Donington, UK ( Spoiler )

[Jester]

Placeholder for this weekend's action.

Stoner looks incredibly strong with the sedici tweaks during practice.  Kickstart to a mid season run?  Its good to see Hayden confident and up front.  I hope he can sniff a podium this weekend.

[Pakhan]

Not my favorite track, but some interesting things happening for this race.

Spies filling Caps ride
Hayden on pneumatics
Lorenzo back and "changing his riding style"

can't wait 

[Jester]

MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner credits electronic breakthrough after dominating both Friday free practice sessions at the British Grand Prix.

I find this comical in some sense.  Wish electronics would go away.   

[CromoMann]

I'm very curious to see what happens on race day too.  Have to admit that I'm not as intimate with the GP courses as I was with the F1 tracks (and I'm only intimate with those because of my previous hours spent on a Playstation (one) F1 game).  Is Donington a better than average track option to take advantage of the higher revs for Hayden?  The write up seems driven that will be his only advantage.

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/news/165093-0/hayden_gets_pneumatic_for_donington.html (my own derby, but I've moved it into the right thread)

[Jester]

From what I gather, the pneumatic engine paired with the chassis it was built for suits Hayden's riding style... or rather he can ride like he wants to ride.  I believe he can better achieve times with his sliding, point and shoot style on the pneumatic/08' chassis combo.  We'll see if it really matters much in the next few races.  Honda gave him the ultimatum that if he changed bikes there would be no going back.  I bet if Pedrosa switched and then asked to go back, they would bend for thumbalina.  HRC isn't quite as forgiving of ol' number 69.

[Speeddog]

Stoner absolutely thrashing the bike. 

And in turn, thrashing the field.
0.57 ahead of Hayden in 2nd <woohoo>

[Jester]

1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 38.232 secs
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1min 38.881 secs
3. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 39.018 secs
4. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 39.270 secs
5. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1min 39.601 secs
6. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 1min 39.783 secs
7. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 39.995 secs
8. Ben Spies USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 40.244 secs
9. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 40.350 secs
10. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 40.417 secs
11. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 40.539 secs
12. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 1min 40.595 secs
13. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 40.667 secs
14. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1min 41.110 secs
15. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 41.379 secs
16. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1min 41.751 secs
17. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1min 41.873 secs
18. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 1min 42.933 secs


Qualifying times.  WTG Spies!  Faster than a banged up Pedrosa.  Looking good baby.  Can't wait for the race tomorrow.  Looks like Stoner might run away with it, but probably some good racing in the rest of the field.  Wet race should bring some different players into the mix if it indeed ends up that way.   

[supertjeduc]

 [moto] he was gooooooood

[gm2]

felt bad for JT  

good race.. looks like ducati got that front tire/electronics/whatever thing worked out.. 
no matter how fast he is, man rossi has pedro's number
nicky, mid-race up and downs.. 
stoked for ben.. points at a track he's never seen before and 2nd time on a GP bike.  bravo!

[androgynous]

any results from the 125's and 250'ies
im down loading the races now 

[SP3]

Hooray for Stoner. Still waiting for Ducati to get the GP8 sorted on the whole though. Was hoping for a bit more from Nick. Surprised by Edwards. Surprised further by Spies. It'll be interesting to see where he lands next season. Good fight between Rossi and Pedrosa.

[Pakhan]

felt bad for JT   
[snip]

+1 Right in the beginning and watching people lap him towards the end on a home track for him. 

What a race for second between Rossi and Pedro 

[darylbowden]

 Spies' lap times towards the end of the race were really fast.  If he could've run those all race long, he would've been a top-10 easy.

[derby]

Spies' lap times towards the end of the race were really fast.  If he could've run those all race long, he would've been a top-10 easy.

i have to re-watch the race because i was paying too much attention to live timing and scoring while i was watching it live. 

here is the lap progression:  http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2008/MotoGP/GBR/RAC/analysis+by+lap.pdf

those 32's on laps 8 and 9 didn't help. those were his worst two laps. if it wasn't for those, he could've easily taken guintoli.

[Jester]

Poor Toseland.    

He essentially ran the whole race with one footpeg right?  I heard he ripped it off in his turn one crash.