| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
You are misreading what I was saying and I'm too tired to try and rephrase. Take it however you want. First race is this weekend. When the flag drops, the BS stops, as they say. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
'Rossi was very competitive last year even though he was down on HP, and probably just on an inferior bike to the booming Ducati. Count him out at your own peril.}' Last year, it was Stoner's talent that gave Ducati the title. He was the only Ducati rider that got the bike going very fast. | ||
| Jaimec |
Actually, looking at Stoner 2006 vs, Stoner 2007... it seems the guy is simply a mad man with no sense of self preservation. The Honda's electronics weren't nearly as good as the Ducati's hence his rather spectacular crashes during the season. The Ducati's electronics were far better suited to Stoner's "Ball's Out" style and he was able to fearlessly stuff the bike into turns and trust its electronics to keep the rubber side down. The older guys (like Melandri) are used to machines that didn't have that level of electronic safeguards and so enter the turns a bit more cautiously I think. Stoner's crashes in the post and pre season practices seem to indicate that Ducati is still dialing in the electronics in the 2008 package. I'm betting it'll all be settled by this weekend and unless the other riders on the grid check their brains and trust their electronics Stoner will run away with the title again. Just my $.02US | ||
| Glitch |
It'd be a shoe in if he were on a BMW right Jaime | ||
| Spiderman |
Not to mention, he won't need a pit crew with that bad ass tool kit  | ||
| Jaimec |
Get a life you two. | ||
| Ceejay |
There's a reason that shcumacher(sp?) was just 5 sec. off the lap record and I seriously doubt it was due to line selection I read that in practice Stoner could go out, slide all over the place in the corners, come in have some adjustments made, go back out slide around half as much, and then repeat until the electronics were so dialed in that there was little movement other than him away from the rest of the pack come race day. Kind of eliminates the debate over tires don't it? | ||
| Glitch |
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| Spiderman |
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| Jaimec |
Toseland is 27? I'm surprised... that's a little "late" to be getting into MotoGP. Compare that to Jorge Lorenzo who is barely out of his teens! Can't wait till the weekend!! | ||
| Blake |
From an interview posted on MotoGP.com... Five-time MotoGP World Champion Rossi was in positive spirits | ||
| Jaimec |
Just saw that due to problems during testing, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa will be using LAST year's bikes in Qatar. Apparently they weren't happy that the satellite riders on last year's bikes were outperforming them on the new bikes. This must've kicked Honda right in the "nads." Wonder if there will be some heads rolling? | ||
| Trojan |
I'll bet Honda wish they had a decent test/development rider in the camp now ;) Apparently Hayden asked for the 07 bike straight after the Philip Island tests a few weeks ago, but Honda didn't want to lose face. Now it looks like they will be back pedalling before the season even starts. Half way through first free practice and Stoner leads by almost a full second from Dovizioso and De Puniet,Lorenzo, Toseland, Hayden, Pedrosa & Rossi. (Message edited by trojan on March 07, 2008) | ||
| Trojan |
FP1 has just finished, and the order is: Stoner (Ducati) Lorenzo (Yamaha) Dovizioso (Honda) Rossi (Yamaha) Pedrosa (Honda) De Puniet (Honda) Edwards (Yamaha) Toseland (Yamaha) Hayden (Honda) Hopkins (Kawasaki) Melandri (Ducati) Capirossi (Suzuki) De Angelis (Honda) Nakano (Honda) Vermuelen (Suzuki) Elias (D'Antin Ducati) West (Kawasaki) Guintoli (D'Antin Ducati) The gap between Stoner & Lorenzo was just 0.054 so it looks like he will have a fight on his hands even at this early stage FP1 is only the start of the weekend of course, but Kawasaki & Suzuki look like they are in trouble after bleak testing performances over the winter and now languishing at the rear of the pack. It will be interesting to see how things change for tomorrow and Sunday | ||
| Vagelis46 |
It seems that Michelin is BACK ! But I think this is down to 3 very fast young riders that ride on Michelin tires. Lorenzo Dovizioso DePuniet | ||
| Jaimec |
Only Bridgestones in the Top 10 were Stoner and Rossi. I really do think Rossi goofed by forcing the switch. Did he really think Michelin would spend the off-season sitting on their thumbs??? | ||
| Benm2 |
Seems maybe Honda has... | ||
| Trojan |
Don't be too fast in writing off Rossi's Bridgestone switch. It seems that Qatar is a whole different ball game to just about every other GP, and the temperatures are varying by huge amounts over the course of testing/practice. Bridgestone apparently have problems with the low temperatures at night and lack of grip on the sand covered track. The only rider who seems relatively unaffected by this is Stoner, although the gap back to the next guys is much less than we became accustomed to last year, and shows just how close the competition will be this year. The Michelins seem to be better suited to these conditions at the moment, and it is obvious that Michelin have indeed made big strides over the winter, and this shows in the relatively lowly positions of the Suzuki & Kawasaki teams who were flattered last year by superior rubber. Both teams are struggling badly and Suzuki will run a hybrid 07/08 bike for Capirossi on Sunday just to try and improve matters. The Bridgestone race tyres/setup may be a completely different proposition if the temperature rises by even as little as 2 or 3 degrees C on race night. Repsol Honda's switch back to 07 bikes doesn't seem to have made a bit of difference, and they are seriously struggling and outside of the top ten. Pedrosa's silly crash yesterday when he drove in to the back of Rossi (deja vu) shows how hard they are having to try in the corners just to make up time. On a positive note James Toseland 3rd fastest in FP2 Bradley Smith on provisional pole for the 125GP and Danny Webb second Looks like it could be a good weekend for the Brits at last, and of course Davies/Hodgson winning the Daytona 200 will be the cherry on the cake | ||
| Vagelis46 |
My predictions for the race 1.Stoner 2.Rossi 3.Lorenzo | ||
| Blake |
Hayden. | ||
| Jaimec |
It's an all-Yamaha front row for the race. Lorenzo took the pole, followed by Toseland and Edwards. Rossi leads the THIRD row in seventh. How's that Bridgestone working out so far? | ||
| Sinatra |
id love to see any of the tech 3 yamahas beat rossi, and im a huge rossi fan, it would give him a kick in the "the doctor" logo on his leathers....i'm rooting for edwards though....id like to see him win a GP before he retires to the AMA. race starts in less then 10 hours.....finally....its been a long winter. | ||
| Trojan |
All of the Bridgestone riunners are suffering in Qatar, including it seems Stoner & Rossi. I think they may be better in the race, but will certainly be better at the next round where the temperature change isn't so dramatic. I'll be rooting for Toseland though ;) | ||
| Jaimec |
I'm with Sinatra: I want to see Colin on the top step at least ONCE this year! GO COLIN! | ||
| Trojan |
I also think that Stoner will be the man to beat in the race once again. he has after all been fastest in every session using race tyres ;) Michelin have a very good qualifying tyre but it remains to be seen if they can translate that into a race tyre too. My prediction for the race (althugh I am hoping otherwise): 1. Stoner 2. Lorenzo 3. Rossi | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Last year in Qatar, despite the M1 being much-much slower, Rossi gave Stoner a bigger fight, than the one Lorenzo gave Stoner this year. Untill Rossi figures out how to set-up the M1 with the Bridgestones, it might be too late for the title for him. Great race from Pedrosa. To finish 3rd after the problems the HRC bikes had all weekend, was a great accomplishment. It seems he was right about not trusting Hayden to develop the 08' bike when he was injured. | ||
| What_the |
Vagel, the best ride of the race was from Toseland. End of story, underpowered and all, just sitting there helpless on the long front stretch to a 6th. Stoner gets kudos for finally putting his head down with 15 laps to go, and shoving his way to the front, then slowly breaking Lorenzo. Quit giving Rossi crutches for his dictatorial tyre selection for the year. Perhaps he'll choke on it while Lorenzo motors to the podium every race on Michelins. You're a bit quick to dismiss Hayden while the bikes continue to be designed around little Danny's stature. Not to seem harsh, but do you really pay attention in the off season? It appears Toseland and Dovizioso will hold no prisoners, and ride, punt, or motor their way to the front. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
'You're a bit quick to dismiss Hayden while the bikes continue to be designed around little Danny's stature.' They say that the 08' Honda is bigger than the 07', and that it would help Hayden do better.Instead Hayden chose to go back to the 07 bike for the 1st race, while Pedrosa chose the 08'. After Pedrosa's injury during the tests, Hayden was left to develop and set-up the 08' bike. It seems that he got nowhere. How many poor performances from Hayden do you need ? If HRC is treating him badly, and only making bikes for little Danny, why is he so keen to stay with them ? | ||
| Trojan |
Nice guy that Nicky Hayden undoubtedly is, I don't think his career with Honda will last too much longer unless he can improve his race performances. His qualifying form is flattered by the Michelin qualifying tyre (as is Toselands/Edwards etc) but if he can't improve then I think he will be back in AMA Superbikes next season. Remember that Dovizioso and De Puniet were also on a lower spec 07 Honda than Nicky and still finished ahead of him. Alex 'Dangerous' DeAngelis was also ahead of Hayden when he threw it into the scenery. Ironic that Rossi suffered from tyre troubles on his first race for Bridgestone, but I don't think that will hamper him for the rest of the season. He wasn't the only Bridgestone runner to have front tyre troubles in Qatar, Chris Vermuelen only lasted half race distance on his front tyre (same compound as Rossi). Stoner was in superb form, and it seems the speed differential has not yet been bridged given the relative pace of the Ducati on the main straight. It is easy to criticise him but he obviously has the bike really well set up for him and that makes it easier on the tyres than others. Still it shows how the bike is working for him and not for Melandri/Elias/Guintoli. I am certainly not surprised by the relatively poor showing of the Kawasaki & Suzukis, as I always thought that they were flattered by far superior tyres last year and that once Michelin caught up normal order would be resumed. Toseland did a great job on the underpowered Tech 3 Yamaha and rode the wheels off it just to be dropped by 20 yards every time they got onto the main straight. He must have been raging! And he certainly showed that he is not going to be intimidated when he made a hard move on Lorenzo stick Ride of the weekend for me was Scott Redding, who finished 5th in the 125 race after being in the leading group all race. At just 15 years old and in his first ever GP, he is surely a name to watch for the future  | ||
| Blake |
I have no doubt that Nick Hayden will soon be challenging for MotoGP race wins and the championship. Funny how some folks think. Knocking Nick for having done development on the '08 machine but preferring the '07 for the race. Yet Pedrosa took his '08 Honda to 2nd place. So then, did Nick do a good job in developing the '08? Apparently for Pedro he certainly did. Toseland was impressive. Has Rossi lost his mojo? He had tire problems? |
