Please discuss here all your remarks and pose your questions about all racing series, except Formula One. Both technical and other questions about GP2, Touring cars, IRL, LMS, ...
J.A.W. wrote:Final pre-season test results from Losail indicate a fairly even match ( in Qatar, at least) bike-wise,
with Yamaha, Ducati, Honda respectively, in the top 3 postions...
New Yamaha signing M. Vinales is looking like a real rider's Championship contender, - on his pre-season performance..
He is pretty good. I was already impressed by him last season, but in the tests he has really shown how fast he is.
"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."~William Shakespeare
Andres125sx wrote:What about Suzuki? How are they performing?
Good at some tracks poor at others. Same old story for Suzuki in Motogp.
“To be able to actually make something is awfully nice”
Bruce McLaren on building his first McLaren racecars, 1970
“I've got to be careful what I say, but possibly to probably Juan would have had a bigger go”
Sir Frank Williams after the 2003 Canadian GP, where Ralf hesitated to pass brother M. Schumacher
Andres125sx wrote:What about Suzuki? How are they performing?
Good at some tracks poor at others. Same old story for Suzuki in Motogp.
Yesterday Suzuki looked quite competitive, specially at the straights where they usually lost a lot of space. Not this time and they were clearly faster to Honda at the corners, wich was the reason for Ianone crash
Awesome job by Viñales, at first laps he didn´t assume any unnecessary risk to then give it all for the victory despite the much faster Ducati at the straight
About Zarco, good effort, but that´s what happens when you assume too many risks on difficult conditions
What happened to Lorenzo? I noticed something at the podium, there can´t be a result more frustrating for him:
- Victory for his former bike wich must be frustrating
- Second place for his current teammate so no excuses about the bike
- Third place for his former teammate/rival whose grid position was very similar to his, no no excuses about the grid position
Zarco was exciting to watch, moving the Tech 3 (2nd string Yamaha) fast, pushing the limits,
& he found them, the Michelin front tyre is unforgiving..
Lorenzo finished 20 seconds behind the other factory team Ducati - which Dovi placed in 2nd..
a very good ride from him to split the two factory Yamahas, & a contenderfor the win..
Lorenzo is a 'confidence' rider, very fast when all is good, but struggles if it isn't.. Ducati MotoGP
bikes do have a reputation for being hard to manage for such riders, even including Rossi..
The Hondas also appeared to have issues with the front, & M.M. wisely took the points for 4th,
rather than risk a crash trying too hard, while the factory Yamaha guys patiently worked through
their race plan for 1st & 3rd..
Vinales won from pole, in a very proficient ride, esp' since he had to work for it, after a slow start.
Credit to Rossi - he likewise had to make up in race speed after a lowly Q-position.
A Suzuki was looking competitive too, 'til Iannone threw it away..
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"
Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).
Andres125sx wrote:What about Suzuki? How are they performing?
Good at some tracks poor at others. Same old story for Suzuki in Motogp.
Yesterday Suzuki looked quite competitive, specially at the straights where they usually lost a lot of space. Not this time and they were clearly faster to Honda at the corners, wich was the reason for Ianone crash
I think it's not because of speed. İt is related wrong judgement about racing and overtaking. He did it Barcelona last season causing fall for him and his team mate. Maniac is very good name for him. But he must left doing same mistake. He could overtake mm93 later. I am sory for suzuki.
Well, I´d say both. I watched the race recorded and rewinded to watch the crash again, and the previous 2-3 corners he did exactly the same, going around the corner much faster than MM, I´m not sure if maybe to compensate the better traction of the Honda or simply to try an overtake, but it was not in that corner alone. But that time he probably misjudged the distance and crashed
But I was surprised about the speed difference between Honda and Suzuki mid-corner. Anycase it was far from best race for MM, he had front wheel problems and maybe that was the cause for that much faster speed though the corners for Suzuki
Some preliminary news re: Argentine MotoGP round this weekend..
Michelin, stung by criticism, has now made available 4 types of front tyre..
Valentino Rossi will be making his 350th (!) GP start.. a damn good effort IMO, from the ol' boy..
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"
Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).
Free practice 2 in Argentina has Vinales @ 1, from M.M., & Lorenzo in 18th spot! (albeit only 1.1 sec behind).
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"
Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).
Q was on a wettish surface, with M.M. on pole, but the race is expected to be a dry one...
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"
Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).
After today, are you Rossi haters still writing him off as a no talent,over the hill hack? Just wondering. At his "advanced" age, its just incredible the the "best in the world" riders all in their primes are barely able to beat him. The man may be "old", but he's still a damned machine.
“To be able to actually make something is awfully nice”
Bruce McLaren on building his first McLaren racecars, 1970
“I've got to be careful what I say, but possibly to probably Juan would have had a bigger go”
Sir Frank Williams after the 2003 Canadian GP, where Ralf hesitated to pass brother M. Schumacher
Fairly processional race once the factory Honda & Ducati riders had crashed out,
so a Yamaha factory 1-2, Vinales from Rossi, with Crutchlow able to take the final step on the box,
after amazingly not crashing - for the 1st time - since he'd won at Phillip Is last year..
M.M. emulated Zarco in Qatar, bursting out to a good lead, only to lose the front,
as did fellow Honda boy Pedrosa while contesting 4th position.
Lorenzo crashed after he ran up the rear of Iannone in the 1st corner, with fellow factory
Ducati factory rider Dovizioso being taken out of the Argentine GP for the 2nd year in a row..
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"
Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).
M.M. & Honda are working real hard to maintain their perfect winning record at COTA this weekend,
& have finished on top of the leaderboard for FP2, albeit ~2 sec down on previous quickest lap pace..
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"
Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).
Q for COTA..
M.M. worked hard to pip Vinales for pole, with Rossi in 3rd from the 2nd factory Honda,& further back,
Lorenzo managed to qualify best of the factory Ducatis, with the Tech 3 Yamahas positioned well up, too.
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"
Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).
Q for COTA..
M.M. worked hard to pip Vinales for pole, with Rossi in 3rd from the 2nd factory Honda,& further back,
Lorenzo managed to qualify best of the factory Ducatis, with the Tech 3 Yamahas positioned well up, too.
Rossi was in M.M's way on his last flier in last sector, could have easily lost a few tenths. The gap would have been slightly more..
