MotoGP 2011 (125, Moto2, and MotoGP)

[hornet_burnout]

Yes, it was a pretty good race. I definitely think it's worth watching.

Thanks. One more thing to find time for

 

[YellowG1]

Lets see halfway though the 2011 Season ...............


Looks like it'll be a Stoner , Lorenzo title fight to the bitter end , well bring it on its been intresting

Shame about Pedrosa otherwise I reckon we would have had a 3 way fight for the Title .

Rossi , well I honestly think ducati need to Dump the Carbon Frame its too stiff and watching the front end tuck here there and everywhere is bad enough so god alone knows what it must be like to ride . Seems theres at least two new Chassis being Constructed one in Steel and one in Aluminium for future testing .

Stoner Versus Rossi as mentioned lets wait till or If Stoner can get 9 World Championship Titles , but you've got to admire him for his commitment on a bike and he has proved one thing , he will go down as the most sucsesful 800cc Ducati Rider .

Oh an why the Hell did LCR Dump Randy De Puniet for Tony Elias ?

I guess LCR figured DNFs (de Puniet) are more or less the same as last place (Elias). Which is unfortunate for Elias. He looks just plain awful out there, not even remotely competitive. Didnt Bostrom have faster laps than Elias, despite it being Bostrom's first time on a MotoGP bike?

And I have a feeling this title fight will go down to Valencia. 👍

 

[hornet_burnout]

Interesting race indeed.

Lorenzo riding like a champ and getting the (possible) job done. Stoner was great. This why I he is (despite some prima donna fits) one of the best.

Spies seamed to have a plan, but it all failed at the start of the race. On a rear soft, he was counting on keeping up with the lead pack, mind his tires and then use better rear grip to do some damage. However, a bad start, a lot of trouble to get past Rossi, and some inability to find his pace fast afterwords (he was pissed and complaining, about himself I'd day) meant he was too far to do better than 4th. Still, a good result...

Dovi and Pedrosa... not bad, but not good either.

Rossi looked more comfortable riding, I'd say they are rebuilding the bike around his style. But that takes time, and results will only show at the end of the championship.

 

[adamp93]

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/MotoGP/2011/August/aug0411-andrea-dovizioso-closing-lcr-honda-deal/
Dovi to LCR?

 

[Neal]

MotoGP is back tomorrow at Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceské republiky...or at Brno if you prefer.

 

[YellowG1]

And not a moment too soon. Let's see if Ducati has made any progress. And if Pedrosa is fully healed...

 

[Neal]

I would be surprised if any improvements Ducati have made during the break will have closed the gap on the competition who will have also made improvements, hopefully I'll be proved wrong. They are working very hard to have a competitive bike for the start of next year but they really need to catch up before the end of this season to make that job easier.

Valentino Rossi didn’t underestimate Ducati challenge

Valentino Rossi didn't underestimate the size of the challenge to win MotoGP races at Ducati.

But Ducati did underestimate the extent to which rivals Honda would improve in 2011, according to Rossi’s Aussie crew chief Jerry Burgess.

Rossi has struggled to make a major impact at Ducati since he quit Yamaha at the end of 2010 and has managed just one podium finish in the opening 10 races.

Honda meanwhile is enjoying its best season in the 800cc era and it has already won more races in 2011 after 10 rounds than it did in any other season since 2007.

Speaking to MCN, Burgess said: "I think we underestimated what sort of improvement the others could make. Casey has lifted the potential of all the riders on the Honda. Casey has clearly stood up as the fastest and the top rider out there. Barring misfortune he’s going to be very unlucky not to win the championship."

Burgess said Ducati's main difficulty surrounded understanding its innovative carbon fibre chassis concept.

Loris Capirossi told MCN recently that Ducati was already working on a radical future revamp, and he said requests had been submitted for the Desmosedici to feature a conventional aluminium frame.

Burgess added: "You never expect it to be easy and Ducati has gone out on a limb and built a bike that is quite different to everybody else’s in terms of the chassis. There is not a lot of experience and information out there and how it should it work, so we’re getting our head around a lot of that now and without anything from Ducati to compare it with, we’re sort of an in a neutral position. In the past they’ve gone down an avenue that has delivered inconsistent results but it has perhaps not been the ideal way of where it should be.

"I think if you looked at Ducati’s results in its earlier years in MotoGP, there were two guys in Loris and Troy (Bayliss) who were both capable of finishing in the top four. The bike was perhaps closer to the mark then that it is now in terms of relevance to the competition of the day. That was a bike to me that was more rideable. As time went on, somehow we’ve drifted away from the way how I like to go racing and make it so everybody can ride the bike and it is not rider specific."

Bridgestone tyre allocation changes explained

It was confirmed on Thursday by the FIM that with immediate effect – in time for this weekend’s Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceské republiky – the tyre regulations for the MotoGP class would change.

Bridgestone’s preview of the Brno round explained the new regulations, which will see riders offered a greater choice of softer compounds, and the tyre manufacturer’s press officer Tom Tremayne detailed the changes in an interview with motogp.com which you can watch in the attached video.

“Bridgestone has worked very closely with the FIM, Dorna, the riders and the teams to bring about a raft of regulation changes to the tyre allocation system,” said Tremayne. “This means that instead of riders receiving eight front slick tyres of two compounds, they now get nine (tyres) of three compounds with a softer compound being introduced.”

“They still get ten rear slick tyres, of two compounds, but these two rear compounds have been made softer and they also get a choice now of the compound split – so five and five, or six of one and four of the other. This is specifically to address the issue of warm-up performance and to answer the requests and comments of riders in the last six months or so.”

Valentino Rossi dismisses Honda rumours for 2012

Valentino Rossi has laughed off rumours he’s trying to end his Ducati nightmare by securing a Honda ride next season.

And the nine-times world champion also poked fun at Yamaha World Superbike rider Marco Melandri, who is being blamed for leaking a rumour that Rossi had contacted Honda team boss Fausto Gresini about a move back to HRC in 2012.

Rossi, who left Honda at the end of 2003 to move to Yamaha’s factory squad, denied the speculation on the eve of this weekend’s Czech Republic round in Brno.

When asked if he’s seen the stories linking him with a shock switch back to Honda, the 32-year-old said: “I read especially about something from my new manager that is the superbike rider Marco Melandri that know very well my decision for next year. It is better that you speak with him.”

Rossi is currently enduring a torrid period trying to transform the Ducati Desmosedici into a consistent podium contender.

And heading into the second phase of the 2011 world championship in Brno, he’s scored just one podium for the Bologna factory back in the fourth race at Le Mans.

But Rossi said he has no intention of not honouring his Ducati contract and he added: “Apart from the joke, I will race for Ducati next year but this is not in doubt. I have already a contract signed, so the situation is 100 per cent fixed and for sure I will race with Ducati, if Melandri agrees.”

Rossi is currently fifth in the world championship rankings with 108-points but in the last three races he’s finished no higher than sixth.

After 10 races, he trails series leader Casey Stoner by 85-points.

 

[YellowG1]

I would be surprised if any improvements Ducati have made during the break will have closed the gap on the competition who will have also made improvements, hopefully I'll be proved wrong. They are working very hard to have a competitive bike for the start of next year but they really need to catch up before the end of this season to make that job easier.

Thanks for these articles.

I think 2012 is 100% make-or-break for Ducati. I don't think Rossi will put up with another couple of years on a non-competitive bike, but I cannot see him going back to Honda, not after the way they broke up. I also wouldn't be surprised if Nicky left to go to WSBK or another team...

Pedrosa on top in FP1 and FP2:

Pos Rider Team Time Laps
1. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m56.454s 17
2. Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 1m56.831s + 0.377 15
3. Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m57.136s + 0.682 18
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 1m57.174s + 0.720 19
5. Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m57.535s + 1.081 15
6. Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 1m57.631s + 1.177 16
7. Valentino Rossi Ducati Team 1m57.745s + 1.291 18
8. Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m57.857s + 1.403 17
9. Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m57.859s + 1.405 17
10. John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m57.880s + 1.426 17
11. Hector Barbera Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1m58.120s + 1.666 17
12. Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m58.313s + 1.859 17
13. Randy De Puniet Pramac Racing Team 1m58.454s + 2.000 17
14. Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m58.568s + 2.114 18
15. Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team 1m58.573s + 2.119 18
16. Hiroshi Aoyama San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m58.607s + 2.153 20
17. Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 1m58.999s + 2.545 18
18. Toni Elias LCR Honda MotoGP 1m59.157s + 2.703 18

 

[Mike Rotch]

Pedrose, Lorenzo, Stoner front row for tomorrow.

Ducati seem to have found about 0.5secs now to be only 0.5sec behind the front runners now. 6th place for Rossi and 9th for Hayden.

 

[YellowG1]

SPOILER


Great ride by Stoner. He's riding like a champion right now. Lorenzo did well to limit the damage, since for a while it looked like Spies, Rossi and Bautista might've all gotten around him.

Shame about Pedrosa's low-side. I'm not a fan but I think he would've given Stoner more of a challenge than the rest of the field did.

 

[Aldo]

Good race... But dayum those paddock girls were hot!

 

[Mike Rotch]

Moto2 was a cracker - good to see Iannone at the front again, mixing it up with Marquez.

Stoner wins again . Predictable MotoGP is predictable. Yamaha just cant compete with the HRC's.

 

[adamp93]

Good race... But dayum those paddock girls were hot!

We only get a couple more races before Mrs Stoner's figure is ruined by the thing growing inside her.

 

[YellowG1]

Moto2 was a cracker - good to see Iannone at the front again, mixing it up with Marquez.

Stoner wins again . Predictable MotoGP is predictable. Yamaha just cant compete with the HRC's.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93782

HRC (Stoner) on top again in the 1000cc test. But Yamaha was right there too.

A little surprising that Pedrosa was a second off but there's a long way to go. Still, I think the bigger bikes will favor guys who are good at braking and corner exit (Rossi and the Superbike guys) rather than guys good at maximizing corner speed (Pedrosa).

Ducati's decision not to test their 1000cc bike is really strange. Why focus on developing the 800cc at this late phase? My guess is that their 1000cc bike, despite having spent more time in development, is still very much behind Honda and Yamaha, though maybe the more reasonable explanation is that they want to conserve the three testing days they have left until they've done more work on the 2012 bike.

 

[hornet_burnout]

SPOILER


Great ride by Stoner. He's riding like a champion right now. Lorenzo did well to limit the damage, since for a while it looked like Spies, Rossi and Bautista might've all gotten around him.

Shame about Pedrosa's low-side. I'm not a fan but I think he would've given Stoner more of a challenge than the rest of the field did.

I like Stoner when he rides like a man, instead of whining like a baby.

He was literally hammering it. He'd just sit straight and let it rip out of the corners the way he likes, pushing till the last lap. It reminded me why I like him as a rider.

If the Honda was working great for him, it was not as well for Dovi and Pedrosa (who once again fell short - pun intended).

Sic has found balance, for one race at least...! Let's hope the resulting podium will consolidate in his mind how he needs to ride in MotoGP to win.

Lorenzo could not extract more out of the Yamaha, and injured Spies finishing just behind him confirms the bikes are working as good as it's possible for both riders now, not just one.

Rossi less and less uncomfortable on the Ducati. Next year...

Moto 2 was crazy (in a good way).

125 was painful... Oliveira builds up from no where to 5th, then crashing in the last corner...

 

[Mike Rotch]

125 was painful... Oliveira builds up from no where to 5th, then crashing in the last corner...

Yea, that was a pity, he deserved a strong points haul. Got to feel sorry for Zarco too. He is really long overdue a first place win.

 

[hornet_burnout]

Yea, that was a pity, he deserved a strong points haul. Got to feel sorry for Zarco too. He is really long overdue a first place win.

Yes... He was all set to go and again no win. But Cortese deserved it as well, and not just for that last overtake.

 

[adamp93]

Lorenzo could not extract more out of the Yamaha, and injured Spies finishing just behind him confirms the bikes are working as good as it's possible for both riders now, not just one.

Lorenzo went for the hard front tyre, like Bautista but everyone else went for the new extra hard; that is probably why he faded towards the end but we can't tell since Alvaro crashed from a cracking ride.

Onto ridiculous news, many of the top riders are claiming they won't go to Motegi because of the radiation over 100 miles away from the track.
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/172141/1/rossi_i_dont_think_ill_go_to_japan.html

 

[Mike Rotch]

Onto ridiculous news, many of the top riders are claiming they won't go to Motegi because of the radiation over 100 miles away from the track.
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/172141/1/rossi_i_dont_think_ill_go_to_japan.html

It's going to be like Indy F1 a couple of years ago. 6 riders circulating and fans justifiably angry.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Onto ridiculous news, many of the top riders are claiming they won't go to Motegi because of the radiation over 100 miles away from the track.
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/172141/1/rossi_i_dont_think_ill_go_to_japan.html

The original issue was radiation, but FIM conducted a study and found radiation levels were safe. Nevertheless, it is still a valid concern - in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident, dangerous radiation levels were recorded as far away as Sweden and Portugal.

No, the concerns over Japan now stem from tectonic instability in the region. The fault line that was the epicentre of the Sendai earthquake is rather delicate at the moment; one more good tremor will cause chaos.

 

[YellowG1]

Lorenzo went for the hard front tyre, like Bautista but everyone else went for the new extra hard; that is probably why he faded towards the end but we can't tell since Alvaro crashed from a cracking ride.

Onto ridiculous news, many of the top riders are claiming they won't go to Motegi because of the radiation over 100 miles away from the track.
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/172141/1/rossi_i_dont_think_ill_go_to_japan.html

Not "many". From what I last read, it's just Rossi who is not going, and he may cause the factory team not to show up either. Stoner and others have agreed to go. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93805

One wonders how the sponsors would react to this...

 

[adamp93]

That should have been "were" not "are" sorry.
Anywho I think that Ducati will pretty much force Valentino onto the plane since they can't really afford to miss a weekends testing.

 

[YellowG1]

That should have been "were" not "are" sorry.
Anywho I think that Ducati will pretty much force Valentino onto the plane since they can't really afford to miss a weekends testing.

I dunno... couldn't they just go test at some random track somewhere? I wonder if Ducati would be bending over backwards to keep Rossi happy. Kind of puts Hayden in a bind too-I don't think he had any qualms with going.

Making everyone race at Motegi and deeming it "totally safe" seems like more of a money grab than anything else. I know I wouldn't be comfortable going to the region if there were still aftershocks. I'd be even less comfortable given that the Japanese gov't was, let's say less than forthcoming about how safe it was to be in certain areas.

 

[fish_bate]

Dorna sent out a press release a couple of weeks ago. They said that the race is a definite go. If a team decides to protest and not show, it's their loss. The test they ran concluded extremely low levels of radiation. They'd take in about 5x the amount of radiation, found at Motegi, just during the flight from Italy to Japan. The fault line thing is a big farce. Everyone will be there and it'll be a good race. Mark my words.

 

[photonrider]

Just a quick thanks for all the posts, guys - my life is so busy sometimes that I never get to really sit down to some TV and a good race - the only way I can keep up with what's happening is to hit GTPlanet on my iPhone while on the run, and a quick browse now and then keeps me on track! Thanks again!

 

[YellowG1]

Spies, then Stoner on top at Indy in FP1 and FP2, respectively.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93989

Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Casey Stoner Honda 1m40.724s
2. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m40.918s + 0.194s
3. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m41.205s + 0.481s
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m41.461s + 0.737s
5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m41.536s + 0.812s
6. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m41.699s + 0.975s
7. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m41.742s + 1.018s
8. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m41.789s + 1.065s
9. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m42.231s + 1.507s
10. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m42.339s + 1.615s
11. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m42.405s + 1.681s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda 1m42.673s + 1.949s
13. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m42.920s + 2.196s
14. Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati 1m43.034s + 2.310s
15. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m43.085s + 2.361s
16. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m43.230s + 2.506s
17. Karel Abraham Cardion AB Ducati 1m43.528s + 2.804s

Honda, Yamaha, Honda, Yamaha, Honda....

I'd really love to see Spies win in front of the home fans. Indy would go bonkers!

 

[ranhammerR34]

Wow Rossi.. starting 14th. I should have some entertainment tomorrow at the track. Night guys. --- Randy

 

[Prince.M5]

The starting grid looks awesome and yeah, have to watch out for Rossi at the back... This is going to be a full blast entertainment all through the night after F1! Spies winning is awesome too by the way.

Has anybody seen the F10 M5 Safety Car touring the circuit?

 

[ranhammerR34]

I have and I do have photos. --- Randy

 

[Prince.M5]

I have and I do have photos. --- Randy

Gaaaaaaah... Post it, post it!

Anyways, I actually fell asleep somewhere at the end of the 125cc race. Woke up with just around 10 laps to go

But Rossi that I thought could surprise anyone just finished 10th. The Yamahas are no match for the Honda it looked to be... But I'm happy at least Spies is on the podium.