[Closed] Moto GP 2012

Jorge fastes today, it is going to be a fantastic season. Write Rossi off at your peril. Crutchlow flying and the second division is going to be tight as well. Cant wait 😀

HUGE JMB fan saw him on telly than by chance at a sx than even more by chance when my bike chain broke in southern france.. and guess who came out to fix it..

JMB one of the greatest, first Euro to go to the States and stuff them at their own game (Could be wrong)

First qualifying of 2012 about to get underway 😀 beer at the ready, kids banished to their room- Cal Crutchlow is on a flier, Stoner will probably end up on pole, Rossi is still slower than Nicki Hayden.

Place your bets...........

But anyway, Moto 3 goes first....... ➡

I'm guessing the dumbass swimmer in the boat race is the cause of football still hogging the red button?

Eurosport? I had wall to wall GP practice from 3pm onwards yesterday - can't check today so far; working 😕 But I know what I'm doing this evening :D. Cal's second yesterday was awesome - first with 2.45 to go; briliant!! Go Cal!!!!

Got it online but it is advertised as being on the red button from 15:55.

I'm guessing the dumbass swimmer in the boat race is the cause of football still hogging the red button?

Football rules the lives of those who have no life 😀

Great qualifying- spent a while yelling at the telly (Cal Crutchlow getting 3rd- shame he stayed in the pits for the final 2 minutes).
And Ben Spies falling off the side of the bike and grabbing the throttle with his left hand thinking "I can save it"- brilliant 😆

Its gonna be Lorenzo V Stoner, i reckon Cal will be spraying the fizzy stuff tommorrow.....

Crutchlow on the front row - very impressive!

Good for Lorenzo getting pole in front of the whinging glum faced Aussie gimp. Cal fantastic effort I think it will be Honda Yam Yam on the podium. Rossi last of the grown up bikes 😕 hope he can get his head around that Ducati.

Edwards to vanish in the Div B race 😀

hope he can get his head around that Ducati.

They basically need to design a Yamaha- face it, only Stoner was any good on a Duke. Nicky Hayden is showing his real talent though, he's doing quite well riding the wheels off the thing 😀
Rossi might well be better off doing battle with Biaggi, Checa and co in WSB. Id love to see that ❗

Apparently they have done the chassis but now the engine configuration is wrong for the chassis, as you said Hayden seems to be going well on it. Bit premature to go to the diesels 😉

diesels

😆

Awesome awesome awesome 😆

That was a fantastic day's racing - all three classes. A clean sweep for the Spaniards 😯
And a result for Cal that bodes well for the rest of the season. 😀

Yep, my wife's not too impressed though as I haven't moved off the sofa all day. Track champs, then Paris Roubaix and then the GP.

Gutted for Luthi; not that I'm a fan I just think that MMs move was out of order and dangerous. He had absolutely nowhere to go. I thing MM needs to be reined in a little before he takes someones' wheel off (ignoring what he did to Willairot).

Some amazing talent coming in to Moto 2 this year, but I just can't get used to the noise of the Moto3 bikes. I miss the 2 strokes 🙁

Great battle with Cal and Dovi, just gutted for Ellison and Rea that they have such relative sheds underneath them.

What next for Vale ? 😥

From last night....

"I had big problems at the beginning of the race: when we are on new tyres I struggle under braking," he told Italian broadcaster Mediaset. "On top of that, I lost four or five seconds after coming together with Barbera. I then managed to improve a bit and on the last lap I even managed to set my quickest lap on worn tyres. But it's useless, we struggle to be competitive.

"I can't ride this bike, I can't make the difference, I can't even keep up with Hayden's pace, who I used to go quick against in comparison. In theory, with new tyres I should go quicker. Nicky managed to do a good race with the other works Ducati, but he still ended up only sixth."

Rossi fears that 2012 could end up being even harder than last year, when he took just one podium finish.

"In Jerez testing it went better, sixth with the quicker tyres," he said. "But that's our pace, it's not an attractive objective to be fighting for sixth place. We are used to better objectives.

"Probably we are going worse than last year because we managed to be seventh back then... What can I say? I want to be frank. I can't ride this bike well, even in comparison with my fellow Ducati riders.

"This Ducati has problems: I gave indications over where to intervene, but we didn't solve our problems. Unfortunately I'm no engineer and can't do anything about it. At least the positive aspect is that I don't crash with this chassis. That's something at least."

The Italian added that he was finding it hard to be optimistic as Ducati had failed to progress from a disappointing start in 2011.

"We ran out of hope last year. More than hope we need a better bike," Rossi said. "But I wouldn't want to expose myself like I did last year, by thinking and hoping that the second chassis development would be an improvement.

"I tried to be a professional. When Barbera pushed me out I even considered returning to the pits, but then I stayed out in order to give our technicians some data to study so as to improve things."

I'm hoping it's not but I fear this could be the end of Vale, too early to tell this season but any more results like that and the Italian media will be baying for his blood, especially with Nicky finishing several places in front of him.

Not a good sign that Vale got upset about his tussle with Hector, after all he practically made rubbing Sete and Max a monthly event.

Well done Cal and Dovi and a masterclass of patience from Lorenzo.

Is Rossi just too old? Is the Ducati THAT shite ?....Not a thrilling race,but not quite the snore-fest that we generally slept through last season.
On a brighter note,well done to Cal. A fine effort!

So how/when/why did Lorenzo get past Stoner ? I have to confess I was resting my eyes, then all of a sudden it's the final lap and Stoner is in third. Is a worth the rewind ?

Really good to see Cal Crutchlow doing so well yay somebody to cheer for !

Stoner claims he got arm pump according to crash.net, it's on page 4, paragraph 7 of the big book of excuses........... 😆

Is Casey Moaner back then ? He was claiming "chatter" yesterday and blaming the mechanics, 27b in the Getting Excuses in First Book.

Casey went out hard and paid the price by cooking his tyres.

Chatter and arm pump... did he mention that one of the decals wasn't on straight and they had to use a blue nut on the rear axle instead of the usual red one...

Class ride by Cal, can't wait to see him on the European circuits that he knows well 😀

Been watching since the 500cc days when doohan was the man
But doent think he could have won since not with all the different formats 990,800 and now back too 1000

Rossi has done well in that respect.
Rossi was the master of the mind games
But with ducati im not so sure never heard him slag the bike as much..

Too be honest thought he would have retired after simoncellis crash
But regardless this seasons going too be interesting
Goc crutchlow

What next for Vale ?

Ducati need to design a Yamaha.........
Maybe they should scrap the current GP bike and design a new one starting with Carlos Checa's WSB. Mind you, it didn't look that bad with Nicky riding it 😕
The incident with Marco Simoncelli must have messed with his mind a bit, he dosent look himself on track. He looks like he's given up, and that's not the Rossi we know 🙁

Stoner claims he got arm pump according to crash.net, it's on page 4, paragraph 7 of the big book of excuses...........

😆

Great race from Cal- a British winner this year???

Loved Moto 3- that new Italian kid is awesome and i was well impressed with Maverick last year. Let battle commence!

Interesting insight into the Rossi situation from Kenny Roberts Jnr. on :[url= http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Apr/120413-1046.htm ]superbikeplanet[/url]

He compares the current Ducati situation with his own position at Suzuki in 2001 when the bike wasn't competitive so you could ride at 100% and come 10th or 110% and come 5th - if you didn't crash.

Kenny chose option 1 whereas his young teammate, John Hopkins, chose option 2.

[i]"I can remember telling John Hopkins, 'Dude you're gonna hurt yourself pushing past the limit that much.' John would push past the limit of the bike for a lap or two to try and get a good time, but a lot of times when he did that he didn't come back to the garage. He was in an ambulance. And sometimes when he did eventually come back, he'd have broken bones and have crashed so hard that his teeth were chipped or loose from the impact. I saw that and said to myself, 'Look, I want to play sports when I'm done here. I want everything on my body to work. I want to be able to play with my kids when I am older. If Suzuki could get me a bike that was capable of winning races, then I'd worry about beating John. Until then ..."[/i]

Wow Alex Rins is a bit special it seems, 16yrs old 2nd GP and takes pole at his home race.

Looking forward to tomorrows race in all classes.

Alex Rins

Sure is!

Gonna be shouting at the telly for Cal again 😀

What about this kid Romano Fenati?
What a rider......

[img] [/img]

Fenati is very impressive...

Redding is a joy to watch, still not sure he's a championship winner unless he can get more out of his rubber.. but he's certainly FUN.

Cal looking good again

Two fourth places for the Brits 😀
Cal can get on the podium next week i reckon, Scott needs to peg it back a bit at the start of the race and then go balls out 😆
He'll have Marquez before long.

Save of the day has to be Mika Kallio, sideways through the gravel, giving it some throttle and he stayed on 😆 -geezer!

Kallio's almost crash was superb... exceptional control

Crutchlow is bloody great. I loved him when in the R6 cup and i was sponsoring one of his main rivals and we were using my Sprinter to get his caravan to the meetings.. i saw a fair bit of BSB that year 🙂
Cal is/was very very down to earth and a cracking lad... Also as seen... has balls made of titanium 🙂 he's GOT to be looking for the factory Yamaha next year surely !!!!

he's GOT to be looking for the factory Yamaha next year surely !!!!

I reckon Ben Spies might just get the boot you know 😉 , word has it that Mr Yamaha is disappointed with Peas/Pies in Moto GP thus far...

Fenati amazing performance 😯 over 30 seconds!!!!

Dovi and Spies to swap unless Spies gets his act together.

Shame that scumbag won 😥

I lurve Mika Kalio a national hero in Finland much more than Raikonen.

What was up with Edwards been off the pace all weekend.

Pigface - Member

Shame that scumbag won

Do you mean Stoner? He rode a perfect race - hats off to him.

Whilst kallio's Ice racing flashback was pretty impressive, the save of the day was in Moto3

Full on Mamola style run with the bike through the gravel only to then bin it immediately as the rear hit the paint on the kerb. He was in second or third at the time IIRC. Danny Webb was doing amazingly well until the Mahindra packed up close to the finish. That would have been a solid points performance for them and it won't come quite so easy on a dry track.

Crutchlow did amazingly well but I was convinced he was going to either bin it or drop someone on the first two laps. Spies in in a low place at the moment. HE's a great rider so I can't see Yam ditching him just yet; though if Cal and Dovi carry on ahead of him you never know.

Gutted for Ellison, he was doing OK 'till the retirement. It would be great to see him get a point and De Puniet who was doing a great job 'till he ran out of fuel.

Whilst kallio's Ice racing flashback was pretty impressive, the save of the day was in Moto3

😆 I did chuckle at that one- i was applauding the lad right up until he dumped it. Good effort though 😆

Spies in in a low place at the moment

It is one of this years mysteries, i was convinced he would be right there at the front dicing with the other aliens when he went to the factory squad. He's one hell of a rider, maybe he's binned it one too many times (a bit like James Toseland- scared the hell out of himself).

He rode a perfect race - hats off to him.

Never underestimate Stoner, coming from 5th on the grid is pretty impressive. I can see another Doohan esque period of domination coming up.......

Cals Mrs is quite easy on the eye too!

Brilliant by Crutchlow top Yamaha. Rossi outqualifys Nicki. Colin Edwards wins the hard as nails award.

Colin Edwards wins the hard as nails award

Any news on the Texas Tornado? Looked like he hit the deck pretty hard, right on his collarbone by the look of it...

cal on the podium tomorrow? hope so.

Edwards is racing tomorrow.

+1 for Cal spraying some champers.

4th consistently, he's got to go one better hasn't he? I reckon he'll do it tomorrow 😉

Top marks too Cal, a new "alien" in the making?

Colin Edwards has a broken collarbone - if he races tomorrow, I'll eat my shorts 😆 (get well soon Colin)

Awesome awesome performance from Cal again - top Yam is so impressive! You only need to look at the company he's with to judge how far he's come this year. And ditto Scott Redding; front row and a real contender - about time us Brits had something to cheer about.
Got a dilemma now though;- go riding tomorrow? Or weld my arse to the sofa and watch a full day of Moto GP, WSB and BSB? 😆
(got a sneaky feeling the TVs going to win this weekend, i can ride on monday instead!)

Hat's off to Cal. Hat's off to Stoner too, slow mo on turn 13 (I think) was pretty special.
Healing vibes to Mr Edwards, apparently the tarmac will have recovered sufficiently for racing. 😀

Bugger good call Reluctant I was looking at his quali time he must of set before RdP skittled him. Your shorts are safe 😆

Colins not out to play today...

"After the crash Colin Edwards was taken to the Circuits clinic and was taken care of by Dr. Sarmiento and his team. He was under observation after the accident and was released to leave the clinic later that night.

Unfortunately the American rider will have to fly to Barcelona today in order to have surgery on his left collarbone. The surgery will most likely be performed by Dr. Javier Mir on Monday"

Unlucky fella, get well soon.

Good luck to Cal the podium beckons

I'd love see Cal make the podium and he definitely has what it takes to do it. The thing is the 3 "Aliens" will take some knocking off the 3 top spots and there's still Spies who hasn't quite found last years form. But if Casey starts building a lead up in the Championship I can see a few more "factory" parts making there way into the Tech3 camp and who knows then. So come on Cal and also for Bradley and Scott in Moto2.

Moto 2 last lap, dear God 😯

+1 for Cal spraying some champers.

4th consistently, he's got to go one better hasn't he? I reckon he'll do it tomorrow

Doh! That'll teach me to make predictions 😆 still a bloody good job from Cal though. Next time out maybe?

How about Stoner? Sideways everywhere, i dont care how much of a knob he is off the track- he's in another league on it 8)

And Rossi 7th- he's getting there...... (so's Christmas 😆 )

Moto 2 last lap, dear God

That was great!

And so was Maverick Vinhales getting upset with 2nd 😆

That was quite some last lap,I doubt we will see anything like that in Motgp till Rossi gets back up the front and makes it exciting again.

Luckiest rider this weekend was Josh Wainright who came off and had his head run over by the rider behind him in the Superstock 600 race at BSB today.Looked very bad, was thinking of Marco but remarkably no injuries reported. 😯

[url=

600 crash[/url]

Ohhhh that smarts 😯
The worrying thing for everyone else is Stoners bike looked to have horrific chatter on entry and he still won (did'nt stop him WHINING as usual).If they can dial that out it's curtains for the championship.

Lucky boy vicious high side then gets collected.

I dont think Lorenzo is far behind, Stoner had to find something to bleat about, aaarrrggghhhh I cant stand him

I'm glad it's not just my piss that he boils.I suspect that running over the white lines on the apex of every helps the handling much.I'd rather Dani won than George though.

i dont get the Stoner bashing bit. He got the reputation for being a 'moaner' due to commenting on the handling of the Ducati and their attitude of 'we build it, you ride it' . Rossi, Burgess et al dismissed this and contributed to the stoner the moaner. Remember this was the pair that claimed 'give us 15 mins and we'll get it sorted'.

Rossi was the best in his day- Stoner is the next generation. Maybe it's because he's quite modest in his celebrations, rather than the WWF-esque stuff of Lorenzo/Rossi, that he's still considered a moaner?

Great riders can't go on forever and I think Valentino's time has passed and I know he's till extremely talented and will go down as one of the very best, if not the best. I think there's a new generation now and Jorge, Casey and Dani are that generation and it would have included Marco if it wasn't for the tragic loss of his life. Casey doesn't get the recognition he deserves from the media, especially the UK press but I think he's just brilliant. The way he can put a fast lap in when qualifying is just unreal, he goes out, does a lap and then leaves the rest to try match him. He showed how he could ride the Ducati and he mastered what was a very difficult bike to ride - that's his talent. Some of the slow-mo's from Casey's riding are just amazing and anyone who's seen the Red Bull footage is surely in awe about it. Come on Casey I say!

In the dark of night when the wind is howling little Casey is curled up in his bed, in his head all he can hear is the whispering voice of a higher being. It says " you know the Italian is better than you dont you Casey"

😆
I'll add "and you're not even the best Australian ever either"

You have to agree he is a very talented rider and very good at setting fast laps on his own but he seems very uncomfortable when anyone is near him be it slipstreaming him in qualifing or getting close up when racing,not that that has happened recently.
The fun off bike character of Rossi/Marco/Jorge/Colin/Nicky/JT/Loris is part of what made motogp better than the squeeky clean dullard drivers in F1. He just needs to lighten up a bit in his personality and maybe people would support him more.
Maybe he needs to do a humerous team video...

Rorschach that is a very interesting point, would you say Wayne or Mick or even go wider Gobert is/was one of the most talented riders ever just a total loon, how good could Bayliss of been in Motogp if he had been given a ride or wanted to do it. All four I have mentioned were great characters and fabulous racers, Stoner isn't either.

I don't get the Stoner knocking either. It usually seems to be from obsessive blinkered Rossi fans.

Stoner is not alone in being totally focussed. Many of the 'great' riders have been pretty humourless when it's come to their racing - Doohan, Roberts.

Rossi has been an exception in the modern era as being fun and still winning. Most of the riders who are considered characters have never been in contention for the championship.

Thanks for the you tube vid Muke! Very good - i love Jorge being the janitor LOL! 😆

Superb video there Muke.

It usually seems to be from obsessive blinkered Rossi fans.

That'll be me, but he is great.

Yamaha did a 50th anniversary one as well

Luckiest rider this weekend was Josh Wainright who came off and had his head run over by the rider behind him in the Superstock 600 race at BSB today

Yow! That was a lucky escape 😯
John Kirkham going into the airfence over Clay Hill in the superbike race was pretty harsh aswell.....

My contempt for Stoner is nothing to do with being a Rossi fan boi 🙂

He is a flat out cry baby who seems to get no real pleasure from racing. The likes of Melandri, Rossi, Hayden, Edwards seem to genuinley love bikes of all shapes and kinds and mess about on them in there spare time.

I cant imagine Stoner going to the IOM for instance (knowing my luck he has been) or entering a local trial.

Oh and he is a big boring arse 🙂

My contempt for Stoner is nothing to do with being a Rossi fan boi

He is a flat out cry baby who seems to get no real pleasure from racing. The likes of Melandri, Rossi, Hayden, Edwards seem to genuinley love bikes of all shapes and kinds and mess about on them in there spare time.

I cant imagine Stoner going to the IOM for instance (knowing my luck he has been) or entering a local trial.

Oh and he is a big boring arse

Did you know he started racing at a low level in BEMSEE in UK racing at Brands, Snett etc...

Back in those days he was apparently a far more jovial lad... However when you're on a £10,000,000 contract from Honda, you do have to be a little bit serious about his job.

Yes and Chas Davies used to own him.

They are all serious about their job he isnt serious he is dull dull dull.

John Kirkham going into the airfence over Clay Hill in the superbike race was pretty harsh aswell.....

That was one of the scariest crashes I've seen (though I've not watched the Wainwright one). I was sure he wasn't going to get up from it and thought he'd just go under the fence following the bike in. The fact he was being interviewed later the same day about it is mind blowing. One very lucky fella.

I thought Melandri was going to be in a bad way after his massive highside and getting his foot stuck under the bike at Imola as well.

Pigface - Member

Yes and Chas Davies used to own him.

Where did you hear that? Misinformed I'm afraid.

Take the 2001, Casey came 2nd overall in the British 125cc Championships.
He was only 3 points behind Leon Camier despite completing only 7 of the 13 rounds as he was also competing in the Spanish 125cc Championship in which he also came 2nd overall plus he did a couple of GP wildcard races (including a 12th in Aus)!

Casey won every British 125cc race he turned up for that year and Chaz came 8th overall (Chaz was also competing in the Spanish Championship).

This was Casey's 2nd season of road racing and he was 2nd in 2 National Championships having not completed all the rounds of either.

In his first year of road racing in 2000, he won the Aprilia Superteen Challenge with Chaz the runner up.

slight hijack - has this been done?

http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-racing-news-moto-gp/rumour-rossi-to-retire-at-end-of-2012/20594.html

Poetic license or the Edinburgh defence, up to you 😆

I am not sure Camier did every round that year, the package boring Casey was on was pretty good. If Chaz hadnt grown so much then I relly believe he would be there or there abouts.

Not doubting Stoner is very good on a bike he is just not that good 8)

Its all personal opinion anyway 😀

Correct Ninja... i recall seeing Stoner win by MILES on the little bikes the only time i saw him at BEMSEE, i was generally at New Era spannering for a mate that year.

Not doubting Stoner is very good on a bike he is just not that good

Nah, seriously, did you just write that ?

The bloke who's a double world champion on 2 bikes and is now the preferred rider for the biggest team in motorbikes on the planet ?

Honestly... you wrote that ?

[url= http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/08052012/58/rossi-m-retiring.html ]Rossi denies retirement rumours[/url]

Edit : Forgot to mention Paul Bird thinking of replacing James Ellison with Shakey Byrne for Le Mans GP

My mate raced against stoner at three sisters track near wigan.