| Author | Message | ||
     Bads1 |
I second that | ||
| Trojan |
as once again the racing officials didn't get the blue flags out in time, or maybe Ellison just didn't see them. I'm not a great fan of James Ellison and believe he has been out of his depth in MotoGP (even though he finished 4th DRT at the end of season). However, this incident is in no way his fault and was entirely Lorenzo's own accident unfortunately. There was only a very thin dry line, so expecting a slower rider to move off the dry line in the middle of a series of corners to let to leader pass is unrealistic and dangerous. Contrary to modern belief, a blue flag actually doesn't mean 'move over' but has always meant 'faster rider approaching, be prepared to be overtaken'. When I was racing the mantra was always that it is the responsibility of the lead rider/driver to negotiate slower traffic and overtake safely regardless of blue flags. Lorenzo had a huge cushion available after Pedrosa ran off track and could have waited until the following straight to blast past what was a much slower bike. Other than that, what a yawn......A coupld of exciting laps after tyre changes turned into a procession again, and Cal threw away yet another decent podium position too! Thankfully Moto2 and Moto3 were great again, so all was not lost after all  Hopefully the new rules will go some way to making MotoGP more exciting next year, but I doubt it very much. At least the movement of riders between teams will keep some interest going for next year (for a while at least!). | ||
| Jaimec |
Mika Kallio got it right for Pedrosa. Put his hand up to acknowledge he knew he was back there, and then let him past on the straight. Just sayin' | ||
| Trojan |
Mika Kallio got it right for Pedrosa Mika Kallio was in the Moto 2 race, so he must have been extremely slow if he was still on track when the MotoGP was on! Maybe some of the other backmarkers pulled to one side or made it easier to pass, but you have to look at where Lorenzo caught Ellison to see why James had nowhere else to go. Lorenzo just needed to bide his time until the next straight and he would have passed easily. Also Ellison was racing for a place at the time, so it was up to Lorenzo to find a way past. Having said that, the conditions were extremely difficult for everyone and an inch off line would have been like riding on ice. Crutchlow hit a patch of water that apparently wasn't there the previous lap and he wasn't even trying 100% when he fell off  | ||
| Jaimec |
Whoops!! Sorry, if they're not one of the major players, I don't know their names...  Karel Abraham, I meant.... (I knew he was on a Ducati, and not one of the factory guys). | ||
| Jaimec |
<sigh> After this week, it's a looooong boring spell for sports fans till the Spring. Nothing but Basketball and American football (aka: "Throw Ball") on TV... | ||
| Davegess |
I agree with Matt. The overtaking rider is the one responsible for the pass. The other is supposed to not do anything stupid and if possible give them room. In this case there was no room and Lorenzo should have waited. The red veil comes down and riders push too hard. | ||
| Simond |
Strange mistake for an otherwise pretty faultless season. It probably shows that he really didn't want to finish the year having won less races than Pedrosa. | ||
| Jaimec |
He had nothing to lose (he already had the title) and wanted to win. Odd thing for a professtional road racer to want, eh? Some photos of a VERY HAPPY looking Rossi entering the Yamaha offices floating around the internet today... | ||
| Bads1 |
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| Jaimec |
That's the one!! | ||
| Bads1 |
Haven't seen that smile in a couple years. | ||
| Trojan |
Great to see Rossi back on the Yamaha again, and best colour scheme of the year from them too never mind boring 'race bleu', I'd buy an R1 in this colour  Lorenzo's isn't too bad either  As for the test........just like the rest of the 2012 season it has been a bit of a let down after all the fuss. Rain has washed away all the media hype and Rossi has so far done just two laps very slowly before retiring to the garage to await better weather. Lorenzo and the other top guys haven't even ventured out yet (as of half way through the first morning). Yamaha look set to up sticks and move their entire test team to Aragon tomorrow in search of better weather, where they will be sharing the track with some of the WSB teams, which will make for interesting lap time comparisons if nothing else | ||
| Trojan |
The live timing screens at MotoGP.com showed that Bradley Smith was incredibly second fastest all morning, just 0.0018 seconds slower than Alvaro Bautista and in a time that was faster than riders managed in similar conditions for FP2 last week prior to the GP. To say this would be an amazing debut on a MotoGP bike would be an understatement (Bradley has NEVER ridden a MotoGP bike before today). However at lunch time his name and lap time suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the screens completely........ It transpires that the time was actually set by Loris Capirossi riding Smith's bike! maybe Loris retired too soon after all and perhaps Herve Poncheral will be having discussions with him later With just two hours left of day one nobody has gone faster than the early runner Bautistas and Bradl, an dmost of the top guys still haven't left the garage all morning. Casey (& Mrs) Stoner has been seen hanging around the paddock today though, signing autographs etc. I thought he said he was fed up with MotoGP and couldn't get out fast enough? | ||
| Jaimec |
Vale (or whomever maintains his Facebook page) uploaded a bunch of photos earlier. It's been awhile since he's looked that happy! You get the feeling he's been looking forward to this day ever since the announcement and a little rain wasn't going to spoil his fun. In other news, I hear Casey is already winning friends and influencing people in the Aussie V8 Supercar paddock... | ||
| Simond |
He had nothing to lose (he already had the title) and wanted to win. Odd thing for a professtional road racer to want, eh? ....certainly an odd way to achieve a win. That Yamaha colour scheme looks great. I hope they're keeping it for next year. | ||
| Jaimec |
Which one, Lorenzo's, or Rossi's?? By the way, I haven't heard of any rumors of sponsors following Rossi to Yamaha. Matt? Does the Euro press have any rumors? | ||
| Trojan |
By the way, I haven't heard of any rumors of sponsors following Rossi to Yamaha. Matt? Does the Euro press have any rumors? The only thing I heard a while ago was from Lin Jarvis, who said that Rossi's return was not linked to any money or new sponsors being brought to the team. However, Rossi is themost marketable rider ever, so I don't think Yamaha will suffer yet another year with no title sponsor with him on board Maybe Fiat will come back or the much rumoured Coco Cola link will happen after all. | ||
| Trojan |
The Yamaha attempt to avoid the rain by moving their test to Aragon (300 miles fom valencia) didn't work out Heavy rain hit Aragon whilst the forecast rain for Valencia didn't happen. Rossi did just one out lap and called it a day - no time registered and no testing done. Lorenzo went out and did 28 laps but crashed out unhurt before calling it a day and going home. Marquez was impressive a the 2nd day of the Valencia test, finishing just one second off the best time set by Pedrosa. I think he may be a thorn in Dani's side next year | ||
| Jaimec |
Looks like the rumors were true after all. Preziosi is out: http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/bernhard-go bmeier-general-manager-ducati-corse/ | ||
| Trojan |
I don't think a change of personnel will be enough to make the current configuration anywhere near competitive. It needs a complete engine & chassis redesign to catch Honda or Yamaha. A bit like re-arranging the lifeboats on the Titanic. It will just serve to keep the staff busy while the ship sinks ;( | ||
| M1combat |
"<sigh> After this week, it's a looooong boring spell for sports fans till the Spring. Nothing but Basketball and American football (aka: "Throw Ball") on TV..." You could try AMA Supercross... | ||
| Trojan |
Oh dear...Audi/Ducati must be wondering what next ignomy is on the way. The factory Ducati MotoGP team and WSBK team arrived at Jerez to join the test session yesterday, along with a large slice of the WSBK paddock. Some of the WSBK guys had two days of testing under their belts at the track already of course, but then MotoGP actually races at Jerez so should have plenty of data to start a test with. Nicky Hayden was fastest of the Ducati MotoGP contingent, although his times were considerably slower (7/10's) than those of Eugene Laverty on the WSB Aprilia and Tom Sykes on the WSB Kawasaki. Haydens time was only fractionally slower than his qualifying time at the GP this year, so wasn't affected by track conditions etc, just slow. The rest of the Ducati MotoGP riders were much slower, with Dovi being slowest rider of all due to a pain in the neck apparently (I wonder how much of the pain is due to regret!). Carlos Checa meanwhile, on the new WSB Panigale was a huge 3 seconds slower than the quickest of the WSB testers, and only faster than his team mate, and Chaz Davies who was on his first proper ride on the BMW. I know that they don't share tyres bwteen WSB and MotoGP, but you would expect a MotoGP test to be quicker at a track they actually race at than the WSB troop. Ducati seem to have a long uphill slog to even get competitive in MotoGP, let alone win races. Testing continues today (Thursday) and I would expect the BMW riders to get faster, and maybe the MotoGP boys to hopefully put some distance betwen them and the WSB riders (ha ha). Pos No. Rider Bike Series Time Diff Previous 1 58 Eugene Laverty Aprilia WSBK 1:40.185 2 66 Tom Sykes Kawasaki WSBK 1:40.400 0.215 0.215 3 69 Nicky Hayden Ducati MotoGP 1:40.855 0.670 0.455 4 84 Michel Fabrizio Aprilia WSBK 1:40.956 0.771 0.101 5 50 Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia WSBK 1:41.239 1.054 0.283 6 76 Loris Baz Kawasaki WSBK 1:41.500 1.315 0.261 7 51 Michele Pirro Ducati MotoGP 1:41.720 1.535 0.220 8 33 Marco Melandri BMW WSBK 1:41.800 1.615 0.080 9 29 Andrea Iannone Ducati MotoGP 1:41.834 1.649 0.034 10 66 Alex Hofmann Aprilia WSBK 1:42.103 1.918 0.269 11 7 Hiroshi Aoyama FTR Kawasaki MotoGP 1:42.509 2.324 0.406 12 8 Hector Barbera FTR Kawasaki MotoGP 1:42.900 2.715 0.391 13 7 Carlos Checa Ducati WSBK 1:43.089 2.904 0.189 14 19 Chaz Davies BMW WSBK 1:43.400 3.215 0.311 15 86 Ayrton Badovini Ducati WSBK 1:45.452 5.267 2.052 16 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati MotoGP 1:48.516 8.331 3.064 | ||
| Jaimec |
YIKES!! | ||
| Trojan |
Nicky managed to salvage some respect for Ducati on day two by going fastest of all with a time of 1.40.090. However this is still only a few hundredths faster than Laverty and Sykes managed (they went home yesterday so were not at the test when Nicky set the fastest time). The rest of the Ducati MotoGP riders were all still slower than the top WSB guys, although Ianone improved a lot to 1.40.989. Without any Hondas or Yamaha MotoGP bikes at the test it is difficult to say if Ducati have made any improvement, but it is telling that Hayden set his fastest time on the GP12 bike he finished this season on, not the new 'improved' GP13 that he will race next year Hayden has now returned to the US so will take no further part in the test which finishes today (Friday). Dovizioso looks like being a wash out and hasn't done more than two laps because of his neck injury, so I am surprised that Nicky decided to call it a day in those circumstances, as the test team will be undermanned and under pressure now. Checa improved on the Panigale to 1.41.8 but is still over a second behind Laverty/Sykes, so they have plenty of work to do. Checa has apparently complained about lack of front end feel on the new 'frameless' Panigale....sound familiar? There will be some long winter hours worked at Ducati Corse methinks.... | ||
| Jaimec |
http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/moto-2012s- biggest-disappointment-spies-nightmare-season/ | ||
| Jaimec |
Another interesting read (and why I find watching Lorenzo in full race mode so fascinating): http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/motogp-leg- wave-explained/ | ||
| Xb1125r |
i wonder what is Stoner up to. Guess Rossi will have a chance to finish in top 3 now, with no Stoner,lol | ||
| Trojan |
i wonder what is Stoner up to Stoner has taken his whinging adn moaning to Australian V8 racing and may race in the support class next year. he has already upset some regular drivers in that series with his comments, so he may move on but doesn't seem to change  Rossi would be more than capable of top 3 finishes on the Yamaha with or without Stoner present, as he proved last time he rode it | ||
| Xb1125r |
lol, I respect the love you have for Rossi, no matter how over he is. So I guess Stoner will be racing cars which is the other thing Rossi attempted and failed! |
