MotoGP, Superbikes and Road Racing 2021

Infoanon wrote: »

RossI said weeks ago it would be announced at Barcelona !

Rossi saying he is not competitive enough to win the championship - found something on Saturday but it didn't work on Sunday. Rossi is now 26 points behind Dovi.

Still not sure how he lost the front yesterday.

Infoanon wrote: »

Who from Rossi's crew will transfer to SRT and who will pay for them.

Don't know who's paying the wages but, chief engineer David Munoz, telemetry operator Matteo Flamigni, and coach Idalio Gavira are confirmed as making the move. 1 year deal with Rossi expected to race for VR|46 in 2022 possible with Luca Marini (ie. his brother) and most likely on a Suzuki.

Magown3 wrote: »

Unreal championship this year!

At this point, if anyone in the top 10 can put 3 good podiums in a row they'll almost have one hand on the trophy!

At one stage yesterday we could have had 3 riders sharing the championship lead. It's all pointing towards a cracking finale but Spain had 14,000 new cases on Friday and is back over 200 deaths per day. With 5 of the remaining 7 races due to be held in Spain, this championship could be over at any time.

Crutchlow reckons he'll be fine to ride.

He also says that Aprilia are not making a decision on next years line up until after Iannone's appeal (next month I think?).

I can't see Iannone winning the appeal and infact, the WADA are also appealing the 18 month ban and are trying to get it expended to the full 4 years. I think this is actually more likely to happen.

Iannone was in the paddock last week at Misano. He's certainly not popular with any of the BT Sport crew. They mentioned him several times and it sounded like he was most unwelcome. They also commented on how he was seen in several garages despite strict social distancing protocol between teams.

Infoanon wrote: »

Iannone is FenatIs manager...

Yea Hodgson mentioned this last week with a snarky comment something like "sure who else would be his manager only another rule breaker" or something to that effect.

Infoanon wrote: »

Bizzarely if Iannone had not appealed he would be back riding shortly.

I dunno, I think WADA were going to appeal anyway, but regardless, it seems it was bad advice from his solicitor (or perhaps Aprilia) to issue an appeal.

Scotty # wrote: »

https://twitter.com/denkmit/status/1308813088670593025

It's the worst year I can remember for injuries.

Just to add that a Honda team member working for LCR has tested positive for Covid 19 - Cal did mention being down on team members (another 3 are isolating with negative tests)

Surely a lot of those mechanics will hop to the vr46 team when they arrive.

Vr46 will be an extra team ? Not replacing another so two teams of new mechanics needed.

Getting the feeling that Rossi / SRT is a marriage of inconvenience ....

VR46 Suzuki Moto GP 2022 just took another step forward imho

Infoanon wrote: »

Getting the feeling that Rossi / SRT is a marriage of inconvenience ....

VR46 Suzuki Moto GP 2022 just took another step forward imho

This is what I was saying a few weeks ago. SRT never wanted Rossi or at least, never gave the impression they wanted Rossi. It completely goes against their ethos to hire a rider who's 'over the hill'. Yes, he'll sell them lots of tshirts and baseball caps (Does VR46 Apparel already own Petronas merch rights?) but it always looked to me like he didn't really want to go there and they didn't really want to take him.

Decisive weekend in 2 of the championships..

Next it's Le Man's - cold and wet conditions highly likely

h3000 wrote: »

The disappointment

The way it was panning out the top step of the podium was a strong possibility

Felt sorry for Dovi most of all. He's still in with a shout but that was a severe blow to his chances.

2nd, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 2nd... some pretty consistent (and impressive) results from Mr. Mir over the last 5 races! Wonder what his placement bonuses are like?

Yamaha need to replace Vinales with someone who at least looks like they want to win a race.

Beltby wrote: »

Vinales needs to learn to bully his way at the start and not let everyone nudge him around. His biggest problem is the first few corners usually.

Totally agree. He's so afraid of binning it at the start that he sabotages his own race anyway. It's a shame because we've seen what he's capable of. One of the best when shown a clear track!

Scotty # wrote: »

Totally agree. He's so afraid of binning it at the start that he sabotages his own race anyway. It's a shame because we've seen what he's capable of. One of the best when shown a clear track!

It's more than that though - how often have we seen Maverick dominate Friday & Saturday and then dissappear on Sunday.

Dissappear being the word - if it was that he just dropped back at the start that would be bad enough but he drops back - to 16th on Sunday - then stays put for an age before then setting fastest laps towards the end of the race.
Then when interviewiwed will blame the tyres , the odd conditions, the bike etc

I like Maverick but he is too inconsistent to win a championship.

Felt the BT boys were a bit unfair on Dovi - at the moment the Ducati is at best the 4th best bike and would be 5th if Marc was on the Honda.
Race leader Pecco also struggled ,while Jack qualifies well but falls back in the race.

Rossi looked very good before the error on Sunday and surely Lin Jarvis must be pondering his early decision to keep Maverick ahead of Rossi.

Great to see Rins up on the podium after that dreadful injury - Mir consistent again

Strong race for Sam Lowes in Moto 2 with Jake Dixon now showing a lot of pace.

Le Mans next

Avintia decision not announced perhaps MarinI to replace Rabat is still in play.

Ducati snapping Jorge from under KTMS noses won't have gone down well.

h3000 wrote: »

It's a shame the premier class never worked out for Rabat. He is a great rider and seems to put in more work than most other riders in the whole paddock.

Rabat was doing well until the silverstone accident where he was hit by another bike (Morbidelli? ) breaking his leg.

Before that accident there was talk of a factory spot and he probably would have got the Iannone replacement ride ahead of Bautista at Philip Island that year.

WSBK Ducati is apparently an option for him next year if Luca moves up to Moto gp

Canats front wheel lock up save was also spectacular.

Ducatis showing pace this morning but all trailing Bradley on his Aprilla !

FP2 tends to be irrelevant these days but giving the weather conditions FP2 could be good today.

Ducatis, Yamahas and the Hondas showing pace in FP2.

Suzukis 11th & 12th but Fabio way down.

If FP3 has rain tomorrow qualifying One will have Mir / Fabio and Dovi !!

Huge high side for Marini in Moto 2 - thankfully walked away

Dry session for FP3 but a spate of offs at the end, Rossi, Mir, Bradl, Miller... Millers was quite a big highside that he was very lucky to walk away from.

QUA
OLI
MOR
MIL
VIN
CRU
ZAR
ROS
ESP
DOV

.36 covering top 10.

Scotty # wrote: »

Yamaha take top 4 spots in FP4. Less than a second between top 19 riders. The cold weather is playing havoc with the tyres. Only 9 degrees during this mornings session. Over 60 crashes already this weekend. It's that cold, riders are warming their gloves on the tyre blankets before putting them on.

Most of those crashes where in Moto 3 though iirc - Petrucci has just set the fastest time in Quali 1 !!

Mir out.....

Scotty # wrote: »

Amazing the difference a bit of track temperature makes!!!

Ducati found something between FP3 and FP4 - Petrucci went 1.3 seconds quicker !!

Going to be close tomorrow - if only Mir could qualify better.

Ruben Xaus has confirmed that Avintia are up for sale - they will continue in 2021 but won't be renewing with Dorna for 2022. Leopard or VR46 potential buyers.

tommyboy26 wrote: »

So if either of them teams by avintia, what are they buying?

The whole team?
The place in motogp?
The bikes?

That's a very good question - VR46 are already guaranteed a spot so they don't need to buy a spot unlike leopard.

Avintia are also heavily involved in other championships so it's unlikely to be the team.

The Bikes are owned by Ducati.

Which leads to the conclusion that Leopard will buy the Moto GP slots noting Dorna may prefer them to run another bike.

Reading post quali comments it looks like Fabio will need to break away early to have a chance of victory. Ducatis are looking strong and can pass the Yahamas with ease. Cals Honda is in the running for a podium.

It's a bit of a turn around to see Petrucci and Cal back on the pace

tommyboy26 wrote: »

I cant see vr46 wanting to run ducati bikes.

I was under the assumption there was only one spot left on the grid and that was promised to rossi for vr46 when he retired. That being said suzuki have the option to run a second bike so it is hard to know what will happen

Technically there are no spots left BUT Dorna have always said that 2 spots would be added for the VR Team. VR are strongly rumoured to be running satellite Suzukis from 2022 (also the start of the new Dorna team arrangements).

Leopard have expressed an interest in moto gp and the rumour is that they will buy the Avintia slots.

This morning the Italian press had it that VR had taken over Avintia but that has been flatly denied by Avintia.

Dorna want 24 bikes - 6 manufacturers with 6 satellite teams.

This beings up an interesting issue with Gresini as Aprilla are due to enter as a factory team - Gresini are an independent team currently signing riders for Moto GP in 2022