| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
Moxnix, did you read the article I linked above? He's from Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands. There, the people pronounce the "z" like an "s". At the end of the article, there is a link to an interview with the man himself, and when asked what his last name is, he responds (phonetically): "Lor EN so" Just as Erik has the last say on how his last name is pronounced, so does Jorge have the last word on how HIS name is pronounced. | ||
| Moxnix |
Well, maybe the race announcers learned Spanish in Andalucia. | ||
| Trojan |
The rumours about rider moves are certainly more exciting than the racing at the moment, because this weekends GP was BOOOOORING! Watching two people racing for 14th position out of 15 isn't what I call exciting television unfortunately. To add insult to injury, the Moto2 race wasn't much better, England got thrashed in the World Cup (by Gemany of all people!) and the F1 GP was a farce  Not a good sporting weekend on the whole. Roll on next year  | ||
| Jaimec |
What about World Superbikes? No one seems to post over there anymore, but those races are as exciting as always... | ||
| Trojan |
WSB was OK till Biaggi hit the front, then it all got a bit predictable really. I didn't get to see all of the races as there was just too much sport to watch all at once this weekend There seems to be a lot of ill feeling towards the Aprilia WSB team and bike within the paddock and Fabrizio made some less than guarded comments about the Aprilia 'motoGP bike' after race 1. I wonder if the FIM will rescind their decison to allow Aprilia to run gear driven cams? | ||
| Jaimec |
This could be an interesting side-spectacle this weekend: http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/our-test-ri der-is-faster-than-your-test-rider/ | ||
| Trojan |
Depends on what you define as a 'spectacle' I suppose. The sight of two unknown test riders lapping 4 secinds slower than everyone else isn't really a spectacle, more of an irritation I can't beleiev that both factories couldn't find a rider to substitute that would be more competitive than these two, and more sponsor/fan friendly too. Anthony West, John Hopkins, Olivier Jacques, Alex Hoffman, Alex De Angelis and a few others could probably have put in a better performance than these guys and at least the fans would recognise the names! | ||
| Jaimec |
Could make for some interesting side bets... | ||
| Trojan |
Musical chairs..... MCN are reporting today that it is a definite 100% done deal (according to their 'insider source') that Valentino Rossi has signed for Ducati in a 2 year deal for 2011/2012. They have also gone further by 'scooping' the fact that Ben Spies will move to the Fiat Team (hardly rocket science to figure that one out!) and that Cal Crutchlow will move up to fill the Tech 3 spot vacated by Spies. They also say that it is also 100% sure that Stoner has already signed for HRC and will possibly run a 3rd factory Honda alongside Pedrosa and Dovi, although maybe in separate colours to the Repsol squad. Their crystal ball doesn't go so far as to say who will partner Crutchlow at Tech 3, but given current form it is unlikely to be Colin Edwards (who I believe may retire from GP racing at the end of this year given his current malaise and apparent lack of enthusiasm for the sport). My opinion is that it could be French Moto2 rider Jules Cluzel, who has been a favourite of Herve Poncheral for some time and is now beginning to find some form too. Obviously it will depend on who sponsors want of course and so it could be another Monster sponsored rider who gets the ride instead. They may also want to keep one experienced rider than go with two rookies, so could offer the ride to a current MotoGP rider? Further MCN rumour would suggest that Capirossi will return to the Ducati fold at Pramac to replace an underperforming Mika Kallio (who will probably find himself in Moto2 next year). The plot thickens.... | ||
| Simond |
The smile on Cal's face when being interviewed at Silverstone about turning down the ride this year rather gave the game away!!! He is clearly one of the fastest in WSB this year, I just hope he starts to keep it together for the full distance for the remainder of the season and converts some of his potential into points. Would Moto2 have been better for him this year? Would he still have got this ride? I'm not sure but he is an exciting prospect either way. | ||
| Jaimec |
Sounds like if the GOAT does switch, he'll do it WITHOUT a key component of his winning ways... | ||
| Trojan |
Would Moto2 have been better for him this year? Would he still have got this ride? I'm not sure but he is an exciting prospect either way. Cal originally wanted to go to Moto2 this year and had a contract ready to sign with Gresini (same team as Toni Elias) but was held to his original two year contract by Yamaha who refused to release him. I think he eventually gave in to Yamaha on the proviso that he spend as short a time as possible in WSB and was guaranteed a MotoGP ride in future This year he has had to over ride a pretty uncompetitive bike to be honest (although his 4th place race time in race 2 at Assen was 8 seconds faster than Ben Spies winning time last year, so he is still trying hard) consequently has crashed a lot more than he usually does. Even Toseland has crashed the R1 a lot this season and he isn't usually known as a crasher on a superbike. | ||
| Amafan |
Trojan ,your pro British propaganda is getting old ! First of all Assen was changed this year , they replaced a slow chicane with a fast 5th gear turn ,and the track length is now shorter . Secondly Pirelli has improved the tires' since last year . The bike looked uncompetitive last year too, when Tom Sykes was riding it, and this year it has 12 more horse power . The last 2 years 3 British riders have raced for the Yamaha factory WSBK team, and have 0 wins to show for it, compared to 14 wins by Ben Spies . Cal Crutchlow is 10th in WSBK points, but you think he deserves a MotoGP ride, what are you smoking ? | ||
| 46champ |
AmaFan, Trojan is doing what we're all suppose to do he's being a patriot. | ||
| Trojan |
Trojan ,your pro British propaganda is getting old ! Oh we are geting a bit oversensitive aren't we? I wasn't using the times comparison to criticise Ben Spies but to show that Crutchlow has been trying very hard on this years R1 and that times have moved on from last year. in fact I was mistaken in citing Assen ( I got mixed up with MotoGP!) and should have said 'his race time at Misano was 8 seconds faster than Spies last year'. Crutchlow also had a faster race and qualifying time at Portugal too, but that isn't the point I was making. The only yardstick for measuring against is Ben Spies as he was the fastest guy on a Yamaha last year. As for this year's Yamaha having 12 more horsepower: It may have done at the start of the year but they changed so much since last year that the extra bhp caused more problems than it was worth. The bikes now have LESS bhp than last years R1 until they can finally sort out the engine management system to allow them to last a full race on a tyre without shredding them and losing side grip. Yamaha should have left the bike alone after last year but had to try and develop it further - they failed and made it a lot worse than it was. Cal Crutchlow is 10th in WSBK points, but you think he deserves a MotoGP ride, what are you smoking ? Crutchlow is held in very high esteem by Yamaha too. Remember they offered him Rossi's bike for the duration of Vale's absence, so maybe they smoke the same stuff as me (or we are all deluded of course). It will be very interesting to see just how he compares when he does get to MotoGP. As for being a patriot....Yes I am, but I support good riders from wherever they come from. I am a big fan of Jules Cluzel, Toni Elias, Mike Kallio (although he has had a terrible year!) and plenty of other 'non-British' talent. Maybe you should read this. I think it was written by a European but he may be a closet British sympathiser..... http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/latest-news/3774.html (Message edited by trojan on July 01, 2010) | ||
| Gaesati |
Ah, Trojan, I see that Crutchlow and Toseland are falling off a lot and overriding their bikes. Reminds me a bit of, dare I say it, Casey Stoner, but then, he was on a privateer motogp bike not a modified streetbike. | ||
| Trojan |
Reminds me a bit of, dare I say it, Casey Stoner, but then, he was on a privateer motogp bike not a modified streetbike. Casey Stoner never had problems falling off any bike He did a good job of smashing up a few 125's and 250's as well before he got his hands on a privateer GP bike Anyone who pushes to the absolute limit will fall off occasionally (even Rossi), and these days they push far harder than the bike/tyres can take. It isn't the crashes that continue to amaze me but the way they just dust themselves down and get on with the job when ordinary mortals like me would be in bed for a week afterwards!! Haslam had two enormous crashes at the latest tests and seemed to just shrug it off and get back on the spare bike. | ||
| Jaimec |
I'm going to cross post this here and on the WSBK thread, because it is interesting and relevant to both: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/wsbk-noyes- notebook-the-pirates-revenge/ | ||
| Trojan |
Good Ole Max is certainly a complicated guy It must be a nightmare being his team manager! | ||
| Jaimec |
I'm trying to picture Nicky Hayden "throwing down" with Max... that must've been something to see. I heard about the Rossi/Biaggi "dust-up" (it was mentioned in the movie "Faster") but that article was the first I'd heard regarding Nicky. | ||
| Blake |
Riders who offered to physically fight Biaggi (he invariably declined) included fellow Honda riders Sete Gibernau and his Repsol Honda teammate Nicky Hayden. | ||
| Jaimec |
Nicky would've whooped his ass... | ||
| Fresnobuell |
...I would hope so. | ||
| Jaimec |
No surprises today: Lorenzo fastest in first practice followed by Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovisioso. In his second-to-last lap, Ben Spies jumped up from 15th to 5th fastest. Ben needs to follow Jorge and figure out from where Lorenzo is getting all that speed... | ||
| Amafan |
Ben Spies does not need to follow anybody, he hates it when riders wait around and look for a tow like Loris Cappirossi always does . He was 5th fastest on a track he never seen before this weekend, Jorge Lorenzo has raced at this track for years, and if Ben was on a factory bike like Jorge he would be even closer to him . | ||
| Vagelis46 |
I agree 100%, a factory bike and support would make Spies faster. After Spies got his 3rd place 2 races ago, he is starting to get higher and higher. He is impressive. Under some circumstances , Spies could score a win this season, like Dovi did last year. That would make the racing fans, including myself, very happy. | ||
| Jaimec |
I know Ben would prefer to learn the tracks himself, but all riders follow each other not only to figure out the fastest way around the track but to figure out where their opponents are weak or strong so they can calculate the best places to attack. One of the things Nicky said about Silverstone was that he'd never ever followed Ben before so he had absolutely no clue where he was weak or strong after he had gotten passed. Wanna bet Nicky won't let that happen again? Also, since the engines have already been allocated and can't be touched, I don't think there's any difference in power between Ben and Jorge's bikes in that regard. Maybe electronics, but they're essentially identical. | ||
| Smokescreen |
Anyone else read this? http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresul ts/MotoGP/2010/June/jun2910-World-Exclusive-Rossi- to-Ducati/ Brighter days are ahead for the red. | ||
| Jaimec |
Despite what it says, it's still just rumor. Neither party has confirmed it, and Jeremy Burgess (Rossi's head mechanic) denies it out right. Jorge "The Machine" Lorenzo takes his third consecutive pole. Ben Spies fifth! De Puniet knocked Pedrosa off the front row and relegated him to fourth. Stoner is second. Neither Nicky nor Colin qualified in the top 10. Race tomorrow at 8:00 AM EDT. GO ELBOWZ!! | ||
| Jaimec |
I think I know how my friends who are fans of the New York Yankees feel. Being a fan of Yamaha since I first started riding (the first bike I ever rode was a Yamaha, and the first bike I ever owned sported the tuning fork logo) I'm really enjoying watching Yamaha steamroll over the competition (ESPECIALLY Honda) in the World Championship. The secret's out... I don't root for Yamaha because it's Rossi's team... I root for Rossi because he's on a Yamaha. Watching Lorenzo, all I can say is if the rumors are true, the Yamaha factory team will be in good hands. The "Dream Team" for me in 2011 would be "Lorenzo/Spies" if it can't be "Rossi/Lorenzo." "Boring racing?" Yeah, probably, just like watching the Yankees is "Boring Baseball." Sometimes it IS nice to bask in total domination though. |
