| Author | Message | ||
     Rocket_in_uk |
the results are the results. shoulda, woulda, and coulda have no bearing. You say that but here's a thing. We have a weekend of practice and qualifying, and a race, all affected by weather. It's decided the race be split into two using two bikes on different tyres. The result of the race which this stupid arrangement threw up is not in keeping with what should be a flag to flag race. It's not beyond imagination to assume the organisers of this last minute ruling in how the race would be run did so in the hope it would throw a curve ball into the equation in an effort to keep the title hunt alive and the TV audiences glued for obvious reasons. If so it certainly worked. The reality remains, an intervention changed the course of the championship for three races and likely placed three race wins in the hands of the wrong racer. As far as I'm concerned as an enthusiast of the sport, it does the sport, the fans, and the participants, no justice when the blatant involvement of outside forces alters the course of what should have been. Rocket in England | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Marquez is just lucky he's still young with flexible bones. If Pedrosa crashed as often as he did this season, he'd be out of racing by now. Same holds true for Lorenzo and DEFINITELY for Rossi. Dramatic words but it's more likely the opposite be true for all of the racers you mention, AND THE ONES YOU DON'T. Racers fall off and get back on much more often than they do fall off and break bones or injure themselves enough to put them out of a race or even a job. Rocket in England | ||
| 46champ |
The only way to get the fuel limits removed or toned down is if Yamaha will let their bikes run out of gas about a lap or so from the end while in the lead. | ||
| Trojan |
The only way to get the fuel limits removed or toned down is if Yamaha will let their bikes run out of gas about a lap or so from the end while in the lead. That has already happened a coupple of times (althugh not in ther lead). Cal Crutchlow ran out of fuel in thrid place in Japan last year on the penultimate lap, and Rossi has run out a few times on the slow down lap (and hence been forced to run slow/lean for the last few laps of the race). It needs Honda to move their position and relinquish the stupid fuel limits, not Yamaha. Honda are the prime movers in the technology watr because they have the biggest resources and think that they will win any war on that front. The FIM/DORNA need to take control of the ruloe book away from Honda and make a set of rules that EVERYBODY can play by, not just the big factories. That means running all bikes in the Open rules with spec ECU's , limited electronics and more fuel allowance. Until then it will still be Honda's show, and the more bikes they put on the grid the more of a strangle hold they have on the series  | ||
| Xb1125r |
all this talk is making me sleepy | ||
| Xb1125r |
happy thanksgiving boys and eat a lot | ||
| 46champ |
Matt the reason I said Yamaha is so the watching public will get pissed at what the spectacle has become. Then maybe Dorna will take away the rule book from Honda but they will have to do it with emergency dictatorial powers to save the series, because the evil empire is not going to give it up with out a fight. | ||
| Jaimec |
I'm just wondering (and HOPING) what'll happen if Hayden and Redding are fighting for podiums on the customer bikes, what Honda will end up doing? | ||
| Jaimec |
http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/motogp/valentino-r ossi-retirement-mugello-2014/ | ||
| Jaimec |
Maybe I can find myself warming to the little guy now: http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2013/11/dani-pedros a-distances-himself-from-alberto-puig/ Then again, he still rides for Honda... | ||
| Trojan |
I'm just wondering (and HOPING) what'll happen if Hayden and Redding are fighting for podiums on the customer bikes, what Honda will end up doing? I really can't see that happening nest year based on the pretty poor testing times the customer Hondas put up at Jerez. I know it was a first test and Redding was still pretty badly hurt, but none of the riders did anything near the times that Honda were kind of promising, and the DORNA supplied software seems to be the culprit. If that is the case then it won't matter how good the riders is becaue thebike will always be limited by the software supplied. Also, Honda will certainly never ever sell a bike they thought capable of beating their multi million dollar factory team under normal racing circumstances (maybe of the top 7 all fell off though?). I don't think we will see any surprising results this season, and the new Hondas will just replace the leading CRT bikes and may squeeze into the top 5 once in a while at the right tracks and with some luck. I think the customer Yamaha may be better, although they also seem to have software issues at the moment so it will be interesting to compare the two bikes. One thing is for sure, Marc Marquez won't be losing any sleep over being beaten by Hayden or Redding next year. | ||
| Gaesati |
Dorianno Romboni killed. What a sad loss. | ||
| Jaimec |
DORNA has several months to sort out the electronics on those things, Matt. I'm sure they don't want to see these guys dicing at the back of the pack either. One article I'd read months ago said the Honda and Yamaha "customer deals" offered the worst of each. Yamaha gives their customers a factory-spec M1 engine... however the M1 is known for its HANDLING, NOT its engine. Honda gives their customers a dumbed-down engine inside a factory-spec frame... but the Honda is known for its ENGINE, not its handling. At least for this year Forward gets a Yamaha-built frame and swing arm... but next year they're going to need to provide their own frame. | ||
| Trojan |
At least for this year Forward gets a Yamaha-built frame and swing arm... but next year they're going to need to provide their own frame. Yes but.....FTR have all year to copy the M1 frame and produce their own version next year. I'd be willing to bet that the 2015 FTR frame will be almost indistinguishable from the Yamaha item. I suppose with the Honda deal you at least get to keep the bike at the end of the contract (although what do you do with an out of date GP bike?). Dorianno Romboni killed. What a sad loss A very sad loss, and especially sadly ironic that he gets killed in an accident so similar to to Marco Simoncelli fatal crash while taking part in a Simoncelli rememberance event I hope that the Simoncelli family were not there to witness it (Message edited by trojan on December 02, 2013) | ||
| Jaimec |
By the way, I see Ducati is also selling "Customer Bikes" but I know NOTHING about them. Other than the fuel limits and the ECU, what is the difference between the factory Ducatis and the customer Ducatis? | ||
| Trojan |
what is the difference between the factory Ducatis and the customer Ducatis? From what I have heard, the 'non factory' or Open class Ducati will be simly a 2013 bike fitted with DORNA ECU and software and a bigger fuel tank. Nothing different adn nothing competitive unfortunately, which probably explians the lack of people fighting to buy/lease/borrow one for next year. I don't know of any teams running one of the 'customer' Ducatis except Pramac, who will run one 'factory' bike for Iannone and one 'Open' bike for Yonny Hernandez. I think only Ioda and Avintia are yet to decide which bikes they will run next year, and I woudl doubt either team would consider the Ducati as their best option unless there are substantial financial benefits from Ducati to sweeten the deal. Paul Bird is hanging out for the official ART franchise and bikes that Aspar dumped at the end of the 2013 season, and he says that if he doesn't get it then he will pack his toys up and go back to BSB.....we'll see  | ||
| Jaimec |
The Yamaha would be a "dark horse" as it appears NO ONE has built a frame for the engine yet... Only Honda and Ducati are making complete bikes available, and the Ducatis are "Hand-me downs." | ||
| Jaimec |
Well, if Dani wins the title next year, it'll be obvious it was Spooge who was holding him back all this time. http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Dec/111203puig toasia.htm | ||
| Jaimec |
To paraphrase a classic "Saturday Night Live" character, "Racing been berry berry good to him!" | ||
| Jaimec |
Learn something new every day! During the racing season, Lorenzo keeps his hair very very short; I guess as a means of avoiding "Helmet Head." But when he lets it grow out, it's as curly as Rossi's!  Ironic, because when Lorenzo first joined the team, Rossi shaved his head to match Lorenzo's look. | ||
| Firstbuell |
ha! Dave Estok, a vet AMA Pro Buell competitor, gets is right: ".....I named these two after racers who deserve the title. Let me introduce everyone to Mladin & Stoner, the asses....." http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/pets-not-reall y-named-after-famous-motorcycle-road-racers-wrap-u p-the-animal-feature-part-82-a-dog-a-couple-of-don keys-/ | ||
| Jaimec |
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| Trojan |
Yahoooo, they are back  1st day testing at Sepang has finished and nothing much has changed to be honest. Marquez is half a second faster than everyone else (and was a lot further ahead than that most of the day), Rossi looks fast in second place and Ducatis all look absolutely hopeless again. In the Open class the FTR/Yamaha or Aleix Espargo has already taken a few factory scapls in 7th place ahead of both Tech 3 riders. None of the cutomer Hondas look particularly impressive, with Nicky Hayden being the fastest of them in 17th place. So much for Hondas assertion that they are ony .7 under the factory bikes in testing! I wonder if they have a money back guarantee? 1 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team 2:00.286 2 ROSSI, Valentino Yamaha Factory Racing 2:00.804 3 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda Team 2:00.906 4 LORENZO, Jorge Yamaha Factory Racing 2:01.082 5 BAUTISTA, Alvaro GO&FUN Honda Gresini 2:01.240 6 BRADL, Stefan LCR Honda MotoGP 2:01.320 7 ESPARGARO, Aleix NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:01.419 8 IANNONE, Andrea Pramac Racing 2:01.538 9 ESPARGARO, Pol Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.634 10 SMITH, Bradley Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.876 11 EDWARDS, Colin NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:02.483 12 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team 2:02.497 13 PIRRO, Michele Ducati Test Team 2:02.552 14 CRUTCHLOW, Cal Ducati Team 2:02.860 15 HERNANDEZ, Yonny Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 2:02.891 16 NAKASUGA, Katsuyuki Yamaha Factory Test Team 2:03.126 17 HAYDEN, Nicky Drive M7 Aspar 2:03.319 18 AOYAMA, Hiroshi Drive M7 Aspar 2:03.328 19 DE PUNIET, Randy Suzuki Test Team 2:03.893 20 AKIYOSHI, Kosuke HRC Test Team 2:04.267 21 REDDING, Scott GO&FUN Honda Gresini 2:04.431 22 BARBERA, Hector Avintia Racing 2:04.922 23 DI MEGLIO, Mike Avintia Racing 2:05.825 24 PARKES, Broc Paul Bird Motorport 2:05.889 25 LAVERTY, Michael Paul Bird Motorsport 2:06.070 26 ABRAHAM, Karel Cardion AB Motoracing 2:06.755 | ||
| Jaimec |
Not ALL of the Ducatis. Check out "Crazy Joe" in the Top 10. | ||
| Trojan |
We really don't know anyone's testing strategy yet, so overall times should really be taken with a large pinch of salt in terms of inter team performance at least. We know that the factory Honda/Yamahas will be at the top of the pile but we don't know for instance whether Iannone has a full spec factory or Opne spec Ducati yet. Crutchlow has said that he fully expected to be riding the same bike as he tested at Valencia last year in order to establish a base line for any 'improvements' they may have to test tomorrow, so hopefully we will see improvements in time from him and Dovi before the end of the week. Bradley Smith spent the whole day testing different electronics strategies just to get back to the feeling he had with the biek at the end of season test, so no attempt was made for a fast time (allegedly) and not much comparison can be made between him and Pol as we don't know what Pol was testing or how hard he waas trying (they were both very close on times though all the same). Both Colin Edwards and Michael laverty lost a lot of time with mechanical gremlins, so CE's time is more impressive for that. I am still very surprised that none of the customer Hondas are closer to the front, but maybe they are taking it slowly and we'll see what they are capable of on Thursday. | ||
| Amafan |
The customer Honda is way down on top Speed,it is very similar to the 2007 800 bike,no pnaulmic(spelling)valves,HRC went cheap,handels great but slow. | ||
| Trojan |
HRC went cheap,handels great but slow The problem though is that they sold this to the teams on it being only a fraction of a second slower than the factory bike around Motegi (allegedly with Stoner on board). This is patently untrue as nobody on the new customer bike had got within 5 seconds of the front today, let alone 0.7 seconds as Honda promised. I'll bet Aspar will be wishing they had kept the Aprilia deal now (and then they wouldn't be lumbered with Honda favourite but pretty useless Aoyama either) | ||
| Simond |
Reminds me of the story of a March customer complaining about the speed of his F1 car. They wheeled Ronnie Peterson out to demonstrate that it wasn't the car that was the problem......... It would be entertaining (for a neutral observer at least) if Honda tried the same. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
To true Simon..... (allegedly with Stoner on board) Simple. Invite the miserable (if he is worth 5 sec) current back  Rocket in England | ||
| Trojan |
Invite the miserable (if he is worth 5 sec) current back Acually, they don't even need to do that. They have Marc Marquez sitting in the garage in Sepang already. Send hinm out for a few laps on the new bike and see if he is any quicker on it. Yamaha have definitely outfoxed Honda this year on the 'cheap' customer bikes. It will be interesting to see if Honda respond or make excuses to withdraw from MotoGP as they have threatened to. |
