Moto GP 2016

Has Tom Sykes been fettling Loris` bike?

[/quote]Is there a WSB thread?

I don’t know actually, haven’t seen one- shall I start one?

Just booking up for a trip to the Dutch TT. Taking Thursday to Monday and making a tour of it. Cannae wait!

Is there a WSB thread?

wsbk 2016

Maverick went well at PI test.

I’m hoping to see HRC’s wunderkind getting hoofed in the slats at some point this season. I really don’t mind who carries out the deed. 😆

New areoydynamic device[/url]

????? what to think!

They’re back!
Don’t care what all the naysayers say, I can’t wait to watch the season again. Although those fins on the yamaha look ridiculous!

Rossi and Lorenzo have already drawn the handbags in practice, I notice Marquez has been pretty quiet….
Anyway- look at maverick go in qualifying!

MotoGP highlights for the race are on ITV4 Monday at 20:00, repeated Tuesday at 17:40 if you missed it.

I hope Pedrosa wins it this year as I think this will be his last as a factory rider although I can’t see past Lorenzo winning it.

Would also like to see Stoner come back and win a couple of races on the Ducati silence the ‘EGO’. His attitude over the past couple of years has me supporting anyone but him.

Top 7 within 1/2 a second. Ducatis over 10mph faster down the straights. Jlo checking out at the front might not be an option this year. It could really mix things up.

Injury and incident may well decide the championship.

10 quid says that someone gets decapitated by a winglet this year.

It’s going to come down to who can make the Michelins work best for them IMO.

Lorenzo is a super-smooth rider but the Michelin doesn’t have the extreme edge-grip of the Bridgestone so I don’t know if he’ll be able to ride at his usual level over race distance. Rossi was always pretty good on worn tyres. The Ducati is a rocket ship which reminds me of the 2007 season but the new bike turns better so who knows what they can do…

I’m enjoying the Rossi vs. Lorenzo handbags. I thought he’d be making like difficult for Marc but Jorge seems to be the focus of his attention. I suppose the whole thumbs-down at Sepang, crying to race direction and the court case didn’t help. 😆

Marc to get beaten by a Suzuki to second, Lorenzo will dump it and Rossi will come first. Ducati in fourth.

Looking forward to the race. And Smith off to KTM next year. Takes pressure off him this year although chances of him getting any bike updates this year will be zero (not that there are usually many for him!)

Smith to ride the Ktm next year

Moto2 race ruined by jump starts.

Lucky escape for Redding.

Yes deffo lucky escape. Without any spoilers I recon the teams will have to rethink their strategies if the suppliers bottle it.

Argentina Qualifying:

Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 315.3 1’39.411
2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 317.4 1’39.786 0.375 / 0.375
3 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 317.5 1’39.944 0.533 / 0.158
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 317.0 1’40.011 0.600 / 0.067
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 323.4 1’40.198 0.787 / 0.187
6 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 325.1 1’40.272 0.861 / 0.074
7 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 317.6 1’40.375 0.964 / 0.103
8 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 317.2 1’40.524 1.113 / 0.149
9 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 313.6 1’40.528 1.117 / 0.004
10 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 316.1 1’40.654 1.243 / 0.126
11 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 313.3 1’40.708 1.297 / 0.054
12 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 315.3 1’40.893 1.482 / 0.185

Usual suspects – looks like Rossi is still on his game. 🙂

Ducatis didn’t qualify that well.

New tyres for tomorrow!

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/229030/1/michelin-withdraws-both-rear-tyres.html

That will shake up the field. The grid positions won’t reflect rider speed now that the tyres are different.

Might see the Ducatis do better now.

Neat save by Redding.

Jorge won’t like this at all. He had the bike on rails when he was on his favoured Bridgestone edge-grip specials but some spoilsport took them away.

Rossi should be able to make a good fist of this race as he is good at adapting to low grip situations. It might rain anyway so all of this goes out of the window then…

Miller might get a good placing IF he can keep it on the black stuff. Big if, granted. Same applies to Cal…

Rain 🙂

Redding may do better than usual

I hope the race is completely wet otherwise things could get a bit complicated!

“The warm-up starting at 10:40 will now be for 30 minutes, finishing at 11:10. This will apply whether the track is dry or wet.

“If the track is dry for the warm-up riders should use the replacement rear tyre (Option Tyre).

“If the track is wet for the warm-up then the plan to provide extra practice sessions with the Option tyre is cancelled and the race will be held using the tyres from the original allocation.

RACE

“If the race starts in dry conditions if the warm-up has been dry then riders must start with the Option tyre and the race will be for the full 25 laps. The normal flag to flag conditions will apply if the track becomes wet.

“If the race starts in dry conditions when the warm-up has been wet then riders may use either of the rear slick tyres (Medium & Hard of their allocation for Argentina). However, the race will be “flag to flag” for 20 laps with a compulsory stop to change machines at the end of lap 9, 10 or 11.

“If the race starts in the wet and the track dries then Race Direction will decide if it is unsafe for the riders to continue in which case the race will be red flagged. The new “dry” race will then be restarted for ten laps with a 15 minute start procedure. Should the track become wet during this race the riders may change machines as normal.

“If the race starts in wet conditions and remains wet then the race will be for the normal 25 laps.

“Under no conditions will the use of intermediate tyres be permitted.

“Race Direction”
Read more at http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/229066/1/argentina-motogp-the-race-options.html#1e3yjtM1v3ey8BRC.99

Some cracking racing tonight. Plenty of thrills and spills.

Iannone is in the doghouse again. Poor Dovi. 😈

Rossi was fast on bike 1, such a shame he couldn’t make the 2nd bike work for him…

Chest_Rockwell – Member
Rossi was fast on bike 1, such a shame he couldn’t make the 2nd bike work for him…

Probably the same result though.

If Redding’s engine hadn’t failed, my prediction would have been true – he would have been on the podium. I’d love to see what he could have done with a 500 2stroke – he’s born after his time. 🙂

Nice to see Pedrosa on the podium because bad luck at the start ruined his run.

I had just finished telling my wife the Ducati guys reminded me of the Doohan/Criville last lap debacle many years ago, and almost on cue down they went. Poor Dovi.

The big surprise was seeing Lorenzo go down with clear space all around him.

The big surprise was seeing Lorenzo go down with clear space all around him.

I’m not surprised at all, riding in mixed conditions is his only real weakness. He can be millimetre perfect on a dry track and he’s OK on a fully wet track but he doesn’t like trying to adapt to a situation where there are different levels of grip available.

I did enjoy Cal saying he ‘could’ have podiumed (sic) again were it not for his two falls. Okey dokey… 😆

… and nice to see the Suzuki running up at the front. Could have been a podium if he hadn’t binned it.

Chest_Rockwell – Member
..I did enjoy Cal saying he ‘could’ have podiumed (sic) again were it not for his two falls. Okey dokey…

I always think of Joe Craig’s utterance of “They only count the winners at the finish line” ie first you have to stay on your bike.

… and nice to see the Suzuki running up at the front. Could have been a podium if he hadn’t binned it.

It’s a shame for Maverick but lots of much more experienced riders had problems with those mixed conditions so it’s hard to be too critical of the lad.

I can see young Maverick getting Jorge’s bike if he really does go to Ducati. Him and Rossi seem quite pally all of a sudden and his current boss at Suzuki is a close friend of Rossi. Smith is off to KTM and Pol will be lucky to keep his ride at Tech3, the way things are going.

Stranger things have happened…

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, story of a lot of racers careers.

Lorenzo to Ducati[/url]

If Iannone gets shot for his antics, maybe Lorenzo could be on it sooner?! 😀

I have given up trying to watch this on BT Sport – first two rounds of the season, and the picture is all broken up, or it fails to record. Pish. Then you call BT Sport and they blame t’internet provider, who is (all together now) BT !!!

And sorry for bragging but guess who is working at the LeMans round ? Me !! Me !! Not you, Me !!!

So much fun will be had.

ITV4 is showing the repeat (Mondays I think)

Future MotoGP star with impeccable bloodline

Casey Stoner’s daughter[/url]

Well, what a race. The first half anyway.

Dovi must be p****d off. Second consecutive race he’s been taken out whilst in second place.

Lorenzo just announced as riding for Ducati next year on the BBC website.

If he can win on the duke I would be very impressed, I don’t think this works out. Vinales or Rins on the Yamaha for me.