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

Although I don't think he'll runaway with it like MM did last year, I think he'll be giving it his all and definitely be in the top 3 again, if not #1. Based on how its been going in the last few testing/practices, seems like it will be a bit more crowded up front!

 

For MM to pass 20 riders, thats unheard of.....some splitting between two bikes on a turn no less.....he was definitely on a mission. .....glad for Rossi, showin the kids how its done

 

That was very impressive. Did you see the WSBK bike about 5 years ago when Max Biaggi ran off and went from last to win the race? Sick.

 

Pedrosa did that one year as well. Lorenzo crashed out, giving Pedrosa the win, but he started from pit lane. This was the era when Casey was riding on Honda. I want to say it was near the end of 2011.

 

Yeah he was on a mission all right, looking to get someone hurt badly... It's lucky the only casualty was Bautista's brake line.

I like MM's determination, but he was riding with a sheer lack of respect for everyone out there except himself. He rode the wheels off of the bike through the traffic and then gave up when the only person who could go down was him.

 

I'm curious about that, MM came in on Bautista's left side, and similar to what happened to MM himself, Bautista stood his bike up, it didn't look like there was contact. If there was contact, is the left side where the brake lines are on the Aprilia? I can't seem to find anything about any penalty toward MM or any post race interview with Bautista.

 

Aside from Gator, I hope you dudes don't have the idea that motorcycle racing is all gentlemanly and cordial. That shit went oot in WWI.

 

Mid pack racing, Bautista left a gap, Marquez exploited that gap....even Bautista said he wasn't expecting anyone to be there when he ran slightly wide and pulled back down to make the corner and got stood up. That is why having the softer tire for qualifying is definitely an advantage, gets you out of the mid pack bumping and grinding at the start. It makes for a great show when you put guys in the mix that shouldn't be where they end up after qualifying.

Ask yourself this...how many guys has Bautista torpedoed over the last three years...and I do mean torpedoed. If you have poor recollection, just ask Rossi....

 

I do not think that it's all peaches and daisy's and I'm actually surprised more contact doesn't happen. To me its all part of racing.

I'm not questioning what MM did or how he went about it, I thought it was a perfectly acceptable move, it just didn't look like they made contact. So I was curious as to how Bautista made the claim that MM took him out of the race. As far as Bautista, I've heard a few call him the "Wrecking Bau"

I did find a little more out from crash.net. Here is Bautista's version...
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/217125/1/bautista-marquezs-pass-was-too-risky.html

and here is MM's...
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/217090/1/marquez-outcome-is-difficult-to-accept.html

 

Sorry OOTV, totally my bad! I should have made it clear that a lot of that post wasn't a response to you, but a response to iamzombie...I wanted to let you know what I had heard (video) from Bautista, because you were curious...I was too, rofl. The second part was for iamzombie, it is fairly obvious who's in who's camp when it comes to the riders. Marquez can be a polarizing figure....especially when he is making your favorite rider look silly week in and week out.

 

Really surprised nobody has mentioned the Johan Zarco adventure on the front straight of the Moto 2 race.....now that was sketchy

 

Marquez did the same thing at the 2012 Moto2 Round at Motegi, except he forgot to put the bike in gear prior to the start and was lucky not to get blasted by the pack.....and that race included a few of the guys that were in yesterday's race.....I was lucky to see that one live and it too was an impressive ride by the champ.

 

To answer the questions about tires and fuel:

"The Qatar race also laid to rest any notion that Ducati might let up if they found themselves getting close to a good result, and at risk of losing their concessions. The two podiums today put the total to three, meaning that Ducati will lose 2 liters of fuel, their allowance cut from 24 to 22 for both the factory Ducati team, and for Pramac Ducati. (Not for the Avintia team, however, they run under the Open rules, and so are not affected). That will not make much difference, as Ducati have been racing with 22 liters of fuel since the beginning of last year. They never really needed 24 liters.

Ironically, fuel may have helped play a part in Ducati's success at Qatar, albeit a very minor one. The Qatar circuit is one of the heaviest for fuel consumption, and the long straight from a low gear consumes a lot of fuel. The Hondas and Yamahas sometimes have to cut power ever so slightly to ensure they can make the race with just 20 liters of fuel. Ducati do not need to do that, and so can use more power to the end of the race. You get the sneaking suspicion that Rossi took advantage of the Ducatis for part of the race, staying in their slipstream down the straight. One way of conserving fuel is to use the great big hole in the air being created by the bike in front of you.

Three more dry wins, and Ducati lose the soft rear tire, but even that will not put much of a dent in their performance. The real benefit which Ducati have had from the concessions granted to them has come from the unlimited testing, and not being subject to the engine freeze. That is what has allowed them to make so much progress all throughout last year, and what will allow them to refine their bike throughout this year. Ducati cannot lose those concessions this year, though they may be subject to an engine freeze if they win enough races this year.

The concessions for Ducati – now applied to Suzuki and Aprilia – were vital. Without them, Ducati would not have been able to develop the Desmosedici fast enough, and become competitive before the patience of Philip Morris ran out. If Ducati had not be granted concessions, they would no longer be in MotoGP."

https://motomatters.com/analysis/2015/03/30/2015_qatar_motogp_sunday_round_up_the_un.html

 

"That left Zarco free to cruise home at leisure, maintaining the pace he needed to hold his lead and keep his focus. It was all going swimmingly until lap 17, when a bolt on his gear lever worked its way loose, leaving the Frenchman stuck in third gear. He noticed the problem coming onto the main straight, and understandably, though unwisely, looked down to try to spot the problem and potentially fix it. In doing so, he nearly created a worse disaster, the bike veering right as he fiddled with his gear lever. It was only when he hit the grass just a foot or so away from the pit wall that he noticed, and barely saved himself from hitting the wall. He could not fix the problem while still riding the bike, and quickly dropped down the field. At least he salvaged some points, crossing the line in eighth."

Same site/story as above.

Yeah, I almost couldn't believe he didn't hit the wall. It's like when I'm trying to light a cigar in my sports car; only I'm not going that fast, on a bike, in a race; but otherwise it's the same... :congratulatory:

 

AND April 12th, ALL 3 series (MotoGP, MotoAmerica, WSBK) will be racing; gonna have to clean off my DVR!

 

The fuel issue died yesterday with two Ducati's on the box.....the tire thing probably won't go away as quickly, if at all, this year.....there is no denying they used the tire to put themselves further up the grid than they would have without it.....look at Yonny Hernandez as a good example. The soft tire is worth .4 - .5 for 1 or 2 laps according to most of the crew chiefs and the riders. I still believe the Andrea's would have been within a couple spots of where they ended up, as the Yamaha's didn't qualify very well. Hernandez is another story.

The biggest advantage that Ducati currently has is in engine allocation and testing, at least IMHO. Ongoing development during the season is what wins championships.

 

Interestingly, it may be MM who is to blame, at least partially for the old Ducs being up where they were. He has continued a tactic from last year, timing his qualifying runs to pull the Ducs (now only the old ones) around in his tow. This is a strategy to put "dead wood" between him and some of his competitors, which takes them several laps to get by, especially while the soft tire is still good; allowing MM to get away or at least a bigger lead before the others catch back up, and they also use a lot of their tires to do so.

Didn't work out so well for him yesterday though... It'll be interesting to see if he continues that tactic.

 

For the same reason that quarterbacks in football and pitchers in baseball and the umbrella girls with the biggest tits get most of the attention.

 

The replay of what happened in super slow motion tells a better story of how the whole Marquez thing transpired.

Thanks for deleting the holy walls of text from Motomatters.com. Was starting to wonder if your keyboard looked like this:

 

I hear there's a bracket made for one of those C&P gadgets that can be bolted to a recliner and operated with one's toes so as to free up one's hands for the Jo-Jo's and beers.