Ducati Monster Forum

FP1

Pos.   Num. Rider                  Nation   Team                           Bike       Km/h   Time        Gap 1st/Prev.
1       99    Jorge LORENZO     SPA      Yamaha Factory Racing   Yamaha  335.9  1'42.422  
2       26    Dani PEDROSA       SPA      Repsol Honda Team        Honda    338.4  1'42.445   0.023 / 0.023
3       35    Cal CRUTCHLOW    GBR       Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha  333.6  1'42.492   0.070 / 0.047
4       46    Valentino ROSSI     ITA      Yamaha Factory Racing   Yamaha  335.9  1'42.861   0.439 / 0.369
5         4    Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA      Ducati Team                  Ducati   337.3  1'43.111   0.689 / 0.250
6       19    Alvaro BAUTISTA    SPA      GO&FUN Honda Gresini     Honda   338.0  1'43.112   0.690 / 0.001
7         6    Stefan BRADL        GER       LCR Honda MotoGP         Honda   338.5  1'43.196   0.774 / 0.084  
8       69    Nicky HAYDEN        USA      Ducati Team                  Ducati   339.4  1'43.488   1.066 / 0.292
9       93    Marc MARQUEZ      SPA       Repsol Honda Team        Honda    336.2  1'43.641   1.219 / 0.153
10     41    Aleix ESPARGARO    SPA       Power Electronics Aspar  ART       322.4  1'43.814   1.392 / 0.173
11     29    Andrea IANNONE     ITA       Energy T.I. Pramac Rac   Ducati    336.9  1'44.069   1.647 / 0.255
12     38    Bradley SMITH       GBR        Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha  324.2  1'44.392   1.970 / 0.323
13     51    Michele PIRRO        ITA        Ignite Pramac Racing      Ducati    332.6  1'44.519   2.097 / 0.127
14     14    Randy DE PUNIET   FRA        Power Electronics Aspar  ART        316.0  1'44.558   2.136 / 0.039
15       5   Colin EDWARDS       USA       NGM Mobile Forward Rac Kawasaki  315.9  1'45.167   2.745 / 0.609
16     17    Karel ABRAHAM      CZE        Cardion AB Motoracing    ART        317.6  1'45.251   2.829 / 0.084
17       9   Danilo PETRUCCI     ITA        Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter316.7 1'45.371   2.949 / 0.120
18       8   Hector BARBERA     SPA        Avintia Blusens              FTR         313.9  1'45.457  3.035 / 0.086
19      68  Yonny HERNANDEZ  COL        Paul Bird Motorsport       ART         317.7  1'45.824  3.402 / 0.367
20        7  Hiroshi AOYAMA     JPN         Avintia Blusens              FTR         314.5  1'45.925  3.503 / 0.101
21      71  Claudio CORTI        ITA         NGM Mobile Forward Rac Kawasaki  318.4  1'46.263  3.841 / 0.338
22      70  Michael LAVERTY    GBR         Paul Bird Motorsport       PBM        318.9  1'46.750  4.328 / 0.487
23      67  Bryan STARING       AUS        GO&FUN Honda Gresini    FTR/Hond 316.3  1'47.070  4.648 / 0.320
24      52  Lukas PESEK          CZE        Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Sut  304.0  1'47.483  5.061 / 0.413

FP2

Pos.  Num. Rider                    Nation  Team                             Bike             Km/h     Time         Gap 1st/Prev.
1      46     Valentino ROSSI     ITA     Yamaha Factory Racing     Yamaha        333.8    1'42.297 
2      99     Jorge LORENZO      SPA    Yamaha Factory Racing     Yamaha         336.3    1'42.346    0.049 / 0.049
3      26     Dani PEDROSA       SPA     Repsol Honda Team          Honda           337.5    1'42.557    0.260 / 0.211
4      19     Alvaro BAUTISTA   SPA     GO&FUN Honda Gresini       Honda          338.4     1'42.752    0.455 / 0.195
5      35     Cal CRUTCHLOW    GBR     Monster Yamaha Tech 3    Yamaha        333.4     1'42.776    0.479 / 0.024
6      93     Marc MARQUEZ     SPA     Repsol Honda Team           Honda          338.1     1'42.857    0.560 / 0.081
7      69     Nicky HAYDEN       USA    Ducati Team                     Ducati          338.4     1'42.890    0.593 / 0.033
8       4     Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA     Ducati Team                    Ducati           338.7     1'42.988    0.691 / 0.098
9       6     Stefan BRADL        GER     LCR Honda MotoGP            Honda           337.2     1'43.005    0.708 / 0.017
10    41     Aleix ESPARGARO   SPA     Power Electronics Aspar     ART              322.4     1'43.204    0.907 / 0.199
11    29     Andrea IANNONE    ITA     Energy T.I. Pramac Racing  Ducati           336.6     1'43.272    0.975 / 0.068
12    14     Randy DE PUNIET   FRA     Power Electronics Aspar     ART              317.5     1'43.644    1.347 / 0.372
13    51     Michele PIRRO       ITA      Ignite Pramac Racing         Ducati           329.7     1'43.648    1.351 / 0.004
14    38     Bradley SMITH      GBR      Monster Yamaha Tech 3    Yamaha          323.2     1'44.247    1.950 / 0.599
15     8     Hector BARBERA     SPA     Avintia Blusens                 FTR               312.8     1'44.461    2.164 / 0.214
16     5     Colin EDWARDS      USA     NGM Mobile Forward Rac    FTR Kawasaki  316.5     1'44.586    2.289 / 0.125
17    17     Karel ABRAHAM      CZE     Cardion AB Motoracing      ART               318.5     1'44.599    2.302 / 0.013
18     9     Danilo PETRUCCI     ITA     Came IodaRacing Project   Ioda-Suter      316.0     1'44.609    2.312 / 0.010
19    70     Michael LAVERTY    GBR     Paul Bird Motorsport         PBM               316.4     1'45.337    3.040 / 0.728
20    71     Claudio CORTI        ITA     NGM Mobile Forward Rac    FTR Kawasaki  318.7     1'45.513    3.216 / 0.176
21     7     Hiroshi AOYAMA      JPN     Avintia Blusens                FTR                311.3     1'45.834    3.537 / 0.321
22    68     Yonny HERNANDEZ  COL    Paul Bird Motorsport         ART                315.4     1'46.216    3.919 / 0.382
23    67     Bryan STARING       AUS    GO&FUN Honda Gresini      FTR Honda      313.0     1'46.577     4.280 / 0.361
24    52     Lukas PESEK          CZE     Came IodaRacing Project  Ioda-Suter      309.8     1'47.239     4.942 / 0.662

In Ducati News, Nicky Hayden breaks *correction, ties the top speed record at the circuit set in 2004 by Alex Barros. Nicky hit 339.4km/h (210.8mph).

Hayden 2nd in FP3!!! And look at his time and improvement over FP2.  Mother F---ing Awesome.

Go Nicky.  Go Desmo.   

By the way - on another topic - I'm here in Unadilla NY at "MX Rewind" racing my vintage dirt bikes.  If there are any old school MX junkies out there, you need to get here.  Must be 800 entries and some of the coolest 70s and 80s MX bikes I have ever seen.  Just some great, great hardware.  And of course...Unadilla!  Post Vintage MX tomorrow (76 and later), Vintage today (75 and earlier).

Yeah... .06 off Marquez time...

where's Raux? [evil]

Some nice little upsets in the FP's...

But Duc's tend to always do well in the FP's but when their tires degrade in the actual race it just all goes to hell.

And damn... go Cal.

Pos.   Points   Num.   Rider   Nation   Team   Bike   Km/h   Time/Gap
1   25   99   Jorge LORENZO   SPA   Yamaha Factory Racing   Yamaha   164.4   43'06.479
2   20   26   Dani PEDROSA   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   164.3   +1.763
3   16   93   Marc MARQUEZ   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   164.3   +1.826
4   13   46   Valentino ROSSI   ITA   Yamaha Factory Racing   Yamaha   164.1   +5.874
5   11   6   Stefan BRADL   GER   LCR Honda MotoGP   Honda   162.7   +26.756
6   10   38   Bradley SMITH   GBR   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   162.4   +32.228
7   9   4   Andrea DOVIZIOSO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   162.4   +32.692
8   8   41   Aleix ESPARGARO   SPA   Power Electronics Aspar   ART   160.8   +58.615
9   7   5   Colin EDWARDS   USA   NGM Mobile Forward Racing   FTR Kawasaki   160.5   +1'03.142
10   6   51   Michele PIRRO   ITA   Ignite Pramac Racing   Ducati   160.1   +1'09.774
11   5   9   Danilo PETRUCCI   ITA   Came IodaRacing Project   Ioda-Suter   159.2   +1'24.377
12   4   71   Claudio CORTI   ITA   NGM Mobile Forward Racing   FTR Kawasaki   158.7   +1'33.679
13   3   68   Yonny HERNANDEZ   COL   Paul Bird Motorsport   ART   158.0   +1'45.355
14   2   67   Bryan STARING   AUS   GO&FUN Honda Gresini   FTR Honda   157.7   +1'50.745
15   1   77   Javier DEL AMOR   SPA   Avintia Blusens   FTR   151.8   1 Lap
16      52   Lukas PESEK   CZE   Came IodaRacing Project   Ioda-Suter   151.6   1 Lap
Not Classified
8   Hector BARBERA   SPA   Avintia Blusens   FTR   160.5   10 Laps
17   Karel ABRAHAM   CZE   Cardion AB Motoracing   ART   158.1   15 Laps
35   Cal CRUTCHLOW   GBR   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   164.1   20 Laps
69   Nicky HAYDEN   USA   Ducati Team   Ducati   162.8   20 Laps
29   Andrea IANNONE   ITA   Energy T.I. Pramac Racing   Ducati   162.0   21 Laps
14   Randy DE PUNIET   FRA   Power Electronics Aspar   ART   153.0   24 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
19   Alvaro BAUTISTA   SPA   GO&FUN Honda Gresini   Honda      0 Lap
70   Michael LAVERTY   GBR   Paul Bird Motorsport   PBM      0 Lap

Pretty much a snooze fest. The track was oily because of the heat so everyone was dropping like flies.

Bautista almost takes out Rossi... again.

Lorenzo took the first corner and that was pretty much it.

I find myself agreeing with Raux. Pedrosa was holding up Marquez throughout the race. Unlike what most people think, I get the feeling that he's smart enough not to want to punt him out of the way to get to Lorenzo, especially since The Turd is leading the championship and HRC would not take kindly to that. At the end he didn't have enough tire to get passed, having a moment on the last lap.

 [clap] for Edwards!

I pretty much agree Carlos...

except I don't think the track was oily.

I think the extra soft L/H side of the rear was so much more capable than the front it was over powering the grip of the front.

Doesn't matter...it was a boring race.

Such a pity for Crutchlow. I've really enjoyed watching him this season.

Marquez best watch it with moves like that. Taking out both factory Hondas with points as close as they are would not bode well for him.

Rossi who? Just don't think he has it in him anymore to hang with the youngsters.

Hmmmm... and why does this sound very familiar? ;) Shades of '06 and 'bot vs The Kid. [popcorn] [Dolph]

I still don't agree with the sentiment that Pedrosa is holding up Marquez.

Mugello...he got around him eventually...and crashed.
Catalunya...he tried to get around him and almost ended up in the sandbox again.

Personally, I think Dani has done a much better job recognizing the edge and riding right at it...while Marquez pushes beyond it and has been facing the consequences of it.
I think Marquez is a faster rider than Dani but has yet to prove he is a better rider.

Rossi is still in a class of his own...unfortunately, that class falls between Jorge, Marc, Dani and Cal and Dovi, Bradl, Nicky and Crashtista.

At various points Marquez was on the same pace as Lorenzo. Marquez needs to do a better job at passing Pedrosa in the first corner.

I'm thinking that Rossi's giving up at least 20-25 pounds of body weight to each of those three (prolly 40 to Dani  [cheeky])...so he won't catch those lightweights unless some handicapping lead is added under their 'saddles'..... [coffee]

zzzzzzzzzzzz

How in the make the beast with two backs did Marquez not crash? 

We've seen it a million times.  He had already turned in, and was pushing too hard.  His front end folded, he immediately hit the deck and went sliding across the tarmac, having tossed away 16 points.  'cept he didn't.  The front end folded and he stayed on the bike.  HOW THE make the beast with two backs DID HE DO THAT? 

Sure, Lorenzo did the same thing going into T11 at Laguna a coupla years ago, but he was up and down went it folded.  Marquez had already turned in.  Waddya thing, is it 'roids? 

Dani was on Lorenzo's pace 3/4 of the race.  I don't see where Marquez was going even if he did manage to pass Dani and not crash in the process.

Marquez reminds me of Lorenzo during his first year, only a bit more dangerous to himself when trying to pass people.  The kid is making a habit of almost running into the back of the person in front of him, then saving a near crash, then trying it all over again.  He's either going to bin the bike or bin two bikes at some point soon.  He flat broadsided Lorenzo at Jerez after almost running into the back of him twice, and had no problem attempting to do the same thing to Pedro this week.  Marquez is exciting, but he seriously lacks refinement in his maneuvers.  His previous years looked the same as well and I don't buy the whole "I'm learning" bs.  He's a racer and has shown the same habits over time.  Its not just a Motogp problem.

Once marqyez learns the art of the start pedrisa is done as hondas number one
marquez is the only rider who is on par with lorenzo on skill
tactics wise he's being a team player
ask yourself why is he almost running into pedrosa.  because pedrosa is a roadblock and slower
sure pedrosa is consistent. but when stoner was win or bin riding everyone said how exciting. now that there's a rider with that passipn again everyone is saying he is wrong. bs
pedrosa wants this championship buts he fighting the wrong person. lorenzo needs challenging only then will he maybe make a mistake or at least push his tires so hard pedrosa has a chance to ctach him for second. nd if marquez is so out of controlaybe he will lose it enough for pedrosa to win. either way honda wins. but this way that pedrosa is blocking will cause honda to lose both rider and constructor

Geez, that was a boring race.  [thumbsdown] B-O-R-I-N-G

I don't think MM had any more pace than Pedrobot. If he did he would have passed him. The one time he tried he almost binned it...unbelievable that he didn't.  :o

If MM does have more pace and can't pass him then he needs to learn how to get it done. This is MotoGP not F1. Pedrobot should block him if he's ahead...it's a f'ing race!!

Big time luck! And maybe an angel riding pillion.   ;D   Yep. He should've been launched down the track. Then to not only recover but get right back on Pedrosa's tail.  Woo Hoo!

Man, other than Bautista nearly killing someone or another everyone race and MM trying to lodge his motorcycle into someone's butt, it's getting hard to find the same thing interesting each week.  Look Lorenzo is in the lead.  Look, Lorenzo is hammering away lap after lap.  Look, Lorenzo is opening up a gap.  Look, they won't catch him.  Look, he won.  Look, he's put his winkle on a grandmother's shoulder.  Substitute the other Spaniard for Lorenzo and it's the same story.  Yawn.

It was amazing how many people threw down their bikes.  It looked like a wet weather race.   

It was a wet race Spidey...didn't you see all of Raux's tears at DP holding up MM?!?   [laugh]  [cheeky]

 [laugh]

hopefully Marquez decides to stop playing team player and starts to push Pedrosa out of the way, it's all racing right  [thumbsup]

The problem with MM is that he plays the good team player up to the last laps when he's frustrated. You can see him tip toeing looking for enough room to pass, but he's too afraid of showing a wheel to force a mistake on The Turd. He needs to make these moves early. Lorenzo doesn't like to trade paint, but neither does Pedrosa. If you let MM pass, he will at least make Jorghey a bit nervous that MM will T-bone him. Once that happens, Turdy will cruise to first with Jorge crying like my kids on a long road trip "he's touching me!"

+!

I think you two are crazy. MM was doing all he could in the race. He's being a team player in that he doesn't want to risk taking out Pedrobot with a stupid move...but if he could have made a clean(ish) pass on him he would have. He admitted in an interview that he was riding at the very edge of his ability the entire race, and almost crashed out several times trying to stay with him. He's shown before that when he can pass, he does.

It IS possible to be just as fast as someone, but not fast enough to pass them. Just sayin' [coffee]

JLo meanwhile ran a flat perfect race. No one was going to catch him.

What in the world are y'all talking about?!?  MM isn't playing good teammate.  He's just trying to hang with George and Douchey Smurf for as long as possible to figure out  (a) if he can hang with them at all and for how long, (b) if he can pass them and (c) if he can do (a) and/or (b) without taking out half the field.  As TripleJ said, MM himself admits that he was/is pretty much at 100% just to stay with them, which pays off because he learns from them.  Sure, at the end of the race, MM might have been a wee bit faster, but he couldn't get around Douchey because Douchey was riding really defensively (and well).  MM just was fast enough to pass.  But Douchey wasn't holding him up the entire race by any means.  MM wasn't going to catch George even if he got around Douchey.  And he wasn't going to get around Douchey any earlier than the last couple of laps because he was barely hanging on.  

What Spidey said.

...and pedrosa is still with the team.

So aside from MM and Dani P, lets talk about Suzuki.

The test results indicate the bike is immediately competitive and could have been a few tenths quicker with another rider.  Considering the other bikes just spent 3 days setting up, I'd say that Suzi being .7 off the pace and up against 4th day setups from the other manufacturers bodes very well.  Perhaps Cal should set his sights on being Suzi's number one and start sending them love letters.  That may be a good place for him to be.

+1.  I might as well just watch bowling.

Still needs a ride for 2014 though

+1 Cal is basically not going to Tech 3 if the Esparago rumors are true. He's gunning for a factory ride and the Suk won't be ready until 2015. That means that he's either praying for Rossi to retire or get in bed with Ducati again, which means Nicky would be out.

As we go firmly away from Catalunya race talk into the silly season realm.  [cheeky]

MM is Tony Soprano in sheep's clothing...

Just a question (prolly stupid, but), could Suzuki enter their prototype as a CRT team next year before going full GP? If they could it might change seat availability somewhat.

Derby? GM?

The problem with that (as I see it) is that would make Suzuki's hard work a moot point as the claiming rules would allow competitors to buy the engine for a song after a race...


and



Which basically means that if the approving body looks at Suzuki's entry and says, "Nope...that's not a CRT bike." then it isn't a CRT bike. And since it is admittedly a prototype entry for 2015, they damn sure won't let them pass it off as a CRT entry for 2014.

I thought they already changed the rules eliminating the claiming provision.

The difference now is if you use the control Marelli ecu you get the increased engine and fuel allocation and if you don't use the control ecu you have to play by the same rules as the big kids.

Thought the claiming rules were dropped in 2014...but there is still the "CRT" rule which says the bike can't be a factory prototype to be allowed to use those rules...

From: http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/motogp-claiming-rule-crt-2014/ (http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/motogp-claiming-rule-crt-2014/)


So looks like we are both right. Hehe.

So what does that make the 'Priller?

They use their own software and ecu.

Looks like if they don't adopt the spec ECU then they will have to go prototype...

This year the spec ECU is optional, so they can use their own sparky stuff and still be CRT.

Next year, then they would have to make the choice zilbert laid out.

I realize that.

If they continue to use their own ecu next year and are limited to 20l of fuel and 5 engines...

what about tires?

Do they have to use the choices offered the prototypes?

I imagine that if they went 20 liters / 5 engines (thus, an 'MSMA' entry) they would have the same tire selection as the 'factory' bikes do now.

IIRC, the factory bikes get, for example, 'hard' and 'medium', and the CRT's get 'medium' and 'soft'.

In that case Aprilia better find 30 hp.

Or, suck it up and use the Marelli ecu.

They couldn't run all season with 5 of those grenades anyway.

I keep hearing that they go through like an engine a weekend in WSBK.

I hear that number also.

Laverty DNF'ed twice this year due to grenading his motor.

Rumor was they used 28 engines for Max Biaggi when he won WSBK.

I'm pretty sure that's something like 6 engines rebuilt 4 times and 4 engines blown up and scrapped.

Not 28 engines blown up.

Not sure how you are pretty sure... :P

fact remains the Aprilia engine can't make the power required for the GP rules and engine allocations.

Well, I've got no inside information.

2010 was 26 races.

Hypothetically, if Max blew up 28 engines in one season, I'd guess about half of those would occur on track, the other half diagnosed via data or garage inspection.

And half of those on track would be in a race.

Tough to win a championship with 7 mechanical DNF's.

That year he always finished in the points, and had no DNF's, and won the title.
Haslam always was in teh points when he finished, but had 2 DNF's, and came second.

Granted, Aprilia can't make the required HP within MotoGP engine allocations.
But it's a production based engine.
I don't think Jonathan and Leon are all that impressed with Honda's production based engine activity in WSBK.

Honda puts zero effort towards WSBK. Anyway, I think the ART project will die off before turning into a full blown MotoGP project.

The pig is how many years old?

Rumor has it there will be new technology next year.

I'd be surprised *not* to see a barely-enough-made-to-homologate RVF1000R or the like for 2014 to run in WSBK.

I suspect it'd start the season with restrictor plates with holes the size of quarters.