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Who will take the Rider's Championship this year? This poll is closed. |
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| Valentino Rossi |
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21 | 38.18% |
| Jorge Lorenzo |
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10 | 18.18% |
| Dani Pedrosa |
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14 | 25.45% |
| Marc Marquez |
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2 | 3.64% |
| Colin Edwards |
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8 | 14.55% |
| Total: | 55 votes | ||
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This is going to be a mix of the old thread with my own bad opinions thrown in here and there. Silver had a nice base of info so I'm going to try to keep as much as possible. I've also kind of half-assed it cause I got tired of doing it after about an hour, so I haven't do anything about WSBK. Maybe someone else could summarize? I'll take any additions. I just wanted to get a thread going. Well here we are, now that football is done we're getting back into the racing season, I'm pumped and hoping for a GREAT year of racing with minimal injuries and no deaths. This thread will be for the discussion of MotoGP, WSBK, BSB, and AMA racing. There will be SPOILERS in this thread. So if the race has been run and you haven't watched it yet, DON'T CLICK ON THIS loving THREAD because we won't be using spoiler tags after the race. So fair warning, we won't be using spoiler tags and if you haven't seen the race yet and click on this thread and then find out who won, don't bitch because you were warned. MotoGP calendar as of 1/16/13 Shamelessly stolen from http://motomatters.com/page/2012/09...p_calendar.html so that I don't have to format anything in this post.  David Emmett and Motomatters.com are seriously the best resource for reading about bike racing. He provides great analysis instead of just regurgitated PR reports. If you don't read http://motomatters.com you should be reading http://motomatters.com seriously read http://motomatters.com There's some big changes in rider lineups for MotoGP this year. Stoner has retired, of course, and the young Marc Marquez has moved up to replace him. Rossi's kicked the Ducati to the curb and returned to Yamaha in hopes of winning some races again. Pedrosa and Lorenzo are staying in the same spots, as are Bautista and Bradl. Ducati has had a bit of a wake up call, the combination of being ditched by the Doctor and bought by Audi have woken them up and they seem to be throwing a bit more work into the bikes. Dovizioso was signed by the Factory team to partner Nicky Hayden, and they've upped their game by turning their customer Pramac Ducati team into a junior team with Factory kit, with Ben Spies and Moto2 graduate Andrea Iannone riding. The Big Players: Factory Yamaha Team  Valentino Rossi Needs no description. Multi-world champion who left Yamaha in 2011 to move to Ducati. Success at Ducati did not come as they expected, and he only managed a few podiums. Ducaudi couldn't convince him to stay on this year, so he'd back with a 2 year Yamaha contract. I think it's great. I'm not sure he's has another championship in him, as the competition is tough, but I'm sure we'll see a few race wins from him this year.  Jorge Lorenzo Lorenzo is the reigning World Champion and a 2 time champ now, the first Spaniard to do so if I remember correctly. Yamaha choosing him over Rossi was a big reason Rossi left originally, so this year should be good. In the two years Rossi has been gone, Lorenzo has only gotten better. His form last year was fantastic and his championship run was impressive. He never finished a race below 2nd place, and only managed to crash out of 2 races (only 1 being his fault imo). He's on form and is a contender for the Championship again this year. Tech 3 Yamaha   Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith. An all Brit Tech 3 team this year. I don't have much to say about them cause I don't expect too much from them this year. Crutchlow has been improving and saw the podium a few times last year, but with the competition this year and the bikes they are riding, he'll really have to kick it up a notch to maintain his current form. I'd like to see it tho, he's a good rider and the most animated rider off the bike since Edwards. Bradley Smith....well not much to say. He got this ride as part of a contract he signed a few years back, where he'd ride Tech3's Moto2 bike for a few years, then would get a go on the big bike. He did alright in moto2 considering that his bike had very little development compared to others, but he didn't really set the world afire. Frankly I'm not expecting much from him in motoGP but I like eating my words. Repsol Honda  Dani Pedrosa Dani had a slow but steady start to last season, often times losing out to Stoner and Lorenzo. With Stoner's injury, Pedrosa got a kick in the rear end and seemed to realize he had a shot at the championship. He put in a hard fight and won most of the races the 2nd half of the year, but still just missed out to Lorenzo. I think he'll be a contender from the get-go this year, as it'll be one of his best chances for a championship. For him, he'll hope that Ducati stays slow, Lorenzo and Rossi beat each other up, and Marquez takes some take to get adjusted, leaving him in a great place to win his first Championship.  Marc Marquez Reigning Moto2 champion and newcomer Marquez probably has the biggest hype surrounding him, and rightly so. He's got a race talent and speed that hasn't been matched quite yet, although others have taken the fight to him. He's also a bit reckless and has done some bonehead moves, crashing into people in stupid situations. Still, I think people will remember him more for racing from the back of the grid to get on the podium multiple times in the lower classes. Portugal 2010 in the 125 class is a good race to look up. Australia 2011 is another, as is Valencia last year. His dumbass moves and recklessness piss me off but you can't argue with his results, he'll be winning races for sure. Satellite Hondas  Stefan Bradl  Alvaro Bautista They're on different teams but I'm just lumping them together cause I don't have much to say. They were solid in the midfield last year with a few chances at podiums and I'm sure this year will be similar Factory and Junior Ducati  This is where some excitement (or more likely, disappointment) could come in. Andrea Dovizioso joins Nicky Hayden on the factory team to try to sort out the bike that Rossi couldn't ride....eek. Luckily they have some help from  Andrea Iannone and Ben Spies, who'll be riding for their “junior” team but on the same equipment. While Ducati doesn't have any of the superstar riders, they do have a good lineup. Spies was the only non-alien rider to win a dry race in the 800 era of motoGP. Hayden has never looked dominant but can move up in the races, and won the world championship in 2006. Dovizioso has never looked to be a championship contender in GP but he's consistently at the top and a fast rider. Iannone is making the step up from moto2, where he tended to either win a race by 25 seconds, or finish in 27th place. I hope he can really show up on the tracks that suit him. Other than that, there's the CRT bikes and sorry for them but I don't really care to write anything. They just fill out the grid. Except Colin Edwards  He gets a mention cause he's awesome. Here's some examples: Frank talk on stage at silverstone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdqTMPwjqR8 Getting pissed at the race organizers for not throwing oil flags http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_08p-414uGY Talking poo poo about his bike and settling rumors http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK9Yy8HCdyg Saving a huge slide then gesturing at the crowd “did you see that?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37sl4YI-aYE the last time he passed lorenzo... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLM0YX5okdA Moto2 and Moto3 If you aren't watching these races, you should be. MotoGP is about seeing the best riders on the best bikes. Moto2 and 3 is about seeing who has the bigger balls, and the racing the last few years has been awesome. 2011 was a great year for moto2 and 2012 was even better. Pol Espargaro gave Marquez a run for his money in the Championship, but Marquez had it sewn up pretty early so long as he kept his head on. Espargaro will be a favorite for next year for sure. Also near the top should be Simoni Corsi, Alex DeAngelis, Tom Luthi, Esteve Rabat, Scott Redding, Julian Simon, Mika Kallio....there's a ton. We won't really know until the season starts. Also, Johann Zarco and Nico Terol will be in their 2nd year since moving up, so they should be up near the front as well. Zarco already was a bit last year. Reigning Moto3 champ Sandro Cortese and moto3 graduate Danny Kent should be good to watch too. Moto3 had it's first year last year, and it was awesome. I think there may have been 1 boring race, with most of them coming down to the last few corners. On top of that, they were often 4 and 5 wide down the long straights early in the race when everyone was stuck together. Awesome. Seriously, make time to watch these if you can. Great racing and you get to see the rising stars. Holding space for WSBK, BSB, AMA, Irish Road Racing, or anything else anyone would like to contribute. I can't say much about any of them except I like watching WSBK when I can. The championship this year provided a lot of close racing and really came down to the wire at the last race. Unfortunately I don't follow WSBK like I do the motogp classes so I can't really comment much on them. Someone else write up a short bit? HEY PEOPLE HERES ALL THE WSBK RACES FROM LAST YEAR Racing Discussion and Analysis Aside from the earlier mentioned http://motomatters.com if you have a few hours a week to kill during the season, http://www.motopodcast.com/ is a must. MotoPod is a podcast that covers WSBK and MotoGP mainly, but they talk about other racing as well. They're just regular guys who love racing and it's fun to listen to them banter about the races. On top of that, they get some great interviews with riders and journos and other people around the paddock. The podcasts range from and hour and a half to over 3 hours sometimes, I love having it on while working on my bike or whatever. http://superbikeplanet.com/newind.htm/ is good news too. Any other suggestions for good racing coverage are welcome. I'm not going to list the mainstream journals because most people know them and imo they're mainly just PR machines. Now, for twitter feeds. I really got into this last year because you have a TON of racing guys on twitter. One thing again SPOILERS if you follow any of them. Normally they are tweeting live time too, so avoid twitter like it's the ebola virus until you have watched the race, then go talk a bunch of poo poo on twitter because that's a good time. Also, following twitter really shows you how little the mainstream news publications actually work. Last year I remember reading articles on autosport or crash and the only background information the author was working off of was a tweet. Cut out that middleman and follow the riders. The journos will even respond to you. I've tweeted Toby and Spaulders a few times and gotten responses. They answer questions on their broadcasts too, which is cool as hell. https://twitter.com/eugenelaverty WSBK Racer, Aprilia factory team. https://twitter.com/BenSpies11 https://twitter.com/NickyHayden69 https://twitter.com/MotoGP https://twitter.com/jonathanrea https://twitter.com/HondaWorldSBK https://twitter.com/TwitGP Kind of a humorous look at MotoGP, they're pretty fun. https://twitter.com/texastornado5 https://twitter.com/motomatters http://www.motomatters.com twitter. https://twitter.com/realleonhaslam https://twitter.com/martinheath MotoGP and WSBK photographer. https://twitter.com/hiroshiaoyama https://twitter.com/Alex__Briggs Alex is one of Rossi's mechanics. Super cool guy and normally does picture contests as well as provides great information and also is really good at replying to questions. Also if I ever get to Austrailia I'm totally buying him and his wife Ellen dinner(I've confirmed this with Ellen who is just as cool as Alex is). https://twitter.com/birtymotogp motoGP writer. https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen Not motorcycle related at all, but a foody, super hot, and super funny. https://twitter.com/TobyMoody MotoGP announcer. https://twitter.com/DennisNoyes MotoGP writer https://twitter.com/calcrutchlow https://twitter.com/Meligirl13 CHICK ON A BIKE!! AMA Daytona Superbike racer. https://twitter.com/HRC_MotoGP https://twitter.com/MarcoMelandri33 https://twitter.com/TroyBaylisstic https://twitter.com/chazdavies https://twitter.com/marcpotter MCN news guy. https://twitter.com/MotoGPJules MotoGP commenter. https://twitter.com/leoncamier https://twitter.com/superbikeplanet https://twitter.com/CarlosCheca7 https://twitter.com/NickSannen Haydens bus driver. Won't get a lot of news but does post some cool photo's on the road. https://twitter.com/ScottJonesPhoto Official MotoMatters photographer https://twitter.com/JHopper21 https://twitter.com/steveblackburn1 Cal Cruthlow's mechanic. https://twitter.com/charliehiscott TV Producer for MotoGP WSBK and BSB https://twitter.com/michaelguyMCN MCN guy. https://twitter.com/gavinemmett MotoGP commentator. https://twitter.com/Asphalt_Rubber https://twitter.com/MCNnews https://twitter.com/AndreaDovizioso https://twitter.com/ValeYellow46 Yes, it really is Rossi. https://twitter.com/OfficialHAOYAMA https://twitter.com/YamahaMotoGP nsaP fucked around with this message at Feb 21, 2013 around 23:40 |
| # ? Jan 16, 2013 23:12 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 22:58 |
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[taking this post in case we actually end up with a huge OP]
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| # ? Jan 16, 2013 23:14 |
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Hooray, the thread has finally been created! I wish I had some awesome MotoGP news to share, but this thread is where I get all my news. When are they going to get rid of the CRT bikes?
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| # ? Jan 16, 2013 23:43 |
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Ezpeleta spoke at Ducati's event and the where the CRT rules are headed came up, it's in this article http://motomatters.com/news/2013/01..._racing_in.html
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 03:04 |
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If Rossi gets a podium let alone a win I will poo poo a brick and literally wipe my rear end with a Ducati tee shirt I have.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 03:48 |
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I hope it's a soft tee.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 06:53 |
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front wing flexing posted:If Rossi gets a podium let alone a win I will poo poo a brick and literally wipe my rear end with a Ducati tee shirt I have. Quotin' dis cause are you kidding? He put that Ducati on the podium in poor conditions. I can see someone being skeptical of a win, but he's on a factory yam...I'd bet the farm on a podium this year.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 07:31 |
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nsaP posted:Quotin' dis cause are you kidding? This is truth. Rossi isn't done. He hated the Duc. I think he's got a win this year. Probably several podiums. He may be a Prima Dona, but it's because (historically) he's been a winner, and largely worth it.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 07:57 |
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An excellent article on MotoGP and WSBK from next year onwards: http://www.motomatters.com/news/201..._racing_in.html As a quick background, the private equity firm Bridgepoint which owns Dorna, the commercial rights holders for MotoGP, recently purchased InFront, who are the WSBK rights holders. Bridgepoint have kicked the long-term WSBK chiefs the Flammini Brothers to the curb and installed Dorna to run WSBK. Given that WSBK has been an all-round better watch of late and their laptimes have been edging ever closer to MotoGP's, cue much consternation from fans about how Dorna's going to wreck WSBK to save MotoGP, or they'll shut it down, or merge it in to one series or or or or  For me, the above article spells out that Ezpeleta has a solid plan for both series and neither are going anywhere.Realistically, something needs to change in Superbikes (and Supersport too probably). Bike development is out of control, and really they're very far removed from production machines. Teams can change forks, brakes, wheels, swingarms, fuel tanks and tails, and the engines these days are just as bad. They can modify cranks and heads as much as they like as long as they only remove material, fit new valves, cams, pistons, rods, ECUs etc etc. So hardly production machines. Moving back to Superstock rules wouldn't harm the racing, and would get more bikes on the grid, give local teams a chance to shine as wildcards at their home rounds, and make it easier for them to step up to the world championship if they want. Plus, cheaper machinery = more bikes on the grid, and given it's likely that there's not even going to be 20 bikes on the WSBK grid, well, poo poo. As for MotoGP, assuming he doesn't get injured Pedrosa to take home the cup, and Marquez to get at least one pole, and least three podiums including at least one win.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 10:55 |
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front wing flexing posted:If Rossi gets a podium let alone a win I will poo poo a brick and literally wipe my rear end with a Ducati tee shirt I have.  Rossi will definitely get a win this season barring something crazy like a bad injury. I think Rossi & Marquez will be the best source of entertainment in MotoGP this year, Rossi as he's got a lot to prove and Marquez because he's like a hybrid of Simoncelli and Stoner in terms of skill and willingness to take crazy risks. They introduced the new penalty points system specifically to deal with his antics It will be interesting to see how the established Motogp guys react to Marquez, I predict Lorenzo will be bitching and moaning about him by the end of the first race and i feel sorry for Dani having to share a garage with spains new golden boy. Pedrosa has come a long way, from an annoying little poo poo with an entitlement complex to a real scrapper, I hope he does well this year, he's really due a #1 sticker for that honda.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 10:59 |
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echomadman posted:They introduced the new penalty points system specifically to deal with his antics Do you have more information about the penalty points rule? I hadn't heard anything about that before now. I think I googled it, these are what you are talking about? http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/...+and+2014+rules
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 16:56 |
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I'm rooting for Rossi  That's why I said when Rossi gets a podium or win (I'm assuming he will) I will wipe my rear end with a Ducati tee shirt I have because that would mean Ducati was poo poo (in Moto GP) which we already know. I guess I could've been more clear in my original post.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 17:21 |
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Resource posted:Do you have more information about the penalty points rule? I hadn't heard anything about that before now. as nsap said in the OP motomatters is the place to go for motorbike news http://motomatters.com/analysis/201...he_marquez.html
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 18:01 |
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Resource posted:Do you have more information about the penalty points rule? I hadn't heard anything about that before now. Once again, David Emmett has you covered http://motomatters.com/analysis/201...he_marquez.html EFB echomadman posted:I think Rossi & Marquez will be the best source of entertainment in MotoGP this year, Rossi as he's got a lot to prove and Marquez because he's like a hybrid of Simoncelli and Stoner in terms of skill and willingness to take crazy risks. They introduced the new penalty points system specifically to deal with his antics Agreed. I think part of what made last year pretty boring is that the only guys who had a shot at winning a race were also in the Championship hunt. There needs to be more guys who can win a race but aren't contenders for the championship because they'll take more risks when they have a shot at a win. The whole second half of last season was just Lorenzo and Pedrosa at the front seeing who had a quicker pace, with the other one just settling for the points. Marquez and Rossi will shake that up, no doubt. front wing flexing posted:I'm rooting for Rossi The poo poo a brick part threw me off...I thought you meant you'd be surprised.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 18:18 |
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I'm rooting for Dani this year. When I first started watching MotoGP back in '08 I really did not like him, but since around the time of his season-ending Simoncelli crash I've liked him more and more - and his dominance of the latter-half of the '12 season was impressive. Just stalking Lorenzo for the first half until making a clean pass and disappearing to the finish line. According to motomatters a lot of that came about as Honda got some new parts on the bike, but to me that shows that his skill was there. I think Dani's got a good shot at a championship this year and I think the only guy he REALLY needs to worry about is Jorge. Rossi just won't be quick enough out of the box to be a championship contender, though I expect him to get a couple wins.
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 19:29 |
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I think Dani has to be the favorite this year. I believe Honda had the best bike at the end of last year and from what I've heard over the years they've been the best at dealing with engine limits and fuel limits (once they gave up spring valves in 2007). I believe the relatively late to the game rules regarding weight last year really screwed up Honda for the first half of the season. I think Marquez has a real chance of causing some big problems in MotoGP this year. Watch the race last year where he had to start at the back of the pack (Sepang?) and if that doesn't convince you he's a huge talent I don't know what will (he passed half of the field in the first two corners).
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 20:03 |
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Dorna is such a pain about taking down videos but I found this low quality one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-5koV1MrfY Also an onboard of his first lap at Motegi, where he screwed up the start by having his bike in neutral. Didn't seem to matter much. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xu...to#.UPhcDG-umWw
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| # ? Jan 17, 2013 20:18 |
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Gay Nudist Dad posted:I'm rooting for Dani this year. I think it was the Eurosport commentators who said that Dani is the best rider to have never won a championship, and I think they're right (though I've only been watching since 2006). I really hope he gets one in the next couple years while he still has his youth. I think we'll see some awesome races from Rossi this year, and definitely at least a couple wins. Going from being the best or second best rider on the grid to constantly being around 6th-8th too big of a change to blame on the rider, it had to be the Ducati to a large degree. Either way, I'm cheering for Rossi, Dani, Edwards, and Hayden this year. I would imagine Lorenzo is still going to be the most likely winner, though. Also, the motomatters twitter is the best I've seen for MotoGP news. hayden. fucked around with this message at Jan 18, 2013 around 02:33 |
| # ? Jan 18, 2013 02:31 |
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I voted Edwards in the poll because he wins, he just wins. Lorenzo's going to repeat, that bike is just too dialed in and he's perfect on it, but barring any injuries we should have a real championship race. Lots of riders should get podiums this year. I'm rooting for the Americans on the Ducs to make us look good.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2013 01:34 |
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I voted Lorenzo too even though I am hoping Pedrosa will win this year. Lorenzo is just too drat consistent, as long as no one runs him off of the road I would put my money on him to win the championship. I am always rooting for Alvaro Bautista as well even though he won't win the championship, I'd like to see him on the podium more. Marquez in this class with these riders, AND Rossi..... oh man this year is going to be SO loving GOOD.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2013 10:24 |
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nsaP: Thanks for the thread  gently caress Lorentho. I have warmed up a lot to Dani and do hope this year is his year, he's come a long way from 2006 when he took Nicky out and I like the guy now for sure. Rooting for everyone on the Ducati team but Dovi. I realllly hope Audi can kick something into gear and help them get some things sorted. Would love to see Hayden, Spies, and Iannone fighting it out up there in the mix. Dovi is a spode though. Rossi. Ooof, hopefully he doesn't get the Spies treatment from Yamaha. Really wanting to see him do well. Would have loved for them to have lined out the Ducati, and that will always be a big thorn in burgess's side for sure, but it wasn't to be. Probably with good reason. Burgess wanted to give Ducati one more year. Rossi said no. At Wvroom this year Ducati's new head engineer said they have changed basically nothing yet to the bike. It's the same thing that wasn't working for anyone last year. 2013 they said will basically be another "test" year for them. Not looking good. Will be awesome to see Rossi back at the pointy end, both for the fans and for himself. I think Ducati took a huge toll on his confidence.  CRTs. lol what. I want to see more of Colin though, he definitely needs an announcer position when he decides to retire. Marquez has a huge load on his shoulders right now too. Honda's new superstar for sure. No doubts about it, the kid can RIDE, but has made some stupid mistakes. We'll see how he lines out his rookie year and if he Jorge's and keeps shooting himself to the moon with highsides or if he shines like the start they want him to shine as. I think he'll provide a lot of entertainment at any rate. Also lol @ stoner going to V8 cars in Aussieland. Also lol @ stoner insulting the guy who is the current champion of v8 cars over twitter. He's such a charmer. Now it's just the wait.
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| # ? Jan 25, 2013 18:59 |
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WSBK Calendar. 2013 Provisional WSBK calendar 1. Phillip Island, Australia – 24 February 2. Buddh International Circuit, India - 10 March 3. Motorland Aragon, Spain - 7 April 4. Assen, Netherlands - 28 April 5. Monza, Italy - 12 May 6. Donington Park, UK - 26 May 7. Portimao, Portugal - 9 June 8. TBA, TBA - 23 June 9. Imola, Italy - 30 June 10. Moscow Raceway, Russia - 21 July 11. Silverstone, UK - 4 August 12. Nurburgring, Germany - 1 September 13. Laguna Seca, USA - 29 September WOOHOO! 14. Magny-Cours, France - 6 October 15. Jerez, Spain - 20 October Looks like no Miller and added Laguna. Nice.
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| # ? Jan 31, 2013 01:56 |
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1st day of Sepang testing done! None of them really got in many laps from what I gather, both Colin and Hector (Barbera) said that they only got 2 or 3 laps in and they thought that the bikes didn't seem too crap, but the new electronics package was pretty poo poo. Petrucci didn't mind it too much. Personally I hope the electronics package they all have to run (except the factory teams) isn't too bad, but I think the teams have got a lot of work to do with it from what I gathered. Session 1 as of 18:10 - 05/02/2013 - Local Time PDF Analysis Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Prev. Gap Lead. Gap Laps Last lap 1 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda Team 2:01.157 48 / 49 1:08.174 2 LORENZO, Jorge Yamaha Factory Racing 2:01.165 0.008 0.008 57 / 58 1:15.264 3 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team 2:01.201 0.036 0.044 60 / 62 2:49.561 4 ROSSI, Valentino Yamaha Factory Racing 2:01.584 0.383 0.427 30 / 56 1:17.950 5 BRADL, Stefan LCR Honda MotoGP 2:01.789 0.205 0.632 43 / 59 1:15.188 6 CRUTCHLOW, Cal Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.881 0.092 0.724 46 / 64 2:31.099 7 BAUTISTA, Alvaro Go & Fun Honda Gresini 2:01.981 0.100 0.824 52 / 59 1:10.581 8 NAKASUGA, Katsayuki Yamaha Factory 2:02.968 0.987 1.811 50 / 58 1:11.728 9 AKIYOSHI, Kosuke HRC Test Team 2:02.972 0.004 1.815 46 / 69 1:21.686 10 HAYDEN, Nicky Ducati Team 2:03.336 0.364 2.179 22 / 62 2:27.475 11 YOSHIKAWA, Wataru Yamaha Factory 2:03.456 0.120 2.299 14 / 46 1:11.666 12 SMITH, Bradley Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:03.460 0.004 2.303 53 / 56 1:10.044 13 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team 2:03.535 0.075 2.378 35 / 48 2:15.588 14 ESPARGARO, Aleix Power Electronics Aspar 2:03.782 0.247 2.625 54 / 58 1:08.855 15 DE PUNIET, Randy Power Electronics Aspar 2:04.283 0.501 3.126 42 / 56 1:13.859 16 IANNONE, Andrea Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team 2:04.500 0.217 3.343 53 / 57 1:17.551 17 SPIES, Ben Ignite Pramac Racing Team 2:05.086 0.586 3.929 19 / 21 1:24.065 18 TAKAHASHI, Takumi HRC Test Team 2:05.154 0.068 3.997 68 / 70 1:16.207 19 BARBERA, Hector Avintia Blusens 2:05.469 0.315 4.312 37 / 41 2:10.880 20 HERNANDEZ, Yonny Paul Bird Motorsport 2:05.656 0.187 4.499 39 / 50 1:14.180 21 ABRAHAM, Karel Cardion AB Motoracing 2:05.694 0.038 4.537 30 / 54 1:15.855 22 PETRUCCI, Danilo Came IodaRacing Project 2:05.753 0.059 4.596 27 / 29 1:24.072 23 AOYAMA, Hiroshi Avintia Blusens 2:05.919 0.166 4.762 47 / 48 1:18.850 24 CORTI, Claudio NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:06.426 0.507 5.269 29 / 38 1:33.227 25 LAVERTY, Michael Paul Bird Motorsport 2:06.507 0.081 5.350 42 / 43 2:41.841 26 PESEK, Lukas Came IodaRacing Project 2:07.015 0.508 5.858 40 / 46 1:23.864 27 STARING, Bryan Go & Fun Honda Gresini 2:07.044 0.029 5.887 33 / 41 32:51.073 28 EDWARDS, Colin NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team 2:08.206 1.162 7.049 24 / 25 1:23.998 Marquez was leading until midday track time. Rossi back up front as well, yay! In stunning news, Ducati still blows. Shimrod fucked around with this message at Feb 5, 2013 around 11:00 |
| # ? Feb 3, 2013 14:10 |
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Sounds like Rossi is very happy with returning to the front, he was nervous and unsure he'd be able to jump back into it. He was quoted somewhere as saying that he feels younger now after two years with Ducati. I can only imagine that those two years must have been a big hit to his confidence.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2013 20:07 |
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If Marquez gets a grip on tire management for a race he could have a run at the championship this year...
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| # ? Feb 5, 2013 22:51 |
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I don't think they do much tire management to be quite honest.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2013 23:16 |
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I don't think you do much tire management to be honest.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2013 23:27 |
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n8r posted:I don't think they do much tire management to be quite honest. If this was true Hayden would be a 3x world champ
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| # ? Feb 6, 2013 02:56 |
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Test day 2 is going now with live timing on http://www.motogp.com/en/TestResult...epang+Test+2013
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| # ? Feb 6, 2013 03:08 |
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JohnnyDangerously posted:If this was true Hayden would be a 3x world champ Yes because all the Ducati needs is to not wear out it's tires.
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| # ? Feb 6, 2013 03:23 |
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n8r posted:Yes because all the Ducati needs is to not wear out it's tires. Yes because Nicky has been on Ducati since he started MotoGP in 2004... on a honda.
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| # ? Feb 6, 2013 05:58 |
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JohnnyDangerously posted:If this was true Hayden would be a 3x world champ I've got to believe that Nicky and his crew have done the math and it has shown that him sliding into corners and wearing out the tire within the first 70% of the race makes his overall time faster than adjusting his riding style and conservatively using the tires. In so much of MotoGP these days the real racing occurs in the first few laps anyway. At that point the podium positions are often as you see them. If Nicky can get to the front at the start and burn some rubber doing so, then simply keep up an average pace, he'd be good.
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| # ? Feb 6, 2013 06:35 |
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I was being hyperbolic with my Hayden statement. I love the guy. I just think tire management these past few years have been more important than it gets credit for. Who knows what the 2013 rubber will bring.
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| # ? Feb 6, 2013 18:59 |
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So the first test is over. Basically: 1) Pedrosa isn't trying very hard 2) Lorenzo is still Lorenzo 3) Marquez will have a win:crash ratio around 3:1 4) Rossi is close enough to be happy but not super happy 5) Ducati has stood still since last season 6) New CRT tires might result in some giant-killing results 7) Edwards will dominate the championship
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| # ? Feb 7, 2013 19:21 |
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Edwards recently tweeted a giant, mostly empty, bottle of vodka and said it was his medicine for his neck injury (more like medicine for sucking so bad).
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| # ? Feb 7, 2013 20:39 |
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 23:01 |
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Just bought my tickets for Assen. 
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| # ? Feb 18, 2013 22:18 |
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Wow, in addition to losing F1 to NBC, looks like Speed isn't going to broadcast SBK this year either. http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2013...wsbkonspeed.htm
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| # ? Feb 18, 2013 22:34 |
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Rakekniven posted:Wow, in addition to losing F1 to NBC, looks like Speed isn't going to broadcast SBK this year either. Not completely bad, as Speed's coverage of basically everything is terrible. But on the other hand if the coverage doesn't pop up somewhere else, that really bites.
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| # ? Feb 18, 2013 22:51 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 22:58 |
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echomadman posted:Just bought my tickets for Assen. I just bought my ticket for Circuit of the Americas. Woo, first MotoGP 
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| # ? Feb 18, 2013 22:56 |
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