Moto gp

[vmax4steve]

Jerez this weekend, can't wait. Opening round at Qatar I know but to me that's a bit of a joke on a track that has to be raced on at night because it's in the desert. Well done to Casey on the Honda at Qatar but Jerez will be a sterner test, a track he has never done well at. Rossi on the Ducati isn't looking too good at the moment, can't see it getting much better either seeing as it's the last season of the 800's and Ducati won't be throwing a lot of money at a bike that will be obsolete by november.
Predictions for Jerez
1 Lorenzo
2 Stoner
3 Pedrosa

I go for Lorenzo after his heroics at Qatar, the Yamaha being a nimble bike on a twisty track on which the Hondas extra horsepower won't really give it the advantage it had on Qatar's 1km straight. If Stoner wins though I can't see anyone else for the title. Pedrosa's injured shoulder will see him go backwards after about half way but I see him hanging on for third.

[jrc750]

Yes i'm with you on Qatar, its all a bit weird riding at night even tho the track lights they have make it almost as bright as day lol
Lorenzo struggled a bit today in practice tho, so i will go with Stoner taking it with Pedrosa 2nd, then a decent gap to Rossi edging out Lorenzo for 3rd
Rossi will master the Duke soon and he likes Jerez and don't forget he is the GOAT
(Greatest Of All Time for any non biking readers)

[vmax4steve]

Just watched final qualifying and Stoner gets pole with a set upt he wasn't too keen on, Pedrosa 2nd and Lorenzo 3rd just 3000 of a second behind Pedro but Lorenzo is a real racer rather than a qualifier so my money's still on him for the race but I have a sneaking suspicion that Stoner has a little more up his sleeve than he's letting on.
Rossi 12th after losing the front and crashing out in qualifying, a perenial problem with the Ducati the last few seasons. Don't agree with Rossi being the GOAT, for a start he's always had the best toys until now and unlike the great racers of the past never rode on the island.
Could be rain tomorrow though which would be to Pedro's benefit with his injured left arm not getting put through the mangle at every corner. Who's the best rain rider though, Hopkins on the suzuki to put it on the podium if it rains is real long shot but it could happen but probably not.

[thinsy]

Wow, what a race..... A little bit of wet does bring out the excitement!!

Lorenzo shown again that a nice smooth and consistent ride gets results.
Pedrosa Managed to literally hang on by one shoulder.

The doctor had a bad day in surgery... The operation didn't go well but as the true professional he managed to salvage something from it!! Was also delighted with Rossi for being the true gentleman and heading directly to Stoner once the race was over to appologise and admit his mistake! Hats off to Stoner too for taking it so well.

I think Rossi would have won if it wasn't for this error but, it happened and left the final podeum position for any man and his scooter, who on this day happened to be Hayden.

[jrc750]

I thought it was a great race too, just a shame that the Doctor maybe got it wrong for once lol
Would of been very interesting to see how it panned out with Stoner still in it tho
Surely you noticed tho that Rossi left his helmet on when he went to apologise ha ha ha ....wonder if he was scared of getting punched, plus did it in front of cameras so that Casey couldn't really get too angry
Notice his little dig at Vale tho "ambition outweighing your talent" or something like that lol ...cheeky little Aussie...a 1 time world champion talking like that to a 9 time world champion ....should fire up Rossi tho for next race....bring it on

[thinsy]

I thought it was a great race too, just a shame that the Doctor maybe got it wrong for once lol
Would of been very interesting to see how it panned out with Stoner still in it tho
Surely you noticed tho that Rossi left his helmet on when he went to apologise ha ha ha ....wonder if he was scared of getting punched, plus did it in front of cameras so that Casey couldn't really get too angry
Notice his little dig at Vale tho "ambition outweighing your talent" or something like that lol ...cheeky little Aussie...a 1 time world champion talking like that to a 9 time world champion ....should fire up Rossi tho for next race....bring it on

Totally agree with everything here... I chuckled a little when he kept his helmet on too

'Ambition outweighing your talent' was a great line But I'm sure it was all tongue in cheek because he did ask Rossi if his shoulder was ok before that!!

I wish they had both stayed on and come 1st/2nd.. Purely because I can't stand either Lorenzo or Pedrosa!!

[vmax4steve]

I thought it was a terrible race, spoiled by the weather, Rossi trying to ride the Duc like it handled like the Yam and most of all for the bridgestone tyres chewing up after about only ten laps, bridgestone just have to do better than that. The dunlops in Moto2 lasted the whole race, no excuse for bridgestone IMO. Rossi rode like an idiot, been having front end problems with that Duc since he got on it and yet he stuffed it into that corner harder than he would have in the dry, dork.
Loved Casey's comment to Rossi, could be taken two ways, after all his ambition on that corner certainly outweighed his talent, and his ambition with Ducati so far has done so as well as he wants a re-design of the Ducati's front end and engine characteristics so that he can ride it like he wants to. Casey won on the thing, had to ride the wheels off it and fight it all the way, but he did win on it as often as he chucked it at the scenery and Casey knows what an animal of a bike it is, so that little comment could get Rossi angry enough to actually try to ride it harder than he wants to which could lead to him chucking it at the scenery a lot himself, or he could even win on it if he is indeed the GOAT, we shall see.

[jrc750]

Yeah but if you have to have a wet race, it was exciting to watch lol
Shame Casey couldn't continue tho same as Vale, but yeah tyres need to improve loads

[thinsy]

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON TYRES!!!!!

It annoys me that they try to make it so tyres last just long enough to complete ONE PERFECT RACE!! Even in perfect conditions on slicks, if a rider has a bad start or something, then rides like he stole it he is just wearing his tyre out before the end of the race and has to slow!!! Give them all tyres that will easily last the distance and let them ring the necks off the bikes

[Drac]

Great race, lots to talk about for a change..

[vmax4steve]

Yeah but if you have to have a wet race, it was exciting to watch lol
Shame Casey couldn't continue tho same as Vale, but yeah tyres need to improve loads

Jorge won by 19 seconds with Nicky Hayden 30 seconds back in third and Rossi was over a minute behind trundling home in fifth, that's F1 excitement, bikes should be closer than that especially in the wet when it's more of a level playing field. Bridgestone seem to have only one wet race tyre which works when it's really wet but when it's just drizzly rain like it was in Jerez they can't stay cool enough, overheat dramatically and just shred the tread off them. All those riders who finished had no tread left at all and the reason for all those crashes (apart from Rossi taking out Stoner) was because of that.
In the old days when there was competition between tyre suppliers there was such a thing as an intermediate tyre, also known as a cut slick, that was good for drizzly conditions. Trouble is now that there is a control tyre, it is not cost effective for one supplier to make tyres like this that may only be used maybe once or twice in a season and cart them around the world for nine months in the offchance they might be needed at any of the tracks they visit.
I watched saturdays practise and although there is no longer a special qualifiying soft tyre, the riders where putting on new soft race tyres for the final minutes of qualifying every three laps to try to get fast times. This could be because the bikes have a big power hike in practise because unlike for the race there is no fuel limit to think about, but even so they should be lasting longer than three laps at optimum performance.

[vmax4steve]

Great race by Pedro in Portugal, pity the rest after Jorge weren't really up to pace. Stoner complained of having a back spasm halfway through the race, could have been caused by that near highside on lap one. Apparently one of Spies mechanics left a clip on a hose that got in the way of his front brake lever and he kept running wide early on until he managed to get it off and then crashed out. Could be a job going in the Yamaha garage. Nice little spat between Jorge and Simoncelli in the press conference before the race with Simoncelli countering Jorge's claims that he is a dangerous rider and then goes and chucks it in the gravel on the first left hander, funny or what.
Poor old Scott Redding in Moto2, well taken out by Marquez who should be banned for the next race for reckless riding IMO. Last year of the 125 championship looks like a foregone conclusion already with Terol absolutely walking it so far with no one even getting close to him. Still with 250 four stroke singles taking over that class next season no one has really spent to develope their machines except maybe Terols garage. Should be interesting next year.
Also well done to John Hopkins for winning his first BSB race at the weekend, hope there are a lot more to follow.

[vmax4steve]

Stoner back on song again and clearing off made the race for the lead a little dull but plenty going on behind him. Agree with race direction that Simoncelli's move on Pedro was dangerous, I know he was just in front at the time but he didn't make the corner himself and just ruined Pedro's season. Don't agree with race direction imposing a ride through on Simoncelli though, should have been allowed to finish where he was but then penalised by a one race ban, as a ride through doesn't do anything for Pedro as he was already out and it just gave Rossi an undeserved podium.
It seems to me that race direction do Rossi any favours that they can.

[jrc750]

Well i watched the incident a few times, and to me it seemed like Dani's fault !
Racing is dangerous you know lol, i think Pedro was just a bit too keen to get back in front and should of waited for a few more corners. It looked like Dani wouldn't have made the corner anyway, maybe due to existing shoulder injury stopping him from braking so hard (that bit pinched from Eurosport commentators) so dunno really, i would like to see an aerial view point of it to be sure. One thing is for sure tho, Simoncelli's reputation continues
Edit: oh and Rossi got the Duke on the podium.....did i hear right ? its his 175th in bike racing, thats not too shabby

[vmax4steve]

Stoner again at Catalunya, too easy. I honestly think it's time for tyre manufacturers to be allowed to compete again. The Bridgestone control tyre hasn't produced the close racing that was predicted for it, in fact it's only Stoner that seems able to put the heat into it's hard race tyre with the soft one only coming out during qualifying, and only then for three laps at a time. Tony Elias walked the Moto2 title last year on Dunlops but his riding style doesn't put enough heat into the Bridgestones and he's stuttering around at the back in Motogp, christ he won a race at Estoril when on Michelins. It could be that Michelin or Dunlop could make a tyre that suits different bikes and different riding styles and could produce closer racing, after all the Suzuki was getting podiums with Hopkins on it before this control tyre rule came in.