Ducati Monster Forum

Rossi to get a new Chassis and a Honda-style seamless transmission:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/20062011/58/rossi-gets-2012-chassis-assen.html (http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/20062011/58/rossi-gets-2012-chassis-assen.html)

I think its a sign they are "scrapping" the 2011 season and essentially making this year a testing bed for the 2012 bike.  I'd imagine the bike reacts a little different to the two engines, but getting a head start on setup and refinement of the new chassis will help.  They were struggling anyway, so rolling the dice can't get much worse.

At this point, writing off the championship is just acknowledging reality. Given the huge amount of development they can now put into the GP12 chassis, I think it's a smart move.

I do have to wonder how different the power characteristics of the liter motor will be, and if doing a lot of development on the chassis with the 800 might lead them down the some wrong paths. Good thing they're a whole lot smarter than me.

Rossi - GP11.1

Hayden - GP11 Step 2

 [thumbsup]

It was all over this board, and other boards, that 2011 would not be very fruitful, so have at it!

Rossi weighs in on the chassis switch and GP 11.1 bike:

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/rossi+about+assen+and+the+gp111 (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/rossi+about+assen+and+the+gp111)

Lots of rain but Rossi number 2 in FP1.

FP2 canceled due to oil on track.

when I heard that a Moto2 Bike grenaded, causing all the remainder of practises to be cancelled today....I couldn't help but think of the movie "Stripes" with the answer to the question of where is your drill Sargeant.....

i've really had enough with the rain this year.

Imagine the racers.  At some point they have to ask for real water suits instead of the crappy plastic singlets they wear.


mitt

Super Sic on pole again:
http://www.motorsport.com/#/motogp/news/san-carlo-s-simoncelli-claims-motogp-pole-at-tt-assen/ (http://www.motorsport.com/#/motogp/news/san-carlo-s-simoncelli-claims-motogp-pole-at-tt-assen/)

And The Ben on the front row:

I was just talking about that with my shop-mates.

All the flippin' money in that series, like Yamaha changing the *entire* livery.
If I'm not mistaken, the toolboxes weren't white before this.

And it's not like this is the first time it's rained and they're all caught off guard.  [roll]

</rant>


Go BEN!  [beer]

Get a good start, let Sic run away and toss it in the kitty litter, and stand on the top step!

Does that mean it's time for race predictions? OK:

1) Stoner
2) Lorentho (+6:35:44.124)
3) Dovizioso (+6:36:23.456)

Rossi - DNF after his GP 11.1 shatters its untested swingarm mount
Simoncelli - DNF after colliding with The Ben
Spies - DNF after being hit by Super Sic and jailed for subsequently murdering him.

THESE

http://www.respro.com/products/racing/road-racing/slick_roadracing_trousers/ (http://www.respro.com/products/racing/road-racing/slick_roadracing_trousers/)

+

these

http://www.respro.com/products/racing/road-racing/clear_slick_wetsuit/ (http://www.respro.com/products/racing/road-racing/clear_slick_wetsuit/)

 = something better than nothing....

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/170612/1/yellow_flags_end_spies_pole_chance.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/170612/1/yellow_flags_end_spies_pole_chance.html)

Super Sic.  :-\

Ridiculous.

Let the "America make the beast with two backs YEAH!" posts commence :)

THE BEN!!


I can't believe Lorenzo (who hates old people and smells like rotting feta) almost caught Hayden.  Man, that's one way to recover from a crash.

WTF are they going to do about Super Sic?  He's a nightmare.

Is it just me or is there a lot of early lap crashing this year?  I'm getting annoyed with the Bridgestone tires.  Edit:  apparently, I'm not the only one.   http://motomatters.com/analysis/2011/06/24/2011_motogp_assen_friday_round_up_tire_t.html (http://motomatters.com/analysis/2011/06/24/2011_motogp_assen_friday_round_up_tire_t.html)

Anyone been watching The Ben's body position change over time in GP?  He rides a GP bike completely differently than a SBK.  He man-handles it less, and is off the bike a lot less.  It makes sense, but it's interesting to see such a noticeable difference.  

Coming again, to save the mother make the beast with two backsing day yeah!

The Ben was pretty awesome today  [beer]


Super Sic  ???

America, make the beast with two backs YEAH!  ;D

As for Simoncelli, punt his ass down to 125 where he can live out his days crashing out people that don't matter. The guy's never had a lick of sense in the way he rides, which is fine if it only hurts him, but he's having a major negative impact on the Championship now.

Extremely strong ride by Lorenzo with that recovery to keep the Championship interesting.

Waiting to see what Matador has to say about Simoncelli  [laugh]

America make the beast with two backs yeah-team america (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M&feature=youtube_gdata_player#normal)

Watching Moto2 now. I inadvertently saw the top 3 results of MotoGP.


+1

Hell yes!! [thumbsup] [clap] [bacon] [bow_down] [beer]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Jun/110625b.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Jun/110625b.htm)

It was just a matter of time. ;D

Super Sic is a douche. [thumbsdown]

dare i say it...

all the more proof, red = faster than blue?  haha

When are we gonna start talking about how much dough Stoner is forking over to Simoncelli for putting hits on the other championship rivals?

Good on Ben!  [beer]
Can't wait to see it!


 [laugh]

+2!! [laugh] [popcorn]

Unfortunately for Stoner, Rossi intercepted his payout during the Jerez round earlier this year.   ;D

 [laugh] [laugh]

Must point out how smart I am:


 [laugh]

Way to go Ben!

Marco, Marco, Marco, WTF?!

The next race Marco should have tick marks on his bike for the riders he's taken out, like notches on a gun slinger's belt.  The guy is fast, he just has a little more to learn.   [laugh]  He does make the races interesting......... In a weird way I feel like thanking him for taking out Loren-dope.  I never want to a rider take down another rider but something deep down inside says it's okay this time.   ???

We should take bets on which race Randy-DP will actually finish a race?  And who is Marco going to take out next?  Has he gotten Dovi yet?

Sic needs a timeout. I'm not the biggest whore-ghey fan, but damn, what would have happened if he would not have been taken out?

Super Sic hasn't taken out Dovi yet but I am sure he's high up on the list. [laugh] Marco has turned into crash monster #1. Can you imagine how pissed his manager and crew are? I'm sure they are considered the paddock villans. I bet all their cars and trucks get "keyed" in the parking lot and have a lot of mysterious flats. ;D

I think he avoids taking out eyetalians.

I will give Sic some credit. He freaking pushed started that bike on his own. Even with the "easier" clutch, that is still a feat on its own.

i don't think this one was sics fault as bad it was really cold tires and he got high sided, so it happens, but if he puts together a full race he could be right up there tiwht the top 3 in every race.

spies finally lived up to the hype today, hopefully he can continue to do so for the rest of the season.  i hav to say that Jlo did do a great job at moving up the field, guess that is why he is defending champ and i figure stoner will win the championship this year.

I would be pissed!  You have one of the fastest riders and he can't finish a race!?  And to add to it he's taking out riders like it was the latest fad.   

Good on Ben well done
If that wasn't one of the most boring processions in MC racing ill stand rooting. I hope with the bigger engine next year and hopefully more riders Moto GP will end up like the Moto2

Has RdP finished a race yet this year?

Would it matter if he had? ;D

Even Moto2 was pretty boring. In previous races they didn't separate as much when it was raining. I guess this time around cooler heads prevailed.

Great ride by spies! And i have to agree that red is definitely faster than blue  ;D

when sic learns to take it easy the first few laps and wait for his tires to get to the right temp before he starts gunning it, he'll definitely be out there competing for podiums consistently. Its just a matter of time... You gotta love his fightin spirit. [evil]

Kinda like it's not the rapist's  fault because she was dressed slutty?

I  know, i  know, blown out of proportion and everything, shitty analogy and whatnot. Truth is, Sic is a make the beast with two backsing menace, and he just made the championship a whole lot more boring for all of us. Lorenzo is the only person in the grid with the chance to give stoner a good fight, and it was just made that much harder for him.

Lorenzo is not Pedrosa, i wouldn't be surprised if Simoncelli shows up face down in the water somewhere, with a worn sprocket through his throat.

Awesome ride by both The Ben and Lorenzo. All the idiots that claim Lorenzo is boring to watch should be referred to this race.

sorta...but not as much as I would have liked to have given him credit for...my reasoning is as follows...

1) Stoner was shaken and not 100%, because I think he could have given Ben a run for the money. I am giving him some level of credit, and not his usual giving of excuses for what he said he was experiencing.
this paired with the issues that all the riders were having with the B'Stone's, I am sure didn't exactly add to an inspiration of confidence and how batshit fast and dominant he has proven to be thus far this season.

2)Jorge ( as much as I don't want to give him credit for anything, due to my personal bias based on persona-not talent), if Simo didn't pop him off, based on how he rode post crash, I fully assert he would have been a fly in the Ben's ointment....

now...I am not defending Simo's actions...BUT...these guys are out there to hang it out and push the limits...you guys actually want him to reel it back and slack off and not do his job to the best of his ability?...how would you apply that to any career or aspect of working...his just happens to have more catastrophic consequences when failure happens than most....but these guys are paid to push those limits and barriers in order to succeed...and success is measured in such minute increments under certain scopes, that we can not condemn him for this action because he was doing exactly what he is paid to do...wield the razor knife edge of control and take a gamble on honing it to the best point he can to etch his mark...

i think the prob is that another major part of the equation is knowing when to gamble and when not to gamble, which is the mark of a great racer.  and right now, simo is showing that he isnt learning that level of control and temperance.  sure, he's fast and he pushes the limit... but what's the point if you're on the ground every race?  gambling on the first couple of turns on tires that are notoriously slow to warm up is a pretty bad risk to be taking, and he doesnt seem to be learning from his mistakes at all.

Maybe Jorge didn't take people out, but I think he tends to forget that he was a crash machine when he came into the class as well.  I have a feeling Marco will learn, but he's just being stubborn at the moment.  You can't teach fast, but you can mature.

Looks like gm2 has some competition from  David Emmett in the biggest-Ben-fanboy category:

http://motomatters.com/analysis/2011/06/26/2011_assen_motogp_post_race_round_up_it_.html (http://motomatters.com/analysis/2011/06/26/2011_assen_motogp_post_race_round_up_it_.html)

Good article re Super Sic too.

Fixed. Jorge was a highsiding mofo, but he never put anyone else in danger. He has more than two fingers of forehead.

I may be firmly attached to his balls, but I can objectively say that he could have very well won that race, considering the way he rode after the crash.

According to the motomatters article, if you take away the first lap, Jorge race time was 12.5 seconds behind The Ben.  Sure, he got held up a bit in traffic occasionally, but Jorge was pushing to get to the front while The Ben was managing a gap and had more in reserve.  He coulda put up a fight, but he wouldn't have stood at the the top of the podium. 

Besides, he steals change from beggars and felates sheep. 

I knew it!

Sheesh, get it right dude  [roll]

Still think he would've pulled it off

 [laugh] [laugh]

You sure you want to start that line of questioning counselor? There's plenty of livestock in Texas ;D

Wow. Spies won one race. Looks like the season is over for the rest of the field. Everyone might as well pack up their gear and go sit in their respective hometowns until testing season begins again. Spies pretty much has this one in the bag.

Sounds pretty ridiculous doesn't it? The guy hasn't been the juggernaut he was in WSBK nor has he even lived up to 1/4 of the hype surrounding him. Sorry...I just don't see MotoGP championship material there. I like the guy. I wish him the best but he has put together 1 race that looked like a champion contendor was on the bike. And 1 race does not a championship pedigree make.

As for Super Sic...I like the guy...and agree that he has been a menace this season. BUT after seeing the picture Colin posted up on Facebook of his own front tire, I can see Simoncelli's crash being 95% tire and 5% over-agression. That could have happened to anyone. If the roles had been reversed and it had been Lorenzo doing the same thing to Simoncelli, nobody would be pitching a pregnant dog. Too much of Simoncelli's past transgressions are souring the normally objective analysis of this particular incident. Shit happens. It happens to everybody. In this case it happened to the guy who has been a bit of a doucher this season but this particular incident had a very small percentage blamed on his douchebaggery. End of story, nothing to see here, move along.

Ouch! You made Ben's Mom cry! [laugh]

I think folks are just happy for him. Why not? I'd be happy to see Hayden rack one up too. Both are nice, hard working guys without many negative issues. What's not to like? [thumbsup] I think we all know that they are two very different classes. And I don't know anyone who thought he'd punt the field back on the transport trailers last year or this year. I'm sure that learning curve is pretty step. He had lots of top tier SBK experience going into WSBK and did a pretty awesome job on tracks he'd never seen and on a bike he'd never raced. Sorry, he has nothing to prove to me. Just saying. No biggie. :) And I hope he wins several more in his career... I have a feeling he will. 

 [thumbsup] he definitely will. You dont win the overall at wsbk without talent. Pretty classy guy too and the way he conducts himself puts stoner to shame.  [evil]

Julian Ryder is on that bus too it seems, asserting that maybe he is alien status...

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Jun/110626rydernotes.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Jun/110626rydernotes.htm)

If I remember correctly, Ben dominated the second half of the season in WSBK. I'm not saying that all of a sudden he'll be the next alien, but this race has shown that he has the talent to at least compete.

I'm not getting on that bandwagon just yet though. I put Ben on the same category as Sic. They have proven they are talented, but they need to be consistent as well.

fairest statement yet!!!...can't agree more....

+1 [thumbsup]

whatever dude.  you're just upset that you're halfway to owing me money.   [cheeky] ;D


the rest has all been said already.  however.. make the beast with two backsYEAH!

the consistency claims are a funny one.  everyone forgets things like torrential rain, etc..  it's also easy to discount a ride that is sorta so boring to watch.  but stringing together that many fast laps, managing the gap, managing the tires, NOT getting caught by the repsols.. that is heroic shit.

sic....   [bang]

While I'm in total agreement on a couple of points -- Great ride by The Ben! -- I'm a little surprised that there's been no mention yet  of Rossi's ride to within one step of the podium on a chassis that's still practically an infant. True, he'd quite likely have wound up two spots further down but for Simo taking out Lorenzo, but I'd still argue it's a pretty impressive result that augurs well for the GP12's future.

...while Haga was in triage several times that season...Ben 'barely' caught the guy by the end of the season.

I'm thinking Spies's victories over Mladin in AMA are his most impressive credentials so far.


Who's Rossi?

He was 30 seconds off the pace.  Which is about where he was on the previous chassis ( roughly a second per lap at every track ).  Lets see how well he does in Mugello if its dry.  No one mentioned it, because his finish wasn't any different than any other this season.  The only reason he finishes 4-5 is because people keep crashing and gifting him spots.  Until he can fight consistantly for a podium without crashers helping him out, its more entertaining to focus on the front runners and who Sic will torpedo next week.   :P

well, yeah.  it's why he won this weekend.  and in 2009.

You're talking potential....I'm talking season-long, head-to-head accomplishments...despite what people think about his WSBK crown, Spies hasn't yet replicated his AMA SBK championship form.

Even a blind squirrel occasionally stumbles across a nut or two  ;D

Again, someone makes his Mom cry. [laugh] All this talk will certainly change if and when he becomes an alien. And yes that's a big IF. I'm thinking he has it in him. He has certainly shown signs of good race craft in SBK and he will do it again in MotoGP. But there's that whole squirrel finding nut factor that OT brings up. [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

The 'blind squirrel' argument would hold some water if.....

He hadn't qualified 0.009 sec off the pole, and 0.281 sec ahead of Stoner in 3rd.
But he did.

If he wasn't 2nd into the first corner, and 1st for every corner after that.
But he was.

If Lorenzo had gained ground on Spies in his charge through the pack.
But JLo lost over 12 seconds.

as long as you're throwing the wsbk title into this conversation, i'm pretty sure you're crazy ;)

Are you going to throw out Nicky's MotoGP title? At least Ben actually won races that year. You guys just can't discard championships. Ben won the WSBK championship that year. He's won 1 race in MotoGP. Time will tell if he's an alien, but first he has to proof that he can consistently compete.

http://superbikeplanet.com/2011/Jun/110628d.htm (http://superbikeplanet.com/2011/Jun/110628d.htm)

Simo is smelling the coffee now.

But he's got to go drink a few cups pronto.

Gresini's patience is wearing thin.

He's got to turn around his season pronto.  Doesn't his contract end this year?  Though, frankly, even with his record this year, I'd pick him up if I were almost any team (though maybe not HRC).  Once they work the crashyness outta him, he's fast as hell. 

Why don't they dock his pay for the crashes?  That'll learn him real gud. 

Another thought:  he should shave his head.  What better way to start anew?

funny, i've thought the same thing

Can you imagine a Sic/Rossi Ducati team? Italians' wet dream.

I thought he promised to shave his head when he won a GP.........

Maybe he should change the criteria to when he doesn't crash ;)

Rossi would never do it.

Simo to Moto2 next year?

Anyway - Ben will never be an alien because he's not as talented as Rossi and will never be as little/light as the rest of them   ;)

This would probably be a good moment to bow out gracefully. This comment might actually get some people around here to detach their mouths from around The Ben's balls long enough to pick up Pitchforks.

;D  ...they have their own thread to worship in...

...and I need to get my post count up to 500...

...or to a local Roller Derby league.

he is too much of a chauvenist to play Roller Derby and he'd get embarrassed when the girls start puttin serious hits on him....

now, if he could roll back to 1975 and be a driver/rider in Rollerball...that'd be a different story!

 [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

Noobs  [roll]

 [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

Screw you.  As I've proven over and over again, I'm perfectly capable of wielding a pitchfork with balls in my mouth.

 ;D

Your thrust entirely missed the bull....I've been making an ass of myself on 'this board' since 2004, just lost the previous 6,000 posts when the old DML was sold... [coffee]

You are busted to cleaning out the cow stalls until further notice..  [thumbsup]

just takes you awhile to catch up, don't worry we'll wait and make fun of you after

Thought you were dead....  [bow_down]

I like Simoncelli.

He's like most kids...young, dumb...and you know the rest.

He'll come around on the timing thing.

It's nice to watch a racer race instead of riding machines perform.

+1

You mean like when they raced 500's? He's still a jerk off.  ;)

You're just old and cranky.

it brings and begs the point for a second though...how much different would Simo or any of the newer crop of 250 guys in GP be if they had a day to play on an old 500 and a 990 for to put things in perspective for a moment...

They would all crash in or out of turn 1.  :D

Collin Edwards would rule!    [thumbsup]  And the press conferences would televised during prime time. 


And Rossi would win a few again. 

what's that Rossi quote from when he moved to the 990 from the 500 and commenting...."the 500 is like FAAAACK!"...LOL

that is my hope!


mitt

+1

I like him too.  Something different.  And, I think Rossi would team with him, supposedly he and VR are buds.

mitt