Ducati Monster Forum

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2012/GP+Tech+Indianapolis+wild+card (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2012/GP+Tech+Indianapolis+wild+card)

Riding the machine will be 38-year-old Aaron Yates from Milledgeville, Georgia

Yates?  [puke]

i was a big fan of yates in his "prime"... one of my favorite rides from him was when he crashed at (i believe) pike's peak and came back to win the race.

that said, i don't see the value in putting an "old", retired rider on a bike in this situation.

I lost all respect for him over his reaction after he and another rider got tangled up and crashed at Daytona a few years ago.

you have to admit, that was an amusing "drop kick"...  ;D

ohwhatanassiam.   [laugh]

He wasn't even in contention...was he?

IIRC he was one of the also rans.

in that race? he was running second with ~10 laps to go.

career-wise he had both supersport and superstock championships.

That's why we keep you... [thumbsup]

It was still a bush league reaction.

evidently they found all the pieces of his leg and bolted it back together.  i'm sure he's bored, but this seems like a bad move...

Hold on everyone, let me look into my crystal ball:

Okay, I'm getting something...........

Stoner will be having the ride if his life in qualifying, wait, he gets held up by Yates, and during the race he runs into CRT traffic and they cost him the podium.

I see something else........ it's not so clear........oh here we go........ Rossi doesn't finish the race.

he folds the front going into the 1st turn off of the back straight in front of the Red Bull hospitality stands ( turn 10 I believe) trying to dive for the inside to try and pass Bautista...

so far weather says 77° and partly cloudy for sunday.  that may be not quite hot enough.  i think + a few degrees and then both nicky and valentino will have decent races.

Your crystal ball sucks. Rossi will have a horrible qualy and finish around 8th. He has no motivation to even attempt to fight Bautista, or Hayden, or anyone else.

i don't think he's going to just do laps for the rest of the season.  that's not how he works.

he feels that he has been ignored for 2 years while giving them considerable feedback. You really think he will give 2 shits about the bike now. He will do laps and try to make himself look good.

I dunno... I cant see Rossi throwing in the towel like that.  I feel that for him winning is winning, if he has the chance he's going to take it.

Exhibit A: The past 2 years. Granted, he has not had a chance during this period, but he's not going to be motivated to possibly get hurt by pushing the red turd.

I don't see Rossi just giving up this year...but it won't matter, because I don't see him even getting the chance to podium in a dry race no matter how hard he's trying.

Ah, but I have to point out Le Mans this year with his wet podium.  That race to me proved that he still has the drive to win in him... he just needs the bike to be able to to do it in the dry.

I however agree that he probably wont push for the win when he's puttering around in 7th-8th place, but I do firmly believe that if he has the chance to podium he'll push pretty hard for it... especially with the record he's had these past 2 years.

i.e. he's still praying for rain every night  :-\

i don't think anyone doubts that

+1 No one can say that he doesn't want to win. That's the point of him going back to Yamaha. The issue is that he's not motivated to go 110% on the Duc if that means hanging out on the edge.

agreed.  what i meant earlier was that if he feels like he can push (not likely, but could happen) at any point in the remainder of the year, he will.

I make 1 prediction for this weekend....


all of the VR/Ducati branded merchandise will be discounted to blow it out!!!

 IMS interview: Stoner, Lorenzo, Nicky, Bradl, Rossi.

Pure gold.  [laugh]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Aug/120816imspc12.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Aug/120816imspc12.htm)

Man I read a lot, then decided to stop. Bunch of idiotic questions.

Ding ding ding  50% off at Indy Ducati.. lol

.....aaaand FP2 is under way. 

(http://7mzdt.com/images/indyfp2.png)

Barbera got all jacked up on FP1.

Fracture back.

Watching my 1st MotoGP race.  Caught tail end of MotoGP Friday practice. Amazing sound and speed.  Pretty cool to finally see it in person and recognize the bikes :). Awesome!

Hope Barbera will recover quick for next race.

5th, 6th and 8th dorsal vertebrae fractures.

Big ouch. They said he would spend 1 night at the hospital compared to the few weeks he spent at a hospital in Japan the last time he broke his back.

Not really. My 3 lifesized autographed action shots of him on the M1 framed are still worth diddly squat. Granted, I wouldn't sell them even if they were since I took them myself and hounded him for what seemed hours at Indy in 2009 to sign them and my Dreamtime GP-Tech replica. :D

Seriously though, as much as I wanted to see him competitive on the Duc, this is going to be good for the big show in the long run. More people fighting for podiums the better.

Darn. Watching @ Indy.  Spies was down but went out again.  Stoner highsided and taken hospital - no fracture ankle but ligament injury.  Hayden wrecked same spot as Stoner.  Getting scan @ hospital  check up due to head crash  for precaution. Darn, lots of crashes.

Dani set record

Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Dovi
Spies, Bradl, Stoner
Crutchlow, Hatden, Bautista

Stoner, Spies, and Hayden all had epic highsides, IIRC all in the T13/T14 zone.

Stoner torn ligaments right ankle, no info on if he'll be fit to ride.

Spies a bit rattled, but made it back out on #2 bike to do a couple laps at same pace.
He fell with ~ 1/2 sec lead over Pedrosa's pole time at about 10 minutes to go in the session.
That would have put him on pole or 2nd.

Nicky KO when he hit the ground, but waved to the crowd from the gurney, appears he's alright, but they're still looking him over.

Rossi damn near went down at that same spot, IMO something on the track.

Tough weekend already.

That was a brutal QP.


Did Rapp or Yates make the cut?

Brutal, indeed.
If you add in Barbera's take-away, it's the worst I can remember.

They both qualified.
Rapp made it under the 107% cutoff by ~2 seconds, Yates ~1.5 sec.

Damn, thats a lot of attrition.  Did they check out the spot where everyone crashed?  Anything there?

Apparently nothing, Crutchlow said it was just qualifying, everyone hard on the gas.

There's something about Indy I just don't like. I can't put my finger on it other than to say the bikes just don't seem to "flow" there.

how about this: it's a friggin roval. nothing "flows" there except the roundy-round cars...

the infield track flat out sucks.

When's that new track in Texas going to open?  [evil]

The Ben was fastest in warm up. He was also limping around the pit.

Stoner will race but he was on crutches.

Damn shame for Nicky after he predicted Indy to be his best result of the season  :-\

Indy is just a hack job for a road course. If there was ever a doubt that MotoGP should move to Texas, this weekend should settle that. Who else uses that road course? Ridiculous.

The freaky part was that they were all highsides. I'm not an expert, but it seems that they were slipping and sliding around that corner all weekend. Can we assume that in some spots there's no grip, then all of a sudden it catches?

november.  ;D

Are the grandstands totally empty?

It's a great track for car to go around in circles.  [roll]



Riding out there after the GP today to see how it looks.


Btw..I saw an Italian rider during qualifications wearing leathers with a blinking light on the sleeve.  Any ideas?  

Yes Carlos.  They're in the Midwest.

Marquez is a douche, but good God he's make the beast with two backsing fast.

I can't wait until they race on it! I won't be able to attend the race for the next few years, but once I get tired of the IZ adventures of moving, I'll be heading to watch a race.

Got my ticket for the F1 in Nov.

You'll have a place to stay if you come for the GP Carlos

That is..If I'm still here in Austin.  Not certain if my adventures are done yet either!  ;)

Next year I'll be going to the GP in Argentina, so that will be a big one for me. If you're still around I will definitely take you up on the Texas GP!

Nicky and Casey's high sides


Nicky Hayden Crash MotoGP 2012 Indianapolis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2qVjZ8kySE&feature=youtube_gdata_player#)

Casey Stoner Crash MotoGP 2012 Indianapolis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzL6CuWMtW8&feature=youtube_gdata_player#)

Hector's


Hector Barbera Crash MotoGP 2012 Indianapolis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzNfJWrMl-c&feature=youtube_gdata_player#)

The Turd doesn't get an umbrella girl?

GO BEN!!!!

Who is this Cronkite wanna-be announcing the beginning of the race?!  The same one from laguna.

MOTHERmake the beast with two backsER!!!!!!

Now you seriously have to wonder if Yamaha is trying to sabotage The Ben. Did they switch out the engine that Lorenzo was using most of the season with a new one? This goes beyond bad luck.

Valentino looks like if he's just on a Sunday ride.  [thumbsdown]

Damn..that was scary when they showed the on boatd camera of the rider behind Spies going through that smoke!!

That was Lorenzo going through the smoke. I hope Yonny Hernandez gets the CRT win!

Is Abraham going faster than Rossi?!?!  [bang]

Ben Spies: "My luck's been crap".

 [laugh] Steve made Yorgie mad.  [laugh]

Lorenzo gave him "the leg".

That race sucked:

Pedrosa just simply on a mission.
Jorge was just happyto finish.
Good job by Dovi to keep the cripple behind him.
I will miss Casey, even with a jacked up ankle he raced for 2/3rd of it. He showed tons of heart!
Bautista and Bradl zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Rossi  [thumbsdown]
Abraham zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Yonny!!!! Great job!! He will never be considered for a factory ride, but the guy could sneak up on the CRT guys
Rapp got points!!!

Stoner  [bow_down] [clap]

I can't believe Ben's luck.

Redbull girls!!!!!!  [drool]

Luck or the reason he is leaving

They look better live  [drool]


Was less than 50 feet from where Spies went off track with that smoker of a bike.  Everyone watching was just in awe of his horrible luck.  His body language said it all "there goes that piece of shit again when I'm in the hunt..."

Ohh Ben.

(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x251/seusssandm/D59C0EFD-71E5-47C8-AEF0-3BAEE08E4FA9-245-00000025F31EAD99.jpg)

It sincerely starting to feel like sabotage at this point...  I mean... really?

+1


+1

It does almost seem like sabotage at this point.


+1 again. I watched it on fast forward for the last 2/3, watching at normal speed if something happened. Nothing really did though.  :P


BUT...Moto3!!!  [bow_down] [bow_down]

I believe that's an indicator that the "airbag" system in his leathers is active.

Watched this race in person at Indy for first time.  TV does not do any justice to how incredibly fast this guys are everywhere in the track.  There is no slow guy or lemon.  None!  I have extra extra respect to all.

Watched Cal go down.  :-(

Watched my 2nd fav Dovi pass Stoner from where I was at.

I had great weekend and the trip was worth every penny ;)

Have any of those things ever opened?  Was wondering about it when Stoner (plus, from a lower apogee, Nicky, and the guy with three fractured vertebra) were coming back down from orbit and about to hit the runway......

This is true of 'all' forms of racing. It is life changing.  [thumbsup]

Purportedly the engine that blew up was from the bike he crashed in Qualy.

That doesn't seem like a sensible thing to do.

If you want your rider to finish a race well, anyway.

Yamaha has no vested interest in Ben even racing. At this point just about everyone is wondering...

And I'm surprised the rapp didnt get off the racing line when he was being lapped

If you're faster, then pass me, I'm not moving over for you.  ;) Yorgie wasn't gonna catch Pedrosa anyway.

Ok.  That's what my guess was.

I posted that same thought on another thread. That or such piss poor maintenance that it borders on sabotage. The way it was smoking after he stopped it looked like a blown head gasket. When have we ever seen that before on top shelf racing?

I don't think Lorenzo's leg pump was a spiteful gesture but rather one of a an acknowledgment of a guy's effort to ride as best he can on such a bike in that race.

I was watching on the Tellie and I couldn't tell if he was being shown a blue flag at all...but I was kinda shocked at the sheer lack of yeilding....

Rapp was a pretty big speed bump.


really?  [laugh]

Yeah... seemed a bit unprofessional to me, but like zoom said, I couldnt see a blue flag from the tv broadcast but I cant see how it couldnt have been shown.  True that there was no real chance that lorenzo could have caught up but Rapp not getting out of the way and extending that gap by 2 seconds is rough.  For all he knew it could have been a close fight for 2nd and that could have really thrown a wrench in things.

I always felt that racers at that level always sorta knew that if you get lapped once "there's a race going on and you arent in it".

But yeah... I really dont like Indy for motogp.  I think due to the layout there is something off about it... all the riders look stiff for some reason, not as smooth as they usually look.

Are they planning on continuing the CRT classe, as is, next year?  Other than filling up a starting grid it has no place with the GP.

Maybe they should just make CRT it's own class and offer a championship system for it. It may attract more teams and riders to fill the grid. Maybe the increased exposure will provide enough incentive for factory sponsors and thus enable more factory type teams to participate, such as Aprillia, Kawasaki, BMW, etc.

gotta fill the grid somehow. it's hard to justify even running the race if there's only 6-12 bikes on the grid.

even if Rapp didn't see a blue flag,  he had to have noticed Pedrosa get passed him....... so he should have expected others to be coming through.  I think he thought it was his chance to be seen.... "oh look at me kids I can back it into the corner too".   :-*

Honda is planning on making factory bikes of lower spec for sale for somewhere in the range of 1.25 million. The bikes would be faster than current CRT and wouldn't break the bank too much. I know Yamaha was talking about some sort of plan along the lines of making cheaper bikes available to teams that are "refurbed".

The ideas are to keep cost down, fill the grid, and keep it safer for everybody.

I could see both Yamaha and Honda selling their previous year's bike, but not in the CRT system. They would need to sell a much lower spec bike, more closely related to an 800.

exact same thing as the chassis in Qatar.

Do you think CRT's in 2-3 yrs will be able to match a 2 yr old hand me down satellite bike?  I'm guessing that's what they'll be trying to sell as nothing else would make sense really.  And the thing is... is it even worth it vs the cost of running a CRT team?  Both bikes are going to be nothing but backmarkers with CRT's probably being a lot cheaper to race.

Grid will just look like this:

prototypes
satellites
ducatis
cheap satellites
crt's

I think the only way to make it work would be for Dorna to convince the factories to sell older spec prototype engines/electronics to the teams and have the teams design the chassis.  Possibly make a rule where you can only sell prototype engines to the other teams if you already race in the prototype class so ape/bmw/suzuki cant jump in without going in for the whole kit and caboodle.

So in the end it will still be full prototype racing but it should be a bit closer... those production engines just arent cutting it in this level of racing.

To me limts like bore limit and rpm limit reduce the competition and go against the prototype theory
even spec tires

make a 1000cc class.limit 2wheels. 1rider. put in a min weight and let everyone figure it out

who cares if they bring a wsbk spec bike. make it ao many people try and then u can limit the field by qualtimes. keeps the field tighter. safer

 -- rev limits and (some sort) of spec ecu.  they're coming, and will level the playing field somewhat.  once that happens the customer RC213v starts to make more sense.

there's nothing that precludes a prototype from being classified as a CRT now.  they don't have to be production-based, they just are cuz other teams would be claiming them in a heartbeat if they were prototypes.  notice how no CRT has ever been, like, claimed so far?

and other brands want to be there.. BMW at least is widely rumored to be entering GP once they feel like the rule book is a bit more stable (probably with ben spies, if you go further down the rumor mill).  same with suzuki.

i don't think anyone will ever sell current gen (1000cc) prototype to another team, even if it's a few years old.  too much to lose.  there was talk at first of some teams running old 800s, but that never happened.

Isn't there a child on your lawn that you're supposed to be scaring away?

Ok now that I have it in front of me...

Article from Roadracing World...September 2012

"A 2014 version of Honda's RC213V that will be available to private teams for about $1.25 million, including an engine allocation...."We want to see a replica of the RC213V to customers," said HRC Vice President Shuhei Nakamot. "But this is not a CRT concept bike, it is more like a prototype machine. The bike will be a lower cost version of our factory bikes and will use steel valve springs, not pneumatic valves. Maybe we can make this machine for the 2014 season."

MotoGP bosses are delighted at this latest breakthrough in the complicated procedure of creating a new -look championship that keeps the factories involved while giving the privateers a chance of getting closer to the front. If the production RCV could at least halve the gaping 2.5 second gap between CRTs and prototypes, it would be a huge boost to MotoGP...."

 [popcorn]

Yamaha and Ducati on board at Indy


Indianapolis 2012 - Yamaha OnBoard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYlxHG-5MGk&feature=youtube_gdata_player#)

Indianapolis 2012 - Ducati OnBoard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaQK0FwWn_w&feature=youtube_gdata_player#)

I think Ben should pop Jarvis on the last day of his contract. ;D

The race sucked.

Stoner is an animal.  [thumbsup]

He should pop him now.  :D 'Get a little respect'

That's different than having the same 3 guys on the podium each race?

Who'll want to continue spending $$$ with no chance of competing, unless its only for the face time/bragging rights to a MotoGP team?

Might be time for the MotoGP Parade to roll the floats into the warehouse for a few seasons until the economy gets better... [popcorn]

Or, better yet, put the IOM TT back in the rotation -- nothing like a 150 miler with plenty of opportunities for crashing, mechanical failures, animal strikes, poor pit stops, etc. to "level the field"  [evil]

Never gonna happen.

I know....but it's gotten so  :'(

Plenty of real exciting racing out there in other divisions.  ;)

MOTO 3 [Dolph] [thumbsup]

 [thumbsup]  and many others

Rossi out for a Sunday drive......very apparent watching him round Indy -

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/MotoGP/2012/August/aug2012-rossi-reflects/ (http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/MotoGP/2012/August/aug2012-rossi-reflects/)

Big early front-end moments saw Rossi make the surprise admission that he had not pushed at 100% after the first three laps and he added: “I don’t know if it is the worst race of my career but I give up very much. After two or three laps I have two or three moments on the front and now the problem is that everybody is fast. Sixth place was 25 seconds ahead of me so if you want to go you have to push a lot. After the two big moments I don’t want to crash another time and I saw I was in seventh place and I just cruised with the bike not to make any mistake like in Laguna. But anyway it is a big, big disaster. In the morning the bike was not so bad like yesterday (Saturday) and I can stay in the 40.5 and 40.7 pace and ride very smooth but in the afternoon the rear tyre slides very much and I don’t have any chance. Each time I try to go faster I just spin more and I go slower. It is a difficult situation but we don’t have to give up.”

^ so sad  :'(

Dude, Ben quit early because he knew what were Yamaha's plans, not because he bailed out. At least it gave him a chance to start looking at his options earlier instead of waiting for the Rossi announcement. I will agree that the last race was by the far the worst of the the season, boring as hell. All in all the 1000s have been better racing than what we have seen the past few years.

Really dude, go open a WSBK race thread.

Watching those videos shows you just how much the Duc shakes and is all over the place compared to the Yamaha.  :'(

I have to check the batteries in my crystal ball.

It was Loren-dope that was held up by a CRT rider and it wasn't Rossi who didn't finish, it was poor Nicky.    [roll]

"Finally during the MotoGP race a lapped rider, Steve Rapp, failed to move out of the way of a much faster Jorge Lorenzo, causing the latter to even flail out with his foot in frustration as he finally got past the CRT wildcard.  I have received a confirmation from Mike Webb, Race Director for the FIM, that well in advance of Lorenzo’s arrival behind Rapp, he requested and received confirmation from the Clerk of the Course that blue flags were displayed.

From where I was standing (about two-thirds of the way between T16 and T1, on the outside of the straight and immediately on the wall – and let me tell you – there’s nothing quite like the feeling of a 250hp
screaming MotoGP bike going by at full throttle just five feet from you), I did not see any blue flags at either end or along the 3-4 flag stations on the straight when Rapp came through followed by Lorenzo.

Rapp didn’t see any. Neither did Lorenzo. A Facebook user correctly quipped “don’t they have blue flags in Nascar???” They’re actually blue with a yellow stripe through it in NASCAR, but close enough."

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/trackside-tuesday-indianapolis-motor-speedway/#more-34386 (http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/trackside-tuesday-indianapolis-motor-speedway/#more-34386)

I guess Rapp gets a pass on not getting off the race line... must have been some sort of lack of communication btwn race direction and the corner workers.

...you're also supposed to hold your line in those situations.

but he wasn't last...

and if there was no blue flag how is he supposed to know who's trying to pass?

He's supposed to use Architect's broken crystal ball.

i know.  however the post before mine referred to moving off the racing line.  that's a no-no.

How else do you get out of the way? :P

I know what you mean though. ;D

I guess his CRG  :P

I have an idea to make this series exciting. After qualy, reverse the field, make the fast guys race in and through traffic. No blue flags.  :D

That would provide excitement in any racing series...

unlike headlight decals on any race car/bike.  :-*

 :D they do it or used to in World of Outlaws racing. Usually didn't take much for the big boys to push through, but for several laps it was awesome.

Now that you mention it, even my untrained eyes can tell the difference :-(

but do it randomly so that people aren't sand bagging for position...can you see it now...qualy being the session to see who goes slowest....LOL

they should have them draw numbered straws........   

Whomever can toss Pedrobot the farthest gets pole, next farthest second spot, and so on down the line... ;D

Exactly. Half of the races and nobody knows which ones.  ;)

casey's foot  :(

(https://p.twimg.com/A02c2-MCYAAQ-EX.jpg)

(https://p.twimg.com/A02cv4BCIAA469R.jpg)

AVENT bottles are the shit  8)

 [bow_down] Most folks that work in an office ( :P) would call in sick for a week from that injury. Mad props.

Ouch. My ankle looked similar...crazy that he raced with it!  [bow_down] Such a bummer that he's out of the championship hunt now.

The bottle in the picture is classic!  [laugh]

Apparently there are some in this forum that think that they could have gone out there and ridden with that injury  [roll]