The official 2011 season MotoGP thread!

I don't understand how Simoncelli can be penalised at all, he had the racing line and was in front by the corner. Pedrosa should have either yielded that spot or not have braked so gingerly into the corner.

Same thoughts here, it was just racing incident. Its a shame that Pedrosa got damaged again, because it seems that its one season ruined for him again.

Rossi!!! :clap:
 
First of all well done to Stoner for the win and Dovi for being runner up. Rossi getting his first podium on a Ducati was unexpected and mainly due to the Pedrosa incident.

Whether or not you side with either rider, the drive through penalty was the wrong action to take, given such a type of incident. The Race Director should have reviewed the whole thing after the race and then made a decision. :rolleyes:

Broken collarbone, ouch!
Get well soon Dani.


BTW, did anyone see the BBC Forum program after the main transmission, they said they were continuing on the "Red Button" but all we got some athletics dudes running, no Podium ceremony, interviews etc in the London area.
:(
 
I don't understand how Simoncelli can be penalised at all, he had the racing line and was in front by the corner. Pedrosa should have either yielded that spot or not have braked so gingerly into the corner.

Um, Pedrosa was way in front at the corner until just before the end. SIC took him around the outside and cut him off. Yes, PED stood the bike up, but that's a natural reaction when you have nowhere else to go on the track. If PED hadn't done that, it would have likely resulted in him losing the bike anyway and taking SIC with him.
I mean, when SIC's best buddy Rossi agrees that SIC pulled too harsh a move, you know that you've done something wrong.

I agree with you too Jedd, too many of the riders see the fine as the fee to be as big a bully as they want. I bet if any intentional contact of that kind on track (on the bike or no) resulted in starting the next race from the back of the grid (if at all), they would think twice before acting like two-year-olds.
 
But by the time the corner arrived, Pedrosa was no longer in front with the result being that he was always going to be in a gap that was rapidly disappearing. He was in front before the braking zone but was outbreaked and ended up in a compromising position.
 
thing is though, the SIC / PED incident can be easily viewed as a accident until the cows come home. Stoner though, physically touched and pushed the other racer during practice. While Simoncelli made a caused a obvious accident, Stoner did something far worse in that he was physically responsible for any accident that was caused and in my eyes thats far worse than a slap on the wrists and a fine. Yes the SIC / PED incident was accident of SIC making, but Stoner was behaving far worse.
 
Um, Pedrosa was way in front at the corner until just before the end. SIC took him around the outside and cut him off. Yes, PED stood the bike up, but that's a natural reaction when you have nowhere else to go on the track. If PED hadn't done that, it would have likely resulted in him losing the bike anyway and taking SIC with him.
I mean, when SIC's best buddy Rossi agrees that SIC pulled too harsh a move, you know that you've done something wrong.

I agree with you too Jedd, too many of the riders see the fine as the fee to be as big a bully as they want. I bet if any intentional contact of that kind on track (on the bike or no) resulted in starting the next race from the back of the grid (if at all), they would think twice before acting like two-year-olds.


My opinion exactly. Plus, like the commentators said, the penalty was probably given for what we would call in french, "l'ensemble de son oeuvre", ie: is own lifetime achievement award...

As for the race director making the decision too fast instead of waiting for after the race, that's actually the preferred course of action. The rule book says the decision must be rendered during the race when it is possible.

Interesting interview of Dennis Noyes with Paul Butler (MotoGP race director), published just last week. Very good timing indeed :)



MOTOGP: Noyes? Notebook - Butler: ?Roadracing Is A Contact Sport,?

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noyes-notebook-roadracing-is-a-contact-sport-pt-i

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/arti...er-roadracing-is-a-contact-sport-pt-ii-rossi/

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/arti...-butler-roadracing-is-a-contact-sport-pt-iii/
 
Just watched the 125cc race... :thumbsdown:

20sec penalty for Zarco. :?

The stewards decision was just down right BIASED!

Yes Zarco did push him slightly but Terol would have run off the track anyway and finish second. I would accept if they gave Zarco 10 sec penalty but they had to have Spanish 1-2 which makes me furious!
 
20sec penalty for Zarco. :?

The stewards decision was just down right BIASED!

Yes Zarco did push him slightly but Terol would have run off the track anyway and finish second. I would accept if they gave Zarco 10 sec penalty but they had to have Spanish 1-2 which makes me furious!

I presume that was the incident in the last corner where one rider was pushed to the grass? I didn't watch the races, I only caught that incident in highlights this morning. I thought that was a very dangerous move and it did warrant a proper penalty, not just something that would drop you back from first to second (which, I presume, is what a 10 second penalty would have done).
 
It saddens me how damn boring my favorite sport has gotten :( Its almost as bad as F1.

at the moment motoGP can't touch the heels of F1!

what happened with simoncelli? he was closing in on rossi pretty fast, and suddenly he wasn't in the same frame anymore?
 
Just watched the 125cc race... :thumbsdown:

20sec penalty for Zarco. :?

The stewards decision was just down right BIASED!

Yes Zarco did push him slightly but Terol would have run off the track anyway and finish second. I would accept if they gave Zarco 10 sec penalty but they had to have Spanish 1-2 which makes me furious!

I've seen a many people (including professional riders) argue that, that it should have been a 10sec penalty. But in this case, the ruling was for a ride-through.

When this happens near the end of the race, since there is no time to do a ride trough, 20 seconds are added to the race time of the culprit.

Now the infraction was for 1.21 2)

which states:
Riders must ride in a responsible manner which does not cause danger
to other competitors or participants, either on the track or in the pit-lane.
Any infringement of this rule will be penalised with one of the following
penalties: time penalty ? fine ? ride through - disqualification - withdrawal
of Championship points - suspension.

I think in the race the preferred choice is for the ride-through rather than time penalty (if the event is serious enough, otherwise a fine is preferred). One of the main reason for that is that other riders won't know someone has a time penalty, which might lead to people fighting for positions that are already gained, which might lead to unnecessary incidents.


I believe the situation right now in GP is getting close to something pretty bad happening. Riders like Simoncelli have been getting away with stupidly dangerous moves for years, and people where beginning to assume everything was now fair games. Riders with god like status like Rossi exacerbate the situation by calling people who complain pussies, and strive on the bad-boy image.

Two people died at GP events last year, both following collisions with other riders, not with any feature of the track. I don't believe aggressive riding was a factor in those two crashes, but it does point to one of the most dangerous item still left on the track, your fellow riders.

Race direction needed to start stepping in and do it's job before it gets completely out of hands.
 
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:tumbleweed:

Hello, anyone watching?

Well at least Lorenzo just got straight back on his bike and didn't stop to punch Simoncelli first. :lol:

After that, the field was a bit spread out, a "commentator's nightmare" as Charlie Cox said.

Good recovery by Lorenzo to get sixth place.
Well done to Ben Spies, first MotoGP win. :cheers:
 
Hi,

I'm still watching MotoGP and WSBK, I find myself not posting on FG that often anymore...

Solid but hardly "edge of the seat" racing this season. The Ducati & Rossi merger has been less than stellar, nothing changed with the 11.1version of the Ducati at Assen. 4th in the race and in the riders championship is very flattering for both Rossi and his team, the gaps to the race winner have been huge at times and remain both a worry and a reminder of the job to first catch and pass the factory Honda's and Yamaha's.

The factory HRC mounted riders are all doing well - Stoner leading the way with speed and precision, Simoncelli very nearly as fast in practice and qualifying but needs to stay on during the race. Dovi has been excellent, very consistent and ppor Dani can't seem to have one season without a serious injury. Over at the factory Yamaha, Lorenzo looks as insanely fast and smooth as always, the 2 crashes (Asssen being not his fault) being his only blemishes and he'll remain a world title contender. Spies rode simply brilliantly at Assen, joining a select group of riders (Bayliss and Vermeulen) to make the leap from WSBK to MotoGP and win. Let's hope his Assen speed continues for the remainder of the season. Great to see the Tech 3 Yamaha team doing well, both Crutchlow and Edwards have been riding very well.

Cheers.
 
I've been very busy lately and had quite a bit of trouble with my internet connection so I only got to watch the Silverstone and Assen rounds yesterday. The racing in MotoGP has gotten way boring compared to the past years (that's what you get when you drop Rossi out of the top contenders :)). Shame about Pedrosa once again missing races due to injuries and Simoncelli crashing out all the time he's going for a decent race,ruining Lorenzo's race last time around as well.

The only interesting things have been Spies' great pace at Assen, Abraham's quali pace in the last two rounds and the mistake at Silverstone by last year's mr. consistency, Lorenzo.
 
Ah, c'mon guys, it was a good race today. Not great, but better than the last one.

Very good performance by Lorenzo. Dovi pipped Stoner near the end for second which must have irked him a bit, Ben Spies had a good run as well and Harpo didn't knock anybody off today.

What's not to like? :lol:

Mugello MotoGP Results:

1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Yamaha 41mins 50.089secs

2 Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 41:51.086

3 Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 41:51.232

4 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 41:59.069

5 Marco Simoncelli (Ita) Honda 41:59.165

6 Valentino Rossi (Ita) Ducati 42:16.539

7 Hector Barbera (Spa) Ducati 42:18.834

8 Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 42:22.132

9 Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 42:23.510

10 Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 42:24.813

11 Hiroshi Aoyama (Jpn) Honda 42:27.448

12 Karel Abraham (Cze) Ducati 42:34.053

13 Alvaro Bautista (Spa) Suzuki 42:37.743

14 Randy De Puniet (Fra) Ducati 42:38.929

15 Toni Elias (Spa) Honda 43:05.288
 
Thanks to the hot weather for slowing the Hondas down and making this a proper race. Always interesting to watch Rossi climb through the pack but it's a shame he's basically racing for sixth or seventh when the HRCs and works Yamahas aren't crashing out.

Hopefully next race is going to be good, Sachsenring has always been my favorite circuit in the calendar. It's one of the twistiest as well so Yamahas should stand a good chance.
 
Finally a good race, and Side Show Bob wasn't involved in any crash :)

Still need to watch the Moto2 race.


That circuit really is beautiful, I am so grateful to have been able to attend a GP there.
 
Just watched the Moto2 race from Mugello, these guys are mental!

Bradley Smith planting his knee in DeAngelis at over 200 going into SanDonato:

bs38.png
 
On another news, Iannone and Kallio stayed at Mugello for a couple extra days testing Suter & Marc VDS collaboration MotoGP project. They were testing a new frame that wasn't working well and they were six seconds per lap off the pace of the current competitors (top runners I assume?). Suter & MVDS are going to decide on the future of the project soon, I hope they go through with it so we'd see more bikes on the grid.
 
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