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MotoGP round 9 Mugello 07/15/2012. *SPOILERS*

12K views 263 replies 38 participants last post by  PhilB 
#1 ·
So, this is the 3rd straight week of racing and here's where we're at

--Pedrosa won last week and is actually in 2nd place in points
--Stoner crashed last week, giving Lorenzo back 20 points
--Lorenzo didn't look perfect last week
--Spies is finally being consistent enough to battle for a podium

Everybody else is doing what they do. Your thoughts?



 
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#3 ·
The main reason Lorenzo looked bad last race is because Bridgestone told him not to run the tires that worked with the Yamaha on that track.

The hard tires worked great for the Hondas, but shitty for the Yamaha, but it was too hot for anyone to run the softs. Lorenzo had them on his bike, but an engineer from Bridgestone came up and basically told him he HAD to run the hard if he wanted to finish the race with both tires intact.

Yeah. Pretty fucked up, in my opinion....
 
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#15 ·
which Bridgestone is denying. that is pretty sad that they supply crap tires and now they deny that they advised riders.
 
#4 ·
I like the extra choices. Had to go with Ago.

PhilB
 
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#6 ·
Doohan will win this one, but if he fails to show up I think it'll be Lorenzo's.

Spies looks better now, which is good to see, but "battling for a podium" still sounds like a stretch to me. Well, he WAS actually battling for an eventual 3rd place last race, but not in the sense I guess you mean..

nico
 
#8 ·
I wonder how much Honda paid bridgestone to make that soft tire a piece of shit?

The spec tire rule is now literally a spec tire rule.

you get 1 tire compound.
because the other one is a total piece of shit.
 
#20 ·
so that no one has to click silly links:

Pedrosa, who currently lies 2nd in the World Championship as the season reaches the halfway point, will extend his contract with Honda with whom he has raced with his debut in the World Championship in 2001. Dani is a three time World Champion (2003 in 125cc, 2004 and 2005 in 250cc) and made his debut in MotoGP in 2006, claiming the Rookie of the Year title and fifth position in the Championship. He has been runner up twice and has also finished third in the premier class on two occasions. After celebrating his maiden win of the 2012 season last weekend in Germany, Dani has shown he is certainly one of the contenders for the title in the premier class this year.

Marc Márquez, born on 17th of February 1993, will make his debut in MotoGP with the Honda factory team at just 20 years old. Already recognised as one of the biggest young talents in the World Championship, Marc has signed for two years with HRC. He was 125cc World Champion in 2010, runner up on his debut year in Moto2 class and is currently leading the Moto2 World Championship by 43 points.

Dani Pedrosa
"I'm very happy to be able to announce my renewal with the Repsol Honda Team for the next two years. It's been a very long relationship with Honda and I had a strong desire to stay here. The fight for the Championship this year is still open and the next two seasons will be very interesting for me. My whole career has been linked to Honda, since I entered into the World Championship in 125cc, then in 250cc and since 2006 in MotoGP. I'm perhaps one of the riders with the longest history with Honda, which makes me feel very proud. I want to thank HRC once again for their support; I'm sure that we have great things to do together.”

Marc Márquez
“To reach MotoGP next season with Repsol Honda is a dream come true and I want to thank HRC for their confidence in me. I am very proud to be a part of the big Honda family for the future and I don’t want to forget all the people have helped me since I began to ride motorbikes. Now my focus is on Moto2 where my team and I are working very hard and we are excited to achieve our goal, which is to win the World Championship in 2012.”

Shuhei Nakamoto - HRC Executive Vice President
"We are very pleased to renew our contract with Dani and welcome Marc to the Repsol Honda Team. Dani is enjoying a very strong season and currently fighting with Casey and Lorenzo for the Championship, we are very pleased with his performance. Marc has already proved how fast he is in 125cc and Moto2, and we believe that, giving him the right time to adapt to the new class, he will also be able to show this in MotoGP in the future.”

Press release courtesy of Honda Racing Corporation
 
#21 ·
Next year should be a gooder if they can sort through the tire bull shit.

They warm up faster, but is it really that much safer to ride half the race on a cooked rear tire? There has to be some middle ground between the stone cold <5 lap high side tires and the crap they brought this year. I thought the 1000s were going to smash the 800 records, but Bridgestone fucked that one up for everyone.
 
#24 ·
Marquez moving to the factory Honda team is kind of a bad move. Unproven in MotoGP... and the fact that they just got rid of the rookie rule while Spies had to follow it just makes my blood boil.

Anyways, we'll see how he does. Tony Elias has proven several times that winning the Moto2 title doesn't mean shit when talking about MotoGP.
 
#28 ·
Yes. Nastro Azzuri factory bike.

the rookie rule was stupid but i dont se how it affected Ben. he wasn't going to Yamaha in 2010. they still had Rossi and Lorenzo. he wasn't going to Honda who had Pedrosa and Dovi. the only other factory bike was Ducati and Suzuki. The Suzuki was a pile of shit and Ducati had Stoner and hayden. Plus the GP10 was a pile of shit too. things worked out just fine for Ben.
Good point.
 
#26 ·
the rookie rule was stupid but i dont se how it affected Ben. he wasn't going to Yamaha in 2010. they still had Rossi and Lorenzo. he wasn't going to Honda who had Pedrosa and Dovi. the only other factory bike was Ducati and Suzuki. The Suzuki was a pile of shit and Ducati had Stoner and hayden. Plus the GP10 was a pile of shit too. things worked out just fine for Ben.
 
#56 ·
Really?!? Honda had 3 factory bikes last year, who says Yamaha could not have had a 3rd bike in 2010.
 
#27 ·
It bothers me, dorna didn't drop that rule for nothing.

There has to be something going on behind closed doors. The old mans job is to make his show entertaining. What would be more entertaining than seeing Rossi on a winning bike?

Ezpeleta was so confident to make those statements about Rossi being on a competitive bike in 2013. It doesn't look like ducati is catching up with Honda bringing an all new prototype to test. Rossi maintains his faith in Ducati publicly, but that doesn't mean f all. I wonder if he's actually going to bail if their laguna updates turn out to be a development smoke show. If he resigns with Ducati, I just can't see them becoming competitive over winter break. Especially with everything HRC has on the go.
 
#29 ·
If Vale leaves Ducati I will breath a sigh of relief. Forget Audi, NASA and Lockheed Martin collectively won't be able to make that collosal shit of a bike better, atleast not for the forseeable future. It will take a lot more time to make that bike better. Time that Vale doesn't have. I will be downright pissed of he stays there. I realize he doesn't have many options but ALMOST anything will be a step up from the Ducati.
 
#37 ·
Audi likes winners.
Audi likes making money.
Rossi is a winner.
Rossi brings in money.
Hayden is a winner and is the most consistent man on the grid.
Hayden brings in the american market, and that is where ducati needs to be.

In my opinion, Ducati cannot afford to lose Hayden. he's a points magnet, he's loved by fans, and he's the posterboy of a market they need.

That ducati can be a winner.
the CF ducati could've been a winner. from what I've read, the engine layout was actually the biggest issue, since th eengine was so goddamned big.
my hope is that Audi practically fires the ducati staff and puts people in who are willing to win by any means.
if that means the CF design again, then do it.
if it means a different engine, do it.
 
#38 ·
the CF ducati could've been a winner. from what I've read, the engine layout was actually the biggest issue, since th eengine was so goddamned big.
my hope is that Audi practically fires the ducati staff and puts people in who are willing to win by any means.
if that means the CF design again, then do it.
if it means a different engine, do it.
I am not so sure about the CF design. After riding the 1199, Checa seems to be looking for another team.

Biaggi & Checa market leaders
 
#52 ·
Rossi said early this season that the aluminum frame felt almost identical to the CF frame. It was just a red herring. They assumed that because the CF "frame" was new, that IT was the problem.

The issue was that it could not be modified easily. Aluminum can be welded onto, cut apart, modified... CF cannot. So they never could change the frame.

Everyone assumed it was the frame.

They went to aluminum. The geometry was better. But they discovered that the motor is the root of the problem. Aluminum is working out well for them because they have a lot more options on how to configure everything....

But if they get the motor sorted and the geometry set, they SHOULD explore the CF frameless design again. It's just too time consuming and costly to fuck with in the middle of a season when you have no idea what geometry to run.
 
#55 ·
But if they get the motor sorted and the geometry set, they SHOULD explore the CF frameless design again. It's just too time consuming and costly to fuck with in the middle of a season when you have no idea what geometry to run.
the R&D issues can be solved by audi. they didnt' buy ducati to watch the motoGP program flounder, I'm sure.
like I said, Audi likes winning. I'm amazed we haven't seen an F1 program form them yet, although they, like porsche, say it's because F1 isn't real world connected enough.
but I digress

audi likes winning and they like money. both of those things are possible form Ducati, especially if they keep rossi and hayden and get them both on fully supported bikes.

I know I'm placing a ton of stock on a company that has nothing to do with bikes, really.but like I said, they didn't buy ducati to watch the GP program fail
 
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