| Author | Message | ||
     Vagelis46 |
Hayden showed slow pace all weekend in Qatar this year. His 9th place is not because of a bad start. Being Rossi's teammate is not the best place in the motoGP paddock : 1. You do well , and it is Rossi's development skills and setup wisdom. 2. You are forced to test *crap* parts for evaluation , and you under-perform. 3. You start getting close to Rossi, and then you stop getting the upgrades. Just ask Lorenzo ........... Too many politics involved when you have Rossi as your teammate. I am glad Yamaha kept Lorenzo and signed Spies. (Message edited by vagelis46 on March 24, 2011) (Message edited by vagelis46 on March 24, 2011) | ||
| Trojan |
Nicky also raced a different spec bike then all the other Honda riders in 2006,Honda forced him to race it,since all the other Honda riders wanted to race the 2005 spec bike, and Rossi had nothing to do with the 2006 bike Nicky raced. The 2006 Honda was hardly different to the winning 2005 bike at all. Only minor detail changes were made, including the clutch that Nicky seemed to find difficult all year. Hayden was slower this year because he admits that he just wasn't fast enough all weekend. He also says quite honestly that although Ducati have improved, everyone else has improved more, hence the difference in pace. Being Rossi's teammate is not the best place in the motoGP paddock Actually the opposite has historically been true. Being Rossi's team mate means that you tend to get the best bike and best team in the paddock. Nicky Hayden already knows that, having benefitted from his time at Honda with Vale, and Lorenzo certainly knows it! Being the number 2 rider is always going to bring specific responsibilies and ups/downs with it, that is the nature of the game and the reason you have number 1 and 2 riders in the first place. If you are in that position you have to accept that your team mate will get the best parts first, but you also know that you will be next in line to benefit from developments made by the best rider in the world  The choice really is starkly simple: If you don't like being number 2 to Rossi you can always leave and try to be number one in a satellite team with no factory stuff to play with  | ||
| Jaimec |
Coming from a dead stop on the track and finishing in the top ten is not bad at all in my book. | ||
| Blake |
When Rossi does good, it's because he's getting the new parts first. When his team mate does bad, it's because he's getting the new parts first. Huh?  | ||
| Trojan |
Nicky Hayden probably knows that he is in a good place long term, and that Rossi (and the crew he has brought with him) is far better at developing a 'friendly' bike that anyone can ride fast than Stoner was. Ultimately this will mean that Nicky gets a better bike of course. However it isn't going to happen overnight and the team even admit that their goal is to fight for wins in the second half of the season. Anything that they pick up before that is a bonus. Judging any team purely on their performance at Qatar is a bit premature though I think, and we should wait until we have had at least 3 rounds at different circuits before we decide who is actually doing well/badly this year (Message edited by trojan on March 24, 2011) | ||
| Amafan |
The problem with the the new part that Nicky Hayden used in the race, the flex chassis,is that in testing it was not as good as the standered Ducati chassis, but Nicky was forced to use it anyway. Yes Trojan, Nicky admitted that he was not fast enough,but he was also on a bike with a chassis he did not like all weekend, and the Ducati did not improve from last year . Stoner was on pole last year, and his fastest lap in last years race was way faster then Rossi's fastest lap in this years race . Nicky Hayden finished last years Qatar race in just under 42min and 52 seconds,and Rossi finished this years race in exactly 42min and 55 seconds. | ||
| Jaimec |
I'm afraid I haven't seen any article that backs the assertion Nicky was "forced" to use the Flex chassis... link, please? | ||
| Amafan |
http://www.motomatters.com/news/2011/03/18/ducati_ flex_package_the_way_forward_says.html | ||
| Trojan |
Nicky Hayden, like all GP riders, has a choice. He didn't HAVE to use the new chassis in the race and could quite easily have asked for the old chassis just like Rossi did. The fact is that neither were fast enough in this race so wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference to the end result. The new Flex chassis spec (which actually is not that different to the older one anyway) will probably be the way they go in future, but they didn't get enough testing on it to develop or set it up effectively so Rossi decided not to use it. Hayden risked using it to help development but his race was effectively over on the first lap anyway, even if he had been riding last years bike. Lets wait until they get to Europe before throwing the baby out with the bath water You simply can't compare Stoner on the Duc to any of the current times, simply because he has so far been the only rider the bike suits and is also a bit of a Qatar track expert and has been on pole there every year I think. | ||
| Jaimec |
I read the article and no where did I see it say that Nicky was forced. Nicky never once blamed the chassis on his results, nor did he complain about it. Contrast that with 2006 when he was desperately trying to get Honda to fix his balky transmission. | ||
| Amafan |
What do you expect Nicky to say, this bike is a piece of junk,and they are making me use the flex chassis,because they have invested alot of time and money in it,and Rossi refuses to use it. He did say in the Ducati press release that they had alot of work still to do on the bike, and he had a tough weekend on,and off the track,but people can not say he is not trying . A guy on a British forum, mentioned unlike the Japanese Manufactures,Ducati will fine riders that talk bad about the bike in the press. Nicky Hayden will always be a good team soldier,and will always blame himself,and not make excuses,he rode as hard as he could ,on what he was told to ride. He does not want to be black balled out of MotoGP,like Max Biagii was for saying bad things about his bike ,and team . (Message edited by amafan on March 25, 2011) | ||
| Jaimec |
Some people will see conspiracies wherever they look... | ||
| Crusty |
I'm not taking a side on this, but such behavior would not be unusual in Moto GP. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
That's how it works in MotoGP or Formula 1 when you're the #2 rider/driver. Did Nicky honestly think he'd be #1? As far as I'm concerned, I'm surprised he and Colin are still in MotoGP. I have a lot of respect for them both, but they are not top riders anymore, IMHO. | ||
| Jaimec |
I think Colin IS the #1 guy in the Tech3 garage, Rocket. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
No doubt about Colin. But they are a satellite team, so they're always 3rd to the factory teams. | ||
| Trojan |
A guy on a British forum, mentioned unlike the Japanese Manufactures,Ducati will fine riders that talk bad about the bike in the press. Don't believe everything you read on forums, even British ones Ducati have never confirmed if they do or don't fine riders for speaking out of line, and neither have any of the Jap factories. Marco Melandri and Sete Gibernau were both pretty scathing about Ducati during their stints with the factory and neither of them got fined as far as I know (just got sacked instead!). If you bad mouth any of the factories you pretty much burn your boats for future employment with them, as a lot of top riders have found to their cost over the years. Isn't there a saying about biting the hand that feeds you? | ||
| Jaimec |
Just ask Biaggi what happens when you bad mouth Honda as their "#1 Rider." | ||
| Jaimec |
Dennis Noyes on Rossi, Hayden and Ducati: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-noye s-notebook-rossi-ducati-playing-catch-up Please note that nowhere does it say Nicky was FORCED to use the Flexy-Frame. It is Ducati's chosen direction, and Nicky appears to want to get familiar with it ASAP. Rossi stayed with last year's "Rigid Frame" to get some experience and know how to deal with the changes before moving to the Flexy Frame. | ||
| Jaimec |
Ducati Crisis: Major revamp of GP11 | ||
| Trojan |
A bit of a spurious article to fill space before the GP, and certainly a lot of journalistic licence in there as well I think! There is also another similar article almost word for word in MCN online today. However, the quotes in these articles attributed to Burgess were actually widely reported in other blog sites just after the first GP at Qatar. Their interpretation was that the chassis wouldn't be changed (just minor tweaks) but that the motor would get the heavier crankshaft etc. Nowehere in any of the quotes does Burgess say that the chassis will be modified, and the closest they get to this is: Burgess added. "Honda has made a leap forward so we really need to be in a position so that if we go into a major redesign we can go two or three steps in one hit." There is a very big IF in there that the author seems to have read as a definite plan rather than what he actually said. Like all the other factories, Ducati is working on next years bike already, so major modifications to the GP11 are unlikely unless they fit nicely into the plan for next years 1000cc bike and can be introduced early to assistthe current project. Going down expensive blind alleys to make the last 800 competitive for just one season won't be on top of their 'to do' list I don't think, even if it means losing the championship this year. (Message edited by trojan on April 01, 2011) | ||
| Trojan |
FP1 times.......... 1 27 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 277.1 1'39.551 2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 270.6 1'39.579 0.028 / 0.028 3 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 274.4 1'40.077 0.526 / 0.498 4 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 275.9 1'40.176 0.625 / 0.099 5 1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 268.3 1'40.420 0.869 / 0.244 6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 277.0 1'40.429 0.878 / 0.009 7 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 278.3 1'40.887 1.336 / 0.458 8 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 273.1 1'41.063 1.512 / 0.176 9 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 272.0 1'41.064 1.513 / 0.001 10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 271.8 1'41.233 1.682 / 0.169 11 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 269.5 1'41.398 1.847 / 0.165 12 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 271.4 1'41.601 2.050 / 0.203 13 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 271.6 1'41.816 2.265 / 0.215 14 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 270.3 1'41.949 2.398 / 0.133 15 24 Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 279.3 1'42.157 2.606 / 0.208 16 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 273.8 1'42.313 2.762 / 0.156 17 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 275.2 1'42.538 2.987 / 0.225 Rossi 3rd, best of the rest and 'only' 0.5 seconds behind the Honda duo who look like they will dominate the series this year. Maybe the Ducati doesn't need the 'major update' after all It is only FP1 though, so everyone will go faster as the weekend goes on. Hopefully the Ducati will do the same and keep position | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Promising start in FP1 for Rossi . It looks good for the race. | ||
| Trojan |
Looking at the split sector times it seems that Rossi is losing all his time in the last sector of fast right hand corners, as he was only a couple of thousandths slower than Stoner by sector 3. Maybe the shoulder is all that stands between him and the top step after all? His time in FP1 this year is also faster than he did last year on the M1 by a couple of tenths I think. Hayden on the other hand is going backwards it seems. Are they using FP1 as a test session? Surely it can't be just because he doesn't like right handed circuits as has been reported elsewhere in the past? | ||
| Amafan |
Last year after FP1, it was Stoner 1st, Lorenzo 2nd, Hayden 3rd, Pedrosa 4th,and Rossi 5th, Hayden was over .2 of a second faster then Rossi,and over a second faster then he is this year. He must still be on that great Ducati flex chassis . | ||
| Trojan |
He must still be on that great Ducati flex chassis There is so far no evidence for which chassis he is using so it is a bit early to be guessing yet. he may have been just scrubbing tyres and trying different shock/chassis/electronics setups in FP1 for all we know. We won't know exactly who is using what until they decide to tell us (if ever) and FP1 is seldom a reliable indication of what is to come in the race. Both Ducatis qualified well last year but finished 4th and 5th if I remember correctly. They would be be happy with that this year I think. | ||
| Svh |
Interesting to see how Pedrosa does post surgery at the next round. May be an opening for Ducati or Yamaha. Still looking like a Honda dominated season. | ||
| Jaimec |
Hopkins faster than Elias in FP2??? What happened to Tony?? This is the man who pipped Rossi for the WIN in the last lap in 2006 for crying out loud. He's the Moto2 World Champion. What's going on?? | ||
| 46champ |
The consensus seems to be that Tony's riding style is completely incompatible with the Bridgestone tires. Remember Moto 2 is ran on Dunlop tires. | ||
| Jaimec |
Stoner on the pole again. Unless Yamaha or Ducati come up with something, it's going to be a Honda Romp this year, with Stoner leading the charge. GOD I hope that doesn't happen... Hoping Hopkins can shock the world tomorrow... |
