MotoGP round 7..Catalunya, Spain**spoiler after 6/10**

[Ballmead]

Stoner was over half a second quicker than anyone in FP3 on race tyres and no one came close.

1st: Stoner
2nd: Rossi
3rd: Pedrosa

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Ballmead

Stoner was over half a second quicker than anyone in FP3 on race tyres and no one came close.

...and he is doing well so far in QP. I know there are still 20 min. left, but when is Hayden going to get going? He has been in 7th (as usual) all morning. That number 1 plate must be really heavy. It's slowing him down.

[L8 Braker]

Rossi's in front for the start

[Kennyj15]

maybe rossi will be the one to break the slide of pole position not winning the race, it will be an exciting race im sure

[jk750]

Yeah, Rossi's on pole with another new lap record...

But look who's starting 2nd!!!

Randy DE PUNIET on the Kawasaki!!!

3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda)
4. Casey STONER (Ducati)
5. John HOPKINS (Suzuki)
6. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha)
7. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda)
8. Toni ELIAS (Honda)
9. Marco MELANDRI (Honda)
10. Alex HOFMANN (Ducati)
11. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki)
12. Shinya NAKANO (Honda)
13. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha)
14. Alex BARROS (Ducati)
15. Carlos CHECA (Honda)
16. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha)
17. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati)
18. Kenny Lee ROBERTS (KR-Honda)
19. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda)
20. Olivier JACQUE (Kawasaki)

The Ducati's still showed the highest top speeds, with Capirossi hitting 199.5 mph, followed by Stoner at 198.6 mph. Hayden posted the third highest speed at 197.4 mph.

[LiViN's Easy]

Rossi and hopkins will be in top 4.. I don't really have a guess @ the order though.

and I don't know some of you think that the other manufactures are catching up on the ducs power.. It hasn't been shown... Its just the tracks.

[jk750]

Rossi will win this race. It should be a good one. The CBS broadcast should be a quality show, bringing the race to the masses.

As far as power is concerned, top speeds are some indication, though not the whole story. Ducati also is reported to have the best aerodynamic package.

Here are the top recorded speeds this week at Catalunya -

Capirossi - 199.5 mph - Ducati
Stoner - 198.6 mph - Ducati
Hayden - 197.4 mph - Honda
Barros - 196.5 mph - Ducati
Hofmann - 195.4 mph - Ducati
Pedrosa - 195.1 mph - Honda
De Puniet - 194.7 mph - Kawasaki
Guintoli - 192.5 mph - Yamaha
Hopkins - 191.9 mph
Vermeulen - 191.9 mph
Edwards - 191.8 mph - Yamaha
Elias - 191.6 mph - Honda
Melandri - 191.0 mph - Honda
Rossi -190.9 mph - Yamaha
Nakano - 190.1 mph - Honda
Kenny Lee Roberts - 189.9 mph - KR-Honda
Tamada - 189.7 mph - Yamaha
Checa - 189.3 mph - Honda
Kurtis Roberts - 187.2 mph - KR-Honda

[R.Brosnan]

Originally Posted by jk750

Ducati also is reported to have the best aerodynamic package.

I think that's a big part of it. Ducati has had great top speed since the GP3, and the nose of the bike in particular looks very Hayabusa-ish to me. Certainly it looks more aerodynamic than the blunt front end Yamaha uses and it almost has to be much better than the Honda. Hayden's top speed this week is nothing short of shocking; I don't know whether he's taking some kind of great line onto the front straight and getting a slipstream or the new fairing from last week and new exhaust this week have really made that big a difference.

[HighsideSV]

Originally Posted by jk750

Yeah, Rossi's on pole with another new lap record...

But look who's starting 2nd!!!

Randy DE PUNIET on the Kawasaki!!!

Holy crap.

I wonder what that does to the odds of a nasty crash on the first corner?

[deanzaZR]

Originally Posted by Redmenace

Holy crap.

I wonder what that does to the odds of a nasty crash on the first corner?

Nakano regularly qualified on the 1st or 2nd row last year, but he would invariably lose about 5 spots before the first corner.

de Puniet would be smart to try to ride a smooth race and finish the race for a change. He also has a badly swollen knee from last week's crash. I like Kawi, but with the two riders they have riding this year, feel free to refer to the team as Crash-a-saki.

And just to stir the pot a bit, this is the link to crash.net entitled "Kawasaki, 'as good as Ducati' - Exclusive"

http://www.crash.net/feature_view~cid~6~id~11416.htm

[ThePhorest]

Yeah, I saw that Kawasaki article a while back. It gave me a pretty good laugh.

I'm gonna have to guess that Rossi will win this one too. I'd really like to see Hopkins take it to him somehow though.

My other prediction is that Pedrosa is gonna crash just like last time!

Are you guys gonna watch it on CBS or m0t0gp.com? I'd like to see it on CBS for the first time, but I also don't wanna watch the commercials and have some laps cut out! Tricky.

[Drake]

I'm thinking about watching the live feed and recording the cbs for later in the evening. I wonder if CBS will be the same as Speed, or will it have any extra commentary?

[BurnMyHeartDown]

I'm looking at hayden in the second row and hoping that maybe he can get it in shape this race. Rossi, Stoner, Hopkins. Pulling for Hayden in the top 5. RdP will fade off when it heats up.

[Blink3rFluid]

Pedrosa
Rossi
Hayden

Thats my pick but with my luck at picking winners all three of them will crash.

[Drake]

Wow, amazing last couple laps.

Stoner
Rossi
Pedrosa

Crazy. Stoner did fantastic fighting w/ Vale.