MotoGP Laguna (there will be spoilers, so be smart before clicking)

[TiNi]

i actually got a sore throat from the first few laps of this race 
we were screaming in our living room 

i'm disappointed @ stoner's reaction to rossi's aggressive passes, but damn... what a race 
i wish i had been there to see it in person.

[bdfinally]

Stoner got schooled today, not owned. The question is what will he take away from it. He's got a month to sit down and think about what happened before, during and after the race. This isn't the first time he and rossi have gone back and forth, just the first time they've been really physical about it. Personally, I don't think that Aussie is Gibernau or Biaggi and that he WILL learn from the w/e....great race, btw.

[tufty]

did someone say something?

I'm afraid i couldn't hear it over all the leghumping.

Good raceing for most of it.  Shame Rossi needed to make it physical to make passes stick, and then chose to lie about it afterwards.  Shame Stoner screwed up and ended the batlle early, and then acted rather immature afterwards.

Shhh! you will throw off the rhythm of the Rossi circle jerk. As I remember it Vale complained long and loud about rough passes at the beginning of the season and if anyone had lowsided their bike into his and punted him off the track (sorry RdP!), we'd still be hearing about it.

There is definitely a dual standard regarding whining in the MotoGP paddock. Saying that Stoner DID whinge like a little girl and Vale DID put in some tough passes which he himself would have complained about.

Anyone see WSBK race 1 this weekend? Insane!!!

[NAKD1]

Give that boy some cheese  .A fair race, no touching. Like Vale said. this is racing.

[il d00d]

Has anyone complained about the commentary yet?  Because I would like to complain about the commentary.  My favorite quote, probably 40 or so laps in

Let ... = uncomfortable wordless voids

"VALENTINO ROSSI.
...
...
...
WOW!"

Not that it matters how well they transition to commercials but "YOU ARE GONNA WANT TO STAY TUNED... ITS EXCITING" was another moment of excellence.

[tufty]

Has anyone complained about the commentary yet?  Because I would like to complain about the commentary.  My favorite quote, probably 40 or so laps in

Let ... = uncomfortable wordless voids

"VALENTINO ROSSI.
...
...
...
WOW!"

Not that it matters how well they transition to commercials but "YOU ARE GONNA WANT TO STAY TUNED... ITS EXCITING" was another moment of excellence.

"They wear helmets and leather suits..." Ranked right up there for me.

Schwantz did a great job of correcting EVERYTHING that Greg White spouted.

[gm2]

....motogp.com

loved at one point during the broadcast there was a few moments of greg white being silent (bliss!), something amazing happened.. few more seconds of silence, then you hear schwantz say, "wow."

uh huh.  thanks.

[bdfinally]

my fav was after stoner made his mistake and he's 18 sec down, with what 7 laps to go, they're going to break and white says something like, "stay tuned after the break to see how Stoner can get back into this."

[mikeb]

"They use the clutch with their left hands...."

"They wear leather suits, boots, and gloves...."

"SIDE BY SIDE!!!!!"

Greg White is the Ed McMahon of motorcycle commentary........

[gm2]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Jul/080720sh.htm

tbh, in the transcript stoner is much more even-handed.  he didn't like two or three moves but also gave all credit to valentino.

[derby]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Jul/080720sh.htm

tbh, in the transcript stoner is much more even-handed.  he didn't like two or three moves but also gave all credit to valentino.

i'd expect him to be more composed in the post race interview.

can't beat "stoner raw" right after the race, though:

Stoner whining..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/7516543.stm

[derby]

i can't wait to get home and watch the race on motogp.com to see everything i missed.

of course, i have to watch f1 practice/qualy/race and worldsbk brno, too... this is gonna be a long day (after my looooong ride home  ).

[gm2]

don't bother, brno is boring.


...not.  =)

[darylbowden]

did someone say something?

I'm afraid i couldn't hear it over all the leghumping.

Good raceing for most of it.  Shame Rossi needed to make it physical to make passes stick, and then chose to lie about it afterwards.  Shame Stoner screwed up and ended the batlle early, and then acted rather immature afterwards.

I don't know why I'm being lured in, but make the beast with two backs it...

If they never touched, how is it physical?  Maybe Casey should take up Old Maid or something a little more his speed.  That was standard fare just a few years back in GP and can be seen weekly in WSBK.

[COWBOY]

Great stuff.   Goes to show that racing isn't just about who's the fastest and that defensive riding can win races.

Rossi rode a great race but lets be honest he got lucky as well.  He could have gone down just as easily as Stoner when he ran through the gravel in the corkscrew. 

IMO Stoner was the faster of the two and was probing Rossi at 3 different corners setting him up for a pass.  If he hadn't hamfisted the braking on that last corner it was only a matter of time before he overtook him.

I loved it though.  I hope the rest of the year plays out like this. 

As far as you fanboys go with the other stuff:

If someone had pulled that move through the gravel on Rossi and forced Rossi wide in the corkscrew you leghumpers would have been all over them.  The fact is Rossi is lucky that 1.  he didn't go down (as i said above) and 2. that he didn't take both of them down when he rejoined the track.  It was a reckless move and anyone who had to avoid it would have felt the same way, especially in the pits immediately after the race.  It was fun to watch though.

Hard to see anything worthy of a pregnant dog tag in the superbike article...

"Q Was there any in particular you weren't happy with?

A Two moves, basically three moves. I think everybody would've seen them. But I think a couple of other ones were all right. All nice and clean. We were riding side by side for a lot of the race. There were just a couple I wasn't really happy with.

Q One final question about the race itself. Did you feel if you could hang on for three or four corners at the front, that you could've pulled away?

A Yeah. I was basically trying to find the right place to get past and actually pull the gap. We knew we had a faster pace, but Valentino, like I said, was riding a great race, very defensive and very difficult to pass. I was a little bit disappointed where we couldn't get past too easily, but like I just said, Valentino was very, very defensive, and a fantastic race. He wasn't making any mistakes, and it was very hard to find an opening."