MotoGP Round 01: Qatar Grand Prix

[tail out]

I agree that Moto2 needs minimum weights, If they are using a control engine then the heavy riders are being penalised. Moto GP was good Ducati dont seem to be gaining headway, Good to see Crutchlow up there and I think on the right day (rain) some of the CRT bikes could upset the slower prototypes.

[frostie]

Yeah I think they should introduce some sort of minimum weight in Moto2. It would do a lot for bringing in even more transparency to the results

[Truenorth]

Not mixed up Chunder - didn't know better! Thanks.



I think we should ride the bike we brought to ride !

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by chunder

Hilarious, watching the Moto2 race.

Marquez simpkly pulls out and overtakes people before he even gets off the excit of the bend, such is his weight advantage.

Pathetic really, and I imagine the minimum weight wont be brought in of course until he wins the championship.

Joke, total joke.

I don't understand why the others aren't making much much louder noises in public about it. It seems so bizarre that weight rules apply in the category below but not Moto2.

Anyway, nice to see Julian Simon score a point in Moto2, also glad to see di Meglio show some pace. I like following these ex-125 champions to see how they do. Good luck to Mr. Terol!

Can I just say, WTF has gone wrong with Jonas Folger? Riding an IODA of all things? How? Why?

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by cg7aa

Can I just say, WTF has gone wrong with Jonas Folger? Riding an IODA of all things? How? Why?

Yes from a winner last year to zero this. I think it may to do with the illness he suffered last summer? Assuming Red Bull have dropped him too. Would love to know why, although Red Bull are a law unto themselves.

[Dani Filth]

for a weight limit .. how about medium weight of the riders that enter full season to be added to the minimum bike weight everything lower gets ballast

[jhansen]

Would everyone above get a reduction?

[chunder]

I just think there should be a minimum weight for bike and rider.

not sure how the 125's work really. I presume someone like Radies in the old days used to have ballast a bit to get to the limit.

Say the bike weights 120kg, rider weighs 55 (Pedrosa) thats 175. DRedding weight 70kg, thats 190 kg

Power to weight ratio is this. CBR600 engine puts out say 125 hp

So it powers either 175 or 190 kg. do the math!

[EGG]

A weight minimum seems logical, you want riders progressing from Moto2 to motogp to be able to carry results through onto the bigger bikes, rather than the Elias situation.

[chunder]

Elias's issue is simply that he could not use the Bridgestone front, I dont think it was much to do with his weight, more of an inability to trust a tyre.

I think in the past he was able to get special tyres, but Bridgestone werent prepared to do this

[wheelsportaddict]

Originally Posted by Schummy

First thought is for Rossi. Yesterday Dennis Noyes was was saying we cannot go on more time ignoring the fact that Vale is plainly and painly slow. No more excuses, no more "he is testing new bikes", no more "he has not forget to ride". This qualy he has been grotesque, no more, no less. The point now is, what is happening in VR's mind? Is he recoverable? Has he some chance to become... a contender this season??

I've been thinking about this myself. I think he is confident in himself, it's proably the bike he's lacking confidence in, or maybe tyres. Alternatively as fit as VR is, maybe some of his earlier injuries are catching up with him.

The bikes are heavy and hugely powerful and maybe with the injuries he's suffered in previous years, they're affecting -- he's having a hard time hauling the bike around the track.

[chunder]

Not sure he is still injured!

I thin he has definately lost confidence though, especially in the front, as that is what he bemonas all the time.

Get that abck and I think he is there, but its whether they can ever get it back!

[ghinzani]

They are waiting on one of these new construction tyres for the front though, are they not? You can see the rears have more grip though, seem to be pushing the front on in some strange places. Seems strange to me they would introduce one without the other.

[wheelsportaddict]

Originally Posted by chunder

Not sure he is still injured!

I thin he has definately lost confidence though, especially in the front, as that is what he bemonas all the time.

Get that abck and I think he is there, but its whether they can ever get it back!

Was that not the trouble Stoner had while he was at Ducati in 2010 as well? I don't think it's just the tyres, I think the front end of the bike in general has it's own issues, but the tyres just magnify the problems.

[Truenorth]

Did Stoner ever express how he was able to get the Ducati to run fast when no one else could? Stoner seems to be struggling with the front end at Honda now. Or is his struggle related to his weakened body?

If the latter, then Il Doctori's weakened body seems to be struggling with the front end too.

The similarities between Valle and Massa and his F2012 are, for me, compelling.

[GOLDFINGER]

I would like to know what toothpaste Stoner uses they seem to shine well

[chunder]

Stoner for some reason got massive arm pump, something he has struggled with before. Maybe was a little tense and perhaps the newer bike is a little harder on the forearms.

My fave smile was Dani'd, the one everyone expected to siffer physically, he was beaming as he knew he had the beating of Stoner!

I am beginning to think Bridgestone are a little lax, they introduced a tyre a few years ago that was almost suicidal! A slight drop in temp and it was throwing people down, and now they have two differing tyres in the same class, seems a little odd.

Get Dunlop on board supplying the field!

[Dani Filth]

I just checked the laptimes on motogp.com
Rossi was actually quite consistent .. but slowish
still the incident with Abraham when he was forced off lost him contact with the group
quite probably he could've stayed with them

[Dani Filth]

Originally Posted by jhansen

Would everyone above get a reduction?

no ... not sure is fair but you do somehow have to put strenght into the equation as well

[jhansen]

Just did a quick fast lap analysis. None of the factory riders were faster on the 1000 over the 800. Most of the riders set their fastest laps on the 1000's on about lap 4 or 5. In the 800's it was a lot more varried. The overall race distance took longer in 2012 for all six riders. Biggest difference though is the tires.

Rider / 2011 / 2012 / Diff.
Stoner / 1:55.366 / 1:55.541 / +0.175
Pedrosa / 1:55.392 / 1:56.001 / +0.609
Lorenzo / 1:55.730 / 1:56.067 / +0.337
Spies / 1:55.812 / 1:56.958 / +1.146
Rossi / 1:56.053 / 1:57.144 / +1.091
Hayden / 1:56.600 / 1:56.881 / +0.281

[Dani Filth]

stoner closest to 2011 times but still lost the race ..

[Schummy]

It's strange Stoner was happy to know that his troubles in race were because of his arm. I would say it is a threatening thing because it can affect his whole season and moreover it is a problem that doesn't affect his team mate Pedrosa.

If I were Stoner I had preferred the trouble were some setup gitch or something like that, not my body.

Big kudos to Pedrosa, he was a match for Lorenzo. We have to see if he can be a match for Casey in future events (without the infamous arm pump).

Weak race for Spies. He needs to raise his game or I am afraid he will be discarded as a potential number one. This season there are not more excuses or delays; he has to perform. At the present, nobody can say he is better than Dovi... and Dovi was downgraded by Honda.

Except for the surprising "Crashslow" ;-) (oh, just playing with words) , who was mighty, the rest of the field was not very exciting for the near future.

[jhansen]

I thought Toby Moody had an interesting take on Stoner. He mentioned that Stoner didn't do any race simulations in testing. So perhaps the physical nature of the 1000's coupled with a race distance caught him out.

I have to agree on Spies. He's always been known for taking things quite seriously and being well prepared, but I'm not convinced anymore. With that said, he made what was a pretty good start for him, but he clearly had setup issues. Watch the following video at 0.23 seconds and you can see just how bad the chatter was for him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cVfH...69FAAAAAAAAAAA

[Schummy]

TM's is a good argument. Let's see next race.

[djb]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Marquez move was out of order. Agree with Chunder about weight limits.

hi folks, just saw the race and no wonder Luthi gave the little bugger a smack after the flag. I was actually hoping to read that a penalty had been given to him post race, but alas, no. As others stated, one does suspect that things may get rough in the future.