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

Excellent second SBK race. New 60" UHD 4K with surround system made it great. The few onboard shots were sweet, cranked that shit up!...can't wait to stream MotoGP next weekend.

 

Excellent racing! Sykes really got aggressive and had some tire left at the end of both races. PJ got roughed up a bit in Supersport 1 but still raced well. Chaz had better keep it shiny side up.....

 

Yah, great freekin racing...surprised how well the Hondas did, except for Nicky's DNF..go figure, electrical
Sykes did some MAJOR blocking of Rea....now time to watch supersport.

 

Bummer, PJ just took it two wide with what, 2 laps ta go.....that Hondas got some legs though.....I'll be cheering for him all season....up and coming champion fer sure

 

I want ta see some epic Wolverine wheelies. No one ever does them anymore

 

Yeah he did some major blockage, you could tell that Johnny was pretty pissed but he's been quite the diplomat days.

 

Qatar Rnd. 1 ****SPOILER****
Rider Notes - Press Conference

So, the first press conference of the season, the first time Rossi and Marquez have been in the same room since you know what .... The incident that we dare not speak its name was diplomatically avoided by all concerned, ie Valentino and Marc. Were they respecting the new FIM/Dorna edict that no-one must make statements prejudicial to the sport? Well, as none of the riders present knew anything about the changes in disciplinary procedure or the penalty point system apparently not. On behalf of his riders, Lin Jarvis told me that the meeting is tomorrow...

There were a couple of coded references to each other, delivered in a controlled manner in a good tempered event. After all, both men had resumed hostilities with newspaper interviews last week, repeating the old accusations. This time, Rossi, flattered by a comparison with the Senna-Prost battles in Formula 1, smiled sweetly and said 'nothing special will happen.' Marquez, trying hard to smile, noted that 'I have twenty opponents in MotoGP.' Both comments translate roughly from Racer Speak to mean "He is nothing to me."

It is worth noting that the pair did not interact at all.

Unusually, Valentino turned up first and waited til Maverick Vinales and Andrea Iannone arrived before taking his seat. Pedrosa arrived next with Marc, who immediately started chatting to Iannone to avoid acknowledging the bloke on on his other side. As befits the champion, Jorge Lorenzo arrived fashionably late.

Away from the bad blood, there was general agreement on the profound changes that we will only start to understand when racing begins. The Michelins will not tolerate the sort of early-lap pressure the Bridgestones did, thus tactics and riding styles will have to change. The electronics—"A little bit more basic", Valentino Rossi—will also make life very different—"Much more difficult to control, especially with the throttle", Jorge Lorenzo.

Interestingly, both Repsol Honda riders agreed that they are on the back foot compared to the opposition. Marquez noticed that a bad weekend previously meant finishing fourth of fifth, this year it could easily mean seventh or eighth. Andrea Iannone said the situation reminds him of the first Moto2 race, which he was in here at Qatar, when the unheralded Shoya Tomizawa won. Remember the first ever MotoGP race? That had a wild card on the rostrum, on a Suzuki fitted with Dunlops. I'm not saying things could get that weird, but we can expect a few random events as the factories amass the data they need to impose order—probably after the first test, which happens post-Jerez.

I'm not saying we're going to get something as heroically random as that, but the Suzuki's (well, Maverick) and satellite Ducatis look primed for good results. And the riders? Well by tomorrow they'll probably know the rule changes. When asked about the organisers' intention to stifle anyone saying something deemed prejudicial to the sport, the same bunch broadly agreed.

 

Watch out for Iannone, expect lots of podiums. Hopefully Pedrobot will continue on like he did at the end of last season

 

Riders in the MotoGP™ World Championship completed their first official practice session of 2016 with Lorenzo ahead of Rossi and Iannone.
Due to the Losail International Circuit’s location, the first sessions of the day are frequently hindered by a dirty track as a result of sanding blowing over the circuit. Fortunately for riders in the MotoGP™ World Championship, the Moto2™ and Moto3™ class riders did most of the work to prepare the track during their first sessions. However, the junior classes also have a different tyre supplier, thus leaving a different rubber on the track surface that in the past has changed grip levels.

During the Qatar Test, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) had set a best time of 1’54.810, but riders were aware this would be an ambitious time due to rain between the test and FP1 changing the track significantly. The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion pushed from the start of the session, stringing together fastest lap after fastest lap in the first ten minutes. A best time of 1’55.440 on his 15th lap saw Lorenzo lead the way.

With a total of 17 laps in the first practice session, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was able to work his way to second. A lap of 1’55.707 put him 0.267s back on his teammate as the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team asserted themselves over the rest of the field. Both Rossi and Lorenzo looked comfortable throughout testing and have continued their rapid pace into the race weekend.

Try as he might, Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) who set a 1’55.736, was unable to get within a quarter of a second of Lorenzo. Iannone’s MotoGP™ podium debut came here in Qatar in 2015, many are expecting the Ducati man to be in contention for victory at the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar, the long straight playing to the strength of the new Ducati.

Another impressive Ducati was the Avintia Racing Ducati GP14.2 of Hector Barbera, the Spaniard clearly benefitting from the more level field created with the introduction of the spec ECU and unified software. Barbera, known for his ability to produce a single flying lap, ending fourth with a 1’55.810.

The final rider in the 1’55s was Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar), the young Spaniard over a second faster than his teammate Aleix Espargaro who was 16th. While Espargaro has the fully seamless gearbox, Viñales is still undecided over which to use and is hoping to make a decision before the race.

After several difficult tests, Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) turned his fortunes around and was able to finish sixth, and ahead of both the factory Honda machines in FP1. The Spaniard set a 1’56.051 while his teammate, Bradley Smith, ended down in 11th. Smith also suffered a crash at Turn 13, the Brit unhurt in the fall but forced to end his session early.

Teams were able to make several adjustments between the Qatar Test and Free Practice 1, the Repsol Honda Team bringing a larger set of winglets for the opening round. Dani Pedrosa led the Repsol Honda Team charge in seventh, no Honda machines inside the top five as they continue to struggle with the RC213V, especially in Qatar. Marc Marquez was 0.160s back on his teammate, ending the session eighth and 0.810s back on Lorenzo’s time.

Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) finished the session in tenth and led a trio of British riders with Smith and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) just behind.

Unable to emulate the speed of his teammate, Loris Baz (Avintia Ducati) finished the first day of MotoGP™ practice in 13th but only 1.343s off Lorenzo’s time.

Having worked hard to improve his fitness over the off-season, a lighter than ever Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) was able to improve on his best time from testing almost immediately. The Australian managed a1’54.939 to end the session 14th, a decent result given his still healing leg. Tito Rabat was down in a disappointing 20th and almost a full second slower than his Australian teammate.

Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) was also out on track for the first time since breaking his hand at the Phillip Island Test. He was able to complete 17 laps, but wasn’t as competitive as he had been during the Sepang and Phillip Island Tests as he ended 15th.

Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) led the charge for the new RS-GP in 17th while teammate Stefan Bradl ended the day down in 21st. Both riders are aware that it will be a difficult year and are treating this first round as an extended test session.

The Aspar Team MotoGP duo of Yonny Hernandez and Eugene Laverty were 18th and 19th respectively.

Full times and sector breakdowns can be viewed here.

MotoGP™ are back on track at 18:00 Local Time on Friday the 18th of March for FP2.

 

http://www.sportrider.com/motogp-andrea-iannone-steals-top-spot-in-final-moments

 

Danny Eslick charges reduced from Felony to Misdemeanor!

http://www.cyclenews.com/2016/03/article/charges-reduced-for-danny-eslick/

 

MotoGP; "The more things change, the more things remain the same..."

 

Well Crazy Joe was looking great on the Duc until his front tire touched the rumble strip and washed on him. Not sure about these new tires. I thought the race was boring for the most part, everyone looking very tentative. WSBK is SO much better.

 

It seems like these tires work well for JL, at least for the most part. He's the only rider that appears to be able to go fast right out of the box. He did have a little stumble on one of his qualifying laps but otherwise seemed unaffected by the tire change.

I really thought that Ducati was going to make it hard for JL and that MM and VR would have to duke it out for 4th, how that would have played out in the media would have been interesting to see. I also though Maverick was going to be up there but both he and MM blew their start.

I will also agree with you that WSBK does seem to have better action but there too seems to be a common theme at the front...Johnny Rae!

 

The Moto2 race was interesting...with 7 out of the first 9 riders getting a ride through or 20 second penalty for jumping the start. Moto3, awesome as usual.

 

I don't know if it was the tires or his smooth riding style, but JL didn't seem to have any problems, even at the end of the race. Didn't he set a new lap record with only a couple laps to go?

 

I think JL did set a record. And on the soft rear.

 

EBR press event from 650ib https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJdCmgxyaqU

 

The MotoGP in Qatar has to be the more boring 'race' I've seen, I only watched it to see if it was going to be better than last year .... it wasn't :tyrannosaurus:

Compared to the action in the WSB it was piss poor

 

I have to agree John, GP sure is boring in comparison. Last year in GP there were some good races but compared to world super bike it's not even close.