MOTO GP

metzengerstein

any moto gp fans here

its back this sunday ,can wait for it ,

bladespin

Finally, can't wait!!!

metzengerstein

yea should be a good one simonceli is in it partnering melandri but i dont think things are going very well for em ..through last year and early this year rossi was blowing everyone away in testing but the last test stoner came back so will have to wait and see what unfolds ..really excited

Grim.

cant wait for it, i think Stoner will be the one to beat this weekend his always dominant at this circuit although Rossi's pace in testing was impressive. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Ben Spies can do he was fourth fastest in testing at Qatar but it will be more interesting to see if he can stay with the "aliens" through the whole race.


don't forget eurosport will be showing 1st practice for all three classes from 6pm on Friday

metzengerstein

was a good season last year some good races ,some had me off the edge of my seat ,

id agree with stoner being the one to beat in qatar he has a good record here the last few times ,but you can never count rossi out i think he wants a peice of winning the 1st race pie

so who are all of you fans of ..im a rossi fan also looking forward to simonceli he was amazing in 250s hope he can do something good in the moto gp and that afro is awesome ha ha ha ha ha

frostie500

I posted a preview of the new season on my blog so thought I might as well post it here.

Anyone that was on this forum last year will know that MotoGP was very much a minority form of motor sport. The group of us that posted in it's thread was pretty small but very knowledgeable so it's great to see new posters about the class.

I'd love it if we managed to get as much interest in bike racing as we do in F1-it's a tall order I know! But this year promises to be a potentionally gripping year in the three classes so I'd advise anyone that has never watched a bike race to sit down on Sunday and watch the Qatar Grand Prix!

frostie500

Grand Prix motorcycle racing starts again this weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix playing host to the world’s most exotic two wheeled racing machines under the now traditional lights of the opening night race of the season from Losail. MotoGP is split into three classes with the MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc divisions. Each has its own world title and the battle for race wins is hard as nail in each category.

The MotoGP class tends to dominate the hearts and minds of race fans over the world, just as much as four riders have dominated the premier class for the last three years. Dubbed the aliens by their fellow competitors. Valentino Rossi, Casey Stone, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa have won 50 of the last 53 races and only wet weather has allowed the opposition to have any success. This year though sees the chance for a change at the head of the field with Pedrosa struggling in pre season with a poor Honda possibly leaving a gap for another rider to fill.

The rider with the best chance to fill that void could well be American rookie Ben Spies. The reigning World Superbike champion is riding a Yamaha for the Tech 3 team and comes into the paddock with a fearsome reputation bolstered considerably by his debut on the Yamaha M1 at Valencia last season when he finished seventh after never riding on the bike prior to the race weekend.

Valentino Rossi will still be the man to beat and the nine times world champion shows no signs of letting his grip on the title wane as he sets out to compete in his 15th world championship season. The Italian has long been held as the greatest of his generation and over the last five years has been called the greatest of all time but his endurance to continue racing at the top for so long without become weary of the grind has to be lauded as much as his riding. Each year there is an expectation within the paddock that Rossi will finally be unseated by a rival and supplanted as the best in the class but each time Rossi comes back stronger than ever.

A prime example of this was in 2008 when after losing the previous two titles it seemed as though he was losing his iron grip as the world’s premier rider. The Italian though bounced back in style, dominating in ’08 in the first of back to back titles. Ominously for his rivals Rossi has once again been the pacesetter in testing after finishing five of six tests days as the fastest runner.

With limited testing for teams and riders it will be exceptionally difficult for others to catch Rossi. Pedrosa is using new suspension and has been poor in testing and with the only running available to him during race weekends it is highly unlikely that the diminutive Spaniard will be winning races at the start of the season. But that is preciously what he needs to do otherwise the erstwhile golden boy of the Honda Racing Corporation will find himself cast aside and forced to seek employment elsewhere.

Ducati rider Casey Stoner promises to Rossi’s chief advisory for the title. The 2007 champion has prodigious speed and after an illness plagued ’09 will look to bounce back with aplomb this year. The Australian missed three races last summer but came back to win two of the last four races. Indeed his home victory at Philip Island was probably one of the best defensive rides for many years as he held off Rossi for the win.
Jorge Lorenzo is Rossi’s teammate for Yamaha but the relationship is a strained one between the pair. A dividing wall has separated the pair for the last two years inside their garage and while information flows between the pair the tension is obvious. A lot of this has to do with the fact that Lorenzo is incredibly talented and has the mental resilience not to crack under the strain of going toe to toe with Rossi. Unfortunately his hand is not so resilient; Lorenzo fractured a bone and displaced his thumb after a slow speed accident over the winter. After struggling to do more than five laps at a time in the most recent test it is unlikely that the likeable 22 year old will have the speed to compete with his teammate and Stoner for the first few races but once he returns to full fitness the grid will have its hands full trying to keep him at bay.

While the battle for the title in MotoGP promises to be immense the battle on the track in Moto2 and in the 125’s should be just as good. This year sees replacement of the 250 class the start of Moto2. With the sale of two stroke machines dwindling world wide it was decided that creating a new 600cc four stroke class was the way forward; as a result Moto2 was born. This season should see a fantastic battle to see who the inaugural champion becomes with 36 riders entered for the championship.

Moto2 has an exceptional field of riders led by Toni Elias and Alex de Angelis stepping down from MotoGP but they will be competing with some incumbent 250cc riders such as Mike de Meglio, Mattia Pasini and Jules Cluzel. Julian Simon, Andrea Iannone and Scott Redding all move up from 125’s. The grid is packed with race winners and world champions and the battle between them should be immense.

Generally the smaller classes are filled with riders who dream of getting into MotoGP so there is huge potential for excitement as youngsters blindly ride beyond the limits of their machine in an attempt to cement their reputations as a potential champion. A ‘rostrum or hospital’ mentality can prevail with daring moves destined to end in disaster a fairly common sight as races draw to a close.

It is in these smaller classes that the likes of Rossi learnt their craft and each year there is potential for motorcycle’s next superstar to be unearthed in the smaller classes. With only a second separating the top 20 at the most recent group test the only thing that seems to be predictable about Moto2 is its unpredictability!
The smallest class is reserved for the 125cc machines. This category has historically been the first step for any would be Grand Prix rider. This category is all about momentum and corner speed. Riders do not have massive amounts of power due to the small capacity of the engine and as a result it is all about keeping the engine in its sweet spot and maximising the power available to the rider. This year sees an exceptionally open title race with seven riders expected to challenge for the championship, but each year in this class riders come out of nowhere and become race winners after learning their craft for one or two years.

Bradley Smith starts the year as slight the favourite but the British teenager knows that it is now or never for him to win the title. As a works Aprilia rider he will have the best bike on the grid but the vice-champion from last season faces a struggle from inside his own team if he is too win the title. Nico Terol joins Smith at the Aspar team and the Spaniard who won twice last season will expect to compete at the very front of the field. Another Spaniard, Marc Marquez, has joined a new team this year. After spending two years on the KTM he moves to Aprilia and will be searching for his first Grand Prix victory. While it may seem unlikely that a rider without a win would suddenly become a title challenger it is worth remembering that Marquez had a less powerful bike in the past and still has set pole positions and finished on the rostrum. The rest of the grid would be advised to underestimate the smallest man in the field at their pearl.

Pol Espargaro and Jonas Folger are also expected to be title challengers. Espargaro has won races in the past and last season blossomed into a potential world champion. Folger starts the year as an outsider but was sensational at times last season as a rookie. The German could have won races with a bit more experience and it is highly unlikely that he will not win at least once this year.

The great thing about the 125cc class is that any rider can come from the pack and suddenly develop into a front line race winner. Experience counts for a lot in this class as most riders are quite young. Once riders have two years under their belt not much will surprise them about the racing and the bikes and as a result riders that crashed a lot and struggled for pace suddenly morph into world beaters. Who will do that this season? With Smith, Terol and Marquez already experienced they will be expected to challenge for the title but outsiders such as Danny Webb could challenge. Second year rider Johan Zarco showed flashes of brilliance last year and will look to build on that. As far as rookies are concerned Marcel Schrotter looks a potential star and could well challenge at the front during the year.

metzengerstein

frostie500 wrote: »

I posted a preview of the new season on my blog so thought I might as well post it here.

Anyone that was on this forum last year will know that MotoGP was very much a minority form of motor sport. The group of us that posted in it's thread was pretty small but very knowledgeable so it's great to see new posters about the class.

I'd love it if we managed to get as much interest in bike racing as we do in F1-it's a tall order I know! But this year promises to be a potentionally gripping year in the three classes so I'd advise anyone that has never watched a bike race to sit down on Sunday and watch the Qatar Grand Prix!

good stuff yea me and my bro are big fans too and a few others ,ive been wtching since rossi was in 125s never saw anything like him he just amazed me .but they are all men of steel and all have some creditable moments

got to donnington in 2001 i think it was ,really great atmosphere ,has anyone else been to one

Malari

Really looking forward to it! Got into it last year and saw the last race in Valencia. I would love to get to another race, but TV for now

frostie500

Malari wrote: »

I would love to get to another race, but TV for now

They're pretty incredible at trackside arent they! I remember the first race I was at was at Laguna Seca in 06 with the big 990's and I don't think I've seen anything half as exciting on a racetrack as those bikes on the corkscrew together, TV is great but it doesnt do them justice!

Grim.

while id be happy go to any gp id love to to brno

Grim.

pics of the bikes @ http://www.motomatters.com/news/2010/04/08/scott_jones_shoots_the_2010_motogp_bikes.html

fuelinjection

Cool.
I am not a Stoner fan as I think he has dreams of being some untouchable hero figure in racing, without wining the races. Was he really sick ? Did he have to take time off ?
Is he a girl's blouse ?

Anyway I hope Stoner comes back on form - it will make for some good racing.

Malari

frostie500 wrote: »

They're pretty incredible at trackside arent they! I remember the first race I was at was at Laguna Seca in 06 with the big 990's and I don't think I've seen anything half as exciting on a racetrack as those bikes on the corkscrew together, TV is great but it doesnt do them justice!

Amazing. I was just grinning like an eejit the first time they all came out, and that was just the warm-up You see a lot more too, like Spies was really impressive moving steadily up the pack every lap.

I'd love to get to a MotoGP or WRC event every year.

metzengerstein

yea i had some grinning moments too just staring and taking in the noise it was the 500s when i saw it ,incredible

pity someone doesnt get the finger out and build a proper whopper track over here

voxpop

Is it only shown at midnight on Sunday(bbc2) ??

Grim.

Moto2 times closer to wss sport than i thought they would considering Moto2 are down about 20bhp

Moto 2 1st Practice 2010
1. de Angelis (Scot) 2min 3.239s
2. Redding (Suter) +0.595sec
3. Simon (RSV) +0.629sec
4. Aegerter (Suter) +0.828sec
5. Bradl (Suter) +0.871sec
6. Rolfo (Suter) +0.911sec
7. Debon (FTR) +0.925sec
8. Abraham (RSV) +1.030sec
9. Talmacsi (Speed Up) +1.098sec
10. Baldolini (ICP) +1.126sec

World Supersport Qatar 09 Quali
1. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha SSP YZF R6 2min 2.634s
2. Fabien Foret FRA Yamaha SSP YZF R6 2min 2.772s
3. Kenan Sofuoglu TUR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR 2min 2.883s
4. Matthieu Lagrive FRA HANNspree Althea Honda CBR600RR 2min 2.950s
5. Mark Aitchison AUS HANNspree Althea Honda CBR600RR 2min 3.065s
6. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com ZX-6R 2min 3.111s
7. Eugene Laverty IRL Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR 2min 3.114s
8. Garry McCoy AUS Triumph BE1 Racing 675 2min 3.177s
9. Anthony West AUS Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR600RR 2min 3.253s
10. Andrew Pitt AUS HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR 2min 3.282s

KamiKazi

voxpop wrote: »

Is it only shown at midnight on Sunday(bbc2) ??

10.15pm on Eurosport 2

frostie500

Grim. wrote: »

Moto2 times closer to wss sport than i thought they would considering Moto2 are down about 20bhp

And thats only with a first session on a dirty track, Moto2 will be faster than Supersport quali this evening. That class looks like we'll have great racing-is there any real tail enders? There are about GP winners in it! Cant wait for tomorrows race.

Stoner looked immense as usual in Qatar but I was most impressed with Nicky Hayden, great final run where he was quite consistant. Spies and Bautista were quick too

Grim.

hope rossi can sort that last sector out tomorrow because his on fire in the 1st and second

good quali not suprised with stoner on pole

bring on moto2

Grim.

Qualifying Times

Motogp

1 27 Casey STONER DUCATI 1'55.007
2 46 Valentino ROSSI YAMAHA 1'55.362
3 99 Jorge LORENZO YAMAHA 1'55.520
4 14 Randy DE PUNIET HONDA 1'55.831
5 65 Loris CAPIROSSI SUZUKI 1'55.899
6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO HONDA 1'55.963
7 26 Dani PEDROSA HONDA 1'55.990
8 5 Colin EDWARDS YAMAHA 1'56.005
9 69 Nicky HAYDEN DUCATI 1'56.163
10 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA HONDA 1'56.227
11 11 Ben SPIES YAMAHA 1'56.271
12 36 Mika KALLIO DUCATI 1'56.283
13 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SUZUKI 1'56.450
14 41 Aleix ESPARGARO DUCATI 1'56.652
15 58 Marco SIMONCELLI HONDA 1'56.957
16 40 Hector BARBERA DUCATI 1'57.130
17 33 Marco MELANDRI HONDA 1'57.325

Moto2

1 24 Toni ELIAS MORIWAKI 2'01.904
2 60 Julian SIMON RSV 2'02.032
3 65 Stefan BRADL SUTER 2'02.038
4 15 Alex DE ANGELIS FORCE GP210 2'02.101
5 72 Yuki TAKAHASHI TECH 3 2'02.295
6 16 Jules CLUZEL SUTER 2'02.366
7 35 Raffaele DE ROSA TECH 3 2'02.560
8 6 Alex DEBON FTR 2'02.759
9 48 Shoya TOMIZAWA SUTER 2'02.771
10 25 Alex BALDOLINI I.C.P. 2'02.866
11 40 Sergio GADEA PONS KALEX 2'02.881
12 44 Roberto ROLFO SUTER 2'02.883
13 63 Mike DI MEGLIO RSV 2'02.896
14 2 Gabor TALMACSI SPEED UP 2'02.916
15 59 Niccolo CANEPA FORCE GP210 2'03.002
16 12 Thomas LUTHI MORIWAKI 2'03.041
17 45 Scott REDDING SUTER 2'03.129
18 75 Mattia PASINI MOTOBI 2'03.155
19 14 Ratthapark WILAIROT BIMOTA 2'03.192
20 77 Dominique AEGERTER SUTER 2'03.232
21 29 Andrea IANNONE SPEED UP 2'03.258
22 41 Arne TODE SUTER 2'03.341
23 17 Karel ABRAHAM RSV 2'03.346
24 10 Fonsi NIETO MORIWAKI 2'03.390
25 52 Lukas PESEK MORIWAKI 2'03.531
26 3 Simone CORSI MOTOBI 2'03.588
27 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ BQR-MOTO2 2'03.635
28 71 Claudio CORTI SUTER 2'03.725
29 53 Valentin DEBISE ADV 2'03.752
30 9 Kenny NOYES PROMOHARRIS 2'03.792
31 80 Axel PONS PONS KALEX 2'04.301
32 55 Hector FAUBEL SUTER 2'04.417
33 61 Vladimir IVANOV MORIWAKI 2'04.470
34 5 Joan OLIVE PROMOHARRIS 2'04.476
35 21 Vladimir LEONOV SUTER 2'04.579
36 39 Robertino PIETRI SUTER 2'04.629
37 95 Mashel AL NAIMI BQR-MOTO2 2'04.871
38 96 Anthony DELHALLE BQR-MOTO2 2'04.912
39 8 Anthony WEST HONDA 2'05.362
40 88 Yannick GUERRA MORIWAKI 2'05.460
41 76 Bernat MARTINEZ BIMOTA 2'06.310

125cc

1 93 Marc MARQUEZ DERBI 2'06.651
2 44 Pol ESPARGARO DERBI 2'07.110
3 40 Nicolas TEROL APRILIA 2'07.136
4 7 Efren VAZQUEZ DERBI 2'07.143
5 35 Randy KRUMMENACHER APRILIA 2'07.770
6 71 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA APRILIA 2'07.943
7 11 Sandro CORTESE DERBI 2'08.211
8 5 Alexis MASBOU APRILIA 2'08.735
9 38 Bradley SMITH APRILIA 2'08.835
10 12 Esteve RABAT APRILIA 2'08.850
11 14 Johann ZARCO APRILIA 2'09.382
12 53 Jasper IWEMA APRILIA 2'09.388
13 99 Danny WEBB APRILIA 2'09.647
14 23 Alberto MONCAYO APRILIA 2'09.649
15 78 Marcel SCHROTTER HONDA 2'09.739
16 50 Sturla FAGERHAUG APRILIA 2'10.010
17 63 Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN APRILIA 2'10.253
18 94 Jonas FOLGER APRILIA 2'10.405
19 69 Louis ROSSI APRILIA 2'10.680
20 26 Adrian MARTIN APRILIA 2'10.859
21 84 Jakub KORNFEIL APRILIA 2'10.864
22 32 Lorenzo SAVADORI APRILIA 2'11.034
23 39 Luis SALOM LAMBRETTA 2'11.038
24 87 Luca MARCONI APRILIA 2'11.307
25 80 Quentin JACQUET APRILIA 2'13.874
26 72 Marco RAVAIOLI LAMBRETTA 2'14.311

frostie500

125s set to start at six on Eurosport 2.

This could be a great race, but it should only have a leading group of four after Marquez, Espargaro, Terol and Vasquez have dominated the weekend.

Marquez starts from the pole after a superb final run in quali but Espargaro has been consistently faster and has set more 2 minutes and 7 second laps than Marquez. Marquez has yet to win a race but Espargaro and Terol have both won in the past and will look to put a lot of pressure on Marquz, Terol is racing his first race with Aspar but has seemed to be chasing the bike over the weekend but if he can stay in the lead group he is not a man that anyone would want to see around him. THe final man on the front row and the last of the true contenders for the win is Vasquez on a Derbi, he again has yet to win a race but has been very fast all weekend and looks set to put last season behind him after he had a few crashes to end the year. He has never had a podium but has looked immense all weekend.

andyman

Just switched on, I never knew that the legend that is Robby Rolfo is back :eek:

Who won the 125cc? Was it a good race?

frostie500

andyman wrote: »

Just switched on, I never knew that the legend that is Robby Rolfo is back :eek:

Who won the 125cc? Was it a good race?

There's loads of legends back in Moto2, Fozi Nieto is back as well!

Great race to start the class even if the gaps seemed to open up a bit through the field. I doubt that will happen too much this year it seemed that riders were worried about their tyres.

Nico Terol won the 125's after a great race after battling with a group of seven

Fidelis

Did the BBC commentary sync annoy anyone else? It sounded like it was at least a full second ahead of the video. You'd hear the boys commenting on a move somebody was making, a full second or so before the move happened.

Grim.

Fidelis wrote: »

Did the BBC commentary sync annoy anyone else

everything about the BBC commentary annoys me but yeah it was def one or two seconds out of sync

EvilMonkey

Stoner pushing too hard trying to win the race by a mile, Rossi knows how to control a race from the front!
Good to see Hayden fighting at the front, I hope he can keep it up.

Grim.

aye couldn't believe Stoner put it in the gravel he was pretty much guaranteed 25 points

how fast is that Honda in a strait line, insane!!

but great race by Rossi's was a bit worried about the strait line speed and then his rear tyre going off. and what the hell happened to his bike on the cool down lap? hope the engine hasn't lunched itself

EvilMonkey

Grim. wrote: »

aye couldn't believe Stoner put it in the gravel he was pretty much guaranteed 25 points

how fast is that Honda in a strait line, insane!!

but great race by Rossi's was a bit worried about the strait line speed and then his rear tyre going off. and what the hell happened to his bike on the cool down lap? hope the engine hasn't lunched itself

Honda is fast it would be good if they can get up to speed with the handling quickly.

Yeah Rossi was lucky Hayden and Dovi slowed each other and he could pull out a decent gap. I hope he just ran out of fuel, cant really afford engine trouble this year.

Fidelis

Grim. wrote: »

everything about the BBC commentary annoys me

Really? I think Parrish and Cox are a great pair!

frostie500

Have to say I thought that was a cracking big class race.

I know that with Casey out the complexion of the race changes completly but even if he was there and the battle at the front was for second it would have been a great race.

Hayden really looked back to himself and had one of his best races on an 800, he looked very comfortable on the bike for the first time, so clearly changing the Ducati to a big bang engine suits him a lot more.

Pedrosa was soundly beaten by Dovi and he will need to get a grip on the bike in the next two or three races otherwise he'll be shown the door by HRC