well, this is starting in a few hours. thus far everything very
predictable - QP saw stoner firmly entrenched up front, rossi behind,
lorenzo follows. hayden's QP was cut short by a highside, and
hopefully he is not too sore for the race.

On Apr 12, 6:51*am, pablo <pa...@simplyhombre.net> wrote:
> well, this is starting in a few hours. thus far everything very
> predictable - QP saw stoner firmly entrenched up front, rossi behind,
> lorenzo follows. hayden's QP was cut short by a highside, and
> hopefully he is not too sore for the race.

it is raining cats and dogs in qatar... lookis like no motogp race
today, fun 250cc race, though.

"pablo" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:778bcd65-b323-4cda-9e53-(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Apr 12, 6:51 am, pablo <pa...@simplyhombre.net> wrote:
>> well, this is starting in a few hours. thus far everything very
>> predictable - QP saw stoner firmly entrenched up front, rossi behind,
>> lorenzo follows. hayden's QP was cut short by a highside, and
>> hopefully he is not too sore for the race.
>
> it is raining cats and dogs in qatar... lookis like no motogp race
> today, fun 250cc race, though.

I guess the rain wasn't predictable.


--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Squiddo

Andrew <(E-Mail Removed)> Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:01:23
>I guess the rain wasn't predictable.

But cancelling the race if it rained was. And so was everyone running
round like headless chickens when it happened.

They're now saying a re-run on Monday. Which will screw with all the TV
schedules, force the teams to spend a load more money and runs the risk
of it all happening again. So will Qatar pick up the tab?

Sometimes it looks like Dorna (and the BBC) couldn't run a trolley race
in a Tesco's car park.

--
Julian Bond E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar.com M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/ T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
Personal WebLog: http://www.voidstar.com/ skype:julian.bond?chat
Ocean Deep

"Julian Bond" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Andrew <(E-Mail Removed)> Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:01:23
>>I guess the rain wasn't predictable.
>
> But cancelling the race if it rained was. And so was everyone running
> round like headless chickens when it happened.
>
> They're now saying a re-run on Monday. Which will screw with all the TV
> schedules, force the teams to spend a load more money and runs the risk of
> it all happening again. So will Qatar pick up the tab?
>
> Sometimes it looks like Dorna (and the BBC) couldn't run a trolley race in
> a Tesco's car park.
>

It seems to have come off as a success.
I just watched the BBCi broadcast.


--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Squiddo

the race was quite boring - stoner gone from the start, the usual
procession behind. only exciting bit was the pedrosa vs de angelis
controversy, they show a video that shows DA coming out real hard and
totally knocking pedrosa damn near out of the track, which looks
uttterly dick-head-ish, but what is not clear is why DA was acrrying
so much more speed out of the turn than pedrosa.

Champ <(E-Mail Removed)> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:08:46
>I enjoyed a bit of tension in the middle section, when it looked like
>Rossi might be able to close the gap to Stoner. But then Stoner
>kicked again and it was over.

Normal service has clearly been resumed.
- Rossi can match Stoner just about but has to go with him on that first
lap. If there's any flaw in Rossi's riding it's that he's always a
little cautious on the first lap.
- The field is too thin and too spread out.
- Some riders like Toseland, Melandri, Capirossi always seem to find a
way of screwing up.
- Dovizioso will do well this year but Honda have to find a way to use
Ducati's tyres. Just as Yamaha had to.
- Satellite Hondas with their 1k rpm less rev limit don't seem really
any slower than the Repsol and Elias bikes.
- Mika Kallio is a star.
- Gibernau and Hayden will struggle.
- Takahashi has dropped straight into the role of "Token Japanese rider,
completely out of their depth." Just like Canepa in his role of "Junior
test rider, rewarded with a ride but completely out of his depth"

The bright spot in the whole weekend was 250s. Let's hope the days of 1
or 2 riders disappearing into the distance are over.

Roll on the next WSB.

Meanwhile, Guintoli was really fun to watch in BSB. He's clearly got no
fear and doesn't know or care what the traditional lines are. We stood
at the exit of Druids, looking down Graham Hill and he was stuffing it
up the inside, riding round the outside, spinning up the tyre, getting
sideways, using the Gobert line into Graham Hill bend. Big respect to
Plater as well doing BSB and BSS and running up at the front in all 3
races. Camier also looked awesome while Ellison and Walker were pretty
forgettable. And the gruff Yamaha exhaust note didn't make up for the
complete lack of Ducatis. The recession is biting. Way too many bikes
out there all day with flat paint schemes and no obvious sponsorship.
They're not going to last out the season.

And finally, no WSB at Brands makes me sad.

--
Julian Bond E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar.com M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/ T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
Personal WebLog: http://www.voidstar.com/ skype:julian.bond?chat
Suitable For Vegetarians

"Julian Bond" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Champ <(E-Mail Removed)> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:08:46
>>I enjoyed a bit of tension in the middle section, when it looked like
>>Rossi might be able to close the gap to Stoner. But then Stoner
>>kicked again and it was over.
>
> Normal service has clearly been resumed.
> - Rossi can match Stoner just about but has to go with him on that first
> lap. If there's any flaw in Rossi's riding it's that he's always a little
> cautious on the first lap.
> - The field is too thin and too spread out.
> - Some riders like Toseland, Melandri, Capirossi always seem to find a way
> of screwing up.
> - Dovizioso will do well this year but Honda have to find a way to use
> Ducati's tyres. Just as Yamaha had to.
> - Satellite Hondas with their 1k rpm less rev limit don't seem really any
> slower than the Repsol and Elias bikes.
> - Mika Kallio is a star.
> - Gibernau and Hayden will struggle.
> - Takahashi has dropped straight into the role of "Token Japanese rider,
> completely out of their depth." Just like Canepa in his role of "Junior
> test rider, rewarded with a ride but completely out of his depth"
>
> The bright spot in the whole weekend was 250s. Let's hope the days of 1 or
> 2 riders disappearing into the distance are over.
>
> Roll on the next WSB.
>
> Meanwhile, Guintoli was really fun to watch in BSB. He's clearly got no
> fear and doesn't know or care what the traditional lines are. We stood at
> the exit of Druids, looking down Graham Hill and he was stuffing it up the
> inside, riding round the outside, spinning up the tyre, getting sideways,
> using the Gobert line into Graham Hill bend. Big respect to Plater as well
> doing BSB and BSS and running up at the front in all 3 races. Camier also
> looked awesome while Ellison and Walker were pretty forgettable. And the
> gruff Yamaha exhaust note didn't make up for the complete lack of Ducatis.
> The recession is biting. Way too many bikes out there all day with flat
> paint schemes and no obvious sponsorship. They're not going to last out
> the season.
>
> And finally, no WSB at Brands makes me sad.
>

Yeah those BSB and BSS races were fun to watch. Some crazy passing.
Guintoli looked really good.
The SS race was pretty amazing too.



--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Squiddo

On Apr 13, 1:51*am, Julian Bond <julian_b...@voidstar.com> wrote:

> Sometimes it looks like Dorna (and the BBC) couldn't run a trolley race
> in a Tesco's car park.

You oughta see the AMA conduct a race...

-Dirt-

Julian Bond wrote:
> Normal service has clearly been resumed.
> - Rossi can match Stoner just about but has to go with him on that first
> lap. If there's any flaw in Rossi's riding it's that he's always a
> little cautious on the first lap.

Yeah, like Qatar '04?

> - The field is too thin and too spread out.

That spec tire change sure has helped, hasn't it?

> - Some riders like Toseland, Melandri, Capirossi always seem to find a
> way of screwing up.

Or they were pushing too hard on bikes not quite up to snuff. Well,
execpt for Toseland. And what do these guys have to lose? Except for
their health, that is.

> - Dovizioso will do well this year but Honda have to find a way to use
> Ducati's tyres. Just as Yamaha had to.

The assumption being that the Honda doesn't work well with the
Bridgestones out of the box. Which seems unlikely, given how Pedrosa
did last year after the switch.

> - Satellite Hondas with their 1k rpm less rev limit don't seem really
> any slower than the Repsol and Elias bikes.

On this track, maybe. But too many variables at the moment; in the end
the Repsol boys will do much better than the others, and Elias will
have one or two races that folks will use to justify the equipment he
gets.

> - Mika Kallio is a star.

Good one, Julian...

> - Gibernau and Hayden will struggle.

Clearly.

> - Takahashi has dropped straight into the role of "Token Japanese rider,
> completely out of their depth." Just like Canepa in his role of "Junior
> test rider, rewarded with a ride but completely out of his depth"

Yes and no...

So what can we cull from the start of the season? Stoner was great as
usual at Qatar, but on Champ's point, we have to remember that in the
races after Qatar last year it became clear Stoner was having problems
with the bike that didn't get resolved until the electronics got
tweaked a third of the way through the year and he went on a tear. So
maybe that's the difference.

On spec tires, the top two clearly are Rossi and Stoner, both of whom
prefer a stiff tire and also who are the guys who have had the most
developmental input over the last year and are likely the two guys
Bridgestone would want to reward (Stoner for winning them a lot of
races and a championship, Rossi because he's Rossi and can sell their
product). So does a spec tire equalize the field? No more than rain
does, and maybe less.

Last year the notable things in the Qatar results were the lightest
podium and top four (Stoner, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Dovizioso) in GP
premier class history, and an indication that the Yamaha/Michelin
combination was the best deal. This year Pedrosa's injury hurt the
midgets and Rossi's familiarity with the 'stones stepped him up a bit,
but otherwise it's really not that different. Yamaha looks like the
best overall machine again; Edwards moved from 7th to 4th but was much
farther behind Stoner. And Honda looks about the same, Suzuki perhaps
a bit better (Capirossi finished 8th last year, 32 seconds back; this
year Vermeulen finished 7th, 34 seconds back, but Caprossi ran better
while it lasted).

Which leaves Ducati and the biggest question in MotoGP - wtf? Last
year Melandri finished 11th and 42 seconds behind Stoner, this year
Hayden, hurting and having a terrible weekend overall, finished 12th
and 49 seconds back; Capirossi DNFed in '07 but wasn't running at
Stoner's pace. This year the lease team riders finished 8th, 13th and
last, with Kallio 35 seconds behind Stoner; in '08 they were 14th and
15th, and in '07 9th and 11th. In practice Hayden was often running a
couple seconds off Stoner's times, which matches his preseason testing
and Melandri last year. Nicky's best race lap, the last one, was
slower than every Stoner lap except his first and last and was 2.4
seconds slower than Casey's best.

So what's going on here? We now have three guys, Capirossi, Melandri
and Hayden, who just can't get along with the factory Ducati. These
guys are the guys who finished 2nd, 3rd and 6th in '05 and 1st, 3rd
and 4th in '06, won 12 of the 17 races Rossi didn't win those last two
years of the 990s and took a total of 43 podiums. But Stoner, who was
in 250 in '05 and finished 7th, didn't win a race and had only one
podium in '06, dominates on this machine - and the discrepancy is
getting worse. And we see much the same with the lease bike guys, who
for the most part have looked like they're on Kawasakis or Suzukis or
worse the last couple years. Up to their exits, Capirossi and Melandri
looked a hell of a lot better on their 2nd-tier machines this
weekend.

Clearly the machine has fundamental problems. I doubt anyone seriously
would claim Stoner is so good that he simply can overcome all those
problems that these others couldn't or can't, given what the margin is
between them compared to the margin between Rossi, the "Greatest
Ever", and the other Yamahas. That would be absurd. So it somehow
works for him, matches his style, and one wonders if his development
input is actually making it worse for others. Kallio a "star"? Seeming
impossible to tell until he gets on another machine, since it may be
nothing but random luck that determines if this machine works for
someone or not. Certainly finishing 35 seconds behind the winner on
basically the same machine and tires doesn't establish it. Ducati has
a problem that must be getting increasingly more perplexing and
embarrassing - the Great Star Maker and Career Destroyer that even
they can't explain...

> And finally, no WSB at Brands makes me sad.

You're not the only one. WSB may play it as a necessary change for
safety reasons or whatever, but it's a huge loss to the series. And
too bad Spies never got to run there.