| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
Out of curiosity... we all know Mark Marquez is now the YOUNGEST winner in the premiere class... who is the OLDEST? | ||
| 46champ |
What is the deal here why do we need another Spaniard on a factory bike. | ||
| Simond |
They mentioned on Eurosport that Herve Poncharal had suggested in an interview that he might consider three bikes. I guess it is simple maths - cost of a third bike vs. the legal costs if they renege on Bradley's deal. I wonder if his contract specifies a prototype bike? Crutchlow came to my attention first 10 years ago in the Virgin R6 cup. He finished second but what I remember most were his rides from the back to take podiums and even wins. I can't recall if this was a result of bad starts or poor qualifying but I guess the problem is still there. 1st to fifth after one corner will never work when racing against Lorenzo/Rossi/Pedrosa/Marquez. His caution (though understandable) when passing Lorenzo cost him second place. A decent start would have given us a fascinating battle with Rossi. (Message edited by SimonD on July 01, 2013) | ||
| Trojan |
What is the deal here why do we need another Spaniard on a factory bike. Because DORNA is a Spanish company that also runs the Spanich CEV championship, which activley promotes and supports riders into the MotoGP series. Unless young riders get into the Spanish series they have little chance of being noticed at all. Scott Redding, Bradley Smith, Kyle Smith and John McPhee (4 of the 5 Brits in GP racing right now) all made their way into GP's via the Spanish series and not by messing around in a domestic superbike champhionship for their teens. The only exception is Cal, who managed to fight through WSS/WSB. Crutchlow has indeed always had a problem in early race pace for some reason, even in lesser formulae. Maybe he needs a 'head coach' like Scott Redding got this year. It seems to have worked OK for him so far  | ||
| Gaesati |
I agree with Matt, Cal seems, by his own admission, to take a few laps to settle into the groove. Being coached into settling into his race pace quicker may be the solution for him. | ||
| Jaimec |
Rossi was never much good at the start of the race either... never seemed to hurt his end of the race though. | ||
| Trojan |
Rossi was never much good at the start of the race either... never seemed to hurt his end of the race though But we know that Rossi is an exceptional talent. Cal is good but he ain't no GOAT Also there were times when Rossi was racing a field that wasn't quite as strong as it is now. I remember Agostini lapping every rider up to second place at Spa in the 1960's. he was a great rider but everyone else was on an old Manx Norton and he had a works MV Agusta. Sometimes you need a leg up for these things | ||
| Jaimec |
Early on in the series, Lorenzo was routinely beaten to Turn 1 by Pedrosa. Didn't take him long to practice his starts and now he's about the only rider on the grid who can match Dani's lightning starts when the flag drops. Cal should do the same. | ||
| Trojan |
If you watch a replay of the Moto2 race around 5 minutes before the start it is interesting to see Scott Redding and Xavier Simeon both 'visualising' the track. Eyes closed and going through every bend from side to side in their head. Scott was erratic until this year, when he has suddenly become the most consistent rider in the class, so his new mental coaching has to have made a big difference. Nothing else has really changed in Moto2 except the weight changes in the rules. Same team, same bike, same rider. The weight changes will benefit Scott more than most, but it won't explain his complete transformation. Maybe Cal needs a Keith Code character in his garage to talk him around his early lap phobia | ||
| Jaimec |
This year's "Silly Season" seems to be all about Cal. No rumors of where Nicky might end up? | ||
| Trojan |
No rumors of where Nicky might end up? All the rumours I hear don't mention Nicky in Moto GP at all next year. if he is happy to 'do a Colin' he could get a minor team place, but would he want to? To be honest, nice guy that he is, he has still underperformed for a guy who has always had factory machinery throughout his career, so I can't see many people rushing to sign him. His win record is pretty poor and hard to justify his continued inclusion on a factory nmachine unfortunately. | ||
| Jaimec |
Matt, that may be true, but he's pretty much been wasting his career at Ducati for a number of years. Last year was also the first year in his CAREER that he did not finish at least once on the podium. He's won three races AND the World Championship, which (seriously now), is a LOT more than a lot of people currently on the grid can claim. | ||
| Trojan |
But....that was back in 2006 on a factory Honda, and you are only as good as your last result. Since then he haas been on factory Hondas and Ducatis, and seen his team mate in both teams win races. Nicky has been unable to win on either bike since 2006 and Ducati only kept him in the team this year because of US bike sales. This year he is being outridden by hi snew team mate again  I really like Nicky, but he is past his best in this class and really needs to be replaced in the factory team by a younger rider who may be able to do better. I can't see him wanting to emulate Colin Edwards so that doesn't leave much room for him to manoevre unfortunately. | ||
| Jaimec |
Something we've discussed on a number of occasions: http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/moto2-chass is-stagnation/ | ||
| Xb1125r |
Im sure Nicky has made plenty of money, he should retire and get some easy job like being a tv anchor or reporter or commercials. he has been done for a long time. it was easy to see when Stoner was in ducati, how bad Nicky was | ||
| Trojan |
Nicky is still being quoted as saying that he want to stay at Ducati next year...However, as they are publicly chasing both Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding I can't see where everyone will go if they all decided to sign up (which I seriously doubt!). Scott Redding is allegedly being courted for the Pramac team (to replace who? Spies?) while Crutchlow isd firmly on the radr to replace Hayden in the factory squad. I really don't see anywhere for Nicky to fall back on if he is replaced. I think it is very unfair to say 'how bad Nicky was'. The guy has won a world championship so he has talent. I just think that he hasn't had the results in the recent past to continue justifying his occupation of a very rare factory seat any longer. | ||
| Trojan |
Crutchlow looks even more liekly to be at Ducati next year.... http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresul ts/MotoGP/2013/July/jul1013-No-factory-Yamaha-futu re-for-Cal-Crutchlow/ Yamaha seem to be putting all their faith in Lorenzo and Rossi for long term results, with Pol Espagaro carrying theri only futur ehopes so far! (Bradley Smith is on a 2 year deal at Tech 3, but I can't see him being groomed for a factory seat to replace either Rossi or Lorenzo somehow)> | ||
| Jaimec |
Well, Cal is PRACTICALLY a "Senior Citizen" at 27 after all...  | ||
| Trojan |
Which means he has less time to hang around waiting for a vacant factory seat at Yamaha. I secretly hope that he goes to Ducati and kicks Yamahas corporate backside, but I don't see it happening on the current Duc unfortunately There was a quote from Ducati that the 2014 bike will be 'very different' to the 2013 bike. As they can't even get the 'lab' bike to work I find that hard to believe unless they think they will stumble across a miracle some time in the next few weeks (Maybe they plan to buy a 'customer' RCV Honda and rebadge it?). | ||
| Jaimec |
If this is true, I'd LOVE to see it happen! http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Jul/130710owb. htm | ||
| Trojan |
It would be interesting to see how Nicky fared in WSBK these days. I think the level at the front of WSBK is higher than most GP riders seem to dismiss it as now though. If I was him I wouldn't touch a Ducati WSBK deal with a barge pole though!! (Message edited by trojan on July 11, 2013) | ||
| Trojan |
Good article here about the complexities of the silly season, and just who may or may not land at Ducati before too long... http://www.motomatters.com/analysis/2013/07/11/mot ogp_silly_season_update_how_ducati_be.html | ||
| Jaimec |
What I can't decide is if Dorna is "Pro-Spaniard," or "Anti-Texan." The "Rookie Rule" (hereafter to be known as "The Ben Spies Rule") was put in place to force Texan Ben Spies to enter the series on a satellite bike, not a factory bike. It was nullified, coincidentally, just in time so that Spaniard Mark Marquez could move up from Moto2 directly to the Honda Factory squad. And, of course, we now have THIS: http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Jul/130710twoc ollar.htm | ||
| Trojan |
I think you already know the answer to that one....it is undoubtedly Pro Spaniard Funny how the only doestic series that gets a mention on the MotoGP website is the Spanish CEV series, also run by....DORNA. Ben Spies was just unfortunately caught up in the timing of the rookie rule, and not the object of it as some would suppose. The rule made a lot of sense IF Honda had played by the rules, as it meant that the 'minor' teams got more exposure by having talented riders at least for one season. However Honda immediately made a mockery of the new rule by giving satellite teams factory bikes (Gresini got factory machinery for Simoncelli in his 'rookie' year), and Yamaha rode over it by signing Spies to a factory contract even though he was in the Tech 3 team. Once this was done the rule was effectively dead in the water unfortunately. As for the Colin Edwards/Lorenzo broken collar bone argument, we really don't know what Colin was asked to do in the fitness test or whether the test was the same for both riders considering it was a few years apart. Cal Crutchlow had to do a series of push ups to prove he could ride with a broken collar bone last year, and run shuttle runs on his broken ankle, so the tests are pretty strict. Lorenzo is a hard guy though,so he may just have done better in the tests than Colin did? As an aside.....Sam Lowes once got his twin brother Alex to do his fitness tests for him dressed in his leathers. Maybe Lorenzo has a secret twin we don't know about | ||
| Xb1125r |
Jaime, does it matter. Marquez is way more talented then Spies. Spies sucked with the factory yamaha to say the least. I guess Repsol has a lot of influence and if they felt like they could give a very piece of machinery to a racer good for them but if marquez would ahve sucked then now they would be pissed off like the guys who have Spies are now | ||
| Jaimec |
Actually, from what I remember of the event, Colin didn't want to RACE. He just wanted to START the race, and then pull in after the first lap. Up to that point, he had an unbroken record of NEVER missing a MotoGP race start. That is quite different from Lorenzo intending to race from the get-go. On another note: http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Jul/130710xc.h tm Although I seem to remember hearing that wherever he goes, Valentino Rossi is the "Hometown Favorite." Even here in the United States. | ||
| Xb1125r |
rossi is not the hometown favorite, where did you get that. first of all Cali is hispanic country. all the spaniards will have a warmer welcome then any other european. especially lorenzo who is very popular in all the hispanic countries. no doubt lorenzo will be th most popular in argentina and marquez | ||
| Bads1 |
rossi is not the hometown favorite, where did you get that. Until the others are drawing more money to the sport from race to race he will and is. | ||
| Jaimec |
Oh boy. Cue the fireworks: http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Jul/13071135.h tm | ||
| Trojan |
This was reported in MCN earlier this week. Where it leaves Cal now is anyones guess as Yamaha have already committed Pol Espagaro to Tech 3 on a factory contract (and probably a factory bike as he is Spanish of course!) for next year. To be honest Cal has shown huge loyalty to Yamaha since his WSS winning year, and in return gets treated like a leper compared to Espagaro, so I hope he can go to Ducati and they can give him a competitive bike next year. I think he will struggle at first, but what is the alternative? Underperformaning Bradl and Bautista are already signed for next year with HRC factory bikes in satellite teams (again), so must have some very pushy sponsors with deep pockets, as their performances don't deserve it to be sure. As for Rossi being the fan favourite around the world, whether you like it or not he IS Mr MOTOGP and sells tickets like nobody else can. When he was injured ticket sales fell by around 25%, and during his nightmare at Ducati sales fell again. Now he is back sales for teh British GP at Silverstone have gone through the roof (No doubt helped by Cal's recent performances too of course). Would US fans watch a GP without a US rider? Yes of course they would, just like we did when we had no national hero to follow. The reason there may be no US rider in MotoGP is a direct result of the DMG/AMA policies of the last few years, and it doesn't look liek there are any young US riders likely to get a shot either at the moment (unless they move to Spain or race in Europe of course!). |
