MotoGP Round 11 - Brno (SPOILERS)

[Spidey]

Alex De Angelis gets more bonzai crazy with each year.  Marquez's elbow rubbing is pretty much what you'd expect from an 18 y/o.  Frankly, I have no idea how he keeps traction with some of those moves.  It's baffling, but it's not like the bike is totally out of control (for this part of the season, at least).

Oh yeah, and I liked the GP race too.  Super Sic is learning.  Dovi is quietly and boringly successful.  Ben, again, had some reason or another why he wasn't up front.  Smurfy McAsphalt did his thing again -- start fast, go fast, go fast, go fast, and then go fast into the gravel/air fence/ground.  I was surprise at George's tire choice error, though I should have known consider that he poops on the heads of orphan children.    But for fack's sake, why do the announcers keep talking about how this might be the end of the championship for ole Georgie?  There are a billion races left and Casey and George are pretty much one Casey crash from being nearly tied.

[Spidey]

(that was a great save by george!)

He completely locked up the front coming into T11 at Laguna a year or two ago and somehow didn't crash.  It didn't look spectacular, but it remains one of the most amazing things I've seen anyone do on a bike.

[Speeddog]

~~~SNIP~~~
   But for fack's sake, why do the announcers keep talking about how this might be the end of the championship for ole Georgie?  There are a billion races left and Casey and George are pretty much one Casey crash from being nearly tied.

I think that when the gap gets over 1 race win's worth of points, they figure it's a lock.
Of course, that's ridiculous.
Pressure is on Jorge for sure, but Stoner can't coast either.

Dovi, Rossi and Nicky are the only ones who've finished every race.

[fastwin]

Good point.

Nothing in racing is ever a lock. I always remember the Andy Granatelli STP turbine Indy race car driven by Parnelli Jones. It was super modern and out of this world in 1967. Jones led 197 out of 200 laps at the Indy 500 that year and a $2 part broke in the tranny on lap 197 and he rolled around to finish 6th. Won't ever forget that one. In any race anything can happen.

Just look at '06 when Nicky was this close to the title, then tangled with Pedrobot. Rossi could have just cruised in the final race and kept Nicky behind him and won it all but he tossed it away. If it wasn't for that extremely rare crash by Rossi he would have won the championship. You'd think that of all racers Rossi wouldn't go down in the last race while leading the championship. Same thing could happen to Stoner if it's close in points. As always, you never know who takes home all the marbles until the fat lady sings.

To me that's what makes the late season runs by racers so much fun to watch. Like Spies in 2009 when he was way down and just kept clawing back for the WSBK title. Gotta love it!

[gm2]

...Rossi and Nicky are the only ones who've finished every race.

they may be 30 seconds behind but that's a far cry from recent ducati seasons

[Speeddog]

they may be 30 seconds behind but that's a far cry from recent ducati seasons

My thought was that there's still a significant chance Casey and/or Jorge will DNF at least one more race this season.

Jorge's less DNF-prone than Casey, at least in the past. 

So Casey's 'lock' is pretty flimsy.

[duccarlos]

Best race of the season so far.

[gm2]

Best race of the season so far.

Brno?  I thought laguna was a lot better..

[gm2]

My thought was that there's still a significant chance Casey and/or Jorge will DNF at least one more race this season.

Jorge's less DNF-prone than Casey, at least in the past. 

So Casey's 'lock' is pretty flimsy.

only, other than when he gets knocked down, casey has been pretty bulletproof on that honda.  he no crashy.

[duccarlos]

Brno?  I thought laguna was a lot better..

I think Laguna was exciting when Jorge and Casey were battling it out, which was not for a very long time. Granted, once Stoner took the lead in Brno, it was over, but second through 6th were relatively close. The battle between Jorge, Dovi and Simo was exciting for quite a few laps. If the Spanish Turd would have kept it upright, I think we would have seen a battle between him and Stoner. In the end, I also give points for having a result different than the usual Stoner/Lorenzo/Pedrosa podium.

[fastwin]

Wow!! I knew the results of the Moto2 race and figured it would be exciting to watch but holy shit!! It was one of the best road races I have seen this year! I pissed and moaned last year about the crashfest that Moto2 was... and sometimes still is. But nothing like last year's series. And in this Czech race who gave a shit about 6th place on back? All the action was with the lead group of 5. With 8 laps to go someone pulled the pin on that grenade and all hell broke out! All poor Luthi could do was sit in 5th and watch the show! Great fairing banging racing to the end. Tons of lead swaps. I loved it!

What would you give to see a MotoGP race end like that? Your soul? A kidney? Your dog? Imagine a race with Stoner, Pedrobot, Dovi, Super Sic, J-LO, The Ben and Rossi racing that close and that hard wheel to wheel to the bitter end? With Edwards and Nicky just barely off the group. In my dreams. I wish!

Still an awesome race and well ridden by the top 5. I will watch that one again. And again.

[The Architect]

Imagine a race with Stoner, Pedrobot, Dovi, Super Sic, J-LO, The Ben and Rossi racing that close and that hard wheel to wheel to the bitter end? With Edwards and Nicky just barely off the group. In my dreams. I wish!

Yes that would be a great race.  But and here's another difference between GP and 2, the whining, pissing and moaning from some of those riders would last for months.  

Babies.

[duccarlos]

Yes that would be a great race.  But and here's another difference between GP and 2, the whining, pissing and moaning from some of those riders would last for months.  

Babies.

it's almost like they feel that since they came through the smaller series that they are entitled to whine about everything.

[fastwin]

Heck, I'd take a MotoGP race with just half that many racers trading paint and elbowing each other for position all the way to the flag. They can piss and moan all they want afterwards. I'd just hit the mute or not read that article!

Great race by Iannone!! That took some balls, skill and luck for any one of those guys to win that race! My question is, with the whole Spaniard-Repsol connection going on what team does Marc Marquez end up on in MotoGP next year? It's a silly season thread question but it bares asking.

The Euro commentators are always mentioning his move to the big class like it's a done deal. Does Repsol-Honda keep a three bike team next year, give Dovi a satellite factory bike and replace him with Marquez? Secondly, how does the youngster do on a new 1000cc MotoGP bike with no 800cc bike race experience. Big move from 600cc bikes to big block prototypes. Or have they secretly been letting him test a 800cc bike since that might not violate MotoGP testing rules for the actual riders and teams in MotoGP? Curious minds want to know.

SpeedTV Czech race coverage question: why did they have annoying American voice over commentating during parts of the MotoGP race and thankfully left it out of the Moto2 race? And also, why didn't they show the after race podium interviews from either race? I know they are quick and not very detailed but a lot of time you get a rider to explain something that happened in a race from their point of view that the commentators didn't see or understand. Oh well... typical SpeedTV coverage. What do I expect.

[duccarlos]

I'm just paying the subscription through motogp.com. They show the races down here through ESPN, but of course commentators only speak spanish and they're not as good as the british.