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

Some great wild racing. Crazy trying to make sense of the boards when they started changing bikes in the rain. PJ......!! Crap! So close.

 

I think P.J. may be going places if he can learn to keep the bike under him.

 

Its official. JL to Ducati for 17 & 18.

 

Here is an article.

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/229559/1/jorge-lorenzo-joins-ducati.html

 

Wow! I didn't really think he would do it, but if he's successful on the Duc that will be something else to jab Vale in the ribs with.

 

Think the European riders have a hand up since they've been racing probably since 5.....
Nicky, think hes not goin balls to the wall just yet, learning tires and bike, at least he's up there with the lead pack and not down in the lower half of the field ala motogp.
Hes not that old yet, lots of talent and maybe Vandamark will set a renewed fire under his balls.....ya think the guys at Honda are a little excited?
Can't wait ta see if Honda comes to the party next year with something incredible.
Fingers crossed
Oh and just a mention on F1, fooking crazy.

 

No kidding. But, to be fair to Vale, those two years he was riding with Duc, they were telling him it was a problem with the rider, not the bike. Imagine the hubris involved in telling a nine time world champion he is wrong, yet not be willing to attempt the changes he was suggesting...

 

I agree. My humble layman's opinion while Valentino was on the Ducati was "If Rossi can't ride it, it must be a real pig." I still think if there was anyone who could get the most out of that bike it was Rossi. Lorenzo won't be riding the same Italian farm tractor they put under Rossi. He'll be getting the bike that came AFTER Audi dumped a ton of money at their feet and told them to win a championship. It will be fun to see how this plays out. Hopefully, Rossi will retire after next year to start his own team, and Yamaha will put Zarco or Rins on the Yammy with Vinales.

 

Very true. When Audi hired Gigi from Aprillia he changed a lot. The old Duc team was the problem.

 

And so the first piece of the puzzle falls into place.

Maverick might have made another PR mess for himself firing Aki Ajo as his manager and now that details of his contract with Suzuki have surfaced, he might not be able to ride for Yamaha next year after all. It will be interesting to see how that plays out, and if it does, where the money comes from.

I still think that Rinns will replace Bradley Smith at Tech3. I also think that Pol Espargaro is hanging by a thread and there is the potential that Zarco could possibly be the 2nd rider at Tech3. Zarco is French, just like Herve and Tech3...but I also think there is a possibility that Zarco could end up at KTM, due to his longstanding relationship with Aki Ajo and Ajo's relationship with KTM. Zarco at Suzuki has also been mentioned....but I personally don't get a strong feeling about that.

Pedrosa to Yamaha....hmmm....my gut tells me Danny might retire as a career Honda rider first. He would be a great one year rider if Maverick has to wait an additional year due to contract restrictions though. How bad does Repsol want another Spanish rider.......

So that leaves.....Pol and Aleix Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso, Andrea Ianonne in no man's land....I think that Aliex stays for one more year, I think Pol is out at Tech3 and who knows where he might end up. Dovizioso to Tech3 as a 2nd rider? or does Dovizioso stay and Iannone gets demoted to a to a customer ride? I think it's Iannone out before Dovi....unless Iannone starts to get on the podium more regularly without help from outside forces.

 

Or he gets on a machine that he doesn't have to over ride to stay at the front....More than capable of winning from the front, but seems to use up his tires before he gets to the finish doing so. He recently got on K Tech suspension, so maybe he will get things sorted so he can stay at the front without using up his tires. It's a shame after leading most of 2 complete races that he hasn't gotten a couple wins yet. The last couple of weekends have really hurt his championship.

 

Whore-gay to Ducati... My worst nightmare come true!

I love Ducati, but I hate Whore-gay... AND, if he does happen to win, at all, and God forbid a championship, many people will fail to understand the differences in the pre-Gigi and post-Gigi Ducait's; then those same uninitiated folks will be talking him up as some sort of super-rider, maybe even talking GOAT... And then I'll have to go postal and be an internet troll all over the place, trying to educate people on how it's not the same thing (because the bike's so much better), and they won't listen, and I'll just get madder...

Oh, my only hope would be that his super-smooth style won't translate well to the Duc, and whoever the second seat rider is actually does better than him, and then I can laugh to myself about the whole thing... Unfortunately, as much as I hate to say it, I think Whore-gay is too good a rider to let that happen, and I'm just going to have to get ready to plaster the internet with why it's not the same thing...

Oh well, at least I can dream, and I have a year to wait....

 

I can only assume from the lack of posts that you either haven't seen last weekends WSB .....excellent racing and strategies from the podium guys

 

I haven't. Need to find a way to stream it.

 

I saw them. Excellent racing as usual. Rea is on a roll again. Chaz lost more points.

 

I agree with you echo. One of the reasons I think Stoner was so good. No other rider could come close to what he did on that bike. 200 mph dirt bike riding.

 

I posted some of my thoughts about Nicky; that was specifically after this weekend's WSBK round. Additionally, some folks talked about the hard luck PJ is experiencing and hoping he gets his act together to start a serious season challenge.

Personally I'm a big Chaz fan, ever since he raced over here - I'm happy to see him doing well, but he's giving up too many DNF's to JR, and that's not good for the season. As usual, consistency wins championships.

 

The thing with JR is that his bad days are 3rd on the box. Hasn't crashed, hasn't panicked, extremely confident. I also like how he has gotten inside Sykes head....although Sykes hasn't said anything, he is just flat out getting crushed, on the track and in his head. Waiting for him to go Rossi and start blaming somebody else for his inability to win a race.....At the rate JR is scoring points, they better all do something quick before it's over by round 6.

I have been kinda thinking lately.....wonder how he would do in MotoGP on a Suzuki........

 

Although I still think he would jump at the chance; riding another under powered bike (the Suzi, currently anyway) after his time on the Honda in WSBK; especially after his success on a competitive bike, might give him pause.

While I think the Suzi is a top 10 bike, it's still under powered (especially getting out of corners) and has some braking stability issues as well (if the commentators are to be believed), and while it may improve again for next year, I still think they have a mountain to climb. The jump this year is a bit misleading in my opinion, as they had more time to focus on preparing for the new rules (Michelins and electronics), so I wouldn't expect as big of leap next year.

But, if it's that or staying in WSBK, I think he'd take it; not like there is anywhere else to go (at least not as a step up). Especially if he wins the championship again this year, which it looks like he's on his way to doing...

 

I hear what your saying but Sykes has won 1 race, and 3 seconds. But he has crashed and looked a bit ruffled in many of the races. If Chaz can keep from crashing he will be the only one to challenge Rea, but Jhonny looks unbeatable again. I don't think at near 30 he will jump to GP.