2013 MotoGP Round 16 - Phillip Island (Spoilers!)

[thought]

Rough decision for me to black flag... a ride through would have been more fitting imo.  Would have dropped him back enough to get him out of the podium but still giving him a chance to claw back points.

But either way, it does make the drama leading up to the next two races a lot more interesting.

[derby]

Still, 18 points and 2 more races.  Tough ask for Georgina. 

Yup. Jorge needs to win the last two with MM finishing off the podium in at least one of them.

[Triple J]

What a disaster of a race. Stupid bike swap, and only 19 laps. I think MM's penalty was over the top, and they got lucky with MM and JLo touching and nothing else. That could have been ugly. I get the tire issue, but WTF. I think they should have made them just change the rear tire. THAT would have been interesting!

Funny seeing JLo launch off of the bike in pit lane during the swap though! 

[Speeddog]

IMO, they should have done a mandatory rear tire change, giving them a minimum pit stop time of 30 sec or so.

No huge rush of hopping off the bike, running over mechanics, whatever.

Dunno what they were thinking about moving the pit exit line out, that was dumb.

[DanTheMan]

Dunno what they were thinking about moving the pit exit line out, that was dumb.

If all riders coming in, in a two lap window, to prevent racing in the pit exit lane?

[ducpainter]

that's not the first the first time something like this has happened, nor will it be the last.

michelin has done it (in both f1 and motogp), bridgestone and dunlop both did it this weekend in australia.

production schedules vs weather forecasting vs transportation logistics... i'm almost surprised they "get it right" as often as they do.

one positive takeaway of having a control tire in this situation is that tires won't decide the championship as they (may) have in the past. good or bad, everybody is on the same tires.

I personally don't see that as a positive.

That's just me.

[Speeddog]

If all riders coming in, in a two lap window, to prevent racing in the pit exit lane?

OK, I can see that line of thinking.

But it puts the racing in the exit lane further down the lane, and everyone is going slower onto an already dodgy pit-lane exit.

Bad either way. 

[Two dogs]

Okay hands up who is shopping for tires on Monday who still has Brigestone on their list 

[Privateer]

even my 4 year old can count to 10.

[The Architect]

That race was...........

[ab]

It was interesting race watching the racers hope off their bikes especially JLo.

MM exit from pit and touching JLo, totally MM fault.  He should have stayed outside line.  Obviously when he looked back their was nobody and then boom.  So it's tough stuff but it's still on MM.

Black flag, I mean he broke the rules for sure.  As for the punishment, if that is what was explained before, then tough luck.  Seems harsh but rules are rules.

Felt bad for Pedrosa punishment. That back tyre on air when hit the pit limiter braking was a sight to see.

So glad Rossi made podium.  It was pretty close with Cal and Bautista.  I hope Rossi will fight with the top three guys more instead of Cal and Bautista.

Overall, it was fun to watch.

Looking forward to reading Stoner's autobiography.

[Jester]

Anyone that has a GP subscription watch the "How Marquez took it too far in Australia" video.  You'll see how wrecked his first tire was and exactly why they set a lap limit as to when riders should pit.  Definately missing some chunks.

[Triple J]

MM's 1st tire:

[ab]

MM's 1st tire:

Wow looks like Rossi's tyre last year when it had a big chunk.  No wonder the pit rules was set up.

[Triple J]

Interesting article...HRC didn't miscount laps in leaving MM out, they were reading one part of the rule differently...and either ignoring or missing a second part that further explained it.

http://www.motomatters.com/analysis/2013/10/20/2013_phillip_island_motogp_sunday_round_.html

Personally, I think Dorna needs to hire someone who has written construction specifications to write their rules! A correctly worded rule doesn't need to be explained.