of the season but he is not going to be the consisten podium placer like he was in wbk and such.  he's good no doubt, and he's as good to get maybe 4th overall in the world but i don't see him beating out stoner/jlo/pedro if all three are racing and healthy with good bikes, no way.

rossi and ducati better get used to consistent 5-7th places at best because they are going to get spanked all year

He's too young to have a stroke or heart attack ;).....the lightest guy in the field ought to be able to keep up with Casey

Rossi nearly fell off the bike when Spies passed him....methinks he's still far from 100% physically...

I think if Pedro hadn't have had an issue with his arm, Stoner might have lost that race.  Pedro was just as fast through the first half until he fell off the pace with arm issues.  The race was fantastic between those two for a good while.

just in case you don't know, it's related to nerve damage from his crash in japan last season.

I am the man

Good call. [thumbsup] Didn't hurt my feelings to see Pedrobot finish 3rd. Of course it would have tickled my happy place had Dovi and Simoncelli relegated him to 5th with Spies breathing down his neck at the line!! ;D

It was an impressive race for Honda. They pretty much owned the track today.

Except for that one Yamaha that came in second.

Honestly, you can almost count it as a win for whomever comes in second at Quatar because first place is Stoner's by default. All nuthugging aside, I was pretty impressed by JL's pace today. I didn't expect him to fare so well in such a fast track.

Yeah, I can't wait until the Yamahas aren't down on top speed anymore. [roll] They may actually be down but they've got a couple riders who seem to be able to over come that pretty well. [thumbsup]

And will someone please tell The Ben that you're supposed to gas it at the start. Funny he didn't have such an obvious problem in WSBK. If I had one major flaw in my racing ability wouldn't it behoove me to conquer that problem to further my racing career? It's nice and all that he really rolls in the last half of the race but in a class like this all the go fast guys are long gone down the track by the second half. Instead of playing catch up why not play keep up? And yes, I'm a huge fan of The Ben. And no, I don't know the answer but I was hoping this year would be different than last. Hopefully it was just a bad start. Everyone is entitled. [thumbsup]

Start watching the practice sessions.  Fast laps aside, Lorenzo strung off tons of consistant fast laps all weekend and there wasn't really anyone else outside of Stoner that was doing that.  I'll let you get back to humming on JL's nuts now.

 [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

mmmm Salty   ;)

What position did your boy come in at again? I'm sorry, I forgot over how utterly irrelevant he was in the race. He was on screen all of ten seconds, while being passed by The Ben  [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

I need to get the Motogp package, practice sessions FTW

Contact me again after yorgie wins 6 more titles.  Until then he can pump his fists and go bananas for second place like he did at Qatar.  I'm rooting for McPintsize while I wait on Rossi and Ducati to sort things out and the famous shoulder to heal.

Geeze, why all the hate for JLo? I think he just suffers from the Spanish curse of doucheface. I met him once, he seemed nice  ???

My son (3) took one look at Spies' bike and decided to root for him.

Good boy  ;D

I just hope that Stoner can hold it together until the end of the year.
I saw two interviews, one with Pedrosa and one with Lorenzo, they both seemed like nice enough blokes, i don't know why all the the hate for these two blokes. As long as they finish behind Stoner I will think they are all great.
As a side note, in AMCN magazine there is a interview with Stoner, he said that in 2009 Ducati offered Lorenzo nine times what he was getting paid, and went on to call them two faced.
That is why I hope Ducati go nowhere with Rossi, especially after spending that much money, they can bite me.

poor poor rdp  :-\

Really good start to the season yesterday. Thought it was interesting to see just how fresh Stoner looked right after getting of the bike at the finish. Makes me think that he was just feeling Pedrosa out when he was hanging behind him.

Yes but poor Capi., your teammate takes you out..............  Not a good start for him.

Pedro's starts are something else.  I guess if you weigh as much as a Ken doll you should get a good start.

Did anyone see Ben's front disks glowing as he tried to out brake Rossi in turn 1? 


Prediction (I normally don't like to make predictions, it's the equivalent of assuming): Nicky will be looking for a ride next year unless Rossi and Ducati workout the front end thing. 

 

You suppose he sees Barbera behind himself in the bathroom mirror every morning?

My son (2) took one look at Spies' bike and decided to root for him - he kept saying "blu blu blu"

Good boy  ;D

mitt

If Stoner performs like this the next couple races, I kind of hope his mystery illness appears again to make it fun for the rest of them  ;D

I see Stoner being as dominant as Whoreghey was last year. Second will be a fight between the Spaniards. Rossi will eventually put some good rides together, but he won't come remotely close to a championship.

maybe stoner would've benefited from having his contract(s) negotiated by a "proper" manager instead of his dad.

There should be a new bike next year and the front end thing might not be an issue.  Hope. Hope.

there WILL be a new bike next year... for everybody.

(they're all going to ~1000s)

i think he's actually looking UP the track for once!   8)

(http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/710/PA900083.jpg)

That's just SO GREAT to finally actually see Vale racing on a Ducati!! After all these years of people hoping for "the dream team" to come together the day has arrived. Personally, I don't see handfuls of championships between the two. For me that's not the point... as nice as that would be. So many people feel that is where Valentino has always "belonged". Or at least on an Italian team, ala Max and Aprilla. It would be great to see Rossi finish his bike GP career on Ducati and move on to four wheels. I'm hoping for the best but it just made me happy to see Rossi and Spies dicing it out yesterday. I'm sure I had a big smile on my face. More goodness to come! [thumbsup] [moto] [clap]

fixed it for ya  ;)

That's just cold. ;D

so…

i'm bummed for pedro and the arm pump but i'm ~relieved that there was an issue.  stoner put 1.2 seconds on him in less than 1 lap after he passed.  it would suck if that was just how it was gonna be.

ben.. crap start, good race.  SO much fun to see him hunting rossi. 

george - nice!

stoner.. will be hard to catch all year, methinks.  i think i said that many months ago.  bravo to him.  stupid fast.

simo… i love seeing that guy ride like it's the 90's  =)

i wish they could all be night races.

I was hoping Ben would have the start/first few laps thing worked out this season.

You and me both. Bummer.   :-\

1 race does not a season make.  and he got stuck behind some folks..

I'll give you the first part...

his qualy position should have garnered him a much better finishing position.

I'm calling FAIL.

I'd wager he feels the same. ;)

no arguing that start sucked  =)

The Ben -- disappointing.  The glowing rotors were cool through, as was deliberately running it too deep on the brakes so you could get Rossi on the next turn.  No, he didn't blow the brake marker.  He did it purposely.  But his race kinda sucked.
Rossi -- disappointing.  No shoulder and no bike.  I hope things look up soon.  
Simo-- Yay!
Pedro -- arm is gonna be a problem, dude.  You're still a douche.
Lorenzo -- despite the fact that he sodomizes nuns, good ride.  But I'm not rooting for you unless it's between you and a Respol Honda (and if it's Stoner, I don't know who to root for).
Stoner -- yawn.
Repsol -- make the beast with two backs you.   [thumbsdown]

The race was more interesting than I thought it would be, but was still somehow disappointing.  I guess it doesn't help when I'm rooting for the guys in fifth, sixth and seventh.   :-\

 

Sorry, I made a monumental make the beast with two backs up, Lorenzo was offered twice as much as Stoner, not as I stated above.

so that's why i was disappointed too...  :-\

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Mar/110322rydernotes.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Mar/110322rydernotes.htm)

this sums it up best IMO:

"Nicky Hayden went as fast as he did last year, trouble is everyone else went 0.3sec faster. Typically, Nick just blamed himself."

mitt

read that somewhere else (roadracing world?), just couldn't resist the wisecrack...promises to behave in the future.

Sorry to hear about nerve damage....with all the rest of his injuries he'll be hurting when he gets older, and there's no substitute for good health


I was surprised to see Spies keeping pace with Rossi on the long straight...can't be that far down on top speed

i don't think the problem is top speed (spies was near the top of the speed traps), it's the midrange grunt.

Spies also had the benefit of Rossi giving him a draft.

i hadn't considered that. looking back at the top speeds for fp1-qp, all the yamahas were in the bottom half of the chart. spies was second fastest in the race (behind barbera) with the other yamahas still a the bottom of the traps.

race chart:

http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2011/QAT/MotoGP/RAC/AverageSpeed.pdf?v1_a7cc89e9 (http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2011/QAT/MotoGP/RAC/AverageSpeed.pdf?v1_a7cc89e9)

Say it isn't so. :P

IMHO....the fight to watch this year is between Simo and Dovi...those 2 will be interesting to watch tangle with one another...

Simo will ride circles around Dovi.

What's the over/under on how many people Simo T-bones this year?   [laugh]  He's a menace.  I love him.  [moto]

...while kicking him

everytime he comes underneath someone like he did to Dovi, I can't help but think of that one race in WSBK where Kagayama took Haga out in a similar vein manuever....

that one??  Kagayama must be Japanese for Kamikaze.   =)

I remember Simo T-boning the shit outta someone in the last year of 250s.  I don't remember who it was (Bautista, maybe?) or whether the guy he T-boned crashed.  He wasn't penalized (I don't think), but he got a warning.  

Could have been Pasini. The 2009 Italian Grand Prix was a crazy race between those two.

Julian Ryder: Repsol say Dani's shoulder still isn't fully healed. He needs time for nerve damage to repair itself. This is not good news.

Maybe he's just lactose intolerant?

This makes Honda's move to get Casey look even better. 

Watched the Euro version last night.

Pedro was in *bad* shape after the race, I thought he was gonna drop when he was on the podium.

Didn't Simo pull the same move on Ben last year, in practice?
IIRC Ben passed Simo, and then Simo came up the inside within an inch of him.

On the start, Ben wheelied immediately, but then it came back down and he got swallowed up.

Might have been a significant factor in their pursuing him in the first place...the wee mon's been 'healing' from something every year.

Just rewatched the 2009 Italian GP. It was Bautista. The battle with Pasini was after the incident.

Good memory!   [thumbsup]


http://crash.net/motogp/news/167694/1/pedrosa_shoulder_not_fully_healed_doctors_confirm.html (http://crash.net/motogp/news/167694/1/pedrosa_shoulder_not_fully_healed_doctors_confirm.html)

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/brachial-plexus-injury/DS00897 (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/brachial-plexus-injury/DS00897)

oh yeah!?!  http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/conditions_main/old/brachial_plexus_injury.html (http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/conditions_main/old/brachial_plexus_injury.html)   

so there! 

 ;D

I see your link and raise you:  Clicky (http://www.cdc.gov/std/herpes/)

 [laugh]

Super Sic is tryin' to give people da herpeez??!! Man I miss out on so much when I don't read these threads!

http://www.scottjones.net/?p=1520 (http://www.scottjones.net/?p=1520)

the usual excellent writing and perspective from dennis noyes

1) http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-stoner-vs-lorenzo/ (http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-stoner-vs-lorenzo/)
2) http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-the-repsol-honda-powerhouse (http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-the-repsol-honda-powerhouse)
3) http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-overachievers-at-yamaha/ (http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-overachievers-at-yamaha/)

I would like to see Vale , when he retires from MOTOGP take over the design of Ducati's Sportbikes.

Dolph     [moto]

I just watched the 2010 Jerez rewind video on MotoGP.com and it was accompanied by an advert for the Kawasaki ZX-10. Strange.

4) http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-rossi-ducati-playing-catch-up/ (http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-rossi-ducati-playing-catch-up/)

Emphasis is being put on making the bike easier to ride, something that will certainly be appreciated by all Ducati riders and something that indicates, as was long suspected, that Stoner was able to ride and win with a bike that no one else could tame -- something that baffled Marco Melandri, something that Nicky Hayden struggled to overcome, and something that Rossi, with his clout and with Jeremy Burgess at his side, is now determined to change.

I guess the fact that a world champion from the states couldn't ride it wasn't enough. ;)

..that "long suspected" line made me laugh. 

Dennis is a great writer.

It makes me wonder why SPEED ever hired Greg White...

seriously. [laugh]

might have something to do w/ the fact that noyes lives in spain and has no interest in commuting to the states to be a pit reporter for an overglorified superstock series.  ;D

He's smart too.... ;D

he lives/also lives in borrego springs, ca... but i'm sure the latter is more the point  =)

Greg now and Greg 5-6 years ago when he used to host 2 Wheeled Tuesday and was less prompted and produced and asking real questions and getting to great content are 2 very different people/animals....

Poor Greg. I too remember when he wasn't a castrated pit analyst.  I don't think he is exceedingly bright but at least there was a real show about racing and moto culture that didn't include neck tattooed flat billers stunting or loud mouthed tools building unridable choppers .  Now he makes observations like, "You may nave noticed that these vehicals only have two wheels. They are called motorcycles." Poor guy! [laugh]

I liked Two Wheel Tuesday and actually thought White wasn't a bad host. He had some decent interviewing talent. Sometime afterwards he starting taking lame/bullshit pills and look what it did to him!! My wife who knows nothing about bikes or racing could do a better job. [bang] It's sad to see. Look up "weak" in the dictionary and there's a picture of Greg White. ;D

maybe.  i feel for the guy.  the "THAT IS A LEATHER SUIT.  THE WHEELS ARE ROUND!" shit is super annoying but i have to believe he's being forced to say that.

and he has managed to keep a job in media, in the sport of his choice, in the face of very little american support for motorcycle road racing, the economy, speed in general, and the DMG disaster.  that's saying something.

notice that OTT Dave has gone back to his day job.   :'(

exactly... the bar gets lowered for the fox vs speedtv broadcasts.

I haven't watched SPEED by choice since they started dropping the coverage of the good stuff due to claimed low audiences like WRC.

I really have little interest in most of the stuff they air, and to be frank their directors suck and butcher races to fit in time slots.

DeSpain?

onthethrottle.tv

doh...

speaking of Despain... and nicky:

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/video-wind-tunnel-nicky-hayden/ (http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/video-wind-tunnel-nicky-hayden/)

5) http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-jerez-is-lorenzoland-but-vale-loved-too/ (http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-jerez-is-lorenzoland-but-vale-loved-too/)

...this was described as his "Final part of Qatar analysis" but it's about Jerez

They're still squabbling; inlcudes a 'testimonial for max...

http://www.twowheelsblog.com/post/6168/loris-capirossi-and-marco-simoncelli-give-their-two-cents-worth-on-the-biaggi-melandri-debate (http://www.twowheelsblog.com/post/6168/loris-capirossi-and-marco-simoncelli-give-their-two-cents-worth-on-the-biaggi-melandri-debate)

They don't seem to like Melandri much.