The official 2011 season MotoGP thread!

Wow! What a Moto2 race! loved every minute of it. really glad i followed the advice of those in this thread and made the point of watching Moto2.
 
I just watched the last 5 laps of this Spanish race on a stream in another language. It seemed kind of interesting, upon further reading I found out it's the second race of the season.
 
Man i feel sorry for Stoner... That was a stupid mistake fom Rossi, but then again those things happen in the world of RR. Even if i dislike Lorenzo ALOT i have to admit that he rode wisely today and scored easy victory when others falled around of him!
 
^
Me too.
I believe, Rossi went to Stoner later for an ?I so sorry? chat.

A very incident filled race due to the wet conditions, then tyres wearing out at the end of the race. Good fun to watch, but not if you favorite rider or team fell off.

Simoncelli gets the most spectacular off award whilst leading the GP, plus the mad hair prize.

Quote of the day from Ben Spies, speaking about his off when in second place near the end of the race:

? .. yeah, that really sucked like dog?s testicles ..?
live on the BBC. :lol:

The record will show that the podium positions were Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden. Doesn?t really cover all the drama really.
 
^
Me too.
I believe, Rossi went to Stoner later for an ?I so sorry? chat.

A very incident filled race due to the wet conditions, then tyres wearing out at the end of the race. Good fun to watch, but not if you favorite rider or team fell off.

Simoncelli gets the most spectacular off award whilst leading the GP, plus the mad hair prize.

Quote of the day from Ben Spies, speaking about his off when in second place near the end of the race:

? .. yeah, that really sucked like dog?s testicles ..?
live on the BBC. :lol:

The record will show that the podium positions were Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden. Doesn?t really cover all the drama really.

when Rossi went up to apologise to Stoner, Stoner replied "Ambition obviously outweighs your talent" which felt like a bit of a low blow. While i dislike Rossi, i'll still admit he's one hell of a rider. Even more so i'm incredibly impressed that despite all the handbags that are out on the racetrack, the riders still apologise to one another. Not exactly something you normally see in Formula 1 where the handbags continue off the track.
Simoncelli had one spectacular off and i'm sure that hair must have acted like a buffer in that helmet to give his head extra protection. Really hoped Ben Spies would do well and he did a great job of taking advantage of Pedrosa's (i think it was Pedrosa, i'm still learning their names) wobble. At one point it felt like there were more riders falling off than were left on the track.

While the MotoGP race was great viewing, it felt like the more fun race was with the Moto2 race. Had loads of fun in watching it though. Definately been bitten by the MotoGP bug now.

05_simoncelli.crash_0_original.jpg
 
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^
Yeah that'd be him!

Did you hear the Ben Spies quote on the BBC extra program on the Red button?
It?s like the F1 Forum but they don?t call it that, I still can?t believe he said it, but he talked so quickly and the BBC presenter didn?t catch what he said or react.

:rolleyes:
 
i didn't catch it. was busy sorting out my lunch at the time and missed it. shame because i'm really starting to like him.
also, saw this pop up on my twitter feed.

Stoner and Rossi?s thoughts after clashing in Jerez
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) and nine time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team), were involved in an incident in the MotoGP race at Jerez, which took the Australian out of proceedings.
Stoner had been in second place when the Italian mounted a challenge behind him and attempted a manoeuvre going into turn one. The Ducati rider made the move past Stoner, but lost control of his bike, causing a collision which brought them both down. Rossi was able to remount his bike and continue, picking up 11 points in fifth place. Here are the thoughts of both riders after the coming together during the race in which Rossi took full responsibility for.

?We made a good start to the race, we understood the tyres weren?t the best and they were trying to spin, so we needed to back off quite a bit,? said the Repsol Honda rider. ?Rossi came up the inside and wasn?t able to stay on the bike and took me out. It was not the best day for us for sure, after such a good weekend. We?re very disappointed with this result. I believe we would have been there at the end because it was a long race with many people crashing which is why we were being quiet.?

Stoner was clearly frustrated after the incident which ended his race prematurely. After the race, Rossi went to the Honda garage to apologise to Stoner for his mistake. The Repsol Honda rider shared his feelings after the two exchanged words.

?For sure, I would prefer if Valentino did it away from the cameras and would say something to me quietly without always having to have proof,? commented Stoner. ?For sure Valentino doesn?t do this for himself, he just wants to show to everybody that he has apologised. Yes it?s a nice gesture, it?s very good, but it still doesn?t change the result today, so we?ll see what happens in the next races.?

Rossi made amends for his mistake, but insisted he was in a position to fight for the podium.

?Yes it was a crazy race because it was difficult conditions and everyone was on the limit with the softer tyres,? explained Rossi. ?I was very fast in the beginning of the race in the wet, but unfortunately I made a mistake in braking and I crashed. Unfortunately, I also crashed into Stoner. I went to him to say sorry that I made a mistake. With my race today, we had the potential to try and win or finish on the podium, but at the end the result isn?t so bad. I came back to finish fifth which was important points for the championship.?

Source
 
Best quote about the Stoner-Rossi incident has to come from Eurosport's Neil Spalding though: "I never thought Stoner would have another Ducati front-end crash!"
 
Well that was an eventful MotoGP race...shame about Rossi and Stoner. Two similar wipeouts in one weekend for The Doctor really highlights the Ducati front end problems. He was also backing out from the inside line in a couple of spots where he surely would've gone through in the past with Honda/Yamaha. Looks like he tried to back out from the Casey incident as well midway through but realized it was too late. Simoncelli was also pretty close to taking out Stoner as well, I'm sure the HRC guys would've been happy :).

Simoncelli, Spies and Edwards were looking good but they fell out one by one, too bad they failed to finish.

Overall I think Rossi's speed in the beginning was a really good sign considering the rest of the season. I hope it wasn't just the weather. He seems to be adapting much better than Gibernau, Melandri and Hayden in the past. Stoner adapted great back in 2007 but then again his bike was easily the fastest in the field.


Now I should start looking out for a torrent of the Moto2 race if I could watch that tomorrow...
 
Well that was an eventful MotoGP race...shame about Rossi and Stoner. Two similar wipeouts in one weekend for The Doctor Rossi really highlights the Ducati front end problems. He was also backing out from the inside line in a couple of spots where he surely would've gone through in the past with Honda/Yamaha. Looks like he tried to back out from the Casey incident as well midway through but realized it was too late. Simoncelli was also pretty close to taking out Stoner as well, I'm sure the HRC guys would've been happy :).

Simoncelli, Spies and Edwards were looking good but they fell out one by one, too bad they failed to finish.

Overall I think Rossi's speed in the beginning was a really good sign considering the rest of the season. I hope it wasn't just the weather. He seems to be adapting much better than Gibernau, Melandri and Hayden in the past. Stoner adapted great back in 2007 but then again his bike was easily the fastest in the field.


Now I should start looking out for a torrent of the Moto2 race if I could watch that tomorrow...

FTFY... There is only one Doctor and Rossi ain't him!
 
FTFY... There is only one Doctor and Rossi ain't is him!

FTFY'd that back for you :D



By the way, I'm pretty sure pit stop would've been very useful if someone would've had the balls, anticipation and some good thinking. Towards the end of the race when Dovi went back out on intermediates (?) he was lapping close to 10 secs a lap quicker than anyone else and he surely wasn't even pushing.
 
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crookie, "The Doctor" is a BBC Sci-Fi fictional character.

Jedd, in MotoGP there is only "The Doctor" and it is Rossi.

:p
 
Naw, what was REALLY fucked up was that the marshals helped Rossi and left Stoner.

i think that was because they saw Rossi between the 2 motorbikes and instinctively went to help him first thinking he needed the most help. Stoner was clear if i remember. just didn't help when the marshals forgot about him and they carried on helping Rossi.
 
crookie, "The Doctor" is a BBC Sci-Fi fictional character.

I know :)

jedd_kenobi said:
i think that was because they saw Rossi between the 2 motorbikes and instinctively went to help him first thinking he needed the most help. Stoner was clear if i remember. just didn't help when the marshals forgot about him and they carried on helping Rossi.

This. Stoner was up immediately while Rossi was stuck under the bikes. Stoner bent his handlebar/brake lever into a pretty undrivable condition too from what I remember. It was pretty crazy seeing Simoncelli trying to continue racing after his crash when his handlebar was so bent that the right side was basically touching the fuel tank when riding straight...



I just watched the Moto2 race for the first time. The racing was ok and most of the riders were familiar from 250s and 125s but since the bikes are new I had no idea where the riders stand and how they've been doing last year. I guess I'd have to follow for the whole season to really get into it.
 
Go watch it again, Rossi was on his feet by the time the marshals reached them both. All the marshals except one or two crowded around Rossi.

Edit: Here it is...

 
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For those who thought yesterday's moto2 race was good, I think it was actually the most boring one in a long time. For that class, rain turns out not to be an equalizer, it actually exacerbate the gaps between riders.

Regarding the Rossi/Stoner incident, and complaint by others like Simoncelli about lack of help from the marshals, my opinion is that the corner workers job is to insure rider's safety, not to act as track side engine starters.

I would suggest to avoid the inconsistencies we saw in the future to ban the corner workers from helping any rider rejoining the track.

If the rider want to restart his bike, either try to bump start it himself (in a safe manner, away from the racing line or run-off areas), or get his manufacturer to come up with an emergency starting system.

One of the thing we saw yesterday is a marshal having to run across the track after pushing someone (I think Simoncelli). That's one of the things a corner worker should never do.

Another thing I'm asking myself after seeing two works HRC bikes unable to restart, is it possible that their new gap less transmission makes it harder to start than regular transmissions?
 
Go watch it again, Rossi was on his feet by the time the marshals reached them both. All the marshals except one or two crowded around Rossi.

I can't see that since Dorna has taken it down, but the Spanish marshals have no reason to favor Rossi, more like the opposite. Rossi isn't exactly a crowd favorite in Spain. Most likely they just run to the bike closest to them. If you meant that they should help Stoner because he was the victim here, that judgement is definitely not for the marshals to make.

I somewhat agree with RdKetchup but I think it's a good thing that the marshals help push start the bikes in the MotoGP class, those bikes will rarely start without assistance. Anyone can push start a 125 though. The marshals just need to pay attention to the safety instead of running like headless chickens to push start a bike that's crashed in the middle of the track.

RdKetchup said:
For those who thought yesterday's moto2 race was good, I think it was actually the most boring one in a long time. For that class, rain turns out not to be an equalizer, it actually exacerbate the gaps between riders.

Good to hear. That was my first Moto2 race and I was already wondering what the hype was all about if that was supposed to be a good race.

RdKetchup said:
Another thing I'm asking myself after seeing two works HRC bikes unable to restart, is it possible that their new gap less transmission makes it harder to start than regular transmissions?

I had completely missed any news of their new transmissions, but I noticed that Pedrosa was sounding very sharp on downshifts in the onboards, like he was using the clutch very quickly and giving it more throttle than others when downshifting. It's quite likely that it's just his style of downshifting though. I don't see why the transmission would have anything to with the start issues unless it refuses to go into first with the electrics off or something, which I doubt. I'm not sure what the MotoGP rules say about how the transmissions must work.
 
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I can't see that since Dorna has taken it down, but the Spanish marshals have no reason to favor Rossi, more like the opposite. Rossi isn't exactly a crowd favorite in Spain. Most likely they just run to the bike closest to them. If you meant that they should help Stoner because he was the victim here, that judgement is definitely not for the marshals to make.

I'll have to pick this up once I find another video. Maybe I can upload that part from my rip of the race.
 
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