2016 MotoGP/ WSBK/ Road Racing ThreadMotorbikes 

  • Thread starter Mike Rotch
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For a guy who likes his bike to be an instrument of precision, JL has sure picked a strange bike in the Ducati to move to. Will be fascinating to watch if its true. Vinales to Yamaha? Please do it!
 
What about Pedrosa, I have the feeling he could be stopping after this season.
I could see it happening - unfortunately he's just never been able to convert his speed consistently into wins, whether it be injury of lack of pace. I guess he is taking up a factory seat - I can't see Honda sticking the horrendous Miller alongside MM, so I wonder who it would be.
 
I could see it happening - unfortunately he's just never been able to convert his speed consistently into wins, whether it be injury of lack of pace. I guess he is taking up a factory seat - I can't see Honda sticking the horrendous Miller alongside MM, so I wonder who it would be.

It is a great driver and he kinda deserves a championship title. He had many chances but like you said, injuries and inconsistent pace didn't help. Maybe a wild guess: Michael van der Mark. He's going pretty well on the WSBK Honda, considering it's the oldest bike of the field. He needs a few wins this year then maybe that window to MotoGP will open. Not sure how strong the connection between WSBK and MotoGP Honda team is, any idea?
 
Bit of a strange race with everybody falling off. Still getting used to the Michelins :confused:.

Dovizioso was again unlucky, to say it mildly :ouch:.
Cal Crutchlow jumped a bit late to avoid Bradley Smith's bike :lol:. He was lucky not to get hit by it.
Great race from Vinales who had a good run.
 
I don't think MVDM will replace Pedrosa on Honda,i think that Rins or Vinales are the two main options if it would happen.Maybe Rabat is an option aswell.
Personally i hope DP will stay,i also thought i've read somewhere that it was HRC's wish to continue with both riders after 2016.I thought they stated this before the start of this season.
DP proved he still is one of the best riders around (the last part of the season last year),and yesterday he was doing well before he lost the control and took out Dovi.
It must be hard for Dovi this period,2 times crashed out due to a mistake of an opponent.
I'm glad he hasn't suffered physical damage in his crash yesterday.
Cal is making a lot of mistakes in my opinion,crashing out to much saddly.
 
Dovizioso is currently getting as much luck as I do talking to girls.
What's worse for him is that he made a small mistake going into the corner himself so if he hit the apex Pedrosa probably would have missed him.

I'm liking the look of the Moto 2 standings, early days I know but it's hopefully going to be much closer than the last 2 years.
 
Just about the expected move from JL to Ducati.
It don't make any sense imo,the only reason i can see is the money.
If he will do the move i think his commiting sportive suicide,i don't think he will be a competitive rider anymore.
His riding style doesn't fit Ducati's needs imo.
 
Just about the expected move from JL to Ducati.
It don't make any sense imo,the only reason i can see is the money.
If he will do the move i think his commiting sportive suicide,i don't think he will be a competitive rider anymore.
His riding style doesn't fit Ducati's needs imo.
I don't know about that, it's definitely not money related, he most likely already gets more than anyone else and Ducati probably won't pay him more than he's currently on.
I think the only reason is that he could potentially get one over on Rossi. I know the Ducati is considerably better than when Rossi was riding it but if Lorenzo could win races on the bike Rossi couldn't it would add to his already rather large ego.
 
unfortunately he's just never been able to convert his speed consistently into wins
His (Pedrosa) MotoGP career has indeed gone up and down but he ranks very
high up on the all-time MGP/500 wins list. I remember watching Pedrosa
in 125cc already and he's definitely got that fighting spirit needed.
And no matter how many injures he suffers he always manages to come back.
Championship title or no title he has all my respect. :bowdown:

mgp wins list.jpg
 
Just watched BSB Round 1 at Silverstone...

:eek:

Both races were really good!! I don't want to ruin it for anyone who maybe hasn't watched yet, but I recommend looking it up on YouTube, it's worth the watch. Especially Race 2 👍
 
Just watched BSB Round 1 at Silverstone...

:eek:

Both races were really good!! I don't want to ruin it for anyone who maybe hasn't watched yet, but I recommend looking it up on YouTube, it's worth the watch. Especially Race 2 👍

I'm glad you mentioned that! Both races were corkers!

Regarding Lorenzo's move to Ducati - I think money has a lot to do with it and pride and ego. Lin Jarvis said Lorenzo had been offered a great deal, but I suspect it was less than Rossi. He wants to be number one in a team something he can't be at Yamaha all the time Rossi is there. He is young, he could probably come back to Yamaha after Rossi has retired.

What are Casey Stoner's plans? Honda made it clear that they weren't interested in him so he took on a new role at Ducati, but what is that role? Is it just testing the bike and criticising the current riders and letting them know that he could do better if he was still racing.

Dani Pedrosa is a great rider, but I've always thought he was just too small (and physically fragile) to win the MotoGP title. Perhaps he will do another year at Honda, but I can't see him beating Marquez unless MM gets injured.

Dovi presumably will be dropped by Ducati and maybe take Vinales seat at Suzuki if Maverick takes Lorenzo's seat. Dovi might be a good guy to develop the Suzuki - he has plenty of experience.

Cal Crutchlow sadly doesn't seem to be able to stay on a MotoGP bike any more - maybe a switch to WSB for next season?

Maybe a wild guess: Michael van der Mark. He's going pretty well on the WSBK Honda. Not sure how strong the connection between WSBK and MotoGP Honda team is, any idea?

I think the connection between the WSBK and the MotoGP Honda Team is very weak. Rea made no secret of his desire to switch to MotoGP with Honda which presumably is why he hung on and on before eventually forgetting that dream and switching to Kawaski. James Toseland was desperate to get to MotoGP from Ten Kate Honda, but that didn't work out well. The connection was probably stronger when Honda ran a full factory team in WSBK, but that team pulled out of WSBK and de-camped to BSB when the WSBK Pirelli control tyre was introduced. I think Honda will look at MotoGP and Moto2 riders if / when Pedrosa retires.
 
His (Pedrosa) MotoGP career has indeed gone up and down but he ranks very
high up on the all-time MGP/500 wins list. I remember watching Pedrosa
in 125cc already and he's definitely got that fighting spirit needed.
And no matter how many injures he suffers he always manages to come back.
Championship title or no title he has all my respect. :bowdown:

View attachment 536467

Pedrosa is the only one on that list that didn't win the highest class of it's time (Road/circuit 500cc or GP class). :(

I think the connection between the WSBK and the MotoGP Honda Team is very weak. Rea made no secret of his desire to switch to MotoGP with Honda which presumably is why he hung on and on before eventually forgetting that dream and switching to Kawaski. James Toseland was desperate to get to MotoGP from Ten Kate Honda, but that didn't work out well. The connection was probably stronger when Honda ran a full factory team in WSBK, but that team pulled out of WSBK and de-camped to BSB when the WSBK Pirelli control tyre was introduced. I think Honda will look at MotoGP and Moto2 riders if / when Pedrosa retires.

Rea made the best of his situation, MotoGP isn't everything. Looking at him now, he has little to regret. Still, van der Mark on Rea's old bike is hanging in there. I hope the new Fireblade for 2017 is a really good bike with option on winning the championship. Probably not in the first year... Which throws out van der Mark's chances on going to MotoGP, he's probably just a bit too old to transfer?
 
I can't see anyone other than Vinales being top priority for Yamaha and then whichever Andrea gets the boot taking over the Suzuki. I really think Jonathan Rea needs to get a ticket to Jerez this weekend and just stand in the paddock telling people his contract runs out this year as well.
 
I don't think anyone was expecting that. Pole and front row for the third successive race, it's fair to say he's sorted out the qualifying which hindered him last year.
 
Very good of Rossi in Spain 👍. Hope he can fight for victory tomorrow.

Just wondering how the Italian fans feel about Lorenzo going to Ducati after the season's end last year?
 
I know they sometimes do interviews for each other, but I'm sure they don't qualify for each other - thanks for the correction!
There was a round of world supersport once where Sam got injured in practice and needed to do a fitness test before he was allowed to race. Guess who did the test...


Just wondering how the Italian fans feel about Lorenzo going to Ducati after the season's end last year?
Something tells me they won't mind him leaving the current best team to race on a bike that hasn't won since 2010, they would probably be bigger fans of Italian riders than Italian bikes. It certainly increases Rossi's chances of winning another title since Lorenzo is stepping into the unknown.
 
Just wondering how the Italian fans feel about Lorenzo going to Ducati after the season's end last year?

Lorenzo has always been the most detested rider in recent years in Italy, even before last year's season ending. 90% of Italian fans are on Rossi's side, if Lorenzo is successful he'll still be hated, even if he does it on an Italian bike. Ducati has the reputation of a "career-ruining" team (Melandri, Rossi, Crutchlow); so I guess the combination of the two makes for not so positive expectations, also among the "Ducatisti": Lorenzo is a world champion but he also has a renown of struggling quite a lot if the bike isn't perfect on his hands, and the Ducati at the moment isn't that perfect. Lorenzo hasn't got the characteristics of the typical Ducati "hero": Fogarty, Bayliss, Stoner were the opposite of Jorge, and he's not the kind of diplomatic person if thing aren't going well, harsh comments against the bike have to be expected.
All in all, a lose-lose situation on paper, at least that's my opinion.
 
Finally have the time to watch it live and Rossi is creeping away at the front. Excellent.
 
9 laps to go. Lorenzo closing the gap slightly. A tenth a lap might not get him there at the line. Rossi maintaining.
 
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