MotoGP Austin CotA 2014 ** Spoilers **

[duccarlos]

I'll take Dovi's 3rd even though the Yamahas should have been up there if it wasn't for the jump start and tire issues. Dovi has always been good at conserving the tires, which is why he was able to bring it home late. It was great to see him holding off Bradl. On e step forward.

Bad luck for Rossi, Ioannone and Cal. Lorenzo flat out make the beast with two backsed up for the second time this year. He's not handling the pressure of losing last year and having to renegogiate his contract very well.

I believe we'll see another dominant ride from MM in Argentina. No one has ridden there and he has shown that he's the quickest to adjust, Rossi being one that hates going to new tracks. I will go out on a limb and say that Lorenzo should put his broken season back together next race. I simply can't see him making another rookie mistake 3 times in a row. He'll probably work at getting the bike home and battling with the Turd and leaving MM on his own until they get to more friendly tracks.

[triangleforge]

Apparently Rossi, Iannone and Redding all had the front tires give up.
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/202202/1/rossi-we-destroyed-the-front-tyre.html

Bradl had a front tire go bad too, according to the post-race interview.
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/202205/1/bradl-ive-never-seen-a-tyre-like-this.html

I'm curious to hear Crutchlow's description of what happened to his rear tire, and then how the crash went down. I read that when he pitted, he switched to a soft rear; it seems an odd choice, given A) the fact that the softs don't seem to last long enough to have taken him to the end of the race, and B) his declared moral aversion to the soft tire.

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/202140/1/crutchlow-ill-race-hard-tyre-out-of-principle.html

[Speeddog]

That's really bizarre.
I'm not sure if Iannone and Redding are 'front end' riders, but Bradl rides his Honda with the rear end hung out a lot, much like they seem to need to be ridden.
Yet he destroys a front tire.

The cameraman in parc ferme gave us a nice long view of MM's rear tire, and it looked perfect.

Cal's statement sounds a bit odd at first, but he's right, they've got to make the bike work with the hard 'open' tire.

I too am mystified as to why they put the Soft on.
I'm surprised they even had one on a warmer.
Good that they're covering all the bases, just weird.

[Speeddog]

Cal said the rear tire had a bad vibration from the get-go.
Team decided to fit a Soft.
A bump unhooked the bike and he got tangled up with it.

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/202212/1/crutchlow-i-got-caught-up-with-the-bike.html

[duccarlos]

That soft tire wouldn't have helped much anyway. If they knew they were out of the points, they should have sat out the rest of the race.

[ChrisK]

Sounds a bit worse for Crutchlow: http://www.motorcyclenews.com/mcn/sport/sportresults/motogp/2014/april/apr1314-breaking-crutchlow

[derby]

rossi's front donut:

[MadDuck]

Cal said the rear tire had a bad vibration from the get-go.
Team decided to fit a Soft.
A bump unhooked the bike and he got tangled up with it.

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/202212/1/crutchlow-i-got-caught-up-with-the-bike.html

Does it seem to anyone else that Crutchlow is having some Spies type bad luck mixed in with his own style of pissing & moaning?  Too bad for the guy but c'mon. How is it the other Duc's aren't having these problems and he is?

[MadDuck]

rossi's front donut:

That tire looks baked !!   

[koko64]

Otherwise known as Gibber's Luck or the Spies Curse.

The electronics failures were particularly dangerous and quite unacceptable really. The tyre problems are affecting a range of riders. It's time to open tyres up again so tyres can be built for each bike/rider. The one tyre Mfr rule isn't a level playing field.

[lazylightnin717]

Does it seem to anyone else that Crutchlow is having some Spies type bad luck mixed in with his own style of pissing & moaning?  Too bad for the guy but c'mon. How is it the other Duc's aren't having these problems and he is?

I have the same feeling.

Nicky has been doing his fair share of pissing about his production Honda too. He is clearly not happy

[HotIce]

rossi's front donut:

Wow!  
I understand now why he mentioned about the bike behaving like on wet.

[koko64]

Proof that "control tyres" are undermining rider safety imo. One size does not fit all.

[triangleforge]

Yikes!  Interesting that the right side would go, as COTA is a counter-clockwise track.

[Speeddog]

Yikes!  Interesting that the right side would go, as COTA is a counter-clockwise track.

Pretty sure it's the turns 16/17/18, which is taken as one long right, that's the culprit.