Ducati Monster Forum

I can hardly wait!

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Oh yeah...I am pretty amped up for the return of MotoGP racing...  [evil]

Me too :D
Thinking about it all week. Wonder what the top speed down the main straight will be this year.

This is one of Stoner's best tracks.  Lorenzo doesn't even have a chance.

This was one of Stoner's best tracks.  Lorenzo doesn't even have a chance

Stoner quit last year.

Stoner quit?!?  Aw, man.  Who in the world are they gonna get to take his place?  It's not like someone can just jump on his bike and be the fastest from the git-go. 

I can't wait for Qatar.  I love the red glow of the discs when they get into some of the darker areas on the track.   

[laugh]

Gonna miss the whining....  :'(

Looking forward to watching some good racing.

And also watching the MotoGP guys.

+1


SURELY some one will step up to that plate...

I still don't like whom you speak of  [cheeky]

But that's just me whining...

Can't wait for Qatar. Just wish I could drop the coin on the MotoGP subscription because I really want to see the practices/qualifying

I will enjoy the first 3 laps of MotoGP.

FP1

Results:

Pos No Rider Bike Time Diff Prev
1 99 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha 1'56.685     
2 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Yamaha 1'56.743 0.058 0.058
3 46 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 1'56.756 0.071 0.013
4 93 Marc MARQUEZ Honda 1'57.276 0.591 0.520
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 1'57.538 0.853 0.262
6 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Honda 1'57.601 0.916 0.063
7 6 Stefan BRADL Honda 1'57.670 0.985 0.069
8 26 Dani PEDROSA Honda 1'57.749 1.064 0.079
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO ART 1'57.843 1.158 0.094
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati 1'57.926 1.241 0.083
11 38 Bradley SMITH Yamaha 1'58.369 1.684 0.443
12 29 Andrea IANNONE Ducati 1'58.559 1.874 0.190
13 11 Ben SPIES Ducati 1'58.575 1.890 0.016
14 8 Hector BARBERA FTR 1'59.608 2.923 1.033
15 14 Randy DE PUNIET ART 1'59.633 2.948 0.025
16 17 Karel ABRAHAM ART 1'59.758 3.073 0.125
17 5 Colin EDWARDS FTR Kawasaki 2'00.341 3.656 0.583
18 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ ART 2'00.426 3.741 0.085
19 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA FTR 2'00.563 3.878 0.137
20 71 Claudio CORTI FTR Kawasaki 2'01.227 4.542 0.664
21 9 Danilo PETRUCCI Ioda-Suter 2'01.438 4.753 0.211
22 67 Bryan STARING FTR Honda 2'01.942 5.257 0.504
23 52 Lukas PESEK Ioda-Suter 2'02.079 5.394 0.137
24 70 Michael LAVERTY PBM 2'02.135 5.450 0.056

Pedrosa and Dovi switched places.

Is anyone else as happy as I am that a Ducati is within 1 sec of the leader?!? [beer] [clap] [popcorn] It's a start...

I wanna see Crutchlow rip 'em a new asshole this season

Just as happy as I was when my 700 lb woman dropped 50 lbs. 

I bet his neck is still slowing him down.

+1...not sure what I want to see more...the Crutch doin it against the odds or the Duc scoring podiums...

Doesn't really matter because you're not going to see either.  ;D

I'd love to see Crutchlow do well though...and Nicky.

Crutch in the two slot, but if you look at his lap sequence, he still lacks the consistant faster laps that Rossi and Lorenzo can put in.  Rossi had the most laps in the 1:56's on the dirty track.  Cal is fast, but I still feel like it will be like last year and see him crash when trying to keep that pace lap after lap.  I'd expect the Hondas to pick it up later in the weekend as well.

I agree with everything you said.

But I still want to see Cal do something this year other than crash a lot

It was almost really interesting that Marquez blitzed the field in FP2.  But that was more about the conditions than anything else.  I can't wait til the track cleans up and stays dry. 

Is The Ben even going to make it into the top group for qualy??  Yoikes.   

probably after the mid point of the season when his shoulder is better and the 1st round of upgrades to the GP13 really start to be implemented


speaking of...FP2

Pos. Rider Team Bike Time
1 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:56.477
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:56.745
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:56.805
4 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:57.169
5 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda Honda 1:57.257
6 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Team Ducati 1:57.833
7 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:57.877
8 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team Ducati 1:58.040
9 Ben Spies Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati 1:58.137
10 Alvaro Bautista Go&Fun Honda Gresini Honda 1:58.298
11 Bradley Smith Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:58.340
12 Andrea Iannone Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 1:58.575
13 Aleix Espargaro Power Electronics Aspar ART 1:58.631
14 Yonny Hernandez Paul Bird Motorsport ART 1:58.871
15 Hector Barbera Avintia Blusens FTR 1:58.904
16 Randy De Puniet Power Electronics Aspar ART 1:59.185
17 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing ART 1:59.809
18 Danilo Petrucci Came Iodaracing Project Ioda-Suter 2:00.557
19 Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia Blusens FTR 2:00.652
20 Lukas Pesek Came Iodaracing Project Ioda-Suter 2:00.919

Dovi now .3 tenths back in third place with less than a minute left in FP3

wow

.333 off the front for Dovi

all the Ducs within 1.2 of the top.

Is Dovi the next Stoner on this beast?

fp3... we'll be saying this a lot: marquez.  1/1000th from george.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Apr/130405fp3res.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Apr/130405fp3res.htm)

and absolutely an incredible showing for Marquez so far.

who was the last rookie that took his first pole/race?

we might be saying Marquez

stoner took pole on the LCR in his 2nd ever motogp race (qatar), in 2006.

they are still off a click from last year though....

2012 Pole: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:54.634 - 168.955 Km/h (104.984 mph)
2012 Fastest Lap: (4th lap) Casey Stoner (Honda) 1:55.541 - 167.628 Km/h (104.159 mph)

the Duc doesn't lose as much in bad conditions. I would like to dream that Dovi is the second coming of Stoner, but I won't allow me to dream. For now I will continue to hope that the track conditions will keep the Duc competitive.

Top 2 fastest from Q1 get to run in Q2 as well.  Good idea.  It's going to make the beast with two backs up tire choice for those riders, but it's still a good idea.  It alleviates the problem of what happens if something goes wrong with one of the known fast guys where he does't even qualify for Q2.  At least he gets to go out in Q1 and try for one of the two Q2 spots. 

Though I'm not sure that having 12 bikes out for Q2 solves the problem of "overcrowding" and tows.  There were plenty of times there were barely any more than 12 bikes out there on the grid last year and people were still complaining.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Apr/130405rydernotes.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Apr/130405rydernotes.htm)

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/189524/1/qatar_motogp_marquez_up_front_and_feeling_good.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/189524/1/qatar_motogp_marquez_up_front_and_feeling_good.html)

Dovi and Hayden pulled one off laps out of their ass.  None of their other laps sniff that kind of pace.  Its encouraging, but somehow I have a feeling they were on the edge of crashing the whole lap.  I watched Hayden following Marquez and that Duc was not having a good time trying to keep up.

Seems Lorenzo can do consistent mid 1'56" laps.
9 laps out of 11 under 1'57".

Marquez uncorked the fast lap, but he's been spending a lot of time on the astroturf outside turn one, like Pedrosa.
He doesn't have a consistent pace, only 3 laps out of 12 under a 1' 57".
I think he's made such a habit of it, he'll not get on the box.

Cal, 7 out of 11 under 1'57".

Rossi, 5 out of 13 under 1'57".

Dovi only 2 out of 13 under 1'57", but getting within 0.001" of Rossi on his former bike has got to burn....

Pedrosa 4 out of 12 under 1'57".
He and his crew have to find something or he's going to be duking it out with Dovi and Marquez for the fastest guy who doesn't get on the box.

Q2.  Dovi n' Rossi.  Wow.  

As expected, the new Qualifying format is great.  [thumbsup] The only one that doesn't like it right now is Rossi!  ;D

wow 4th for Dovi

seeing that all the other Ducs are lower, looks like Dovi may very well be the second coming of Stoner

I wouldn't speak so soon...

But it does give us something to be excited about  [bacon]

Zounds I can't wait for the race tomorrow!!!

Easy there. Lets see after the race. Dovi wasn't ever one of the aliens.

Bravo to Dovi for hanging it out there.  Very excited to see the race tomorrow.  I think we'll have some good scraps.  Marquez might already be ruffling the feathers at Honda.  It looks like he came up behind and touched Dani, or close during QP. 

Looked to me like Dani sat up not knowing anyone was right behind him.

I thought the kid did a good job to not hit him.

nicky has been on the podium 3 times on the duc.  but he's not the second coming?  (no...)

let's let dovi at least win a dry race or five on that thing before we start talking about stoner

They really gotta give cal a full factory effort...

Considering the factory guys have gone back and forth with last years chassis, he's probably using about the same bike they are, give or take.

not for the next 2 years...  at least not @ yamaha.

nope.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Mar/130325crutchposttest.htm (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Mar/130325crutchposttest.htm)

Moto3
last 2 laps: 4 people swapping the lead  WOW

that is a LONG track.

Insomnia, 3am.
They (Moto3) racing early or still qualifying?
Moto GP being telecast here Monday night 10.20pm

M moto 3 and 2 done

Moto 2 was a two man show 12 sec to 3 and 6 more to 4
More like gp last few years


30 min til gp

Hahahaha awesome.

Where are all the Marquez doubters now? Epic fight between him and Rossi. Also Lorenzo showing everyone how its done.

Pedro-who?

Remember, it's not about who wins or loses, but how good a race it is.

And that was a good race.

Also Pedrobot McBrittlebones lost. That's important too.

Why did i keep wishing for lorezo to screw up

and marquez is that good

the duc is still that bad.

Nice 'battle' for 5th, then 4th, then 3rd, then 2nd....Rossi was flying, can only wonder if he might have challenged for the win, except for the Turn 1(?) mistake and having to sit behind Bradl for what seemed like half the race while the rest pulled away...


SPEED....OK, I got to watch the race, but can someone explain to me why the director/producer thought it was more important to show shots of Lorenzo's azz during the last two laps instead of the Rossi/Marquez duel?  OK - I apologize for whining.... ;D

Or, did I just answer my own question   [evil]

Send the director an email, I'm sure he doesn't read this thread.  :D

Marquez is for realz!! I thought he showed some excellent racemanship by sitting behind The Turd for so long. Wow, the second coming of Stoner is at Honda with a lot of years ahead of him. I hope he doesn't decide to retire early.

The Doctor still has it and he ended up going to the podium on a Ducati.

Lorenzo did what he generally does, wins in the most boring of fashions, but he wins.

The Turd is done for the season. the kid is already in his head. He will definitely win some races, but again will lose out.

I seriously doubt he's done for the season.

I don't recall there being any Marquez doubters.

This...

Now people who think he is a cockbag...  ;D

Don't be insulting the cockbag's... ;)

great race today.  I have my riders I cheer, but I'm more happy about a good race than the snooze fest we've had in recent years.

Now when will Corse get their shit together?

Entertaining race!

Glad to see MM give Rossi a hard time.

Impressive run-down by Rossi.
Running out of fuel on the cool-off = optimum, but could have ended in tears.

Great to see Cal giving the Hondas the business.

When Marquez gets on the motorcycle, he has some cockbag maneuvers on the track, but off the bike he seems like a good kid overall.  He's much more personable than the other two spaniards and could be the bright eyed uber talent that GP will need after Rossi retires in 2-4 years, or whatever he decides to do.  Simoncelli was that guy a few years ago.  ( really sad he's not around )  I keep trying to like Lorenzo, but outside of watching him ride, I just can't find anything that brings out the fan in me.  Its nice to see Rossi and Lorenzo chatting a bit, now that Rossi is older and more humble to Lorenzo's talent.

Good race!  [thumbsup] I was bummed for Cal, also for Dovi (but not surprised).

Like him or not, JLo is a machine. Lap after flawless lap for the entire race.  [bow_down] He's going to be hard to beat.

Marquez is faster than a redneck.

Really Zil?, considering you were one of them...
http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=59515.msg1150209#msg1150209 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=59515.msg1150209#msg1150209)

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=59515.msg1123066#msg1123066 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=59515.msg1123066#msg1123066)

There were more. But I'm too drunk to look for then now. I seem to
Remember a certain painter doubting too

The wait for the motogp is finally over.  What a relief.  I pretty much dont watch any other sport.  So this is awesome.

So glad that Rossi was on podium.  

It was great to see Dovi have a great start.  It's sad that we wont be seeing him on the podium until the bike is sorted out.

It was impressive racing by Cal.  But Marc Marquez is simply amazing.  Rides the bike like Stoner it seems.  Man-handle that bi*ch !

I hope Rossi (my fav racer) continues to do great this season.

btw - on a different story, I heard Stoner did good on the supercar race.  If i remember correctly, 11th place on 1st racer  (dont quote me on that)

Never doubted...

hated. ;)

I think in Moto2 he made too many dangerous moves, occasionally putting people on the floor. I hope he gets some of that medicine himself this season.

There's no doubt he's talented.

Notice that we are 1 race into the season...but hey...if you are naive enough to think that the first race dictates the whole season, so be it.
But I never said anything about the kid not being fast. All of my comments were about him being a dickbag. And he still is.
Sure he has a bit more personality off track than Twatty McQuitterpants or Yourghey. But that doesn't change the fact that he is a cockbag on the track. It's like my co-worker...everyone swears she is a very nice lady but she's always been a cockbag to me so my opinion of her still stands.

that was so much fun.   [thumbsup]   [Dolph]

rossi... told ya.   ;D


i still can't like him but full credit to george.  to be that fast for that long.  incredible.


ok, it's his buddy so it made sense but suuuuuper ironic that rossi's ride back to the pits was on a duc.

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/189636/1/qatar_motogp_rossis_race_pace_faster_and_faster.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/189636/1/qatar_motogp_rossis_race_pace_faster_and_faster.html)

I felt that Marquez could have caught Lorenzo, but Pedrosa was holding him up. If you watched the throttle and braking, it was like he was trying to avoid running into the back of him.
If Pedrosa had moved over they likely could have caught Lorenzo

Hmmm.... looked at the 'analysis' and 'analysis by lap' on MotoGP.com.

They did a very generous interpretation of Rossi's performance.

Lorenzo dialed back from high 58's to ~56.2's about lap 11, as he had a 4+ second lead that had been growing at ~0.4 sec per lap.

Rossi snuck into the high 58's in laps 12-16 to run down the pack.
But he only pulled back 1 second from JLo in laps 11-21.

Rossi did very well, but JLo would have slowly walked away even if Rossi had been on his wheel in turn 1.

I feel that Marquez's first year is going to be a lot like Lorenzo's first year. Extremely dangerous and a little wild, but ultimately crashing out is going to lead him to not be able to score the points to win the championship.

yeah, you may be right.  tho he's historically really good at saving it. 

I think he has the potential to beat Lorenzo in certain tracks. From what I've seen between Qatar and Austin, I would not bet against Marquez in any race.

See...we agree fully. But you still think I said he was bad or something...  :'(

Seems to me like you two kind of agree.

Crashing out may be the issue...but you've said you think he'll finish out of the top 3, whereas Matador thinks he'll be in the top 3, just not win the championship.

That was awesome.   [clap]   [clap]

Marquez is going to be the factor that assures George the championship.  On any given weekend, Marquez is more a danger to taking points away from Pedrosa than Rossi is of taking points away from Lorenzo. Then it's just about whether it's a Honda track or a Yamaha track.  So we're clear, I'm not saying that Rossi can't or won't be beat Lorenzo.  But Marquez will place ahead of Pedrosa more than Rossi will place ahead of Lorenzo (excluding those races Marquez misses for injury).  And Lorenzo is going to win enough and take enough podiums even when he doesn't win, and most importantly, crash infrequently enough, that he'll take it.  Yes, I can tell all of that from one race.  I'm superhuman.

BTW, I reserve the right to deny that I ever said any of that.  Quote me all you like down the line, but I never said it.  Unless I did.   ;D

redding

(http://motogpmatters.smugmug.com/MotoGP/2013/MotoGP-2013-Round-1-Qatar/i-6TRw5Pj/0/L/2013-MotoGP-01-Qatar-Saturday--0099-L.jpg)

from: http://www.motomatters.com/news/2013/04/08/shots_in_the_dark_day_3_scott_jones_unde.html (http://www.motomatters.com/news/2013/04/08/shots_in_the_dark_day_3_scott_jones_unde.html)

it's not like elbows on the ground is a new thing, but it sure is the 'it' thing of late.  it's the new foot waggle.
 

Well, redding is one of the tallest dudes on the GP grid.  Also, I'm not sure we're getting a good sample size.  Among all the Moto2 riders, he and Marquez are the ones that come to mind as hanging off the bike a ton.   They just happen to be the ones who moved up to GP on decent (or superb) rides.

I can't imagine ever having sticky-enuf tires on my bike to even think about trying that  ;D

redding = moto2
smith = tech3

:)


also i was referring to the fact that there's been photos of rossi and others lately, elbow down
 

Oops, mixed em up.  Aren't they both British, young, and over-rated?   ;D

on the overrated part...Smith, yes....Redding...I disagree!

Call me when Redding actually wins a Moto2 race.

I thought Redding was overrated last year, but in this past race he looked really good. I'll give it a couple races, but he may have turned the corner.

Also, a lot of people were overshadowed last year by Marquez...who was clearly the best, by a large margin.

No idea on Smith. Somehow I don't remember him from last year or before.  ???

He won a couple of races in '09 on a 125.

in the fall of 2011 he was inexplicably given a three year contract @ tech 3.  maybe he has lots of money.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/Bradley+Smith+signs+three+year+Tech+3+deal (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/Bradley+Smith+signs+three+year+Tech+3+deal)

Smith didn't have to do anything last year simply because he was going to MotoGP on the Tech3. Who was the idiot that made that deal? I have no idea.

I don't remember if he's on the Herve bike or the Yamaha bike, but either way, it's even more baffling now that he's actually here.   At the time, there were a trillion guys who would kill for a satellite Yamaha and it was like WTF, who is this kid?  In my mind, that hasn't changed.

For example, can you image what Nicky would do on that ride?  He'd get at least 6th.   ;D

Not sure. I would think Nicky would be fighting it out with the other satellites, possible exception of Cal, who has shown that he's batshit fast, but makes mistakes at the most importune times. If he could ride the way he does throughout the race, he would be on a factory bike.

Yup.  4 aliens ahead of Nicky (yes, Marquez is an alien) along with Cal or one of the Hondas (depending on who crashes) or *maybe* a Ducati.  So he'd get at least 6th.  Anyway, it's off-topic.

Rossi is back.  Lorenzo is a machine.  Marquez is livin' up to the hype.  I don't know this Pedrosa person y'all keep mentioning.  Ducs suck.  CRTs double suck.  And MOTOGP IS BACK!!!!

Moto 3 is still the best show in the house.

Moto2 looked more like MotoGP.

Yeah, but those little bikes sound like radio-controlled model airplanes on the TV broadcasts.

What I couldn't get over was performance differences between the bikes (double check those motors).

It really did look like MotoGP. Complete with a spread out field at the front and tight battle for [insert non-podium position here]  [thumbsdown]

Man... That was awesome. Makes me pretty tempted to get that motogp pass now.

I'm looking forward to seeing her on a hometrack

(http://static2.masmoto.net/competicion/files/2012/11/ana-carrasco-jhk-laglisse-moto3-2013.jpg)

I finally got to see Moto2.  I still think Redding is overrated, but I forgot how much fun it is to watch how much he hangs off the bike.  

And I didn't think Moto2 was anything like some of the GP snoozefests?  It had racing all the way through the last turn.  BTW, how come those guys get to slide so much more than GP?  If it's just  tires and electronics, then give that same package to the GP riders and let 'em have at each other.   ;D

And WTF happened to Elias?  He's just too good (or was too good) to be running around in 20th.  

he has some magic spell for only being that good in year 1.  remember how he was taunting the entire field back then?  where did that little effer go..?

I think the Dunlop tires are to blame for some of the spectacle of Moto2..the bikes are expected to be ridden in anyway possible to get the most out of them somewhat due to the differences in chassis flex and other design influences paired with rider style instead of being programmed to death on when and where to give "X" amount of power.... so that gives you some more of that spectacle...

in other words, dunlops have less grip.  :)

everything else has a lot less grip than the GP 'stones.

WELL...they last through the shagging that Moto2 does in a similar fashion to how the tire manu's responded to the sliding 990's style of riding...

i'm not saying they have a lack of grip.  all the other tires have great grip, of course.  it's just that the stones are in another universe.

I'll say it again --- the 'stones make GP less fun.  Lorenzo couldn't do his thing with other tires.  But Rossi, The Ben, Nicky, and others could do much more of their thing.    Oh, shoulda put Marquez in that list.  That kid loooooooves gettin' sideways. 

Been out of town for a few days and my hard drive crashed before I left. Still not 100% with new one. Did I mention I hate high tech crap? >:(

But I watched the MotoGP race last night on my dvr and I'm getting ready to watch the Moto2 race now. Ahhhh, is it just me but why do you need umbrella girls at a night race? WTF? And what's even more weird is the pole winner in the Moto2 race has an umbrella guy!! [bang] [roll]

Still, I LOVE the run down Vale did on the Repsol boys and Cal (even though I really like Crutchlow). Marquez showed some stuff in the big boy class but Rossi put them on the trailer! [thumbsup] Awesome start for the Yammyhammer boys. And I'm glad to see The Ben kept the Duc up on 2 wheels for the whole race. May better things come his way. [beer] 

Rossi's comments on Marquez sound pretty straightforward, factual and quite complimentary...

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/189646/1/rossi_welkom_04_more_special_marquez_better_than_me.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/189646/1/rossi_welkom_04_more_special_marquez_better_than_me.html)

... which, given his long history of trying to worm his way inside his rivals' heads, makes me wonder what he's REALLY up to.  ;D

easy enough.. he can't get into Lorenzo's head directly so he needs a surrogate

[thumbsup]

kills you with confidence.  laguna 2008; he told the whole world that stoner had already won that race by friday night.

[thumbsup]

..can't get into it yet.  let's see what happens by the time they get to catalunya.

reminds me, holy shit i can't wait for mugello this year!

I think Rossi knows that the kid already idolizes him. He doesn't need to get into his head, just shower him with compliments and he won't be a target of the eventual hard pass that goes horribly wrong.

What are you smoking?

Marquez would put his grandma into the gravel if it won him a position.

+1

I'm sure MM respects Rossi and the other fast guys...he still thinks he's faster though and wants to prove it.

Remember that time, when Rossi and Lorenzo were in the same team, aaand Rossi put up a wall in the pits... And then crashed bad for the first time in years? and was never the same afterwards?

Yeah. I think Lorenzo is the one that is in Rossi's head.

FIFY.  ;D
I don't think he'd actually run his grandma off, but he might lean on her a little.
 [laugh]

So what are you smoking? I could give you this argument right before this past race, before Rossi was still debating if he still had it. That second place comeback probably provided what Lorenzo fears the most, a confident Rossi. It was easy to play mind games after coming off the Duc, but now Rossi knows he's still not done. Lorenzo will still win a ton of races, but now he has to be worried about the 2 Repsols AND his own teammate. I think the wall will come back up this year, but at someone else's request.

right after he won championships 8 and 9?  and never the same.. except for last weekend? 

lorenzo couldn't get in rossi's head with an axe and a flashlight.  he may be forrest gump on a bike but he's no mental tactician.
 

[laugh]

I seem to recall Rossi giving Jorge the business at Motegi that same year after returning from the snapped leg, as well as whipping him in Sepang.  The old man may be creeping towards the end of his career, but Jorge definately isn't "in his head."  Jorge is the fastest rider on the track now, but I wouldn't say he's in anyone's head.  Even Pedro managed to beat him heads up last year and Pedro can't beat a parking space in a head to head.

If you bump Lorenzo, he cries like a small child about rough racing.  I can't wait until Marquez gets on his level and makes Jorge trip on his tampon string. 

All this being said, I'm sure Lorenzo will win the championship, but he's still an unlikable douchenozzle in my book.

You underestimate the kid. ;)

I also seemed to recall that Rossi wanted to make a statement to the Yamaha brass at that race at Motegi, and he went balls to the wall when everything shifted to Jorge during his time off to heal in terms of responsibility and who would be their #1....so he made sure to make sure people know of his mental fortitude at that point....and that was where IIRC that he went up to the podium and chucked his crutch to the crowd...

yup.

i was going to mention motegi, catalunya, and sepang in my other post.. but it really seemed like overkill  ;)
 

Just stop, brother. You're embarrassing yourself  ;)

[laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

Enough beating up Matador. We know Lorenzo is wicked fast, but unlikable.

We also know that the Turd is fast when he's not laid on the side of the track.

We now know that Rossi is still as fast as ever on a good bike.

We now know that Marquez is faster than the Turd heads up and we assume he will be topedoing people soon enough.

We have known for a while that all the Ducs suck.

You let Matador fend for himself...

even if you guys team up you're outnumbered. :P

thank you Captian Factual update!....LOL

among those truisms...we also can add the following factoids...


we also know that CRT's are an impediment to progress

DORNA is bad at this management of PR surrounding their end objectives

Bradley Smith was a bad choice for the 2nd Tech3 seat thus far

Crutchlow is probably the second most quotable rider on the grid

Alright, alright. I *may* have gotten a wee bit carried away on that last statement...

And while I really like MM, he still needs to prove himself on overcoming adversity before I hail him as the return of the chosen one. Though I'm close.

He is the Golden Child

I Want the Knife - The Golden Child (4/8) Movie CLIP (1986) HD (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr0JXSM_0Nk#)

Mentioning torpedoes made me think of SuperSic.  Can you imagine if he and Casey were still on the grid with the current aliens?  Man, oh, man . . .   

It also made me think of this:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3WfLoTvkrA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3WfLoTvkrA)

Check out how much contact he makes.  That kid doesn't give a FUUUUUUCCCCCKK.  

every single touch i saw on there, the kid had stolen the line and the other person bumped into him assuming he could give it back.

and HOW in the hell... that motor was no way the same as the other riders'.  He was passing on straights like they were standing still. in the corners or braking i could see him outbraking or carrying more speed, but mid straights. no way. not even close to same HP there.

agreed.  the times he did do something egregious he got dinged for it, like valencia and qatar.

everything i saw in that video is how racing should be.  it was a video from MotoGP/Dorna proper.


spec engine that had to pass tech inspection.  unless Dorna just straight up paid off the FIM, it's the same engine.  sure doesn't look that way though.

I don't have an issue with most of Marquez's rubbin'.  It's just that his moves aren't ones that other riders take and the result is bangin' fairings. <shrug>  Sure, he occasionally screws up and is too aggressive and gets properly tagged for it, but he's not a menace like Barbera was.  


He gets unbelievable drive off corners, doesn't weigh shit AND had some super-trick linkage or swingarm that allowed him to get off corners better.  IIRC, the linkage alone was worth like .3-.4 lap.  He was also had an extra 200cc in his engine, which probably helped some too.  

What gm2 and Spidey said (minus the extra 200cc part  [cheeky])

His team likely had the biggest budget of any Moto2 team, hence the best aerodynamics, and the best of anything that was allowed to be changed. All of that isn't trivial.

Also, don't underestimate the benefit of a good drive out of a corner...it's massive. The rest is throttle position, as in MM's is open farther for longer than pretty much everyone else.  [bow_down] He got 3rd in his 1st MotoGP race ever...he's just that fast.

I heard that video was Pol's favorite Youtube video ever!  [laugh]

That would be nothing less than BADASS!!

Imagine sic and mm heading into the same corner together... Haha 2 go in, nly one comes out.

And I wonder if watching this season will tempt stoner to come back at all. His complaints might die down after seeing the kind of racing this year is promising... And if Suzuki/aprilia/BMW could convince him to ride their new bikes with his record of riding around the biggest turd on the field... Haha but yeah, now I'm just dreaming

Maybe...   then he realizes that he still has to do press conferences and promotion for the company that pays him millions of dollars and decides its not worth it somehow.

they for sure did.  by some exponents.

MM's failure to hold off Rossi, who came from 5-6 seconds back halfway thru the race, was very, very interesting.

Time will tell how much of his success in Moto2 came from the performance of his bike.

Going to be an interesting year  [thumbsup]

Given that he scored a podium in his first MotoGP, I'm thinking his bike wasn't the primary reason he did so well in Moto2


I know the rest of you think he's a douchnozzle, but I met him and he came across as a bit shy and awkward, but definitely not a dick.

(https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/4813_207839000083_4068083_n.jpg)

I think at worse he suffers from the Spanish curse of "doucheface." 

Remember when Stoner was fast only b/c the Ducati was a much better bike than all the rest?  Marquez suffers from that same affliction.


I agree that there is a serious case of doucheface happening somewhere in that photo.   ;D

Looks like a young boy feeling uncomfortable around a strange scary man ;D.

Dont worry,  my kids sometimes have to remind me not to unwittingly intimidate people [laugh].

Seriously though, I agree much of the Doucheface condition is social awkwardness for sure. I like Lorenzo, he's alright.

Marquez, well he's a cheeky little shit, but my daughters will like him.

Where's Lorenzo's left arm?

don't make me dig up 11,000 threads.


;)

Marquez jumped into MotoGP in his first race on arguably the BEST bike in the field, so saying it's him vs the bike still doesn't hold water.
Now if he had jumped on the Duc and tore onto the podium on that... well then, no question it is him.
But I don't think that has been answered yet.

He has skill no doubt. but his standings both in MotoGP, so far, and Moto2, obviously benefit from the bike as well.

Marquez is the real deal Holyfield.  I think we're reaching too much.  The best riders almost always have the best teams/equipment through most of their careers, because, well, they are the best. 

 [thumbsup]

repsol didn't create an entire team around him when he was a little kid just cuz they figured that if they gave him good stuff, he'd be fast.

he was fookin fast, so they invested in him.

And it's paying off! The Turd was on the bike as well and we know that he's also fast, but he was holding the kid back. It was also HIS FIRST MOTOGP RACE!!! How many people can say that they podium on their first race on the big boy bikes? If he can be as dominant in COTA as he was in testing, that will give you a better indication of his talents, specially since all the riders have a clean slate there.

pedrosa can.   ;D


but no question, marquez was born an alien.

 

So can Lorenzo. And he also got pole. And came in second.

Juuuust sayin

But we all know Lorenzo is a douche, so it doesn't count.

Meh, those blind orphan babies ain't gonna punch themselves in the face. Someone's gotta do it.....

Finally...something we both can agree on!  [laugh]

Having the chance to see Lorenzo behind the scenes at Indy in 2009, I have to say a LOT of his persona is driven by his handlers.
I have a picture of him (see below) where his handler was just giving me this "I will kill you" look the whole time I was snapping pictures.
The other riders have handlers but it seems like the ones for the Spanish riders tend to act more as bodyguards and less as someone there to make sure the rider knows what needs to happen next.
The guy over Lorenzo's shoulder kept giving me the stinkeye and all I was doing was shooting pics with about a dozen moto journalists.
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/ZLTFUL/Indy%20MotoGP%202009/DSC_0167.jpg) (http://s196.photobucket.com/user/ZLTFUL/media/Indy%20MotoGP%202009/DSC_0167.jpg.html)

It looks like Ponch has a different opinion about Cal's bike. 

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/interview+herve+poncharal+cal+crutchlow+monster+yamaha+tech3+1 (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/interview+herve+poncharal+cal+crutchlow+monster+yamaha+tech3+1)

I think more telling is this tidbit....

"... I love Cal and will be keeping him informed of what I know, simply to allow him as much time as possible to remain attractive on the rider market - whether that will be to stay at Yamaha or to go somewhere else...."