MotoGP 2011 (125, Moto2, and MotoGP)

[photonrider]

German Stefan Bradl cruised to victory just now at Siverstone (Hey!!it's the 12th of June!) in really wet conditions. Brits Smith and Redding did an outstanding job of racing. Bradley Smith is brilliant and Redding is a keeper for sure.
6th lap was a disaster - race turned around for Pasini there I would think.
Wet racing is a nail-biter for sure. . .

Watching the next round here with Spies, Hayden, Rossi, all chasing Stoner like hounds after the fox but Stoner is getting away - darn guy is in a class of his own. Bad lap just now - riders falling like flies - Spies and Lorenzo down now . . .

End of 6th round - and Aussie Stoner is at the top. Next Tuesday - the scrambling around Silverstone in 125's. I have a particular love for Silverstone because of the Bowie movie (Silver Dream Machine) but today's race in the wet was a thriller all the way. Stoner looked rock solid yet there was always the chance the he'd lose focus for a millisecond - all that was needed to go down in today's conditions.

 

[adamp93]

Can you not see the 125's until Tuesday? It was a good race.
Stoner proved yesterday that he really is something else. Ride of the day easily to Colin Edwards, fantastic job with the injury and definitely making amends for his unlucky team mate Crutchlow.

 

[Tired Tyres]

You can watch 125's here if your in the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...25cc_World_Championships_Round_6_Silverstone/

Edit. Sorry that link only has the Moto2 race in it.

 

[YellowG1]

Watching the next round here with Spies, Hayden, Rossi, all chasing Stoner like hounds after the fox but Stoner is getting away - darn guy is in a class of his own. Bad lap just now - riders falling like flies - Spies and Lorenzo down now . . .

End of 6th round - and Aussie Stoner is at the top. Next Tuesday - the scrambling around Silverstone in 125's. I have a particular love for Silverstone because of the Bowie movie (Silver Dream Machine) but today's race in the wet was a thriller all the way. Stoner looked rock solid yet there was always the chance the he'd lose focus for a millisecond - all that was needed to go down in today's conditions.

Best rider on the best bike, it seems. But Lorenzo's fall was just ... well, I'm sure he's furious with himself.

Also looks like Pedrosa is iffy for Assen.

 

[YellowG1]

Simoncelli tops wet practice sesson:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92514


Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m49.036s
2. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m49.396s + 0.360s
3. Casey Stoner Honda 1m49.527s + 0.491s
4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m49.640s + 0.604s
5. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m49.995s + 0.959s
6. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m50.386s + 1.350s
7. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m50.413s + 1.377s
8. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m50.968s + 1.932s
9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m51.277s + 2.241s
10. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m51.590s + 2.554s
11. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m52.646s + 3.610s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1m53.132s + 4.096s
13. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m53.164s + 4.128s
14. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m53.323s + 4.287s
15. Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati 1m53.348s + 4.312s
16. Kousuke Akiyoshi Gresini Honda 1m53.353s + 4.317s
17. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m53.562s + 4.526s

Surprised Nicky was just middle of the pack. Usually he is pretty quick in the wet.

 

[YellowG1]

Doesn't anyone love MotoGP anymore?

Simoncelli on pole, just edged out Spies. Qualifying times below.

Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m34.718s
2. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m34.727s + 0.009s
3. Casey Stoner Honda 1m35.008s + 0.290s
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m35.143s + 0.425s
5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m35.244s + 0.526s
6. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m35.329s + 0.611s
7. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m35.742s + 1.024s
8. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m35.818s + 1.100s
9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m35.866s + 1.148s
10. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m36.435s + 1.717s
11. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m36.564s + 1.846s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1m36.580s + 1.862s
13. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m36.590s + 1.872s
14. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m36.820s + 2.102s
15. Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati 1m37.130s + 2.412s
16. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m37.651s + 2.933s
17. Kousuke Akiyoshi Gresini Honda 1m39.006s + 4.288s

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

Screw Ducati. Rossi, I still love youuuuuu!

 

[Neal]

Doesn't anyone love MotoGP anymore?

Of course, I've been watching it but not until a few days after the race so haven't been posting about it.

Hopefully it'll be good race today, Assen is an old school track which usually produces a good show. Rossi is effectively on a brand new bike which explains his lack of pace but I'm certain they will have improved for the race. He's probably focussed on getting the bike ready for Mugelo rather than having any success today.

 

[hornet_burnout]

Ill try not to spoil the race, it's not even over, but I have to say this right now:

a) I've been defending Simoncelli's style in the later incidents, and I still think it was wrong to penalize him. But today, and against a lot of people who will say it was just a racing incident, I am all against him. He pushed too hard, he was about a meter away from the apex. If Lorenzo didn't give him all the room he did, he would have crashed into him. And he still managed to crash and take Lorenzo with him by throtleling up on cold tires, too soon. Bad Sic.

b) Ben Spies is one of the fastest riders on the planet. He had been given under par hardware, but since he got a decent bike, he's been menacing, and at the first chance he got, he showed his speed and intelligence. Assen is not an easy track. It's a riders track. It was very cold. He was alone in front. Still he keep his concentration, his "cool", and the bike on the black stuff at all times, while maintaining a strong pace and an advantage no one could challenge. Ben Spies at his best. Welldone!

 

[adamp93]

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
That is the Ben Spies we've been waiting for, absolutely brilliant, yes he got a major advantage from Simoncelli's usual lunacy but he extended his lead over Stoner from there. Crutchlow is the unlucky one today, riding with more pieces of collarbone than anyone should have and the bike lets him down; when he came back out he was 4th quickest on track. Was all in all a horribly boring race, especially in comparison to the two hectic races beforehand.

 

[F1 fan]

Unfortunately, I missed the race . I forgot the Dutch Grand Prix is always on a saturday.

I think someone needs to calm Simoncelli down a bit. He's a promising talent, but there have just been too many incidents. He's been impressive and will likely be one of the stars of the future, but he is dangerous. I don't want to see a repeat of what happened to Shoya Tomizawa.

 

[J-PaP]

3 years now I have made an effort to watch every race of F1 and motogp. 3 years now I miss Assen as it is on a Saturday. I accidentally saw the results when I went to check qualifying but I'll watch the replay during the week anyway.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Unfortunately, I missed the race

I didn't. I was pretty much forced to watch it instead of qualifying in Valencia because of "Casey Stoner! Casey Stoner! CASEEEY STONNEEERRR!", who was supposedly catching Spies in the final laps "at a rate that means he has a real chance of winning this race" despite the fact that Spies was pulling away every lap.

 

[Mike Rotch]

I didn't. I was pretty much forced to watch it instead of qualifying in Valencia because of "Casey Stoner! Casey Stoner! CASEEEY STONNEEERRR!", who was supposedly catching Spies in the final laps "at a rate that means he has a real chance of winning this race" despite the fact that Spies was pulling away every lap.

So you also had the misfortune to have ONE HD morons for company.

For excitement, 125 and Moto2 are leaps and bounds ahead of Motogp. I dont know how it transpired that the premium class landed with 15 riders, but its pretty low on excitement. You know something is wrong when you just need to finish the race to get points.

As for Simoncelli, he is a bit of a slow learner but the moment like Lewis Hamilton, he seems to be the center of misadventure these days. And to take out Lorenzo of all people Pity though from a title perspective, I cant stand Stoner.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

So you also had the misfortune to have ONE HD morons for company.

Oh, yes. They're not actually that bad in Formula 1 these days. They cut to the BBC very quickly, rather than offering up "opinions" and "analysis", which generally translates to "talk Mark Webber up at every opportunity". I suspect someone from a higher pay grade has told them to cut this nonsense out and let the people who actually know what they're talking about do it, because the last two years have been filled with some embarrassing mistakes. And while he took a lot of flak when he was in the ITV commentary box, James Allen's pre-recorded segments are actually very insightful - especially for newcomers - so maybe The Morons have seen his professionalism and lifted their game.

It is, however, still open season in MotoGP.

For excitement, 125 and Moto2 are leaps and bounds ahead of Motogp. I dont know how it transpired that the premium class landed with 15 riders, but its pretty low on excitement. You know something is wrong when you just need to finish the race to get points.

That's changing for next year - six Moto2 teams are launching spin-offs into MotoGP. There were originally sixteen applicants, fourteen of whom were given more information; they were shortlisted to six: Interwetten (currently running Luthi in Moto2), Forward (Cluzel and Baldolini in Moto2), Marc VDS (Kallio and Redding in Moto2), Kiefer (Krummenacher and Bradl in Moto2), Speed Master (Iannone in Moto2) and BQR-Blusens (Noyes, Rabat and Hernandez in Moto2; Vinales and Gadea in the 125cc class). There's no word on which bikes they will use or how many riders they will enter, but even if they only field one each, that's a grid of twenty-one. I expect the likes of Marquez and Bradl and Smith will all get kicked upstairs.

As for Simoncelli, he is a bit of a slow learner but the moment like Lewis Hamilton, he seems to be the center of misadventure these days. And to take out Lorenzo of all people Pity though from a title perspective, I cant stand Stoner.

Simoncelli is fun. Sure, he's a little crash-happy at the moment, but if he wipes out, it's because he was pushing for it.

 

[Mike Rotch]

That's changing for next year - six Moto2 teams are launching spin-offs into MotoGP. There were originally sixteen applicants, fourteen of whom were given more information; they were shortlisted to six: Interwetten (currently running Luthi in Moto2), Forward (Cluzel and Baldolini in Moto2), Marc VDS (Kallio and Redding in Moto2), Kiefer (Krummenacher and Bradl in Moto2), Speed Master (Iannone in Moto2) and BQR-Blusens (Noyes, Rabat and Hernandez in Moto2; Vinales and Gadea in the 125cc class). There's no word on which bikes they will use or how many riders they will enter, but even if they only field one each, that's a grid of twenty-one. I expect the likes of Marquez and Bradl and Smith will all get kicked upstairs.

Interesting, thanks for the breakdown 👍.

Kallio Didnt exactly shoot the lights out last season and even this year in Moto2 he is nowhere. Bradl, Marquez and Iannone would be great additions if they are on competitive bikes. Noyes and Hernandez though, yikes.

Where on earth did Vinales comes from this year?! Terol must be nervous; this was supposed to be 'his' year after Marquez cleaned up last year. Also, I wish Pol Espargaro had stayed in 125, rather then being midpack in Moto2.

Simoncelli is fun. Sure, he's a little crash-happy at the moment, but if he wipes out, it's because he was pushing for it.

The whole 'Dani-gate' was ridiculous and as a result he has been blackballed. I reckon when he does finally win one, it will open the floodgates on more.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Kallio Didnt exactly shoot the lights out last season and even this year in Moto2 he is nowhere. Bradl, Marquez and Iannone would be great additions if they are on competitive bikes. Noyes and Hernandez though, yikes.

Oh, those drivers are by no means a certainty for promotion to MotoGP. I just listed the current riders of each team so that you knew who I was referring to for each team.

The whole 'Dani-gate' was ridiculous and as a result he has been blackballed. I reckon when he does finally win one, it will open the floodgates on more.

Lorenzo is calling for Simoncelli to get a race ban because Simeoncelli took him out at Assen - but Simoncelli fell all on his own, and Lorenzo just happened to be here. I sense sour grapes on Lorenzo's part.

 

[F1 fan]

I didn't. I was pretty much forced to watch it instead of qualifying in Valencia because of "Casey Stoner! Casey Stoner! CASEEEY STONNEEERRR!", who was supposedly catching Spies in the final laps "at a rate that means he has a real chance of winning this race" despite the fact that Spies was pulling away every lap.

I hate when journalists and commentators ignore everyone else and talk up the local heroes. I'm Scottish (though I'm living in Toronto now) and was getting fed up with the way it was Lewis Hamilton this. Lewis Hamilton that. Don't get me wrong, he is a great driver (although one I despise on a personal level), but on the BBC F1 forum after Monaco, Eddie Jordan was critical on Lewis' crashes during the race and Jake Humphrey (presenter) apologized "incase anyone was upset to hear Lewis being talked about negatively".

He was fully deserving of the criticism he faced that weekend and I thought it was ridiculous for him to apologize because, god forbid, someone should actually criticize holier than thou, hero of F1, saviour of motorsport Lewis Hamilton.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I don't mind the constant attention Lord Lewis receives. It's nothing compared to what webber gets down here. Despite all the lavashings Hamilton gets from the BBC (at times), the amount Webber gets makes Hamilton look like Karthikeyan - only worth a mention if he's in shot (and even then, only if there's nothing more interesting to say).

It's the same, if not worse, in MotoGP. Half the field - Bautista, Abraham, Aoyama, de Puniet - is already discounted because they don't really do anything except occasionally crash out, so every race, it's the Casey Stoner Show (with occasional guest appearances from Simoncelli, Rossi, Lorenzo and Dovizioso). The OneHD commentators will sometimes even give us the privelige of listening to them commentate and entire race, rather than cutting to the international feed. Thank heavens MotoGP races only last about forty-five minutes; any longer and I'd be in danger of going postal.

 

[F1 fan]

I don't mind the constant attention Lord Lewis receives. It's nothing compared to what webber gets down here. Despite all the lavashings Hamilton gets from the BBC (at times), the amount Webber gets makes Hamilton look like Karthikeyan - only worth a mention if he's in shot (and even then, only if there's nothing more interesting to say).

It's the same, if not worse, in MotoGP. Half the field - Bautista, Abraham, Aoyama, de Puniet - is already discounted because they don't really do anything except occasionally crash out, so every race, it's the Casey Stoner Show (with occasional guest appearances from Simoncelli, Rossi, Lorenzo and Dovizioso). The OneHD commentators will sometimes even give us the privelige of listening to them commentate and entire race, rather than cutting to the international feed. Thank heavens MotoGP races only last about forty-five minutes; any longer and I'd be in danger of going postal.

Funny as I've previously implied that Lewis himself seems to be under the impression that Formula 1 is "The Lewis Hamilton Show". I did see an Australian news report after the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It did seem terribly biased. The most annoying thing about it was the reporter was actually in the pitlane and she knew next to nothing about F1 apart from who Mark Webber is.

At the start of the 2010 F1 season(yes, 2010), there was a news report on the BBC and the reporter said "There's a new star in Formula 1 this year, and good news... He's British. Scot Paul Di Resta has been signed to drive for the Force India F1 Team."



Don't get me wrong, I like Di Resta, but such bias has no place in journalism.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Funny as I've previously implied that Lewis himself seems to be under the impression that Formula 1 is "The Lewis Hamilton Show". I did see an Australian news report after the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It did seem terribly biased. The most annoying thing about it was the reporter was actually in the pitlane and she knew next to nothing about F1 apart from who Mark Webber is.

At the start of the 2010 F1 season(yes, 2010), there was a news report on the BBC and the reporter said "There's a new star in Formula 1 this year, and good news... He's British. Scot Paul Di Resta has been signed to drive for the Force India F1 Team."



Don't get me wrong, I like Di Resta, but such bias has no place in journalism.

You actually call that bias? What did you expect a BRITISH television channel to talk about? Who do you think Spanish television talks about? What about German Television?

Answer, the people that the viewers want to know about.

 

[F1 fan]

You actually call that bias? What did you expect a BRITISH television channel to talk about? Who do you think Spanish television talks about? What about German Television?

Answer, the people that the viewers want to know about.

Well I'm Scottish and I didn't like the way they were bigging up Di Resta, completely glancing over the fact that in 2010 he was only a test driver. It's misleading, and who knows, may have caused a few Scottish people to tune in on a Sunday afternoon "to see how the Scottish boy's doing" only to find out he's not racing.

And Journalist or no, there is no excuse for any Australian news network sending someone who knew nothing more about F1 other than the fact that Mark Webber is driving in it.

Edit: 747 posts. A special number to me.

 

[Neal]

Less F1, more MotoGP!

Only just watched the race and although it lacked much overtaking it was still great seeing Spies getting his first win, I'm surprised misnblu hasn't chipped in celebrating it. Lorenzo was on a mission once he got back on his bike and Rossi had a really great ride on a brand new bike, fingers crossed Ducati gets it properly sorted for next year.

 

[adamp93]

I expect the likes of Marquez and Bradl and Smith will all get kicked upstairs.

Bradl definitely, but I suspect Marquez and Smith will stay another year to have a go at the title (as long as Elias isn't back), Iannone, Corsi and Cluzel I would want to see in GP.
The new teams will most likely be Hondas and Ducatis but I would love to see how a privateer Yamaha does.

 

[Mike Rotch]

Lorenzo was on a mission once he got back on his bike

Had to laugh when he and Simoncelli where getting off the tarmac. Lorenzo looked ready to start handbags with Simoncelli and then realised there was a race to run!

 

[YellowG1]

Ill try not to spoil the race, it's not even over, but I have to say this right now:

a) I've been defending Simoncelli's style in the later incidents, and I still think it was wrong to penalize him. But today, and against a lot of people who will say it was just a racing incident, I am all against him. He pushed too hard, he was about a meter away from the apex. If Lorenzo didn't give him all the room he did, he would have crashed into him. And he still managed to crash and take Lorenzo with him by throtleling up on cold tires, too soon. Bad Sic.

b) Ben Spies is one of the fastest riders on the planet. He had been given under par hardware, but since he got a decent bike, he's been menacing, and at the first chance he got, he showed his speed and intelligence. Assen is not an easy track. It's a riders track. It was very cold. He was alone in front. Still he keep his concentration, his "cool", and the bike on the black stuff at all times, while maintaining a strong pace and an advantage no one could challenge. Ben Spies at his best. Welldone!

👍 👍 This race was the toughest to watch since oh, I dunno, Valencia 2006. Many congrats to Spies--hope this is the first of many!!

 

[Neal]

Had to laugh when he and Simoncelli where getting off the tarmac. Lorenzo looked ready to start handbags with Simoncelli and then realised there was a race to run!

The predicament of the professional racer to put on a pantomime or get on with your job


Interview with Rossi...

How did you find the GP11.1? Do you think it still needs a lot of work?
"There’s still a lot to do with the bike, there are many aspects to take care of and we can’t expect results to come overnight. Unfortunately, neither my team nor I have much experience with this bike, so we always need more than what’s available. There’s always a problem getting on the track to race with an unknown setting. This morning we could have used a little more time to resolve something, but then it started to rain and the warm-up ended there. We have to try to be quicker to prepare the bike for the race."

When you talk about problems with the bike, what exactly do you mean?
“With this bike, to make one change, you have to change three things. It requires a different approach. These are problems that rarely occurs in Japanese bikes because they have more experience with this, but this isn’t to say that there aren’t people who can fix the Ducati, on the contrary, there are plenty, and many of them work with me. It’s important to do well in the qualifying session: if I had started from the second row, with the start I did today, I would have gone directly to the front.”

Could these problems also be because you have a team that are not all from Ducati?
"The choice to have my team has its pros and cons. I’ve worked with them for many years and they know me very well, and anyway, there are others in the garage who have a thorough knowledge of the Ducati.”

Regarding the incident between Simoncelli and Lorenzo – what is your opinion?
“I’m really sorry for Simoncelli, he keeps going strong and making pole, but then it always ends badly. This time I understand he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, but the left side of the tire was a still bit cool and he slipped. I heard that even Lorenzo made the comment 'these things happen'...”

When the journalists commented that Lorenzo had actually complained about the move, the Italian concluded: "We aren’t talking about a "dirty" pass or something out of line, though we all saw the end result," said the Ducati rider. "Actually, I thought the rider who had fallen with Marco was Spies, it was only on the last lap I realized that I was wrong."

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Less F1, more MotoGP!

What, we can't compare the commentary styles between the sports? That's what I was doing ...

 

[Neal]

What, we can't compare the commentary styles between the sports? That's what I was doing ...

Perhaps I should have put a after my comment so I didn't sound so blunt... Comparing different commentary, which you were doing, is all good. I can't stand moronic commentary either which is why I avoid BBC and watch MotoGP on Eurosport even though they can't show it live so start about an hour late.

 

[YellowG1]

Had to laugh when he and Simoncelli where getting off the tarmac. Lorenzo looked ready to start handbags with Simoncelli and then realised there was a race to run!

Simoncelli is like a fast version of Randy de Puniet...