Ducati Monster Forum

FP1, Melandri

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jun/1200608a.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jun/1200608a.htm)

still early...

but Marco has been on form lately.

C'mon Haslam!

c'mon Laverty  >:(

Q1

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jun/120608b.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jun/120608b.htm)

I'm becoming pretty impressed with Rea...  riding the oldest bike on the grid now right?  Or is the 1098R older?

Any which way you look at it, he seems to be getting a lot done with a lot less power than the other I4's.

 [thumbsup]

he's doing a hell of a lot on an old bike that is not factory supported.  i think we'll see him in GP next year.

..heard some interesting rumors about the next CBR btw, speaking of that bike needing an overhaul

I think the 1098R is older...specially since the Fireblade got a slight revision in '10 I think...but it finally got some real updates last year towards the end of the year...

No championship for Checa  :'(

And while that saddens me, amazing racing today.

race 1 was awesome...and while I was tired from the weekend wedding activities I attended, watching race 1 I was wide awake...race 2 on the other hand...I had trouble keeping my eyes open at times...

and Checa isn't totally out of championship contention....but it would take Biaggi to screw up a time or 2 or to have Melandri bump him off like he did to Checa for to give Checa some catch up...

http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news/180709/1/melandri_very_sorry_for_checa_downfall.html (http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news/180709/1/melandri_very_sorry_for_checa_downfall.html)

This is the definition of race incident. Checa would need to not only win practically every race, but he would also need quite a few people to crash out to have a chance at winning the championship. At least now he can really focus on getting the 1199 setup for next year.

Eh, Max is more than capable of melting down, crashing, or getting taken out by Melandri, twice in the next 14 races.

The racing season is long.  Really, really long.  All Checa needs to do is go out, get points, and get on the podium or win races when he can.  At the end of it, we'll see who is on the top step.  It's wayyyyyy too soon to write him off, even if he's 60 pts behind.  One get-off from Max where he can't do either race in a weekend and the announcers will talk about how the championship has been blown wide open.

It's interesting to see Checa have the similar issues this year as champion as Max did last year.  In 2010, Max could do not wrong.  In 2011, he was a trainwreck for the first half season.  Last year, Checa was indestructible.  This year, he's Spies-ing it all up.  

Race 1 was awesome.  I basically stopped paying close attention to Race 2 after Melandri booted Carlos.  I was surprised that Carlos' public statements talked about how Melandri normally has such clean, considerate passes.  Are we talking about the same Melandri?

It's nice to see Rea getting it together, particular on that Honda Model-T they've given him.  I wonder about whether he'll get to GP.  He can ride, but I'm not sure how well he manages tires.  I know a lot of it is the bike, but he's not what I'd call a particularly smooth rider.  

I really thought we'd see a lot more out of Laverty this season.  A lot more.  I wonder how much it is is attributable to what is often describled as the Aprilia's fickleness and difficulty to set up.  

Hopper, retire, dude.

Agreed. How big was Haga's lead at this point in the season when Spies won it?

Derby (or gm2 since it's Spies) in 3...2...1...  [laugh]

 [laugh]


That dude won't be happy until he's in a full body cast for the rest of his life.

Wasn't Haga up by like 88 pts in '09 when Spies started to crawl back?  Don't remember where in the season that was. 

I don't remember the points, but I think it was at a similar point in the season. Spies doubled at Miller and that seemed to get the ball rolling IIRC.

Damn, my memory is good.  I went back to derbyize the '09 results.

Round 6 -- 88 pts back
Round 7 -- 53 pts back (Spies doubled at Miller and Haga was 8th and 9th)
Round 8 -- 48 pts back
Round 9 -- 14 pts back (Haga was 3d in Race 1 and crashed in R2)
Round 10 -- 7 pts back
Round 11 -- Haga 18 pts back  (That's 106 pts in 5 rounds!!!!)
Round 12 --  Spies 3 pts back  
Round 13 -- Spies 10 pts back
Round 14 -- Spies wins championship by 6 pts

While Checa is not Spies (by any stretch), that 106 pt mid-season swing over just 5 rounds tells you how quickly things can change.  

Checa's crash this weekend was due to his horrific grid placement.  If he starts closer to the front, we would have seen two wins or at least a win and a second place.  He had too much ground to make up and trying to plow through positions quickly can lead to crashes.

He's got work to do, but isn't out of it quite yet.

yeah, except, um, not really.  he crashed because someone ran into him and knocked him down.  or in melandri speak, carlos unwittingly ran into him.

i was going to say exactly the same thing: the season is FAR from over.

laverty, me too.  and yeah, i do think it has a lot to do with the fickle beast.  if he blows any corner just a bit, he blows it by a mile.  i DO expect him to get it sorted later on this year.  and i also expect to continue seeing chaz fight his way up to the top 5 or 6, usually from the back.

Mad Max  [clap]

Not a Max fan in any sense of the word but even at 40, the guy has some races where he just can't be touched. Race 2 was a perfect example of that.

I was actually referring to 2nd on back being good racing. Honestly, once Max got out front and started opening the gap, I just sort of excluded him from the racing. The rest of the pack was pretty fun to watch.

so did most of the race coverage