2009 MotoGP Round 4 - Le Mans (Race Spoilers)

[OT]

That was a movie I saw on SpeedTV today, wasn't it?   

Couldn't happen like that in real life...musta been in France or some place like it....

[zooom]

Lorenzo really strategized that race well. 

NO HE DIDN'T...he said that he couldn't see his pitboard and then all of the sudden he saw Pit-in on his board...

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/May/090517rydernotes.htm

"... Meanwhile Jorge Lorenzo was steaming off the front of the pack, but suffering from the minor problem of not being able to see his pitboard. So he stayed out on wets, and stayed out, and ended up stayed out longer than anyone. He thought about coming in, but 'I trust the team.' By lap eleven he finally saw the 'In' board and pitted with a 50-second lead. He left with a 20-second lead and no-one got near him...."


his team I guess finally made it visable enough for strategy purposes...but it wasn't exactly his strategy....he'd never done this drill before and therefore had no basis or strategy...you could tell in post interview by how he talked about it...

[Jester]

NO HE DIDN'T...he said that he couldn't see his pitboard and then all of the sudden he saw Pit-in on his board...

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/May/090517rydernotes.htm

"... Meanwhile Jorge Lorenzo was steaming off the front of the pack, but suffering from the minor problem of not being able to see his pitboard. So he stayed out on wets, and stayed out, and ended up stayed out longer than anyone. He thought about coming in, but 'I trust the team.' By lap eleven he finally saw the 'In' board and pitted with a 50-second lead. He left with a 20-second lead and no-one got near him...."


his team I guess finally made it visable enough for strategy purposes...but it wasn't exactly his strategy....he'd never done this drill before and therefore had no basis or strategy...you could tell in post interview by how he talked about it...

I saw the post race and yes he'd never done it before.  He said nothing about his pit board issue in post race.

Pardon me...  LORENZO SUCKS!  That better?

[zooom]

umm...sure...but I don't think he sucks...and he is surely proving to be a better competitor for Rossi than Pedro-bot...and he gives a better and less scary post race interview...but all that aside, I am just not willing to give him strategy credit for how things transpired, especially in light of this being his 1st time doing that...you can't exactly plan for that when "feel" is the key and your in the front droning out lap after lap in a rythem with no one to contend with you...it becomes a game of where do I feel like this is spent enough that it is time to go in and change...or until your team tells you to come in because you haven't guaged how far past the limits you are or may be....in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a Bridgestone tech guy told his team, after looking at other tyres that previously came in, to get his ass in before something catastrophic occurs....not that we'll ever hear that...but it wouldn't surprise me.

[derby]

in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a Bridgestone tech guy told his team, after looking at other tyres that previously came in, to get his ass in before something catastrophic occurs....not that we'll ever hear that...but it wouldn't surprise me.

the main concern in using a rain tire in drying conditions is loss of grip due to overheating the tires. racers will generally find puddles to run through in order to cool the tires.

lorenzo's two fastest rain tire laps were the ones right before he pitted to swap bikes:

http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2009/FRA/MotoGP/RAC/analysisbylap.pdf

[Spidey]

That was a weird race.  Lorenzo rode well but got lucky.  His inexperience with the rain/dry change-over and inability to see his board paid off.

The championship points make it seem like MotoGP is more interesting than it is.  Other than the last round, there hasn't been a lot of good racing.  The fact that the championship is wide open makes it more interesting, but I still crave more close racing.  I'm getting spoiled by WSBK.

Can we all get together and do an anti-rain dance?  I'm sick of this shit.

P.S. Melandri is a bad-ass.  A. BAD. ASS.  Kawi better step up and give that guy some go-fast bits.  It's also good to see him redeem himself after that disastrous year on the Duc. 

[derby]

That was a weird race.  Lorenzo rode well but got lucky.  His inexperience with the rain/dry change-over and inability to see his board paid off.

"lucky" might be a little strong.

the way events unfolded did work out to his favor, but if you look at his lap chart (linked above), his tires were doing fine.

the f1 guys have had a lot of practice over the years (decades, really) tweaking and tuning various pit strategies in both the dry and the wet. motogp hasn't had that, uh, luxury....

"deep" runs on wet tires in drying conditions, like lorenzo's, will help teams perfect their rain strategies moving forward.

[Spidey]

"lucky" might be a little strong.

That's fair.

Lorenzo rode really well.  It wasn't genius strategy that won it though.  In contrast, Rossi tried to strategerize and got make the beast with two backsed up as a result. I'm not sure what's the lesson to be learned.

[derby]

I'm not sure what's the lesson to be learned.

well, rossi learned what "too early" was, and lorenzo pushed the outer boundary of "too long" based on everybody else's race.

in fact, given melandri's pace, he would've had to scrap with him for the win if he'd waited one more lap to pit.

[Triple J]

P.S. Melandri is a bad-ass.  A. BAD. ASS.  Kawi better step up and give that guy some go-fast bits.  It's also good to see him redeem himself after that disastrous year on the Duc. 

+1 Ducati should be asking themselves WTF happened last year.

I also agree with the MotoGP season being really interesting on paper...too bad the races have been somewhat of a let down so far.  Lots to go though! 

[gm2]

+1 Ducati should be asking themselves WTF happened last year.

wasn't just last year..

[ducpainter]

wasn't just last year..

pretty sure they're still asking WTF.

[zooom]

yup...Ducati is asking WTF...that's why they got data from Bayliss in testing recently for exactly that purpose....to answer that question and get back on track.

[ducpainter]

yup...Ducati is asking WTF...that's why they got data from Bayliss in testing recently for exactly that purpose....to answer that question and get back on track.

According to this he didn't have any magic pills for them though.

Time will tell.

[zooom]

they didn't say anything outright...but they alluded to the idea that they are getting a clue/handle on how to maybe overcome some of the problem....I honestly think it is a combination thing...that there is no 1 thing they need to do, per individual circumstance...just a question of figuring out how to make it so that they can do the right combinations to make things work...but I am just guessing....