A Top Ten Guide...
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Darrell ‘Dazza/Macca/Mac the Champ’ McIntyre tells you Ten Things about...
... Sepang, Malaysia, 2009.
10. Tech 3 Disaster
For the second race in a row Toseland got beat by Talma the Hungarian Road Block—this time by a whopping 45 seconds! On that evidence he’ll struggle to match Tommy Sykes’ performance on the R1 in WSBK next year, let alone trying to hold a candle to ...... Spies’ brilliance. End of season Portimao tests didn’t look to promising for mine, either, but then Jimmy T is probably used to being a second slower than his teammate by now.
As for Edwards, the development and set-up guru and his supposed ‘genius’ crew chief couldn’t make anything happen with their M1 this weekend, despite reams of data from years of testing at Sepang. Anchored at the foot of the timesheets all through practice and qualifying, when the heavens opened just before race start on Sunday, Colin was jumping up and down in pit lane like a snake had crawled inside his leathers and he was enjoying the sensation. His antics attracted a lot of attention from the other crews, and I wandered over to ask him why he was so happy. In his politest English, he said:
“Man, it’s ......’ pissin’ down. Woo hoo! Yeah! We’ve had such a ......’ .... weekend, and now everyone has to start from scratch.”
“You reckon you got a good wet set-up?” I asked.
“Who the .... cares, man? It can’t be any worse, can it?”
“Mate, be careful what you pray for, I reckon,” I replied.
Then Colin started blowing kisses to the crowd, to his crew, and planting them on his bike. I headed back to my pit garage wondering what the .... Monster put in their energy drinks. And my words proved to be prophetic, in that they came true: Edwards had his worse race of the season, barely finishing ahead of the Hungarian Road Block!
9. Chris Vermeulen
It rained. Vermin got sixth. The last time he got sixth, it also rained, in Le Mans. Apart from a fifth at Assen (practically a home race for Chris ‘Dutchie’ Vermeulen, and a track he could ride blindfolded) these are his best results for the season. That’s a cryin’ shame, on so many levels. Capers was miles back, having timidly wasted a second row start and he spent the race splashing around in the puddles looking completely lost. Vermin’s only three points down on sneaky little Loris in the points table now, yet the guy who’s been racing in GPs since Family Ties was on TV will be staying with the team next year and Chris will be moving on. Paul ‘Who cares about winning?’ Denning has signed Bautista for next year with a view to the future, but what does Capers give them that Vermin doesn’t? ...., if Suzuki just wanted to pair a rookie with a veteran for 2010, for the sake of ‘balance’ they might as well have signed me up!
8. Nicky Hayden
It was great to see Hayden take a leaf out of Rossi’s book and document his recent run of bad luck with a ‘funny’ sticker on his bike. Maybe he should start fondling his foot pegs and picking his leathers out of his arse-crack, too. It was even better to see him put in a good effort in the rain—considering how god-awful he was in the wet when he first came to Europe (I think only Randy Mamola performed worse when first confronted with the reality that you have to ride in the rain in GPs). I watched most of the race from the Ducati hospitality area (more on that below), and was impressed with the way he mixed it up with Lorenzo, Rossi and Melandri during the early stages. I wandered over to his pit garage afterwards to congratulate him, giving him a little tap on the bum, Aussie Rules style, with a “Well done, mate,” for good measure. He frowned, pointed to the sticker on his bike, and said, “I know you’re a friend of Puig’s.” Earl ‘Lord O Lordy Lord’ Hayden hustled me out of there just as I was asking Nicky if his Mum would give me a kiss on the lips, too. The Haydens are kind of ......s, really.
7. Andrea Dovisioso
Stolen Stallone Fedora’s and effeminate white neck scarves aside, what is Dovi’s contribution to Repsol Honda, and MotoGP in general? Next year he’ll be just one out of the 792 Italiano-Spaniard types on the grid. I worry that Andy will get lost in the crowd when compared to Hector ‘of the villainous pencil eyebrows’ Barbera, Pretty Boy Bautista, Sneaky little Loris (with the hot wife), Aleix ‘ginormous teeth’ Espargaro, Big hair Super Sic, Marco ‘I’m the real Marco’ Melandri, Valentino ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ Rossi, and Jorge ‘No, look at me! Look at me!’ Lorenzo. Dovi needs to get his act together, and some decent results wouldn’t hurt, either. But crashing out in the wet, while failing (again) to keep up with your tiny teammate isn’t gonna get it done, son.
6. Jorge Lorenzo
The Australasian swing didn’t turn out too good for Jorgey Boy. A Golden Duck in Australia and a disastrous fourth place (the only time he’s finished off the podium this year (when he’s finished the race)) slammed the door shut on his championship challenge for 2009. Phillip Island was just one of those unfortunate racing incidents, but his troubles at Sepang shows just what a joke electronics .... has made of Grand Prix racing. Lorenzo was forced to start from the back of the grid because his team couldn’t get Windows 7 to boot on either of his bikes to get them started. What were they thinking, installing an O.S. upgrade with only two races to go? I guess the race for a technological edge never stops...
It seems fair to label this as such, since the other Fiat Yamaha rider has had a couple of fourth place finishes in recent memory (Estoril 2009, Donington 2007) that resulted in much wailing and gnashing of teeth, the team holding long, earnest post-race conferences with furrowed brows and wringing hands, and culminating with angst-ridden press reports and vows on everyone's behalf to do better...
5. Valentino Rossi
Congratulations Vale, on another bloody championship. Anyone who wrote you off after 2006 and 2007 must have egg on their face, now, heh heh. How many winner’s and podium trophies and .... do you have now? I’d hate to be the one who has to keep them all polished and neat and tidy. Poor Uccio.
4. Dani Pedrosa
A fantastic first ever wet weather podium for Alby’s young charge. He looked so happy, too; first time I’ve ever seen him smile. I’ve always been a natural in the wet, so it’s hard for me to relate to those who are crap when the heavens open, but the guys who can work through their shortcomings... well, they’re the ones to watch, I reckon. I know he’s not really eligible for rookie of the year anymore, but they should give it to the kid, for mine.
3. Casey Stoner
What can you say about little Casey? Brilliant wet weather riding. He blitzed the field. It reminded me of Mick at Suzuka in ’92 (although Mick never knew when to take the foot off the pedal; he won that race by almost half a minute, and lapped the field up to tenth place). In the first half-dozen laps Stoner was two to three whole seconds a lap faster than the rest every lap. Wet weather tyres give soooooooo much grip these days guys can throw the knee down, and Stoner was even doing the ‘Rossi dangle’ under heavy breaking going into some left handers! Amazing stuff. He’s still a prick for not letting me follow him around during qualifying, though.
2. My Race
Never been a big fan of Malaysia. The weather’s fuggin’ horrible, the food’s not to my taste and the judiciary are a little zealous for my liking. Riding at Shah Alam was bloody hard yakka, and Johor even worse (thankfully we only went there once), but Sepang’s ok, I guess... if a little... soulless. Again, I was without my 5 star motorhome (can’t wait for Valencia!) and had to make do with a hideous burnt orange number that had just one air conditioner (which only went down to a piss poor 18 degrees Celsius!). Not so much in the way of night life, or track atmosphere this time, so I was pretty much all business this weekend. That was just as well, too, since, unlike everyone else, I didn’t have the benefit of a ....-load of pre-season testing to help get things sorted.
Friday practice was average, and I spent most of the session keeping Colin Edwards company at the arse-end of the timesheet. We couldn’t get enough grip out of the back tyre, and our electronics package is just hopeless. I also got into an on track argument with Kallio near the end of the session, with the stupid Finn saying I tried to push him off the track. Push him off the track? Bollocks! I made a hard pass, because I wanted his scrawny arse out of the way. When I push someone off the track, they'll bloody well know it!
That afternoon, sitting in my crappy, boiling motorhome I thought about jacking it all in, and catching the first flight up to Thailand. Funnily enough, at that moment, I heard a commotion out in the paddock over near where some of the 250 guys were set up. I went over to see what was up and found a bunch of Thais with paddock passes milling around in a group with everyone else ignoring them. They seemed to recognise me, and started shouting ‘Ratthapark’ ‘Ratthapark’ or some such thing. Now, my Thai is pretty rusty, but it was pretty clear they were honouring me in some way. I gave the thumbs up and joined in the chant, and they went bunta! Great stuff, it’s always nice to meet with my fans. But it seemed like the only word they knew, and I got bored after a couple of minutes and left. Still, I went back to my motorhome feeling a bit better about the rest of the weekend.
Saturday practice was still a struggle, but at least we were rising on the timing screen. In qualifying, as I said, Stoner wouldn’t let me shadow him, the git, but near the end of the session I managed to tag on the back of Rossi when he was on a hot one—which turned out to be his pole-setting new lap record! Anyway, I couldn’t stick with him the whole way round—a factory bike is a factory bike, after all—but my time was good enough for the sixth slot on the grid and I was pretty happy about that.
As everyone knows just before we were supposed to go out for the race it absolutely pissed down. While Edwards did his rain dance, the rest of us rushed around trying to guess at a good wet weather setup. Starting from the second row, with a wet track, I was feeling very confident about my chances. My ..... of a bike bogged a little off the line, so I didn’t get the holeshot like I’d hoped, but everyone else seemed a little tentative moving up through the gears so I headed towards turn one with only Rossi ahead of me. I thought to myself, I’m not gonna brake until he does. Well, we know how that turned out! We both ran verrrrrrrry wide, and I went into the second turn dead last. ....! I passed Toseland and the Hungarian Road Block quickly enough, but going down the back straight I suddenly lost all power and coasted to stop at the last corner. Something to do with the electronics my crew told me the next morning; I headed straight for my motorhome, got changed and drank the place dry; then headed off to the Ducati hospitality suite. The rest of the night is pretty much a blur. I just hope in Valencia I can finish the first ....... lap.
1. The Championship
It’s all done and dusted, with Valentino winning pretty comfortably in the end. Stoner has a remote chance at P2, but I doubt he cares. Little Pedders looks like he’ll pinch Dovi’s no.4 and in turn Dovi should probably snatch no.5 away from Edwards. There’s a hell of a seven-way fight for the seventh place, not that finishing seventh is really anything to be chuffed about, but I suppose guys like Vermin, De Angelis and Elias would love to finish higher than the guys who are staying in MotoGP next year. ...... Spies coming in as a wild card should be interesting, too. He’ll probably be slow as ...., especially on Friday, but I’d love to see him blow everyone to the weeds. I reckon the sport needs a good shake up.
Wish me luck for Valencia; I sure as hell need it. Light ’em if you got ’em, and sink a VB or ten for me! Cheers!
... Sepang, Malaysia, 2009.
10. Tech 3 Disaster
For the second race in a row Toseland got beat by Talma the Hungarian Road Block—this time by a whopping 45 seconds! On that evidence he’ll struggle to match Tommy Sykes’ performance on the R1 in WSBK next year, let alone trying to hold a candle to ...... Spies’ brilliance. End of season Portimao tests didn’t look to promising for mine, either, but then Jimmy T is probably used to being a second slower than his teammate by now.
As for Edwards, the development and set-up guru and his supposed ‘genius’ crew chief couldn’t make anything happen with their M1 this weekend, despite reams of data from years of testing at Sepang. Anchored at the foot of the timesheets all through practice and qualifying, when the heavens opened just before race start on Sunday, Colin was jumping up and down in pit lane like a snake had crawled inside his leathers and he was enjoying the sensation. His antics attracted a lot of attention from the other crews, and I wandered over to ask him why he was so happy. In his politest English, he said:
“Man, it’s ......’ pissin’ down. Woo hoo! Yeah! We’ve had such a ......’ .... weekend, and now everyone has to start from scratch.”
“You reckon you got a good wet set-up?” I asked.
“Who the .... cares, man? It can’t be any worse, can it?”
“Mate, be careful what you pray for, I reckon,” I replied.
Then Colin started blowing kisses to the crowd, to his crew, and planting them on his bike. I headed back to my pit garage wondering what the .... Monster put in their energy drinks. And my words proved to be prophetic, in that they came true: Edwards had his worse race of the season, barely finishing ahead of the Hungarian Road Block!
9. Chris Vermeulen
It rained. Vermin got sixth. The last time he got sixth, it also rained, in Le Mans. Apart from a fifth at Assen (practically a home race for Chris ‘Dutchie’ Vermeulen, and a track he could ride blindfolded) these are his best results for the season. That’s a cryin’ shame, on so many levels. Capers was miles back, having timidly wasted a second row start and he spent the race splashing around in the puddles looking completely lost. Vermin’s only three points down on sneaky little Loris in the points table now, yet the guy who’s been racing in GPs since Family Ties was on TV will be staying with the team next year and Chris will be moving on. Paul ‘Who cares about winning?’ Denning has signed Bautista for next year with a view to the future, but what does Capers give them that Vermin doesn’t? ...., if Suzuki just wanted to pair a rookie with a veteran for 2010, for the sake of ‘balance’ they might as well have signed me up!
8. Nicky Hayden
It was great to see Hayden take a leaf out of Rossi’s book and document his recent run of bad luck with a ‘funny’ sticker on his bike. Maybe he should start fondling his foot pegs and picking his leathers out of his arse-crack, too. It was even better to see him put in a good effort in the rain—considering how god-awful he was in the wet when he first came to Europe (I think only Randy Mamola performed worse when first confronted with the reality that you have to ride in the rain in GPs). I watched most of the race from the Ducati hospitality area (more on that below), and was impressed with the way he mixed it up with Lorenzo, Rossi and Melandri during the early stages. I wandered over to his pit garage afterwards to congratulate him, giving him a little tap on the bum, Aussie Rules style, with a “Well done, mate,” for good measure. He frowned, pointed to the sticker on his bike, and said, “I know you’re a friend of Puig’s.” Earl ‘Lord O Lordy Lord’ Hayden hustled me out of there just as I was asking Nicky if his Mum would give me a kiss on the lips, too. The Haydens are kind of ......s, really.
7. Andrea Dovisioso
Stolen Stallone Fedora’s and effeminate white neck scarves aside, what is Dovi’s contribution to Repsol Honda, and MotoGP in general? Next year he’ll be just one out of the 792 Italiano-Spaniard types on the grid. I worry that Andy will get lost in the crowd when compared to Hector ‘of the villainous pencil eyebrows’ Barbera, Pretty Boy Bautista, Sneaky little Loris (with the hot wife), Aleix ‘ginormous teeth’ Espargaro, Big hair Super Sic, Marco ‘I’m the real Marco’ Melandri, Valentino ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ Rossi, and Jorge ‘No, look at me! Look at me!’ Lorenzo. Dovi needs to get his act together, and some decent results wouldn’t hurt, either. But crashing out in the wet, while failing (again) to keep up with your tiny teammate isn’t gonna get it done, son.
6. Jorge Lorenzo
The Australasian swing didn’t turn out too good for Jorgey Boy. A Golden Duck in Australia and a disastrous fourth place (the only time he’s finished off the podium this year (when he’s finished the race)) slammed the door shut on his championship challenge for 2009. Phillip Island was just one of those unfortunate racing incidents, but his troubles at Sepang shows just what a joke electronics .... has made of Grand Prix racing. Lorenzo was forced to start from the back of the grid because his team couldn’t get Windows 7 to boot on either of his bikes to get them started. What were they thinking, installing an O.S. upgrade with only two races to go? I guess the race for a technological edge never stops...
It seems fair to label this as such, since the other Fiat Yamaha rider has had a couple of fourth place finishes in recent memory (Estoril 2009, Donington 2007) that resulted in much wailing and gnashing of teeth, the team holding long, earnest post-race conferences with furrowed brows and wringing hands, and culminating with angst-ridden press reports and vows on everyone's behalf to do better...
5. Valentino Rossi
Congratulations Vale, on another bloody championship. Anyone who wrote you off after 2006 and 2007 must have egg on their face, now, heh heh. How many winner’s and podium trophies and .... do you have now? I’d hate to be the one who has to keep them all polished and neat and tidy. Poor Uccio.
4. Dani Pedrosa
A fantastic first ever wet weather podium for Alby’s young charge. He looked so happy, too; first time I’ve ever seen him smile. I’ve always been a natural in the wet, so it’s hard for me to relate to those who are crap when the heavens open, but the guys who can work through their shortcomings... well, they’re the ones to watch, I reckon. I know he’s not really eligible for rookie of the year anymore, but they should give it to the kid, for mine.
3. Casey Stoner
What can you say about little Casey? Brilliant wet weather riding. He blitzed the field. It reminded me of Mick at Suzuka in ’92 (although Mick never knew when to take the foot off the pedal; he won that race by almost half a minute, and lapped the field up to tenth place). In the first half-dozen laps Stoner was two to three whole seconds a lap faster than the rest every lap. Wet weather tyres give soooooooo much grip these days guys can throw the knee down, and Stoner was even doing the ‘Rossi dangle’ under heavy breaking going into some left handers! Amazing stuff. He’s still a prick for not letting me follow him around during qualifying, though.
2. My Race
Never been a big fan of Malaysia. The weather’s fuggin’ horrible, the food’s not to my taste and the judiciary are a little zealous for my liking. Riding at Shah Alam was bloody hard yakka, and Johor even worse (thankfully we only went there once), but Sepang’s ok, I guess... if a little... soulless. Again, I was without my 5 star motorhome (can’t wait for Valencia!) and had to make do with a hideous burnt orange number that had just one air conditioner (which only went down to a piss poor 18 degrees Celsius!). Not so much in the way of night life, or track atmosphere this time, so I was pretty much all business this weekend. That was just as well, too, since, unlike everyone else, I didn’t have the benefit of a ....-load of pre-season testing to help get things sorted.
Friday practice was average, and I spent most of the session keeping Colin Edwards company at the arse-end of the timesheet. We couldn’t get enough grip out of the back tyre, and our electronics package is just hopeless. I also got into an on track argument with Kallio near the end of the session, with the stupid Finn saying I tried to push him off the track. Push him off the track? Bollocks! I made a hard pass, because I wanted his scrawny arse out of the way. When I push someone off the track, they'll bloody well know it!
That afternoon, sitting in my crappy, boiling motorhome I thought about jacking it all in, and catching the first flight up to Thailand. Funnily enough, at that moment, I heard a commotion out in the paddock over near where some of the 250 guys were set up. I went over to see what was up and found a bunch of Thais with paddock passes milling around in a group with everyone else ignoring them. They seemed to recognise me, and started shouting ‘Ratthapark’ ‘Ratthapark’ or some such thing. Now, my Thai is pretty rusty, but it was pretty clear they were honouring me in some way. I gave the thumbs up and joined in the chant, and they went bunta! Great stuff, it’s always nice to meet with my fans. But it seemed like the only word they knew, and I got bored after a couple of minutes and left. Still, I went back to my motorhome feeling a bit better about the rest of the weekend.
Saturday practice was still a struggle, but at least we were rising on the timing screen. In qualifying, as I said, Stoner wouldn’t let me shadow him, the git, but near the end of the session I managed to tag on the back of Rossi when he was on a hot one—which turned out to be his pole-setting new lap record! Anyway, I couldn’t stick with him the whole way round—a factory bike is a factory bike, after all—but my time was good enough for the sixth slot on the grid and I was pretty happy about that.
As everyone knows just before we were supposed to go out for the race it absolutely pissed down. While Edwards did his rain dance, the rest of us rushed around trying to guess at a good wet weather setup. Starting from the second row, with a wet track, I was feeling very confident about my chances. My ..... of a bike bogged a little off the line, so I didn’t get the holeshot like I’d hoped, but everyone else seemed a little tentative moving up through the gears so I headed towards turn one with only Rossi ahead of me. I thought to myself, I’m not gonna brake until he does. Well, we know how that turned out! We both ran verrrrrrrry wide, and I went into the second turn dead last. ....! I passed Toseland and the Hungarian Road Block quickly enough, but going down the back straight I suddenly lost all power and coasted to stop at the last corner. Something to do with the electronics my crew told me the next morning; I headed straight for my motorhome, got changed and drank the place dry; then headed off to the Ducati hospitality suite. The rest of the night is pretty much a blur. I just hope in Valencia I can finish the first ....... lap.
1. The Championship
It’s all done and dusted, with Valentino winning pretty comfortably in the end. Stoner has a remote chance at P2, but I doubt he cares. Little Pedders looks like he’ll pinch Dovi’s no.4 and in turn Dovi should probably snatch no.5 away from Edwards. There’s a hell of a seven-way fight for the seventh place, not that finishing seventh is really anything to be chuffed about, but I suppose guys like Vermin, De Angelis and Elias would love to finish higher than the guys who are staying in MotoGP next year. ...... Spies coming in as a wild card should be interesting, too. He’ll probably be slow as ...., especially on Friday, but I’d love to see him blow everyone to the weeds. I reckon the sport needs a good shake up.
Wish me luck for Valencia; I sure as hell need it. Light ’em if you got ’em, and sink a VB or ten for me! Cheers!
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SuperShinya56 @ Oct 25 2009, 04:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Stop eating this stuff up. You guys are just feeding his ego. baaaaaaa.... Sheeps !!
Is there anything in particular his ego likes?
VB?
There a pallet on the way...
Pure gold!
Is there anything in particular his ego likes?
VB?
There a pallet on the way...
Pure gold!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Andy Roo @ Nov 7 2009, 11:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Is there anything in particular his ego likes?
VB?
There a pallet on the way...
Pure gold!
I agree, I am all for rising sun's ego being fed (or his id, superego or anything else required to keep him posting). Good to have you back posting as well.
VB?
There a pallet on the way...
Pure gold!
I agree, I am all for rising sun's ego being fed (or his id, superego or anything else required to keep him posting). Good to have you back posting as well.
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First time I've been on here for over a year - great to see Rising Sun couldn't stop those creative juices leaking out on here!
An excellent series of articles!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SuperShinya56 @ Oct 12 2009, 09:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Man.... You guys' still eating this stuff up? Sheeps, all of you!!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SuperShinya56 @ Oct 24 2009, 06:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Stop eating this stuff up. You guys are just feeding his ego. baaaaaaa.... Sheeps !!
People like yourself are the reason I have been keeping away.
WTF do you get out of ridiculous posts like this? If you genuinely don't like Rising Sun's creations then I'm sorry for you, but just don't read them rather than repeatedly posting drivel in an otherwise thoroughly entertaining thread.
An excellent series of articles!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SuperShinya56 @ Oct 12 2009, 09:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Man.... You guys' still eating this stuff up? Sheeps, all of you!!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SuperShinya56 @ Oct 24 2009, 06:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Stop eating this stuff up. You guys are just feeding his ego. baaaaaaa.... Sheeps !!
People like yourself are the reason I have been keeping away.
WTF do you get out of ridiculous posts like this? If you genuinely don't like Rising Sun's creations then I'm sorry for you, but just don't read them rather than repeatedly posting drivel in an otherwise thoroughly entertaining thread.
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (michaelm @ Nov 7 2009, 10:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I agree, I am all for rising sun's ego being fed (or his id, superego or anything else required to keep him posting). Good to have you back posting as well.
Work is killing me..........I think I've found about 20 spare minutes in the last six months, but I got my three days at the Island so I'm good.
Work is killing me..........I think I've found about 20 spare minutes in the last six months, but I got my three days at the Island so I'm good.
somedamnwriter
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nice to be reading this again
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"It's been a long time since I rock-and-rolled/
It's been a long time since I did the Stroll/
Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back, let me get it back"
...., it's been too long since I posted on this thread, or the forum in general. Thanks again to all those who've enjoyed the posts over the years.
Whatever happened to Darrell ‘Dazza/Macca/Mac the Champ’ McIntyre's Valencia 2009 report?
(Answer: it's sitting on my hard drive, half-finished.)
Anyway, I really enjoyed the Motegi round and I thought to myself: I can think of 10 things to say about that...
Top Ten Observations on Motegi, Japan 2010
10. Bradley Smith—not yet twenty—has a severely receding hairline. The poor kid, not only is he cursed with gingeritis he’s also losing said ginger locks at an alarming rate.
9. MotoGP is the new Formula 1, at least at the sharp end of the field: the winner is all too often decided by P1 eeking out a tenth of a second here and a tenth of a second there over P2 during the course of the race, but without the variable of pit stops to provide for occasional dramatic moments.
8. No first corner incident in the Moto2 race. Given the number of crashes that have occurred over the years at Motegi’s bottleneck turns 1 & 2 on the first lap, and given that Moto2 regularly has about 25% of its field collide/crash/run off track on the first corner, it was remarkable to see everyone safely make it through.
7. Anticipation of the Start. From the FIM rulebook: “Anticipation of the start is defined by the motorcycle moving forward when the red lights are on. The Race Direction will decide if a penalty will be imposed and must arrange for the team to be notified of such penalty before the end of the fourth lap.” Note that the rules make no mention of the rider having to cross the line that is his position marker on the grid for there to be a penalty. (The bit in bold text is for the conspiracy theorists.)
6. Dovisioso steps up as Pedrosa steps off. Another one for the conspiracy theorists? If you say yes, then consider that Dovi has been there or thereabouts all season, regularly in contention for a podium (and crashed in two such instances), and has shown some improvement this season in qualifying, culminating in this weekend’s pole position. Furthermore, would Alberto Puig—who supposedly wields the power of life and death at Team Repsol Honda—really let Dovisioso have some go-fast bits just because Pedrosa wasn’t there to use them?
5. Engine Management or championship management? Since two-putting in Brno, Lorenzo has slowly but surely fallen back into the pack. Poles and wins have given way to front row starts and podiums, which have now given way to second row starts and finishing off the podium. The championship lead he built up in the first half of the season will see him crowned 2010 world champion, but those whispering ‘asterisk, asterisk’ will get louder and louder if he doesn’t finish the season strongly.
4. Who will blink first, Rossi or Yamaha? I think Rossi opting out of the final two races of the season to have his shoulder surgery early will depend on whether or not Yamaha allow him to test the Ducati after Valencia. If they say no, then suddenly his shoulder might start hurting a lot more. Of course, Yamaha could delay making a decision up until Valencia itself, whereas Rossi has suggested that his performance in Sepang might be the deciding factor over the need for surgery sooner rather than later.
3. The battle for P3. Who knew that the oversized lego blocks that were handed out as trophies at Motegi were so highly prized? Watching Rossi and Lorenzo go at it, especially on the penultimate lap, makes you wonder if there was more to it than the opportunity to shake MFJ president Masatoshi Suzuki’s hand on the podium.
2. How good has Moto2 actually been this year? The race in Jerez in round 2 was brilliant, but nothing since has really matched that. Maybe it’s because the top four from the last 250cc championship moved up to MotoGP for 2010, but the fact that Toni Elias—who makes a fine grid-filler in MotoGP—has dominated, isn’t the greatest advertisement for the class, either. Shoya Tomizawa was a tragic loss, Andrea Iannone has been quick but inconsistent, Scott Redding shows promise, Julian Simon, back in the intermediate class after beating up on kids for a year in the 125s, is making steady progress, and Thomas Luthi continues along on his intermediate category career path of one step forward, two steps back; suggesting that his 2005 125cc world championship was as much about a lucky red flag-inducing crash at Motegi that year (and some later help from Gabor Talmacsi) than anything else. The grid may be ten rows deep, but the talent pool looks shallow.
1. Back to back wins for Stoner. It’s funny how a season can turn around, but for most of 2010 Stoner has been struggling to even get on the podium (no broken leg for Rossi and that run of podiums through the middle of the season likely would not have happened), let alone compete for race wins. But with Sepang and Phillip Island to come in the next fortnight, two of his strongest circuits, you wonder if he can keep this up.
It's been a long time since I did the Stroll/
Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back, let me get it back"
...., it's been too long since I posted on this thread, or the forum in general. Thanks again to all those who've enjoyed the posts over the years.
Whatever happened to Darrell ‘Dazza/Macca/Mac the Champ’ McIntyre's Valencia 2009 report?
(Answer: it's sitting on my hard drive, half-finished.)
Anyway, I really enjoyed the Motegi round and I thought to myself: I can think of 10 things to say about that...
Top Ten Observations on Motegi, Japan 2010
10. Bradley Smith—not yet twenty—has a severely receding hairline. The poor kid, not only is he cursed with gingeritis he’s also losing said ginger locks at an alarming rate.
9. MotoGP is the new Formula 1, at least at the sharp end of the field: the winner is all too often decided by P1 eeking out a tenth of a second here and a tenth of a second there over P2 during the course of the race, but without the variable of pit stops to provide for occasional dramatic moments.
8. No first corner incident in the Moto2 race. Given the number of crashes that have occurred over the years at Motegi’s bottleneck turns 1 & 2 on the first lap, and given that Moto2 regularly has about 25% of its field collide/crash/run off track on the first corner, it was remarkable to see everyone safely make it through.
7. Anticipation of the Start. From the FIM rulebook: “Anticipation of the start is defined by the motorcycle moving forward when the red lights are on. The Race Direction will decide if a penalty will be imposed and must arrange for the team to be notified of such penalty before the end of the fourth lap.” Note that the rules make no mention of the rider having to cross the line that is his position marker on the grid for there to be a penalty. (The bit in bold text is for the conspiracy theorists.)
6. Dovisioso steps up as Pedrosa steps off. Another one for the conspiracy theorists? If you say yes, then consider that Dovi has been there or thereabouts all season, regularly in contention for a podium (and crashed in two such instances), and has shown some improvement this season in qualifying, culminating in this weekend’s pole position. Furthermore, would Alberto Puig—who supposedly wields the power of life and death at Team Repsol Honda—really let Dovisioso have some go-fast bits just because Pedrosa wasn’t there to use them?
5. Engine Management or championship management? Since two-putting in Brno, Lorenzo has slowly but surely fallen back into the pack. Poles and wins have given way to front row starts and podiums, which have now given way to second row starts and finishing off the podium. The championship lead he built up in the first half of the season will see him crowned 2010 world champion, but those whispering ‘asterisk, asterisk’ will get louder and louder if he doesn’t finish the season strongly.
4. Who will blink first, Rossi or Yamaha? I think Rossi opting out of the final two races of the season to have his shoulder surgery early will depend on whether or not Yamaha allow him to test the Ducati after Valencia. If they say no, then suddenly his shoulder might start hurting a lot more. Of course, Yamaha could delay making a decision up until Valencia itself, whereas Rossi has suggested that his performance in Sepang might be the deciding factor over the need for surgery sooner rather than later.
3. The battle for P3. Who knew that the oversized lego blocks that were handed out as trophies at Motegi were so highly prized? Watching Rossi and Lorenzo go at it, especially on the penultimate lap, makes you wonder if there was more to it than the opportunity to shake MFJ president Masatoshi Suzuki’s hand on the podium.
2. How good has Moto2 actually been this year? The race in Jerez in round 2 was brilliant, but nothing since has really matched that. Maybe it’s because the top four from the last 250cc championship moved up to MotoGP for 2010, but the fact that Toni Elias—who makes a fine grid-filler in MotoGP—has dominated, isn’t the greatest advertisement for the class, either. Shoya Tomizawa was a tragic loss, Andrea Iannone has been quick but inconsistent, Scott Redding shows promise, Julian Simon, back in the intermediate class after beating up on kids for a year in the 125s, is making steady progress, and Thomas Luthi continues along on his intermediate category career path of one step forward, two steps back; suggesting that his 2005 125cc world championship was as much about a lucky red flag-inducing crash at Motegi that year (and some later help from Gabor Talmacsi) than anything else. The grid may be ten rows deep, but the talent pool looks shallow.
1. Back to back wins for Stoner. It’s funny how a season can turn around, but for most of 2010 Stoner has been struggling to even get on the podium (no broken leg for Rossi and that run of podiums through the middle of the season likely would not have happened), let alone compete for race wins. But with Sepang and Phillip Island to come in the next fortnight, two of his strongest circuits, you wonder if he can keep this up.
somedamnwriter
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A Pictorial Top Ten Guide to the Australasian Swing (Sepang, Phillip Island) 2010
10. Dani Pedrosa, after surgery on his injured collarbone
Sure, he might have had to skip the Malaysian round, but Dani can still tie a mean scarf--with one collarbone titanium-plated behind his back!
The creepy-looking man awkwardly standing next to him offered to tie his sphincter in the same number of knots.
9. Jorge Lorenzo, celebrating being Jorge Lorenzo
He throws like a girl, and jumps like a jockey. Ladies and Gentlemen, your new 2010 MotoGP Jorge 'Lame Game Over' Lorenzo.
Sure, he might have had to skip the Malaysian round, but Dani can still tie a mean scarf--with one collarbone titanium-plated behind his back!
The creepy-looking man awkwardly standing next to him offered to tie his sphincter in the same number of knots.
9. Jorge Lorenzo, celebrating being Jorge Lorenzo
He throws like a girl, and jumps like a jockey. Ladies and Gentlemen, your new 2010 MotoGP Jorge '
8. Andrea Dovisioso, tries to impress the top HRC brass... the things a man has to do to keep a factory ride
That's not a bucket in his hands, it's a feed bag for the bull, and that expression on Dovi's face is because... eeeeeeeeewwwwwww!
That's not a bucket in his hands, it's a feed bag for the bull, and that expression on Dovi's face is because... eeeeeeeeewwwwwww!
7. Colin Edwards contemplates his Non-classification at Sepang
"Hmmm... was this was the '... face' I made last night in the bedroom ceiling mirror."
"Hmmm... was this was the '... face' I made last night in the bedroom ceiling mirror."
6. Ben Spies, comforted by Mother Mary
"It's alright, little Benny-boo. I"m sure J-Lo wasn't mean to you on purpose, and you'll be best friends forever next year."
"It's alright, little Benny-boo. I"m sure J-Lo wasn't mean to you on purpose, and you'll be best friends forever next year."
5. Toni Elias, ecstactic at the thought he might ride a Rizla Suzuki or Pramac Ducati in 2011, basically for free
"I wonder if I can play a bad guy in the next Bond film."
"I wonder if I can play a bad guy in the next Bond film."
I found these next two pictures while I was looking for images of Marc Marquez...
Seeing how tiny Marquez was, got me wondering: Who is shorter? Marquez or Pedrosa? So, I typed Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa into Google Images, hoping for a side by side comparison...
3. This photo was on the first page...
They look a lot different with their leathers off. I think Pedrosa is the one on the right.
4. Valentino Rossi, offering toys to little boys
Is it just me, or does this picture look extremely disturbing?
Is it just me, or does this picture look extremely disturbing?
Seeing how tiny Marquez was, got me wondering: Who is shorter? Marquez or Pedrosa? So, I typed Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa into Google Images, hoping for a side by side comparison...
3. This photo was on the first page...
They look a lot different with their leathers off. I think Pedrosa is the one on the right.
2. Alex De Angelis, trying to remember how a winner should act
"I wonder if this thing on my nose comes in a Rainbow Version. A Peace Movement Rainbow Version, of course."
1. Casey Stoner, winners are grinners...
... except that he's just been sprayed with Champagne containing Lactose.
"I wonder if this thing on my nose comes in a Rainbow Version. A Peace Movement Rainbow Version, of course."
1. Casey Stoner, winners are grinners...
... except that he's just been sprayed with Champagne containing Lactose.
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pleased to see you show your face again sun. How the devil are you ?
Good thanks, mate. Nice to be posting again. Cheers.
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- siebenbürgen süße heimat!
hope that you contínue to bless us with your top tens
somedamnwriter
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thanks a lot sun, we sure did miss you!
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How did I miss this last top 10 of yours Sun, excellent, as the others said, glad to have you back.
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