MotoGP

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.

 

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.

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.

 

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.

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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

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.

 

Point very well taken - "never" was a great and inaccurate and
sweeping overstatement. However, I think we can safely say they have
never been great bikes in MotoGP/500, Ballington tried and failed
after having been so successful in 250/350. (Anyone remenber that
championship finish in 250 with Jon Eckerold?)

 

Thanks for the correction, too. It surely *seemed* like a victory at
the time, which indicates just how competitive kawasaki seemed to
be.

 

I have to disagree on that, Laverty left a little room, and Keenan stuffed it
in, but it was nowhere near the crap the Rossi pulled. there was Contact when
Laverty tipped in, but Keenan held hsi line and would have made that corner
fine without the contact, in Rossi's case there was no way he could hold his line
through the turn and it was the richochet off Gibernau that got him around.



Bruce

 

Oh sure, no argument with that!

 

I don't agree with that - I was sitting in the stands right in front
of that corner, where I've sat for quite a number of races since they
started coming to Miller several years ago, and I have seen a number
of passing attempts in that corner, few successful. It's not a very
good passing spot because there's a left-hand kink on the straight
going into the corner, guys turn in at fairly decent speed and trail
braking, so getting up the inside sufficiently to claim the track
isn't easy at all. Down the straight I assumed Laverty had it won
because Kenan simply wasn't close enough, but then I saw him lay off
the brakes and just go for it, and I assumed he'd blow right by
Laverty and probably go right off the track onto the paved runoff
there, likely losing 2nd in the process. But instead he ran right into
Laverty, who got knocked off his line and nearly off the track, and
that contact was the only reason Sofuoglu was able to get it stopped
and turned, using him as a berm. It was clearly a desperation move and
something that shouldn't be allowed to go unpenalized, because it just
encourages that sort of thing, in my opinion. Not a DQ, but at least
something like a five-second penalty imposed, enough to take the win
away.

Laverty handled it pretty well in the post-race Q&A in front of the
fans, but I'm sure he hadn't seen footage of it yet, and had had some
time to cool off as well. Who knows if anything else will come of
it.

 

Thanks for more or less confirming what I was saying. The Kawasaki
riders didn't do any better, if as well, on Yamahas or Hondas. That
would imply that the bike is in the ball park with the others, but the
riders weren't up to the task.

The riders were at least the equal of the Kawi riders, and I think the
Suzuki team provides better support. Suzuki has won the 500 class
championship and has stayed involved in GP racing ever since then.
Kawasaki never came close to winning the 500 championship and dropped
out of GP racing compleatly for quite a few years.

Was Hopkins ever at 100% while riding the Kawi? Seems like he has
been recovering from one thing after another for quite a while now.

That's sort of what I was getting at. Since they started racing Moto
GP they have not had a rider that ever won a GP until they hired
Melandri. And considering how he did last year it is questionable if
he still has it in him. In this last race he did some fine riding,
and the bike was up to the job. But as soon as he switched bike his
ride might just as well have been over.

There is no question Melandri can be fast, but is he able to guide the
team in getting the bike set up right? Some riders are fast when
given a bike that is set up right but have no clue about how to get
the bike right. If that describes Melandri you can expect him to have
another year like last year.

 

I had been talking about the Kawi and the <Ducati> didn't register. I
was wondering how you could bad mouth Kawi with all those Kawis in
your sig

Bruce

 

Here's what Eugene said on twitter afetr he got home and watched the
race on TV:

"Watched the race back. That pass was worse than I'd thought, Sofuoglu
was out of control. He'll come to regret that little manouevre."

 

You've got to love race reviews in 140 characters.

 

twit... twitter... everybody's gaga over it in hi tech here, and I so
don't get it. the only good tweets (note how they try to make that
distinction in their taxonomy are the ones that merely provide a
link to a wordier (and thus sometimes worthier) analysis.