| Author | Message | ||
     Trojan |
The CRT concept hasn't been a joke at all. Without CRT MotoGp would have less than 10 bikes on the grid at some races and would be in danger of collapsing. What CRT has done is to show the manufacturers that there is always an alternative if required, and they are not indispensible. This has lead directly to Honda and Yamaha (and maybe Ducati if htey get any takers) opting to suddenly agree to provide either engine packages or customer bikes for sale. This is extremely important as they always said it couldn't be done before CRT threatened to spoil their monopoly. The CRT entries have sometimes been below par, and certainly not worthy of MotoGP status, yet others have been a huge surprise and extremely successful. Nobody could accuse the ART bikes of ASpar to be a joke this year. | ||
| Trojan |
Now this (if true) is really underhand and beneath contempt by Yamaha.... http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Oct/131024pena lty.htm Obviously the strategy at Yamaha is to try and get Marquez disqualified or penalised as much as possible, and in any way possible, so he can't beat them on track. grow some balls Yamaha team, and take your defeat like men. If you can't beat hiim fair and square please don't resort to this kind of childish protest  | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
We didn't see enough of the incident on TV but it did look odd in the way both riders behaved. I thought Marquez was way too slow and on the racing line, and why if so having just exited the pits. Lorenzo on the other hand looked like he should have rolled off the throttle a little. That could have been a real bad one! Rocket in England | ||
| Jaimec |
It was a stupid and very predictable incident that lies squarely on Dorna's shoulder. Exactly what is Loris Capirossi being paid for, again?? | ||
| Svh |
To me it looked like Marquez thought he could shoot over to the other side of the track to not slow them down at the left handed corner 2. Maybe he misjudged Lorenzos approach speed. I don't believe it was intentional and Yamaha are, if true, a bunch of whiners and I will lose much respect for that team. Down to Stoner and Pedrosa levels! | ||
| Jaimec |
With all the problems they've had at Motegi over the past several years they ought to just eliminate that round. Of course, since Honda owns that circuit, and has an uncomfortable amount of control over Dorna (about equal to carrying a Spanish passport) we know that isn't likely to happen any time soon... | ||
| Trojan |
I thought that Honda also owned Suzuka? So any location for a Japan GP is likely to be in Hondas back yard These 3 back to back races ae going to turn the end of season into a farce methinks Personally I think they should scrap the last 3 rounds and declare the championship result as of the end of the Malaysia round. That would at least mean that Scott Redding is Moto2 champion, which is lookingf increasingly unlikely now | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
To me it looked like Marquez thought he could shoot over to the other side of the track to not slow them down at the left handed corner 2. Maybe he misjudged Lorenzos approach speed. Interesting observation. I suppose it's irrelevant now unless something does come up in the way of protest. Rocket in England | ||
| Svh |
I had heard for a number of years that Ben Spies was no longer happy with being a motorcycle racer and was racing for checks essentially. He sure had talent and I would have never guessed he would call it quits and retire so early. I thought for sure he was headed to WSBK for another year or two then call it quits. Now he can focus more on his bicycling team I guess. | ||
| Jaimec |
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresul ts/MotoGP/2013/October/oct2613-spies-announces-rac ing-retirement/ | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Don't know why he didn't retire sooner. Never have I seen such a flash in the pan as he. Not that it matters but what a dull personality in the and around the paddock too. Thank someone for Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden. And what a qualifier today from Nicky Hayden in those wet conditions we've seen favour the Ducati before. And what a stand up guy, as my American cousins say, Nicky is. Said he wants to do well for Ducati before he leaves. Good luck on that one I say. A great ambassador for the sport. Rocket in England | ||
| Gaesati |
Pity, about his injuries. Ben Spies still had a lot of potential in MotoGp | ||
| Trojan |
Never have I seen such a flash in the pan as he. I have to disagree with that I'm afraid. When he was on top he showed more than flashes of brilliance and appeared to be mentally strong, especially against Mladin. He won WSB at the first attempt (on the best bike admittedly) and won a MotoGP, so was certainly no slouch. However his mental toughness does appear to have been a bit of an illusion once he started to suffer problems, first at Yamaha and then at Ducati (which was not exactly an inspired career decision by his manager/mother). It is a shame that he has to bow out through injury without having the chance to get back and show people if he still had it in him to win, but with that injury it was almost inevitable that he woudl retire and has just delayed the announcement for months. Ducati have been shopping around offering his ride to anyone who would take it for at least 8 weeks after all. As for Sunday's racing, you could not have scripted a better end tot he season in Moto3 and MotoGP, although Moto2 was a bit of a disapointment because Scott redding was robbed of the chance to take the fight for the title to Valencia. Still good racing all round and Jorge is still applying the pressure  | ||
| Jaimec |
My condolences, Matt. Scot had a brilliant season and deserved better. Now we'll have yet ANOTHER Spanish sweep... | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
I take nothing away from Spies talent. He has some fantastic accolades to his career, yet injury aside he did keep throwing the Yamaha down the track. Ok it broke too. In the end it broke him. I don't believe he could have come back to show skill he had previously had he not had his career ending injury. You only have to look at Rossi as a benchmark coming back to Yamaha this year and ask yourself could Spies have done what Rossi has done. I don't think so. Flash in the pan because his rise to WSBK champion, rookie of the year in Moto GP and race winner, in such a short space of time. And to have his career end even quicker is all I meant, and not that he was talentless or anything. Rocket in England | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Watched the race on iPlayer as very busy yesterday, so not seen Moto 2 / 3. Seeing as I've read here about Redding, please explain what happened re his title chase? Thought he had enough points gap to take the fight to Valencia if he missed Motegi? Rocket in England | ||
| Trojan |
Without wishing to spoil the action (of which there was actually very little in the actual race)..... Scott was very careful to stay out of trouble during the one qualifying session, and stayed in the garage once the track started to dry out and get a bit dodgy. hence he qualified in 15th place but was confident he could move up quite quickly as usual, despite his broken wrist. he was 5th fastest in the warm up Sunday morning I think. At the lights he got a great start and was up to around 7th place by turn one behind Tito Rabat. Unfortunately Rabat lost his bike on the exit of turn one and crashed (possibly hit from behind by Marinelarano who also crashed out). Redding had nowhere to go and ran straight into Rabats bike, and actually hit Tito in an accident very reminiscent of Simoncellis fatal crash. Luckily rabat was only slightly injured but both Scott and Marinelarano were stretchered away to the medical centre and unable to take the restart. This effectively handed Pol Espagaro the title before the race even started. I won't tell you the final race result just in case you want to watch it from the restart I would definitely recommend watching the Moto3 race though If only as a lesson on how pressure affects young racers when a title is at stake. | ||
| Jaimec |
Rocket: A very good article on why Lorenzo wins on the Yamaha when the others struggle: http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/motogp/summary-sun day-japanese-gp-2013/ Another way to look at it: How was Casey Stoner able to win on Ducati when no one else was able? Casey was exciting to watch; constantly wrestling, fighting, and bullying the recalcitrant Desmosedici on to the podium race after race. Lorenzo is a different style of rider. Spooky smooth and exacting, almost machine-like. It doesn't look as exciting as Stoner, perhaps, but it gets the job done. | ||
| Trojan |
I think Lorenzo must be descended from one of the Spanish Inquisitors (Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.......!). The way he constantly applies more pressure every lap as the race goes on, gettting faster and faster pushing others into making mistakes while riding perfectly himself to within millimetres every single lap. I don't think I saw him make a single mistake all weekend in japan. Sunday was one of the best examples I have yet seen of why Lorenzo is definitely the best rider in the world at the moment. If he was on a Honda they wouldn't know which way he went! Very impressive but not spectacular to watch unfortunately. | ||
| Svh |
I have always liked Matt Mladins tell it as I see it attitude. I wish more athletes in any sport had the balls to say what is on their mind. I think he summed up Ben Spies decision rather perfectly. http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013/Oct/1310281166 .htm | ||
| Trojan |
That is a bit rich coming from Mladin, the guy who never had the balls to leave the safety of the AMA and race in WSB/MotoGP...Oh yes he did, once. he got beaten on a Cagiva (the bike that Kockinski had won on) and never went back! Mladin was always very good at making tough guy speeches when he was THE big fish in a little pond. Carl Fogarty would have eaten him for breakfast in WSBK. | ||
| Bads1 |
Matt you don't know that at all. Money kept him in the AMA. It was what it is. | ||
| Trojan |
Money kept him in the AMA Of course it did, and lack of confidence that he could beat the best in the world. He could have been paid just as much or more if he had won WSB but like I said, big fish little pond suited him. | ||
| Bads1 |
I don't believe that. Back the Suzuki wasn't winning anything anywhere but AMA. He sold GSXR's by the masses here. He would n't of made that money over there. Big gamble for both Matt and Suzuki. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
I didn't find that article well written nor well researched. Comparing Rossi's first four lap times to Lorenzo's is stupid for a number of reasons. Even more so when factoring in a 16 second gap to work in a race lap average of a second a lap faster. The season average has shown Rossi to be around 200th of a sec off Lorenzo's pace, which is why I asked just last week what Lorenzo's bike has in consistency over Rossi's seeing as this finite time cannot be down to human ability over a full season of racing. We all know Rossi doesn't make a fuss for the first few laps, his style and ability, to race his way to the front being well documented for years. Yesterdays race, Rossi running off line and track on separate occasions during those first four laps looked like he had issues with the bike. And what of yesterdays Honda deluge. Pedrosa wasn't going to spoil the party was he. At Honda's own track too. And what of Marquez. Did we not see him bouncing through the landscape yesterday morning. That boy was battered and bruised. Had he not have been, Lorenzo would be waving bye bye to his title hopes. And even if he wasn't, that would be because Marquez pushed Lorenzo for the fight and wisely decided there was no need to risk a race winning challenge. On the other hand Lorenzo had no choice but to do everything to stay in front. Lucky for him the points gap dictate Marquez had the choice not to push otherwise Marquez would have gone for the win and got it. Rocket in England | ||
| Jaimec |
Not surprising. Research has proven that when an article comes out that disagrees with some one's opinion, the person with the erroneous opinion will cling that much stronger to their erroneous belief and question the source of the article. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2 010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/ | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Except Jaime, the article speaks for itself rather poorly Hayden is living testament to his own deeply driven mixture of ambition, hope, and determination. His 2006 championship was won against the odds, and against the greatest rider of the period at the height of his powers. All a little too sensationalist, and right from the start a comment favouring an American over Rossi who the author champions only in an effort to praise Hayden more. Sets the pace for the rest of the article. Apparently, Jorge Lorenzo did not get the memo, for the reigning champion took pole on Saturday and then victory on Sunday, setting the fastest lap along the way. The method by which he did so was breathtaking in its audacity, and almost painful to watch for its cruelty. Lorenzo fired off the line from the start, tried to pull a gap, and when he was caught by the Hondas, started cranking up the lap times until they could no longer match his pace. It was a picture perfect example of applying pressure to his opponents while leading, ratcheting it up until they crack under the strain. Oh puleeze. I watched the race too and it was nothing more than Lorenzo at his usual best. Nothing more nothing less. The real deal was Marquez letting Lorenzo have the win rather than taking it for himself with some risk, and no doubt a lot more pain from his pretty rough early morning high speed off. Marquez put a toe in the water to no doubt pressure Lorenzo. Marquez worked out Lorenzo wasn't going to give up, so why risk going for a win against someone who really needed it when he himself didn't? He turned up at a circuit where the Hondas were expected to dominate, and he crushed them, beating them despite being on clearly inferior machinery. Not crushed. See above. Clearly inferior machinery? Maybe not the best bike, but clearly more sensationalist mumbo jumbo! With its hard braking zones, high top speed and low gear corners, Motegi is clearly a Honda track, as Lorenzo delighted in pointing out. Of the top five finishers, four were on a Honda. Only one was not, and it finished first. Though this was Yamaha’s 200th premier class win, victory clearly belonged to Lorenzo rather than to Yamaha. Given where the other Yamahas finished, Jorge Lorenzo is the major differential factor in performance. If you take away the laps where Valentino Rossi ran off the track and compare Rossi’s race time for laps 4 to 24 to Lorenzo’s for the same period, Lorenzo is nearly 16 seconds faster, or the better part of a second a lap quicker. Two facts. Rossi ran off track. Rossi because of such was racing with and past traffic playing catch up. This journalist calls himself a pundit. Such could be the reason we are told not to believe everything we read! I could go on Jaime but I won't bash your ears further, lol. Rocket in England | ||
| Trojan |
Back the Suzuki wasn't winning anything anywhere but AMA. He sold GSXR's by the masses here. He would n't of made that money over there. Big gamble for both Matt and Suzuki. Different rules dear boy. Suzuki dominated in the US because the rules were different and they were pretty much racing against privateer teams compared to the budget that Yoshimura Suzuki enjoyed at the time. Mladin didn't have to ride for Suzuki in WSB, he could have grabbed a ride with any top team. He didn't because he knew he could earn more money winning a domestic championship eaasily than having to fight the best riders in the world to even get in the top 6 every week. Yesterdays race, Rossi running off line and track on separate occasions during those first four laps looked like he had issues with the bike. Both Rossi and Crutchlow (the two heaviest Yamaha riders) had issues with brakes and fuelling during the race. Rossi ran out of fuel at the end of the slow down lap (again) and crutchlow was close. Having said that, it takes nothing away from Lorenzos relentless pace and perfect ride on Sunday. It wasn't most exciting race but he just wore Marquez down until he made a mistake, then just got faster. marquez didn't settle for second place, he just got beaten fair and square this week by a better rider on the day. Next week may be different. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
it takes nothing away from Lorenzos relentless pace and perfect ride on Sunday. It wasn't most exciting race but he just wore Marquez down until he made a mistake, then just got faster. marquez didn't settle for second place, he just got beaten fair and square this week by a better rider on the day. Ok Matt, I'm interested in watching the race again. So I see Marquez, and Pedrosa following him, for several laps then Marquez is snapping at Lorenzo's heels. The pace is fast, almost to lap record pace. Marquez tries passing Lorenzo, but here is a somewhat diminished Marquez. All be it still a very fast and able one, and one capable of passing and winning Lorenzo I would imagine. Nothing I saw showed me Lorenzo did as you describe. I saw what looked to me like Marquez thought, you know what, I don't need this win. Not at the expense of losing 2nd place and narrowing the gap much better in Lorenzo's favour for a title fight at the next and last race. Lorenzo on the other hand was in a position to fight dirty, as he had demonstarted twice at Philip Island. What I want to see is where this perfect Lorenzo happened on Sunday as it looked very much to me like Marquez let him have it without much of a fight save one not very strong attempt. Rocket in England | ||
| Simond |
What I saw was Marquez having a couple of looks at a pass and running wide in the attempt. It was this that opened up a small gap. Lorenzo continued his high pace and Marquez continued to miss apexes in an attempt to close the gap. I'm sure at this point he decided that twenty points were better than none. I've no doubt that Marquez on the Honda is more than a match for Lorenzo on the Yamaha in terms of pure speed but I have to admire what Jorge is doing at the moment. |
