| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
Marquez so far hasn't shown any real talent for the start/launch sequence. He's more like Rossi in that it doesn't matter where he is at the beginning of the race, at the end he's ALWAYS in front. Lorenzo's style almost requires his lightning starts to get him going. Once one of those "Point and Shoot" Hondas get in front of him, his high-corner speed technique takes a serious hit so he HAS to get in front and STAY in front. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Jeez did you guys catch the slomo high motion cam shots of Marquez backing it in? I think Marquez could be the first racer ever to win on a bucking bronco should someone fit one with wheels and give it him! What impresses me most about Marquez is not his obvious talent. It's his ability to catch it when he's lost it. Usually always the front! Rocket in England | ||
| Fast1075 |
Did you see the slo mo of Bradl braking with the rear tire off the ground turning into a corner? I have to admit Marquez may just be the next "best ever" if he doesn't implode. Aggressive, fearless, and dangerous, with a will for absolute domination. Pedrosa was running on the razor's edge in Superpole. barely controlled chaos. Boy's got some stones for sure. I always root for the underdog and the unexpected. It would be good to see something win that does not have orange wheels. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Marquez might just try too hard. We saw him do it last season He won last season. he will do whatever is necessary to win We've seen it repeatedly. Marquez Rossi same bike. That's the ticket! I would LOVE to see that. 100% equal bikes would be great. Marquez does seem to crumble under pressure I disagree. I believe he thrives on it. The last 3 laps at Qatar proved it. I was very excited to see Rossi step forward at Qatar, duking it out with the young champion. The friendly sportsmanship displayed between the Great One and the current champion just after the race made the price of my MotoGp streaming package absolutely worth every penny. I think today's race will be awesome. I'll be watching Lorenzo very closely, he is my wife's favorite and we both came near tears watching him crash out in the first lap at Qatar. | ||
| Davegess |
Here are two great comments about Marquez, http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2014/Apr/140412ryde rnotes.htm The guy is the real deal, if he can stay healthy he will go down in the books. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Well that was fairly boring, just as Marquez himself said. It's a crap track for bike racing and the Hondas are too dominant to give anyone a chance to fight with Marquez. For the first time, I agree with Matt on this one now. Get shut of the works bikes. Rocket in England | ||
| Jaimec |
A "race" to forget. Bring on Argentina. I was 2/3 right regarding the final position. Don't know what Dovi is taking for his flu, but it looked like it worked. So what is the penalty for Ducati now that they've gotten their first dry track podium? (Message edited by jaimec on April 13, 2014) | ||
| Pwnzor |
Another disappointment from Lorenzo. It's a crap track for bike racing I guess we'll have to agree to disagree there. | ||
| Gaesati |
So, what is the collective opinion of Jack Miller in moto3? | ||
| Crusty |
He can ride pretty damned well. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
You can't have a track where bikes can pass and pass back or not in the twisty bits. In other words race. Then have all that taken away by a bike which takes .3 sec a lap OR MORE as an advantage over every other bike in the race mainly by its domination along a very long straight. You don't need Jack Miller's opinion. All you need do is watch the race. The single cylinder 250 engine shared by all the teams in Moto 3 gave a perfect demonstration of equality amongst the front runners. Swapping and changing the lead several times during the closing laps, slipstreaming playing a significant part in them doing so. If Moto GP had equal engines, or more like everyone ran 'open' bikes, the advantage awarded the Honda would not be. As it was, the only works bikes doing well are the two Hondas of Ped and Marq. We could argue four works bikes if we included the Yamahas but Rossi clearly had tyre issues which were beaten by Yamahas own satellite bike not constrained by the same rule to tyres as the works Yamaha. Lorenzo remains an unknown. But the argument seems clear, the works bike entry is only working for Honda, and 'open' bikes are doing better than other works bikes. Which translates to Honda having a runaway season of it. Not what I call racing, and Marquez neither seeing as he said it was a boring race. I'm sure he'd want the fight more than the glory of winning on stallion when the others are on carthorses. Rocket in England | ||
| Jaimec |
Rocket: The satellite bikes of Pol and Bradley follow the SAME RULES as the factory bikes of Rossi and Lorenzo. The only "Yamahas" that don't are the "Open" bikes used by Colin and Aleix (first names used to avoid confusion between the Espargaro brothers Aleix and Pol). Neither Colin nor Aleix finished ahead of any of the factory Yamahas (with the exception of Lorenzo who had to take a "Ride Through" penalty for the worst start of his career). | ||
| Trojan |
Pretty boring race in the end after Lorenzos meltdown on the grid. Quite a few riders suffered from front tyre issues by the look of it, with lap times suddenly dropping by 4 seconds in just a couple of laps. Rossi and Iannone both went from reliable 2.04 down to 2.08 suddenly towards 2/3 distance. Scott Redding crashed with a mysterious front tyre issue too. A few good battles for the minor placings between Smith/Bradl/Dovi, and good to see Dovi on the podium at last. bridgestone have some explaining to do by suddenly announcing the use of 2013 tyres at this round, but they seemed to work for some and not others. Marquez was just imperious all weekend and even using the hard tyre made it look so easy. Moto3 definitely the best race of the day, and Jack Miller showed he is the real deal  Josh Herrin blotted his copy book again at turn one (and again later on) in Moto2. I thik he needs to calm down and try to get into a race rythm rather than trying to win the race at the first turn. Not sure if he caused it or was hit by another rider, but not too impressive so far unfortunately (I had high hopes for him in Moto2). Hopefully the next round will offer a bit more racing at the front as it is entirely new for everyone. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
After the race in Qatar, Rossi's performanced returned to his 2013 form..... It seems that the 2014 championship is already over , after just 2 round.... Well done Dorna and Esspelleta.. I think it is Dorna's fault that they introduced a new tire in the 2014 championship that doesn't suit Yamaha&Lorenzo , the only rider capaple of challenging Marquez for the title....... So it seems that Dorna is happy to have a Spanish rider winning every week..... Dorna have found their new hero , the new Valentino Rossi , and they do their best to make sure that he wins every week , even if that means that they give him some (unfair ??) advantages..... What happened to the rookie rule last year ? Dorna changed the rule to make sure their new "hero" goes directly to HRC , without having to ride a satellite machine ? OK....Marquez is phenomenal , but I do not get the reason for making it easier for him...... The 2014 tires seems to suit the Hondas, so the championship is over..... The same tires for all the bikes is a stupid rule for motoGP..... How is it possible that the same tire constructio will suit different bikes ? Ducati got f@@$#ed the last 5 years They had to change their design philosophy to the standard Jap design with aluminium frame.... Now it seems that it is Yamaha's turn .......... Dorna is happy with Marquez winning every week ..... | ||
| 46champ |
Dorna is happy with Marquez winning every week \black +1} | ||
| Trojan |
I think it is Dorna's fault that they introduced a new tire in the 2014 championship that doesn't suit Yamaha&Lorenzo , the only rider capaple of challenging Marquez for the title....... The difficulty with that argument is that Bridgestone didn't have enough of the 2014 tyres for Austin, so everyone usesd the 2013 tyre for this race. The argument that the tyre didn't suit the Yamaha was actually false. Lorenzo had pushed very hard for the 2013 tyre to be kept this year so has no excuses for not being able to exploit it. Marquez is sensational to watch and a deserving winner. Unfortunately if he wins every week it will turn the fans off  However that isn't his problem, it is everyone elses. | ||
| Pwnzor |
You can't have a track where bikes can pass and pass back or not in the twisty bits. In other words race. Then have all that taken away by a bike which takes .3 sec a lap OR MORE as an advantage over every other bike in the race mainly by its domination along a very long straight. So, the other manufacturers would be well advised to build faster bikes, right? | ||
| Trojan |
Then have all that taken away by a bike which takes .3 sec a lap OR MORE as an advantage over every other bike in the race mainly by its domination along a very long straight. that isn't the whole story though. Pedrosa, Bradl, Bautista were all onsimilar spec Hondas and he Ducatis were also fast in a straight line. None of the above could hold a candle to Marquez in any session all weekend. fact is he looks pretty unbeatable on this track and I suspect he would have won on any of the factory bikes this weekend. Even in practice he was lapping faster on a hard rear tyre than anyone else (on their soft/mediums!). It will be interesting to see how the factory bikes compare at Argentine, which ios a circuit where nobody has tested in anger (I'm sure some of them have had a sneaky look at the circuit though). | ||
| Jaimec |
Matt, In all the discussion, it seems no one noticed my earlier question: Now that Ducati has a dry-weather podium, what is the "penalty?" | ||
| Trojan |
In all the discussion, it seems no one noticed my earlier question: Now that Ducati has a dry-weather podium, what is the "penalty?" I think (although they may have changed things in the final version) that the plan was to penalise after 1 x first place, 2 x second place or 3 x third, so Ducati have a couple more podiums before they get any penalty. God knows how they work out if they get 1 x second and 2 x thirds (or any other permutation!) but I'm sure they will make something up. They did have another meeting where they introduced the factory 2 category, and that may have removed the penalties in favour of some slightly different rules for Ducati alone (I missed a couple of days when this was being discussed by FIM/DORNA). To be honest if I remember correctly the penalty is only a reduction in fuel and use of slighty less engines for the year. Neither of which would really damage Ducati too much. The loss of a couple of engines could hurt them most as it would limit the development they can do. | ||
| Bads1 |
Even though Lorenzo came back to place tenth his lap times were not good enough to beat Marquez if he had not jumped the start. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Rocket: The satellite bikes of Pol and Bradley follow the SAME RULES as the factory bikes of Rossi and Lorenzo. The only "Yamahas" that don't are the "Open" bikes used by Colin and Aleix. Neither Colin nor Aleix finished ahead of any of the factory Yamahas. 2. With immediate effect, a Manufacturer with entries under the factory option who has not achieved a win in dry conditions in the previous year, or new Manufacturer entering the Championship, is entitled to use 12 engines per rider per season (no design freezing), 24 litres of fuel and the same tyres allocation and testing opportunities as the Open category. This concession is valid until the start of the 2016 season. 3. The above concessions will be reduced under the following circumstances: Should any rider, or combination of riders nominated by the same Manufacturer, participating under the conditions of described in clause 2 above, achieve a race win, two second places or three podium places in dry conditions during the 2014 season then for that Manufacturer the fuel tank capacity will be reduced to 22 litres. Furthermore, should the same Manufacturer achieve three race wins in the 2014 season the manufacturer would also lose the right to use the soft tyres available to Open category entries. In each case the reduced concessions will apply to the remaining events of the 2014 season and the whole of the 2015 season. Thank you Jaime. I see where I went wrong now. I thought Tech 3 not winning a race last season (dry) allowed them the same as 'open' teams. Of course, Yamaha won races last season (in the dry) which discounts them from 'open' rules, they running as (Yamaha) factory / satellite bikes. I still think the racing is very much limited to ONLY four bikes which can ever win under usual circumstances. These are the factory four. Surely now it's time to level the field. It's stupid watching a no race, race. I also believe there's some truth in Vag and 46C comments. Dorna and the Moto GP Spanish armada. It smells big time! Rocket in England | ||
| Jaimec |
And Ducati needs two more podium finishes in order to lose two liters of fuel. Not that much of a penalty, really. | ||
| Trojan |
Not that much of a penalty, really. Especially given that the bikes were originally developed to run under factory rules and so have no problems with fuel consumption anyway.I can't see them losing any sleep over it. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
""Especially given that the bikes were originally developed to run under factory rules and so have no problems with fuel consumption anyway.I can't see them losing any sleep over it."" But .. it looked in Texas , that during the final 2 laps, Dovi managed to pull a gap .... I think the extra fuel helped him not to loose any power, while the bikes chasing him had to reduce their power just to finish the race....... So the extra fuel, seems to give an advantage to Ducati at the moment..... | ||
| Trojan |
I think the extra fuel helped him not to loose any power, while the bikes chasing him had to reduce their power just to finish the race....... It wasn't the extra fuel, but tyres that allowed him to pull a gap at the end. Dovi said that he looked after his tyres in the early stages of the race imply because he wasn't feeling well and needed to pace himself, which meant that he had more pace when the others started slowing with destroyed front tyres. bradley Smith had a similar story as he had to slow in the early laps after overheating hsi brakes. This allowed his tyres to have an easier time in the first 3rd of the race and have more speed at the end. I don't know if you have seen the pictures of Rossi's front tyre but I find it amazing that he even finished the race on it. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Look what I got yesterday. Don't worry. They're not late. We decided to go next year instead, so our freebies were not used, and brought to me as souvenirs! Looking forward to next year though. Qatar is an experience like no other.  Rocket in England | ||
| Trojan |
http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/columns/trackside- tuesday-argentina-gp/#more-61397 Given how remote the circuit appears to be (and the availability of a track much closer to Buenes Aires), it makes me wonder who paid how much to whom in order to hold a GP 700 miles from the nearest major airport!! I'll bet somebody had a nice backhander from the deal that's for sure. Maybe Cal Crutchlow looked at the map and decided that his finger was far too bad to race after all! Sounds like it would have been easier to hold the race on the Falkland Islands (that would have raised some interesting political scenarios!). With a race just 7 days later in Spain I wonder how much team equipment will 'go missing' or end up impounded by Argentine customs and won't reach jerez? | ||
| Jaimec |
Yeah, I was just about to post a link to that article when I see you beat me to it, Matt. My one reaction when I read that was "...wow..." What was Dorna THINKING?? | ||
| Ljm |
In my sport, we made the same stupid mistake. We have held two World Championship-level events in Argentina, both in remote places only accessible by bus, hours from Buenos Aires. The hotels were bad, the equipment was held up in customs then stolen shipping outbound. Substantial bribes were required to get it there in the first place. Hotels were marked up 500%. Bags were riffled and clothing and valuables stolen, as well as hotel rooms being burgled during the competition itself. And on and on it goes. I suspect that they will be riding pit bikes in Jerez because that is all they will have left. |
