| Author | Message | ||
     Trojan |
NO!!! not yet another come back by Chris Vermuelen! Much aas he was a great rider in his day it is long past time he hung up his leathers and retired. I'm sure he has never fully recovered from injury and he haasn't done himself any favours n previous attemts at a return. There are plenty of young riders wanting good rides without having to bring people out of retirement  | ||
| Gaesati |
Sad but true, Matt. He never did get to fulfil his potential. Like Hopper, time with Suzuki just wasted him. | ||
| Trojan |
I've just read various rumours that Honda will put Casey Stoner on a wild card HRC bike for the three fly away rounds this year (Phillip Island, Japan and Sepang). I don't think it will happen for a number of reasons (not least of which is Stoner himself) but you never know..... Surely it would only serve to potentially take points away from other Honda riders Pedrosa,Marquez & Bradl. It wouldn't matter to Lorenzo or Rossi if Stoner came back and won the occasional race when he can't win the championship. It would seem extremely counter productive for HRC to have to divide their workforce and add to their workload to give Stoner what is effectively a guest ride at selected GP's. They would be better served trying to provide another bike for youngsters such as Pol Esparago or Scott Redding in my view. Let Stoner go and race cars if he wants to, and stop all this comeback talk already | ||
| 46champ |
Yes Stoner can practice with V8 supercars this year then go to NASCAR next year. He could set on the front row beside Danica then the real complaining would begin. | ||
| Davegess |
Stoner in NASCAR, that would be fun to see. That is far more dificult to do than many folks think and he would be so far toward the back it wouold be fun to see the smoke coming out of his ears!!! | ||
| Xb1125r |
if Honda does that with Stoner, i hope they pay him a lot of money. if her races in at philips island, you know he will take any points form YAmaha. lol and the Doctor can follow the Master to the finish line | ||
| Simond |
The only reason to give Stoner wild card rides this year would be if they are already in talks about a possible return in 2014. I find it hard to believe that we've seen the last of him in MotoGp. I can't say that I ever warmed to him but he's just too good not to be riding. | ||
| Trojan |
I think the media just need something to witter about at this time of year to be honest. Stoner hasn't even started his 4 wheel race career yet and there is rumour of a return to bikes? The same poor journalists have banged on about Mick Doohan and Troy Bayliss returning to top flight racing for years with no basis in fact, so I'll wait until Stoner says it himself (although he will of course vigourously deny it first!) if her races in at philips island, you know he will take any points form YAmaha Unfortunately he would also probably take points from Pedrosa, Marquez and Bradl too, and these are riders contracted to HRC and with a lot invesnted in them for the future (particularly Marquez). It would not put Honda in anybodys favourites folder to go upsetting contracted riders when there is a championship left to win. If theoretically the series was either tied up by Pedrosa or completely out of his reach, then maybe it would happen, but I don't see Stoner coming back just to ride shotgun to either of the curent Repsol guys in order to take points from Lorenzo/Rossi. NASCAR is very different to Aussi V8 racing isn't it? I thought they turned left AND right in Aussie V8 racing? | ||
| Bads1 |
Trojan they come to Road America and its fun watching these cars get pretty banged up.lol | ||
| Davegess |
NASCAR has a coupel fo road courses but that is it. It is a very tough form of racing to do well at without having grown up with it. Ovals, weither Indy cars or NASCAR, have a whole different code that needs to be figure out. Very small mistakes can cost you big time. You can't be only OK on a couple of corners and brilliant on the rest and expect to do well. There is no place to make up time and if you get a bit loose you often can't save it and get it right next time; you are wrecked and out of the race. Ask Montoya about how tough it is. If Stoner thinks he could run NASCAR he really is whacked! | ||
| Jaimec |
The biggest issue I see with NASCAR is the size of the pack and how closely packed together they are. If the driver in front of you screws up, you have ZERO time to react and get yourself out of harms way. That's the big attraction, of course. People go to see spectacular wrecks. I don't get the attraction... it's like going to a hockey game for the fights. | ||
| Davegess |
Part of it and another big part is driving to your spotter. They say go left you go left; sorta driving blind. | ||
| Jaimec |
Back on topic: http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/2013-honda- rc213v-90-v4-engine/ | ||
| Jaimec |
He doesn't say it in so many words, but loosely translated: "Jorge is okay. Casey is a d*ck." http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/rossi%20intervi ew%20on%20season%202013 | ||
| Jaimec |
I can't find any confirmation of it anywhere, but I just heard that Speed WILL cover the 2013 MotoGP World Championship. | ||
| Crusty |
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=50889 | ||
| Jaimec |
EXCELLENT! Thanks, Crusty! | ||
| Jaimec |
Live timing coming in from Sepang. Right now it's Lorenzo/Rossi one and two with Pedrosa fourth. I don't see any times for Marquez. Ben is being beaten by Iannone, and both Nicky and Dovi are easily in the top ten. I'm sure things will change by the end of the session. | ||
| Jaimec |
Just checked again. Lorenzo is still fastest but now followed by Pedrosa and Marquez. Rossi's dropped down to sixth... | ||
| Jaimec |
Dani's back on top followed by Lorenzo, Rossi and Marquez. And now I'm going to bed... | ||
| Bads1 |
Looks like the front runners are very close to one another. I guess Rossi had troubles with a 2013 bike and had to finish testing on the 2012 bike. Rains are not helping. Hoping no rain for todays test. | ||
| Bads1 |
Looks like we will see the new Suzuki perform this year at a test against the other factory teams. http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/188374/1/suzuki_p lans_barcelona_motogp_test_return.html | ||
| Trojan |
Looks like things are getting very close at the fron on day two of testing Good to see Cal Crutchlow hanging in there on the 'inferior' satellite yamaha too. At the other end, Ben Sies must be wishing he had retired after all. A morning crash can't have helped, but he is way off the pace so far on the Ducati....a second behind your rookie team mate is not where you want to be at this stage of testing  Micahel Laverty spent almost the entire day watching his crew build his new bike, and managed just a handful of laps on his PBM framed Aprilia. Must be frustrtaing to fly all that way just to sit in the garage for 2 days 1 LORENZO, Jorge Yamaha Factory Racing Team 2:00.282 32 / 58 2 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda Team 2:00.651 0.369 0.369 24 / 55 3 CRUTCHLOW, Cal Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:00.907 0.625 0.256 29 / 59 4 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team 2:00.992 0.710 0.085 9 / 64 5 ROSSI, Valentino Yamaha Factory Racing Team 2:01.065 0.783 0.073 10 / 63 6 BAUTISTA, Alvaro GO&FUN Honda Gresini 2:01.208 0.926 0.143 14 / 58 7 BRADL, Stefan LCR Honda MotoGP 2:01.485 1.203 0.277 15 / 54 8 HAYDEN, Nicky Ducati Team 2:01.778 1.496 0.293 63 / 69 9 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team 2:01.803 1.521 0.025 16 / 49 10 SMITH, Bradley Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:02.023 1.741 0.220 62 / 63 11 IANNONE, Andrea Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team 2:02.608 2.326 0.585 23 / 47 12 ESPARGARO, Aleix Power Electronics Aspar 2:02.905 2.623 0.297 44 / 45 13 PIRRO, Michele Ducati Test Team 2:02.920 2.638 0.015 26 / 60 14 NAKASUGA, Katsuyuki Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team 2:02.946 2.664 0.026 40 / 43 15 YOSHIKAWA, Wataru Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team 2:03.354 3.072 0.408 15 / 40 16 BARBERA, Hector Avintia Blusens 2:03.428 3.146 0.074 54 / 55 17 SPIES, Ben Ignite Pramac Racing Team 2:03.460 3.178 0.032 34 / 36 18 DE PUNIET, Randy Power Electronics Aspar 2:03.518 3.236 0.058 36 / 57 19 AOYAMA, Hiroshi Avintia Blusens 2:03.990 3.708 0.472 50 / 57 20 PETRUCCI, Danilo Came IodaRacing Project 2:04.279 3.997 0.289 50 / 50 21 ABRAHAM, Karel Cardion AB Motoracing 2:04.350 4.068 0.071 55 / 68 22 TAKAHASHI, Takumi HRC Test Team 2:04.512 4.230 0.162 55 / 77 23 EDWARDS, Colin NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:04.656 4.374 0.144 18 / 44 24 HERNANDEZ, Yonny Paul Bird Motorsport 2:04.671 4.389 0.015 56 / 58 25 CORTI, Claudio NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:04.709 4.427 0.038 19 / 29 26 STARING, Bryan GO&FUN Honda Gresini 2:05.439 5.157 0.730 37 / 44 27 PESEK, Lukas Came IodaRacing Project 2:06.206 5.924 0.767 17 / 45 28 LAVERTY, Michael Paul Bird Motorsport 2:07.721 7.439 1.515 18 / 19 | ||
| Xb1125r |
wow looks like Rossi is ridin the way he was on the Ducati,lol | ||
| Trojan |
As you and I have no idea of what they were testing on the bikes it is far too early to say how any of them will fare in a race situation. Any of the top 5 or 6 riders could win a race if it were held today. However even you should see that Rossi is only 0.7 seconds off the front today and was closer yesterday. To suggest that he is no better on the Yamaha than he was on the Ducati is just childish trolling. Maybe you should tell Hayden/Dovi/Iannone and especially Ben Spies that Rossi isn't significantly quicker than them? It might make them feel better now that they have to put up with the Ducati for a season  Lets see how the finish the test tomorrow shall we, as all the front runners should get a full race distance run in if it doesn't rain | ||
| Jaimec |
Lorenzo is fastest, but what should be worrying the rest of the grid is not that he is occasionally a bit slower than Dani's fastest lap, but that he's ticking off these same fast laps like a metronome... I think he's using the Josh Hayes strategy: Demoralize the competition as quickly as you can. Rossi was doing a lot of laps on OLD tires from the stories I read this morning. | ||
| Trojan |
Lorenzo treats the very first test like the start of the season (unlike some) and is incredibly hard working and consistent in his lap times. Even Nicky Hayden acknowledges that Lorenzo is the hardest working rider in the paddock, and Nicky could hardly be called lazy himself. It may impress the media to put in the fastest one lap time of the day, but the longer runs is where you need to look for potential race winners As the saying goes......The harder I work the luckier I get | ||
| Bads1 |
Rossi had chassis problems with the 2013 bike so he resumed testing the first day on 2012 bike. Rain put a hamper on his first day. Today hes riding the 2013 bike... its like losing a day of testing on the new bike. No excuses for him just the facts. Hes so little off from the front that in a race it wouldn't be a huge thing. Now lets see If Rossi can be more aggressive then Pedrosa or the other front runners. I'm betting he can and will be. | ||
| Jaimec |
As he proved at Laguna Seca a few years ago... if he can stay anywhere near the front, it doesn't matter if the other guy is faster. He just has to keep attacking and attacking till the other guy messes up under the pressure. | ||
| Bads1 |
He is notorious for getting in your head. I know lorenzo can handle it. Pedrosa though??? I think he'd lose the battle. |
