Anyone else talking RACING?! <--- of the motorcycle type

1 Stoner
2 Pie Guy
3 Jorge
4 Marco
5 Dovi
6 Rossi

Just a hunch but Danny boy is gonna crash out

 

Hopkins would have been my last choice to ride the zukie

 

If they did, they should have done it earlier; as Johnny Boy can't get back to Doha in time... But, for at least Jerez he's the man...

 

I'll go:

1 Stoner
2 Pedrosa
3 Spies
4 Lorenzo
5 Rossi

Though if Rossi can manage it, he will try to invert 4 & 5; Like Michigan vs. Ohio State, if you can't win the championship, at least beat your hated rival....

 

Rossi will have to be the beneficiary of retirements to make it into the top 5.

Stoner
Pedrosa
Spies
Lorenzo
Davizioso
Simoncelli
Aoyama
Edwards
Crutchlow
Rossi

...

 

Was a good race. Surprised Lorenzo could impact the 4 Honda factory boys; also surprised at Spies' lower place than expected. Looking forward to how the season unfolds.

The Duc that Casey won on, is not the Duc Rossi/Hayden are riding and Casey always goes well in Doha.

Not to take anything away from Stoner; he's a great rider, and will be hard to beat, as will all the Honda riders, with no small help from their new super-trick transmissions...

Honda asked for the 800cc format, so they have pulled out all the stops to try to win the final 800 season.

Great race, looking forward to the next round. WSBK next weekend!

 

I'm not so sure the HRC transmission was as big a help for Stoner as some are making out; he owns Losail regardless of which machine he's piloting. As the season progresses, I'm sure that the "zero shift" will be the difference maker in a handful of races. However, it's a spec class with prototype machines, and the manufacturer with the technological advantage usually does win. As it has always been, the manufacturers that have been caught out will just have to catch up. In the meantime, the riders still have to ride, and they still have to finish.

I thought everything going on behind Stoner was very entertaining: the back and forth between Pedrosa/Lorenzo and Spies/Rossi were definitely worth the watch. I suspect it's going to be one of the better years in recent memory, especially if you're an HRC fan. Based on todays effort, Lorenzo may make it more interesting than I originally thought. Also, I'm going to have to start giving Simoncelli some more consideration, obviously.

 

"So at this point, Rossi is riding fundamentally the same bike that Casey got off of... Now, having watched Rossi for his entire career in the big leagues, I have a sneaky suspicion that he may just be doing that, out of pride. I think Rossi has been stung by the criticism that Duc would change the bike for him, and "poor Casey" could never get Duc to listen. I also think he wants to cement his place in history; if he tames the unruly beast that Casey & Nicky, two former world champs, have struggled so on, he'd come off looking even more super-human. I wouldn't put it past Rossi to even be sandbagging during these tests and using his shoulder as an excuse.

So, if it all goes badly early on, he can say "my shoulder hasn't healed enough, and we didn't get enough testing.", then put in the new parts during mid-season testing, and try to salvage the season. If it goes better than expected, he comes off looking like a God... No lose proposition."

Awesome, but not really. :doh:


.....

 

Blah blah blah Rossi this Rossi that, in the meantime Stoner is toying with the front runners and gapping whenever he feels like it. Oh no, he has a magic gearbox.....pfffffftt, Give it a rest.... If you hang around long enough, someone catches up to you, and passes you, even if its lasts years rookie now on a factory bike. Someone has a lot of work to do. I wont say it cannot be done, but judging by what has happened so far, they better get on the stick over there on Ducati island.

 

I'm sure Yamaha will have that tranny copied within the next few months

 

I thought Yamaha already had a pretty decent tranny in Lorenzo.

 

The Laps around 12 between Stoner and Pedrobot was also excellent viewing before Casey finally passed with a good bye. Agree this years MotoGP looks to be great one especially once JB sorts out the obviously wobbly at 10/10ths Ducati Chassis for Rossi.

 

Nope, I think it's clear; he set it up just like I said, he's the victim here; too many rights in Doha, too hard on the shoulder, etc., etc. We'll see, he'll start to "recover" about the time they get the bike sorted; if they don't, he'll still have "shoulder issues".

I'm buying just about everything your selling... You're absolutely right about the gearbox; that's what happens in prototype racing, and you're right, the rest just have to catch up.

No doubt about that.

There's an article specifically about that on Motomatters.com a week or so ago...

You have more faith in JB than I do. I know he's good, I think he is going to make good progress, but I don't know if he can completely fix it; may be too systemic. It may be more about doing what they can this year, and helping develop the 1000 for next year...

 

Im actually more interested in why Pedrosa dropped off the pace ......still hurting maybe

 

You may be right, JB will improve what he can on the Duc for 2011 at least enough for a couple of Podiums and concetrate on having a competitive package ready for 2012.

He is his clutch side arm had gotten too sore to continue at 10/10ths which he mentioned in the post ride interview, it was good how Pedrobot blamed his own race fitness for losing out to Lorenzo and not the Honda which appears to be close to perfect.

 

In fact, here it is: http://www.motomatters.com/news/2011/03/14/yamaha_working_on_quickshift_gearbox_to_.html

 

^^ A telling story from Yamaha. I believe that may have been code speak for, "we're a hell of a long way off". Or is it...

 

Josh Herrin suspended.......


.

 

For???????