Grand Prix of Qatar 2018

Holypuck said:

We'll soon be able to call these kind of Dovi wins "Classic Dovi"


But Marquez getting 2nd with basically no gap on this track (that is rather complicated for him) is a sign of the very high level both he and Honda are at right now...

gonna be a good championship.

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Honestly I'd call it way to soon to say Marc is a contender.

Great race by Cal. Once again, showing he is more worthy of the factory bike than the worlds most expensive turnstyle. Time and again he is the only satellite to show the pace of the factories but just can't get the extra tenths. It must be so maddening to him that he gets passed over every year. I suspect it will continue as Marc will veto any rider that has potential to beat him.
Good race by Dovi. It's clear that Ducati has made strides. Time and again he could have pulled over for a ... after turn 1. Initially I thought Cal would keep with him but the Ducati was too fast. Too bad for Lorenzo. I had to chuckle though, it looked like Dovi played the old, banana in the tailpipe trick on him. I have no doubt Lorenzo will soon find his form and assert himself into the #1 rider role. I look foward to that. Only then will we see the true potential of the Ducati unleashed.
Another good, but safe and boring ride from the Tavullian tart. It's hard to say he shouldn't be there by his consistent results, but I don't think he's ever going go from apertivo to dolce again.
Inspired ride by Maverick, thwarts what could have been disaster.
Three competitive Ducati's, three competitive Yamaha's, and 2 1/2 competitive Hondas. Looks like a great season in front of us my friends

Albert Tatlock said:

Great race by Cal. Once again, showing he is more worthy of the factory bike than the worlds most expensive turnstyle. Time and again he is the only satellite to show the pace of the factories but just can't get the extra tenths. It must be so maddening to him that he gets passed over every year. I suspect it will continue as Marc will veto any rider that has potential to beat him.
Good race by Dovi. It's clear that Ducati has made strides. Time and again he could have pulled over for a ... after turn 1. Initially I thought Cal would keep with him but the Ducati was too fast. Too bad for Lorenzo. I had to chuckle though, it looked like Dovi played the old, banana in the tailpipe trick on him. I have no doubt Lorenzo will soon find his form and assert himself into the #1 rider role. I look foward to that. Only then will we see the true potential of the Ducati unleashed.
Another good, but safe and boring ride from the Tavullian tart. It's hard to say he shouldn't be there by his consistent results, but I don't think he's ever going go from apertivo to dolce again.
Inspired ride by Maverick, thwarts what could have been disaster.
Three competitive Ducati's, three competitive Yamaha's, and 2 1/2 competitive Hondas. Looks like a great season in front of us my friends

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Although your post reeks of Caltholicism its not to bad.

MdubSTYLIE said:

Although your post reeks of Caltholicism its not to bad.

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You are mistaken. We Cal fans practice Calvinism.
Rossi fans are the good Catholics. It's quite evident, as he cannot go unmolested in Italy

Anyone see a why Jorge crashed?

Only replay I say was from his on bike camera.

Looked like he went crazy wide and couldn’t hold it. For a second you could see another bike. Probably Iannone.

Just seemed like an odd crash from the on bike camera.


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WVMotoGP99 said:

Anyone see a why Jorge crashed?

Only replay I say was from his on bike camera.

Looked like he went crazy wide and couldn’t hold it. For a second you could see another bike. Probably Iannone.

Just seemed like an odd crash from the on bike camera.


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Front brake failure I believe

Video - https://streamable.com/kdxvb

If the telemetry is considered accurate there is an indication of a brake failure plus of course that has been stated and given how the bike seems to go a bit quiet there is something clearly wrong

Kudos to Rossi.

I don’t think he will beat MM, and probably won’t beat Dovi either, over the course of a whole season but 3rd in this company at age 39 is creditable.

Fantastic race. AD has extraordinary confidence, and the bike is working well. They're a strong package.

MM's race was extremely strong, keeping in mind how poor Honda have been here since 2014. Cal did well. He's never been great here, so that suggests the Honda is working well. This bodes well for Honda, as does Cal's performance. Even Dani, who is usually slow here (almost got beaten by Aleix here last year) had a reasonable race.

Zarco rode well, but didn't have the pace when the tyres dropped off (for once). Still, he did better than last year here. He will keep growing.

Rossi had a strong race, but appeared to be a bit weak on acceleration. I need to see more of him at a low grip track before I can form a view.

Mav's race was terrible given his performance here last year, but his late race speed will give him confidence. I think he needs to rebuild his confidence, and those last few laps will help him believe. We need him up the front for the championship.

Lorenzo's race was a disaster, but I think he'll perform very well this year at select rounds but I doubt that he will ever match his Yamaha form on the Duke.

Gaz said:

15kmh is a disadvantage yes, unacceptable would depend on the advantages of that bike over the opposition of the time and of course, the tracks involved.

No doubt, 15kmh down is a disadvantage at Mugello, Qatar and Phillip Island but if that same bike handles as if it were on rails (formerly a Yamaha trait), then at tracks like Valencia it has the advantage as a well ridden sweet handling bike is still ultra competitive. Swings and roundabouts as they say, swings and roundabouts.

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Agreed, good post. I think Michelin also struggled with the inability to fly in SNS to their riders, whereas Bridgestone always developed a tyre that had a wider operating window. I think those two factors, and Casey's stratospheric talent, combined to make the GP7 a difficult bike to beat.

Gaz said:

Rossi has shown for years that he can win on a great handling bike over those with outright power, the issue over the last decade or so is that the gap between a powerful bike that handles like a horse cart, and a less powerful bike that handles as if on rails has diminished thus he has to fight harder to be competitive (and this does not take to account the sheer ability of the current riders)

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With you on that.

Gaz said:

Max Biaggi was said to get his own SNS for a period as well that were not factored on the want of Rossi and I do seem to recall that Gibbers may have as well when he was the #1 Honda guy, plus I suspect (suspect being the operative word) that HRC would have pushed heaven and earth to get special tyre treatment post the Rossi departure.

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Gaz said:

Plus, as I have often said, the sheer fact that Rossi did get a level of equipment over years that others may not have had access to is no fault of Rossi's and I reckon I would be safe in saying that there is not 1 rider past, present or future that does not want that advantage as it simply makes their job easier.

Sure they will all talk of a 'level playing field', but what they all mean is 'a level playing field for all except me, I want the best available', and who can blame them as they are sportsman first and all top sportsman have a selfish streak when participating in their chosen sport.

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Yep, the best riders tend to get the best equipment, as a general rule.

Albert Tatlock said:

Great race by Cal. Once again, showing he is more worthy of the factory bike than the worlds most expensive turnstyle. Time and again he is the only satellite to show the pace of the factories but just can't get the extra tenths. It must be so maddening to him that he gets passed over every year. I suspect it will continue as Marc will veto any rider that has potential to beat him.
Good race by Dovi. It's clear that Ducati has made strides. Time and again he could have pulled over for a ... after turn 1. Initially I thought Cal would keep with him but the Ducati was too fast. Too bad for Lorenzo. I had to chuckle though, it looked like Dovi played the old, banana in the tailpipe trick on him. I have no doubt Lorenzo will soon find his form and assert himself into the #1 rider role. I look foward to that. Only then will we see the true potential of the Ducati unleashed.
Another good, but safe and boring ride from the Tavullian tart. It's hard to say he shouldn't be there by his consistent results, but I don't think he's ever going go from apertivo to dolce again.
Inspired ride by Maverick, thwarts what could have been disaster.
Three competitive Ducati's, three competitive Yamaha's, and 2 1/2 competitive Hondas. Looks like a great season in front of us my friends

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I'm pretty sure that although Cuntslow is on a satellite bike he gets the same spec equipment as Marquez and Pedrosa already,perhaps others on here can confirm or deny this?,i'm sure i've read that he gets the same gear, and i've seen an interview with Marquez where he said the same thing,and he should know,as for Marquez vetoing him as a team mate?,do you really think someone of Marquez's talent is worried about sharing a pit garage with Cuntslow?,i've been watching GP's for over 40 years and i've never seen anyone who can do the things that Marquez can do on a motorcycle.
As for Lorenzo bringing out the "true potential of the Ducati',i think you're doing Dovi a great disservice 'cos he's already doing that,the only future i can see for Lorenzo is a pay cut,a few lessons on how to read his dash messages and crawling back to Jarvis and asking if he can have his M1 back..

michaelm said:

This is an old argument, sure the 2007 Ducati was fast in a straight line but the Aprilia cube was also very powerful to not much avail. The speed difference between the Ducati and Yamaha was particularly prominent at one track, either Turkey or China, where Yamaha couldn’t get their gearing right, and this has been taken by some to reflect how things were in every race. Stoner’s team-mate Capirossi who won 8 or 9 gp races and was a strong early contender for the 2006 title on the 990 Ducati GP06 hardly dominated the Yamahas on a factory GP07 either.
(EDIT I believe the engine which failed at Misano was the pneumatic engine under development for the 2008 Yamaha, which Rossi pushed Yahama to let him employ early to address the power deficit to Ducati and aid development of that engine for 2008, the championship which Stoner clinched 2 rounds later in Japan being pretty much over barring a season ending injury to Stoner. I don’t think there were any technical issues with the 2007 engine other than being a spring valve engine underpowered/unable to rev as high compared to the Ducati desmo).

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Turkey, China and Qatar were pretty shocking. I remember listening to Beattie when CS took Rossi on the straight for the first time in Qatar and he said that Rossi must've missed a gear!

Yamaha's pneumatic valve engine was much better in terms of horsepower, and cut the horsepower advantage. The pneumatic valve engine apparently was a bit of a fuel guzzler too, which hurt Yamaha.

Ultimately, Stoner, Bridgestone and Ducati were the strongest package. That bike was bloody hard to ride, but like you, I think when Stoner got it right, Rossi simply couldn't beat him on the 07 M1. The M1 needed more work (which he got in 2008, along with the Bridgestones, after a colossal whinge).

Also, Syahrin was fantastic for his debut, as was Morbidelli.

I expected more from Aleix, who was so strong here last year.

Iannone should jump back on the Ducati. His style suited that bike more.

If Marquez keeps trying these cannonball last moment attempts, eventually he's gonna .... up and take them both out. Kudos, last corner, racing for glory and all of that. But he is still at times stepping into sketchy territory.

Think late season Marc'Bonsai'Marquez, defending a title lead last corner takes himself and his contender out.

Setting precedent.

Not forgetting his dive bomb under Zarco and barely missing Dovi at turn one a few laps prior.

A true challenge is upsetting his zen. Ruffle his feathers enough, he will become his own worst enemy.

Barbedwirebikerr said:

A true challenge is upsetting his zen. Ruffle his feathers enough, he will become his own worst enemy.

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Is this post this year’s “Maverick is getting in Marc’s head”? We all know how that ended

Pretty good race barely from all of them.
Congrats to Dovi, I have to admit, I didn't think that he will be that smooth and cool. Márquez as always pushing the RCV over the limits, that's the difference between him and Crutchlow, not very much but enough to fight for the win and not for the places third+...
Good ride from VR, the main problem is the acceleration out of corners (clearly to see from the heli-perspective out of the last corner) and power. The M1 couldn't pass on the straight even with the slipstream meanwhile Honda is capable of that. But anyways, if it's an electronic problem I'm sure they can fix it, if it's the lack of power they are in trouble again. It's isn't enough anymore to have a bike that handles well, because all the others are good to handle too.
VR proved again that he isn't too old, too slow (and what ........ so many people are talking about) for the factory Yamaha. Not enough he finished in front of MV, he was the best Yamaha rider too and fought for the victory (almost).
Poor Rins, but he showed that he will be a contender for wins and the number 1 rider in the future for Suzuki.
If you take a look at the table it's clearly to see hoooooow good the Ducati is. Dovi, Petrux, Miller and even Rabat (who was lost on the RCV) ride well. My opinion, the Ducati is toooo good to not win the championship, Dovi seemed to be so smooth during Marquez was all over the place to stay with him. If Yamaha can solve the luck of acceleration I think they will be at the top fighting for the championship too, but only with the improvement at corner exits.
Looking forward to Argentina where we saw stunning races the last years.

MdubSTYLIE said:

Honestly I'd call it way to soon to say Marc is a contender.

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I didn't call him a contender I said he's looking sharp, and so is his machine. However, the fact that he won 4 of the last 5 titles kinda makes him a contender, don't you reckon?

pyeman said:

I'm pretty sure that although Cuntslow is on a satellite bike he gets the same spec equipment as Marquez and Pedrosa already,perhaps others on here can confirm or deny this?,i'm sure i've read that he gets the same gear, and i've seen an interview with Marquez where he said the same thing,and he should know,as for Marquez vetoing him as a team mate?,do you really think someone of Marquez's talent is worried about sharing a pit garage with Cuntslow?,i've been watching GP's for over 40 years and i've never seen anyone who can do the things that Marquez can do on a motorcycle.
As for Lorenzo bringing out the "true potential of the Ducati',i think you're doing Dovi a great disservice 'cos he's already doing that,the only future i can see for Lorenzo is a pay cut,a few lessons on how to read his dash messages and crawling back to Jarvis and asking if he can have his M1 back..

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Cal does have the same spec bike it's just that he'll get his updates slightly later than Dani and Marc.

Holypuck said:

I didn't call him a contender I said he's looking sharp, and so is his machine. However, the fact that he won 4 of the last 5 titles kinda makes him a contender, don't you reckon?

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I think youll find mdub was being satirical.