MOTO GP 2012

Hotblack Desiato

I wouldn't say Stacy Moaner is no loss, not at all, but I always found it very hard to warm to the guy. Think he'll mellow out a bit after a couple of years away and might even come back..

frostie500

Goose81 wrote: »

Do you like him?

I find him a detestable **** tbh, hes no loss.

He's no loss? Come on! He's probably the most talented rider of his generation (yes I'm including Rossi in that) and one of the most spectacular riders we have ever seen. He brought so much to the sport for the last ten years and to disregard that is ridiculous.

Johny 8

Looking toward to cal crutchlow next year! He had a great improvement this year. Is there much difference between the factory team bike and the satellite bike???

Max Headroom

Goose81 wrote: »

I find him a detestable **** tbh,hes no loss .

Are you kidding...:eek:...the guy is a genius on any bike...i dont love the lad but to disregard his talent just because you dont like him is a bit childish.... I dont pick sides but i was hoping that Spies would do better...

Grim.

h3000

Goose81 wrote: »

Do you like him?

I find him a detestable **** tbh, hes no loss.

I'm not a huge fan of Stoner but it's only because I find him a bit of an ass, apparently though he is a nice guy it just does not come across on camera too well. To say he is no loss is a bit stupid. His talent is absolutely unquestionable, what he can do on a bike is crazy.
I don't really like the whole Rossi v's Stoner debate. I don't think one is better than the other, they are both outstanding riders.

Goose81

frostie500 wrote: »

He's no loss? Come on! He's probably the most talented rider of his generation (yes I'm including Rossi in that) and one of the most spectacular riders we have ever seen. He brought so much to the sport for the last ten years and to disregard that is ridiculous.

Better than the goat? You joking

frostie500

Goose81 wrote: »

Better than the goat? You joking

I didn't say that Stoner was the greatest rider ever but I do think that he is the most talented that we have seen. Casey is the epitome of the star that shines twice as bright burns half as long. From a year standing trackside I have seen him do things on his bike that no-one else could even contemplate doing.

His feeling for what the bike is doing is beyond that of anyone else on the grid. In my view it plays a pretty big role in how often we see Casey giving out about track surface and tyre performance etc. He feels things that the rest of the field dont, he is ultra sensitive to what is going on around him.

Were it not for some decisions that he made and some bad luck he would have been even more successful than he has been since coming into the premier class. He split with Alberto Puig before moving to Grand Prix in 2002. It means that he raced for LCR in 250cc's while Dani Pedrosa got the Puig backing and raced for five years (and three titles) with Telefonica Honda in 125s and 250s.

Saying all that Stoner's numbers in the junior classes are still quite good. But it was in MotoGP that we really saw him shine. Here's the numbers since 2006 when Casey and Dani joined MotoGP:

Wins: Stoner-38, Rossi-26, Lorenzo-23, Pedrosa-22
Podiums: Pedrosa-71, Stoner-69, Rossi-60, Lorenzo-60
Poles: Stoner-39, Lorenzo-25, Pedrosa-24, Rossi-21

Obviously Rossi has the edge in sheer numbers but its undeniable that the last six years have been the most competitive in MotoGP with four riders all capable of beating each other. Look back to Rossi's first six years in the 500/MotoGP class and you'll see that he did it against weak competition (Robers, Biaggi, Giberneau etc) Good riders all but in the big class were never a match for the current group.

Rossi's inability to win on the Ducati while Stoner was dominant on it also has to play a part in his legacy. He is the only rider with enough feel to ride the Ducati and win on it. If it were not for the inability to diagnose his lactose intolerance and he would have been even more successful.

I'm not saying any of this to disparage Rossi, I also think that he will be remembered as the greatest of all time, but I think that Casey's talent and speed are greater than Rossi's.

Grim.

frostie500

Here's a couple of race shots:
Moto3 Race:

I'm a big fan of Alex Marquez, I think he could be something very special. He showed a lot of spark this year at times but had a few too many crashes in the second half of the season....he'd remind you a lot of Marc in many ways!


It looked for much of the race that Sandro Cortese would cap off his title winning season with another race win...except no-one told Danny Kent! I love the contrast of emotions between Danny and Sandro in this shot




Not really sure how Juan Francisco Guevaro stayed on his bike after this save

Moto2 Race:

Pol started from the pole...but in the wet he was always going to struggle


Julian Simon led for a lot of the race but his tyres started to go off in the closing stages and it gave Marc Marquez the chance to take a famous back to front victory

MotoGP race:

Aleix Espargaro got the jump on the field at the start of the race with the CRT machinery able to get the power down easier than the prototypes


Couple of close up shots:




Rossi can finally put his Ducati nightmare to rest, here he is in the last couple of corners in red:


Of course Valencia will always be remembered for Casey's last race:

h3000

Nice shots Frostie. Can I ask what camera and lens you're using for them.

frostie500

h3000 wrote: »

Nice shots Frostie. Can I ask what camera and lens you're using for them.

Cheers! It's a Canon 60D and for most of these shots it was a 300mm lens. Check out my gallery here for everything else from Valencia. If anyone's interested all the images in my gallery are available for sale as framed prints or on canvas so PM me if youre interested

h3000

Did you stay over there for the testing Frostie500?

Grim.

frostie500

h3000 wrote: »

Did you stay over there for the testing Frostie500?

h3000 wrote: »

Did you stay over there for the testing Frostie500?

I was supposed to stay for the three days but there's a strike in Spain tomorrow (and I heard that it could stretch into Thursday too) and there's no outbound flights so I had to change my plans last night and come home. Really annoyed to miss out on seeing Vale back on the Yam and Marquez on a MotoGP bike but what can you do.

However I was at the Moto2 test yesterday and have a couple of notes from it. I thought Danny Kent looked pretty comfortable on the Tech3 bike, even if there is little chance of him impressing unless the team makes significant strides in improving the bike. I was down in the pits for some of the session for the time time and I've gotta say it was deadly!

I left Valencia at about half nine and the weather had started to turn and by the time testing started it was already starting to spit with rain so there wont be much of an indication of how riders are adapting etc to their new bikes but as Dovi said over the weekend the first test is to try and get a feel for handlebar and footrest positions more than anything else.

Yamaha are still undecided as to whether to move to Aragon for day two because the weather is just as bad there.

Infoanon

Anyword on who shall ride the CRT Gresini now that the sponsorship has been tied up ?

And will San Carlos colours be adorning the Yamahas next season ?

ZX7R

Frostie any news from Suzuki on a return next year ,or are they waiting on the rule changes for 2014

frostie500

ZX7R wrote: »

Frostie any news from Suzuki on a return next year ,or are they waiting on the rule changes for 2014

Lots of rumours but precious little facts. It looks as though Dorna have demanded that if Suzuki are looking to return to the sport that they will have to guarantee their place until 2019. Dorna were hurt pretty badly by Suzuki pulling out after giving them a lot of dispensations with engines/testing/riders to keep them happy and on the grid.

One of the most interesting rumours I heard at Valencia was that they had approached Randy de Puniet to be their test rider next year (and do some wild card entries.) Not sure about it though as I didnt talk to anyone from Suzuki or Randy over the weekend but he's a big loss to be flopping around on a CRT machine instead of a proper bike

frostie500

Infoanon wrote: »

Anyword on who shall ride the CRT Gresini now that the sponsorship has been tied up ?

And will San Carlos colours be adorning the Yamahas next season ?

No news at all about the Gresini CRT bike or the Yamaha sponsors but it wouldnt be a stretch to see the San Carlo logos on the side of the bike! Also for Yamaha they would allow the team to run their Yamaha Europe colours (red and white) which are so good looking!

Monkeybonkers

Goose81 wrote: »

Do you like him?

I find him a detestable **** tbh, hes no loss.

I do. Brilliant rider. He could tame bikes that nobody else could.

funkey_monkey

Frostie any word on the story of Marquez and others cheating in Motot2 class?

http://www.speedweek.de/Moto2/news/29432/Schwerer-Verdacht-gegen-Marquez.html

Poor quality translation:

Serious suspicions against Marquez
Günther Wiesinger 31.10.12-10:33

It clues have emerged as the team of the Moto2 World Champion could manipulate the control unit of the electronics unit.

The weekend at Phillip Iceland for Marc Márquez was actually a celebration. The 19-year-old Spaniard secured prematurely with rank 3 for the world title in the Moto2 class. But about his team despite the CatalunyaCaixa Repsol Championship glory appeared dark clouds. The team has been around for months on suspicion of manipulating the motorcycle from the electronics Márquez. Well first concrete evidence have emerged as to how this could.

Since the unit is provided by Honda engines and are sealed, the suspicion is directed to the map of the electronic controller of the standard ECU (Electronic Control Unit). "Normally, the engine will lean on each shift from," explained an engineer in Australia, "because the automatic switch which cuts the ignition for a split second, the fuel supply is interrupted. Thus, the lambda value is lower, in the power curve is actually undesirable. "

The trick of the Spanish team which seems to be that there is a separate mapping on the controller feeds, which is when you turn off the bike each deletes itself again. Such a detection is difficult. With the new mapping, the computer recognizes the switching procedure no more, so that the injection is not interrupted.

In Márquez team has one all on his own suspicions. Gerold Bucher works as a data recording specialist at CatalunyaCaixa Repsol and says, "We find nothing in our motorcycle forbidden, for us is all legal. Our driver does not brake as late as the others and therefore the throttle sooner, "says Bucher often wondrously good acceleration of the world champion.

frostie500

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Frostie any word on the story of Marquez and others cheating in Motot2 class?

There's been lots of suspicion against Marc and his team throughout the year but very little in the line of hard evidence against them. The main focus of the issue is that Marquez has traditionally been able to have better acceleration out of corners and that the team has "found" some of way of achieving this.

There has been nothing to show that the team are doing anything illegal and Moto2 is quite well structured to avoid tampering with the engines or other control parts (any engine can be given to any team after a rebuild etc.)

Far more likely to be the cause of this is simply Marquez' talent level. I was chatting to a couple of the riders at Valencia and other races about how good Marc is and Cal Crutchlow put it best when he said:

“I believe that people have it in for him because he’s the best,” said Crutchlow. “His bike is worse than Espargaro’s. There is no other Suter up there and no-one can do what he does on that bike.

When Cal was asked about Marquez' aggressive and ruthlessness he said:
His biggest strength is that when everyone else is worried about something he isnt. Do you remember about his eye last year? Everyone was whinging about it and worrying about it but he came to the first race and won. I believe he’s a very, very good rider.”

He then joked about it and something along the lines that "if Marc tries anything on me next year I'll fancy my chances in a fistfight against him!"

Over the course of the last two years the Kalex has been the bike to be on in Moto2 yet Marquez has won more races than anyone in the class. He is simply a class ahead of everyone else. That Suter had no right to win the title and you only need to look at someone like Thom Luthi to see the potential of the bike. One race Thom was on the podium the next he'd be down in 20th.

I think that there's a lot made of the Marquez situation simply because he's Spanish and winning. We always look for reasons why someone is dominating etc. and need a rational explanation and for most people the only logic is that they must be doing something illegal. I personally think that it's a combination of the biggest budget, a hugely talented rider and the people within the team.

frostie500

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

I do. Brilliant rider. He could tame bikes that nobody else could.

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

I do. Brilliant rider. He could tame bikes that nobody else could.

I'm just after finishing off a piece about Casey's career and how he'll be remembered. I touch on a couple of different things but one of them is how he was successful on the Duc and I firmly believe that it's because of his sense of feel and understanding of what the bike is doing.

I find it very interesting that so often Casey seems to be riding on a different track to everyone else-at Valencia he was the only rider who publically said the track was poor, the chatter issues throughout the season etc.-and I think it's because he has a much greater level of sensitivity for the track and the bike than anyone else.

In the piece I compare his feel for the bike to hearing. We all hear at slightly different frequencies to one another. Usually it's not something that makes a great difference but on occassion it can make a drastic difference in our perception of sounds. On a race bike I believe that Casey can "hear" more from the bike and the track than most other racers and this is what allowed him to "tame" the Ducati whereas Rossi wasnt able to.

Here's the full piece, its very long, but there's some good bits in it and loads of my photos from throughout the season to keep you entertained!

frostie500

Did a top ten for F1 so thought I'd do one for MotoGP as well. Who was in your top ten?

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