So Stoner gives Ducati another win. Great. Biggest 800 news in Pedrosa
crashing out and somewhat doubtful for his home race in 2 weeks.

Let's talk about Bradley Smith, who seems to finally be coming into
his own. He had a somewhat disappointing entry into 125 after the
early promise he had shown, but now he is fighting with a lot of grit
and truly showing his colors in what may well be -despite the usual
outcry- the most entertaining class around in motorcycling these days.
Best race of the day. I hope Smith brings this game to MotoGP in a few
years, and I think there are a couple of awesome riders coming up
through the ranks, and that 4 years down the line very few of the
riders that have been mainstays in MotoGP will still be around.

pablo <(E-Mail Removed)> Sun, 31 May 2009 22:20:32
>So Stoner gives Ducati another win. Great. Biggest 800 news in Pedrosa
>crashing out and somewhat doubtful for his home race in 2 weeks.
>
>Let's talk about Bradley Smith

Compared with all the others he reminds me of Pedrosa and Stoner. Very,
very fast on his own but confused by traffic. Scott Redding is almost
the complete opposite. He hasn't yet got the outright speed or at least
his team/bike hasn't, but his ability to fight and take unconventional
lines and get away with it, is a fun to watch.

>outcry- the most entertaining class around in motorcycling these days.
>Best race of the day.

250s were fun to watch as well, so was WSS at Miller, and BSS at
Thruxton. The MotoGP, WSB, BSB all had their moments but really were
technically interesting rather than edge of seat stuff.

--
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10 Items Or Less

On Sun, 31 May 2009 22:20:32 -0700 (PDT), pablo
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>So Stoner gives Ducati another win. Great. Biggest 800 news in Pedrosa
>crashing out and somewhat doubtful for his home race in 2 weeks.

I think this puts Pedrosa out of the championship hunt, but I thought
it was a great race, and pretty interesting too. Amazing to see
Melandri leading a race on the Kawasaki, and I felt really sorry for
him getting a lowly finish eventually.

>Let's talk about Bradley Smith, who seems to finally be coming into
>his own. He had a somewhat disappointing entry into 125 after the
>early promise he had shown, but now he is fighting with a lot of grit
>and truly showing his colors in what may well be -despite the usual
>outcry- the most entertaining class around in motorcycling these days.
>Best race of the day.

I dunno - did you see the 250s? That had the best last lap I've seen
for a very long time.


--
Champ

ZX10R (road), ZX10R (race; breaking), GPz750 turbo (classic) Hayabusa (touring)
To email me, neal at my domain should work.

"Champ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 31 May 2009 22:20:32 -0700 (PDT), pablo
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>So Stoner gives Ducati another win. Great. Biggest 800 news in Pedrosa
>>crashing out and somewhat doubtful for his home race in 2 weeks.
>
> I think this puts Pedrosa out of the championship hunt, but I thought
> it was a great race, and pretty interesting too. Amazing to see
> Melandri leading a race on the Kawasaki, and I felt really sorry for
> him getting a lowly finish eventually.
>
>>Let's talk about Bradley Smith, who seems to finally be coming into
>>his own. He had a somewhat disappointing entry into 125 after the
>>early promise he had shown, but now he is fighting with a lot of grit
>>and truly showing his colors in what may well be -despite the usual
>>outcry- the most entertaining class around in motorcycling these days.
>>Best race of the day.
>
> I dunno - did you see the 250s? That had the best last lap I've seen
> for a very long time.
>
>
> --
> Champ
>
> ZX10R (road), ZX10R (race; breaking), GPz750 turbo (classic) Hayabusa
> (touring)
> To email me, neal at my domain should work.

Totally agree , the 250 race was fantastic edge of the seat stuff ,
especially that last lap, it was any one of three to win.

shaun

On Jun 1, 2:45*am, Champ <n...@champ.org.uk> wrote:
> On Sun, 31 May 2009 22:20:32 -0700 (PDT), pablo
>
> <pa...@simplyhombre.net> wrote:
> >So Stoner gives Ducati another win. Great. Biggest 800 news in Pedrosa
> >crashing out and somewhat doubtful for his home race in 2 weeks.
>
> I think this puts Pedrosa out of the championship hunt, but I thought
> it was a great race, and pretty interesting too. *Amazing to see
> Melandri leading a race on the Kawasaki, and I felt really sorry for
> him getting a lowly finish eventually.

Makes me wonder what was so different about the setup of the bikes to
make him go from hero to zero like that. At first i thought he didn't
trust the slicks on a damp track, but there has to be more to it then
that.

Looks like the Kawasaki is in the ballpark now and just needs a rider
that can sort it out. Wonder if Rossi is ready for another
challenge

> >Let's talk about Bradley Smith, who seems to finally be coming into
> >his own. He had a somewhat disappointing entry into 125 after the
> >early promise he had shown, but now he is fighting with a lot of grit
> >and truly showing his colors in what may well be -despite the usual
> >outcry- the most entertaining class around in motorcycling these days.
> >Best race of the day.
>
> I dunno - did you see the 250s? *That had the best last lap I've seen
> for a very long time.
>
> --
> Champ
>
> ZX10R (road), ZX10R (race; breaking), GPz750 turbo (classic) Hayabusa (touring)
> To email me, neal at my domain should work.

On Jun 1, 5:36*pm, Bruce Richmond <bsr3...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> On Jun 1, 2:45*am, Champ <n...@champ.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > On Sun, 31 May 2009 22:20:32 -0700 (PDT), pablo
>
> > <pa...@simplyhombre.net> wrote:
> > >So Stoner gives Ducati another win. Great. Biggest 800 news in Pedrosa
> > >crashing out and somewhat doubtful for his home race in 2 weeks.
>
> > I think this puts Pedrosa out of the championship hunt, but I thought
> > it was a great race, and pretty interesting too. *Amazing to see
> > Melandri leading a race on the Kawasaki, and I felt really sorry for
> > him getting a lowly finish eventually.
>
> Makes me wonder what was so different about the setup of the bikes to
> make him go from hero to zero like that. *At first i thought he didn't
> trust the slicks on a damp track, but there has to be more to it then
> that.
>
> Looks like the Kawasaki is in the ballpark now and just needs a rider
> that can sort it out. *Wonder if Rossi is ready for another
> challenge

Makes one wonder indeed, since this is the bike froma team that gave
up on MotoGP and had never showed much promise. And here they are
doing ok (it's not like they're setting the world on fire). Makes one
wonder how effectively some teams use bigger budgets in MotoGP. The
seceret behind Melandri's performance may well be a combination of
less stress and pressure by being relieved from big expectations, and
yet being with a team that truly works closely together on making the
best out of what they have. On the other end of the spectrums there is
Hayxden, whose season is truning into a huge fiasco and who probably
regrets not having stayed on a Honda. I wonder if that big official
budget is being spent on big budget items ("surely tanzanite sprayed
wolframium forks filled with inert cosmic helium must improve things")
by a technical team convinced they know better than the rider, and
that gamble on big experiments rather than on marginal improvement
stricly based on rider input.

On Jun 1, 9:57*pm, pablo <pa...@simplyhombre.net> wrote:
> On Jun 1, 5:36*pm, Bruce Richmond <bsr3...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Jun 1, 2:45*am, Champ <n...@champ.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > > On Sun, 31 May 2009 22:20:32 -0700 (PDT), pablo
>
> > > <pa...@simplyhombre.net> wrote:
> > > >So Stoner gives Ducati another win. Great. Biggest 800 news in Pedrosa
> > > >crashing out and somewhat doubtful for his home race in 2 weeks.
>
> > > I think this puts Pedrosa out of the championship hunt, but I thought
> > > it was a great race, and pretty interesting too. *Amazing to see
> > > Melandri leading a race on the Kawasaki, and I felt really sorry for
> > > him getting a lowly finish eventually.
>
> > Makes me wonder what was so different about the setup of the bikes to
> > make him go from hero to zero like that. *At first i thought he didn't
> > trust the slicks on a damp track, but there has to be more to it then
> > that.
>
> > Looks like the Kawasaki is in the ballpark now and just needs a rider
> > that can sort it out. *Wonder if Rossi is ready for another
> > challenge
>
> Makes one wonder indeed, since this is the bike froma *team that gave
> up on MotoGP and had never showed much promise. And here they are
> doing ok (it's not like they're setting the world on fire). Makes one
> wonder how effectively some teams use bigger budgets in MotoGP. The
> seceret behind Melandri's performance may well be a combination of
> less stress and pressure by being relieved from big expectations, and
> yet being with a team that truly works closely together on making the
> best out of what they have. On the other end of the spectrums there is
> Hayxden, whose season is truning into a huge fiasco and who probably
> regrets not having stayed on a Honda. I wonder if that big official
> budget is being spent on big budget items ("surely tanzanite sprayed
> wolframium forks filled with inert cosmic helium must improve things")
> by a technical team convinced they know better than the rider, and
> that gamble on big experiments rather than on marginal improvement
> stricly based on rider input.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Actually I don't think the bike has been all that bad for a few years
now. The riders have done reasonably well and the lack of better
finishes has been blamed on the bike. But when those same riders
moved on to better places they have gone nowhere.

On Mon, 1 Jun 2009 20:56:38 -0700 (PDT), Bruce Richmond
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

<Ducati>

>Actually I don't think the bike has been all that bad for a few years
>now. The riders have done reasonably well and the lack of better
>finishes has been blamed on the bike. But when those same riders
>moved on to better places they have gone nowhere.

Uh? Are you kidding? Can you give some examples?
--
Champ

ZX10R (road), ZX10R (race; breaking), GPz750 turbo (classic) Hayabusa (touring)
To email me, neal at my domain should work.

On Jun 2, 3:18*am, Champ <n...@champ.org.uk> wrote:
> On Mon, 1 Jun 2009 20:56:38 -0700 (PDT), Bruce Richmond
>
> <bsr3...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
> <Ducati>
>
> >Actually I don't think the bike has been all that bad for a few years
> >now. *The riders have done reasonably well and the lack of better
> >finishes has been blamed on the bike. *But when those same riders
> >moved on to better places they have gone nowhere.
>
> Uh? Are you kidding? *Can you give some examples?

Working from memory here ( don't keep all the race results for the
past 10 years on hand like some around here). Randy De Puniet had a
lot of top ten finishes with Kawasaki. Think he made the podium at
least a couple of times in the wet and once in the dry. Don't think
he has ever done that well since switching to Honda. Finished 8th at
Mugello and is currently 10th in the standings. Shinya Nakano, also
went to Honda I think and did no better if even as good as he did on
the Kawi. He got some 4th and 5th places, maybe a 3rd in the wet, but
mostly just inside the top ten on the Kawi. After leaving it seems he
didn't do well enough to be kept in Moto GP. He is currently 15th in
World Superbike. Not sure but I think sombody finished 2nd on a Kawi
once in the last few years. Maybe Mark could help with some of the
other riders.

if motogp.com had not totally screwed up the stat portion of the web
site (which used to be one of the best features) it'd be easier to
find out, but a Kawa even scored a victory a few years ago (Jaque in
the rain in China, I seem to recall?), but -just like you said- it was
in the rain. Kawasakis have never been great bikes. just ask Hopkins.