MotoGP 2012 - Round 1 - Qatar (SPOILERS, race: 4/8)

[pennyrobber]

First off.  that is not Ducati red

 

It's "Catch-Up" red.   

[desmoquattro]

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/839/12728/Motorcycle-Article/MotoGP-Qatar-Insider-2012---Ducati.aspx

Understeer is not the only issue that Valentino Rossi believes is preventing him from moving the Ducati GP12 closer to challenging Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo’s recent domination of the MotoGP world championship. After he ended practice with the eighth-fastest time in Qatar (eventually going on to finish 10th in Sunday’s race), the 33-year-old said taming Ducati’s aggressive power delivery would help him reduce the gap to the front in the new 1000cc premier class.

Same old shit, different day.

[ZLTFUL]

basically yeah.  the rule is that if you blow that chicane you go straight and ride through the pits. 

~logic being that it's too tight there and too fast heading into it.  it's not really a safe place to be looking completely over your shoulder and making a split second decision about getting back on track.  cuz if you don't do it quick, you're behind the wall.  and if you do it quick, you might likely be torpedoing somone else.

multiple people got ride-throughs that weekend, at least 1 other got black flagged.  it's just that they weren't leading races.

Watched it again and I can see the reasons behind the ride through. He hosed himself by not doing it. A ride through could have possibly kept him in the points.

[derby]

HELL...that isn't even Marlboro red...look at a pack of their cigs lately?....looks more like like a fashion runway color of red then any of the related products flagship colors...

ducati and ferrari haven't used the "product" marlboro read for quite some time... it doesn't show well on video/tv...

[triangleforge]

Between the rampant speculation and the vagaries of Google Translate, this is a pretty amusing read - speaking for those of us who don't read Italian. Because I've only read it in machine translation and it's in the Italian moto-media, I'm sharing it here with the caveat "For Entertainment Purposes Only."

http://www.tuttomotoriweb.com/2012/04/11/motogp-2012-valentino-rossi-e-ducati-separati-in-casa-il-divorzio-e-solo-rimandato/

[duccarlos]

Are there any cliffnotes.... in English.

[gm2]

Are there any cliffnotes.... in English.

open it up in Chrome and it'll automatically translate.

basically: they're fighting, they're separated, divorce is inevitable.

[zooom]

 freaking google translate sucks for copy and pasting....

[gm2]

freaking google translate sucks for copy and pasting....

you're not supposed to do that anyway   

[gm2]

oooh, the drama.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Apr/120411rydernotes.htm

[gm2]

this is really interesting (thx derb)

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/178467/1/qatar_motogp_rider_times_800cc_v_1000cc.html

[desmoquattro]

this is really interesting (thx derb)

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/178467/1/qatar_motogp_rider_times_800cc_v_1000cc.html

The leaders, if I read this right, were generally 2 seconds down from last year? New class rules, etc...not sure it surprises me.

[Triple J]

The track also had less grip compared to the previous year due to the lack of car racing (and the rubber they lay down) this year prior to the GP event.

[desmoquattro]

The track also had less grip compared to the previous year due to the lack of car racing (and the rubber they lay down) this year prior to the GP event.

You mean Moto2 bikes don't lay down enough rubber?

[betarace]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly4m-o9wUIg&feature=youtube_gdata_player