Sepang Test (spoiler?)

[vaclav]

11th? Somebody tell me how this is not depressing (and please don't tell me "its better than Melandri did").  All I can come up with is that it is only the first day. Wish I was a Suzuki fan. Who put the bottle rocket in their asses?

[gm2]

granted he did fairly well in end-of-'08 testing... in mixed weather.. without the whole paddock present.. but you gotta figure that learning to ride the bucking bronco will take some time.  even if the gp09 is 'better' out of the corners than the '08, better still leaves a ton of room for improvement.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Feb/090205c.htm

"We started out with the same set-up as Jerez, because after two months without riding it was better to go with something we knew. We haven't made massive changes over the course of the day, mainly because before we do that I need to pick up my own pace. The bike feels good on the brakes and it is stable and precise in the fast corners. I'm struggling a bit on corner exit though because it still tends to pump quite a lot and I'm not used to that yet. We're working to reduce it and we've got a couple of ideas that we'll check out over the next two days. I like the new tyre rule. We'd got to a point where we were working too much on the tyres and there wasn't enough time to work on the set-up of the bike. Now we just have a choice of two tyres, both of which work well even though I'm not able to get the most out of the harder compound yet, and that makes the job much easier for the team."

[Cynic]

I'm still waiting to see how he is on day 3 before i even think about worrying about Hayden not being fast enough

[gm2]

day 2, improving... http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Feb/090206a.htm

stoner on pace and in pain.

[Cynic]

day 2, improving... http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Feb/090206a.htm

stoner on pace and in pain.

Am I the only one in complete amazement at Stoner riding in pain and still setting the fastest lap. F'n awesome if you ask me (and you didn't  )

[desmoquattro]

Am I the only one in complete amazement at Stoner riding in pain and still setting the fastest lap. F'n awesome if you ask me (and you didn't  )

But just like some on this board will tell you, it's the tires the bike, not Stoner

[Jester]

My judgement is still out on Hayden, but he's no where near the pace to hang up front.  I'd give some time, but I will also not be surprised if his career takes a nosedive on the Duc just like everyone elses except Stoner.  He made the comment that the Duc "pumps too much exiting corners."  Well get used to it farmboy, because that's just the way you gotta ride it.

Stoner is still blazingly fast... but shutup about the wrist.  We know you had surgery and I'm sorry.  Where is Loren(th)o?  That Suzuki looks to be competitive!  GP really needs that to happen tbh.  If all four manufacturers can place a bike near the front, then /cheer for racing. 

I wonder how Hopper is getting along with his PS3 MotoGP?   

[gm2]

Where is Loren(th)o?

lost confidence, new tires.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73157

[gm2]

and yeah, odds are definitely not in nicky's favor.  but we can hope.

[Jester]

Speaking of tires.  Burgess had remarked that the switch to the control tire will only help Rossi... and I say it helps Stoner too, but hurts the rest of the field.

I agree, seeing that a lot of the riders are griping about the new harder tires and stiff carcass.  The reason Burgess had commented on that, was because Rossi in particular, but also Stoner really like to ride on very stiff tires.  When Rossi was with Michelin, they made him his tires with a very stiff carcass, so much so that Colin Edwards commented on it that riding on Valentino's tires was like riding on cement.  He felt there was no grip and couldn't understand how Rossi rides those things.

I think Rossi and Stoner get the most out of those tires due to two reasons.  They push extremely hard, and number two, they know that the harder tires aren't going to crap near the end of a race like everyone else riding the softer tires, so they pull away on victories.

Correct me if I'm wrong... but Rossi and Stoner have always used extremely stiff tires, so this should only help them further dominate the series imo.  This is bad for racing in general and Burgess saying that the control tire will only further hurt the racing might end up being correct.  Despite everyone being on "fair" ground, its actually not as fair as it seems.  A lot of these guys aren't as good with the stiff tires, for better or worse.

[derby]

actually, i think gist of burgess' statement was that, since he believes rossi to be the superior racer, "equalizing" the equipment will only handicap everybody else since it would be removing their possible advantage.

ducati basically said the same thing regarding their use of bridgestone tires.

[gm2]

the first thing hopper said after testing the new control tires was that Bridgestone had obviously gone with the "Rossi/Stoner front". 

[gm2]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73158

nothing new.. nicky will improve, etc

[derby]

the first thing hopper said after testing the new control tires was that Bridgestone had obviously gone with the "Rossi/Stoner front". 

yeah, but if i remember correctly, that was due to the fact that yamaha/ducati had success with that particular part and everybody else, no matter what they used, were pretty much lost.

[gm2]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Feb/090207a.htm