Laguna Seca 2012: RACE

OK(ish) race. New Honda engine in Stoner's bike looked to have the acceleration over Lorenzo's Yamaha. Dovi & Cal locked together all race. Feel sorry for Ben, it definitely looked like something very wrong happened to the rear of his bike which caused his crash.

Spies! Wouldn't suprise me if he just said .... it, I'm done for the season.

I thought something had gone wrong with his bike, very strange place to crash.

Maybe a small crack they didn't see from the other times he crashed the bike and it just let go, I wouldn't mind if he quit though and they put Dovi on his bike.

Stoner Drove a mature race, this will motivate him more.

Lorenzo had another strong race, he drove a perfect race untill his scary moment on the top of the corkscrew (a nice save) then he lost his confidence for a few laps and came under pressure which it gave the chance to Stoner.



Pedrosa didn't have any answer to the leaders so he used his cruise control system.

Dovi absorbed all the pressure from Crutchlow again without making any mistakes.

Hayden was again better than Rossi for the whole weekend.

Rossi crashed a few laps before the end but he had already lost the race to his teammate and to other front runners.

Spies? He surely is better than what his 2012 results show but somehow he is unable to get back to his top form.

rossiofsky said:

Stoner Drove a mature race, this will motivate him more.

Lorenzo had another strong race, he drove a perfect race untill his scary moment on the top of the corkscrew (a nice save) then he lost his confidence for a few laps and came under pressure which it gave the chance to Stoner.



Pedrosa didn't have any answer to the leaders so he used his cruise control system.

Dovi absorbed all the pressure from Crutchlow again without making any mistakes.

Hayden was again better than Rossi for the whole weekend.

Rossi crashed a few laps before the end but he had already lost the race to his teammate and to other front runners.

Spies? He surely is better than what his 2012 results show but somehow he is unable to get back to his top form.

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I'm sure he'll start trying again for Indy

well how can some of you guys say he isn't trying when his bike falls apart?

he had a freakish series of bad luck so far, and i admit i'm inclined to believe yamaha treat him like another edwards.

as a wsbk fan i hope he won't clean up next year to make the series look bad but i'm really looking forward to see ben on machinery that suits him and on a bike/team that allows him to show his best.

its a shame , hes one of my favorite gp riders and probably has more wins to come than many say he will.



as for the race,to be honest it was a bit of a let down. not that it was boring or something like that, but after the first few laps i was expecting an epic three way battle or at least a good duel between stoner and lorenzo.

super ride by stoner, smart race by lorenzo,good for hayden to leave both satellite hondas behind him.

good ride by bradl , i'm sure visting laguna on a gp bike for the first time is a big challenge.

whats wrong with bautista?maybe hes not the best rider out there but hes underperforming so far this season

broken swing arm for spies? maybe the yelled at mechanic had a little night shift with a saw. i really want ben to finish the season with a couple of podiums and maybe even a win (indy?).not only because i like him but if he finishes lowly because of whatever reasons (.... treatment, bad luck) and then dominates wsbk on a good bike as at least co #1 rider it will belittle the whole series

chopperman said:

hahaha, even though i won $$ it did cost me my pride though mate. I actually bet on Stoner

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It's weird, but maybe because he's been having such a weird season thus far - I wasn't feeling it; especially after him and Lorenzo trading

places for the lap record in QP. Lorenzo looked so solid. I could hardly believe the way Stoner pulled away when he passed Lorenzo.

Hope you made some bucks on your bet. Tuck it away for next year mate.

Garbin said:

OK(ish) race. New Honda engine in Stoner's bike looked to have the acceleration over Lorenzo's Yamaha. Dovi & Cal locked together all race. Feel sorry for Ben, it definitely looked like something very wrong happened to the rear of his bike which caused his crash.

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I don't think it was so much that the Honda had that much more motor. If it did Dani would have been closer to the front at the end.

Stoner just really set up that pass so beautifully and got amazing drive.

I thought it was a good race, Casey and Jlo weren't able to break away from each other until the end when I suspect Jlo wanted to play it safe rather than trying to keep up with Casey and risk a crash. They each had their bobbles but Casey stayed on the gas, still you could tell he wasn't out of the woods and Jlo was there for a little while after the pass, he had to fight until the end.

How can anyone say that wasn't a good race? Oh, that's right Stoner won.



Bloody good strategic and ballsy ride by Stoner. Lorenzo is super fast but never looks it. Stoner just looks exciting because he is always loose.



Spies bike is most certainly being assembled out of the parts bin. That is just not acceptable to have a swing arm failure. Serious questions need to be asked.



Pleased for Hayden who was also on the soft tyre.



I was worried for Rossi. Looked like he had no idea where he was after the crash just walking around aimlessly. Marshals should have been straight there when he started walking back towards the track. Would not be surprised if we learn he suffered a concussion.



Laguna on these 1000's looks very difficult to pass. Stoner made 2 brilliant passes on 2 of the best riders we have ever seen. That is exciting and deserves applauds but they will not come.

Spies (swing arm failure??) should leave Yamaha before something really bad happens.



After today Rossi has to consider Ducati a waste of time.

Honda and Yamaha have a tech edge that will be hard to overcome.



If either or both build production race bikes, CRTs are gone.



If the CRTs had a displacement advantage, would they do better ???

How about

Moto3, 300cc twins.

Moto2, 600cc stays the same.

Moto GP 900cc.



300,600,900 , a nice progression.



Remember when, with 800cc, the tires would be working well at the end of the race.

As soon as they went to 1000cc the tires would no longer last.



World superbike has the same problem, Corser would get the hole shot and by lap 6 his tires were shaged.

Too much HP.

Years ago Ten Kate learned to adjust HP to match tire durability.

Rae often runs a ways back from the front, then moves up as other rides lose their tires.

Finally, this year, all the others have finally caught on.

-Just sayin

tphil said:

Spies (swing arm failure??) should leave Yamaha before something really bad happens.



After today Rossi has to consider Ducati a waste of time.

Honda and Yamaha have a tech edge that will be hard to overcome.



If either or both build production race bikes, CRTs are gone.



If the CRTs had a displacement advantage, would they do better ???

How about

Moto3, 300cc twins.

Moto2, 600cc stays the same.

Moto GP 900cc.



300,600,900 , a nice progression.



Remember when, with 800cc, the tires would be working well at the end of the race.

As soon as they went to 1000cc the tires would no longer last.



World superbike has the same problem, Corser would get the hole shot and by lap 6 his tires were shaged.

Too much HP.

Years ago Ten Kate learned to adjust HP to match tire durability.

Rae often runs a ways back from the front, then moves up as other rides lose their tires.

Finally, this year, all the others have finally caught on.

-Just sayin

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Though the extra HP may contribute, Bridgestone are using substantially diifferent compounds than last year.

They heat up quicker helping cold tyre high sides, but do fade a little towards the end.

Post race Q&A excerpt with Spies...



Q: "...How do you look back on the first half of the season? Not the best first half of the season you've ever had."



A: "Complete .......It's been the worst season we've ever had...and that's why I have decided to do what I am going to do in the future and change some stuff around. There has been a lot of things that have happened that honestly haven't been my fault...hadn't been other people's fault either it's just been a lot of bad luck. There is not just one finger to point at...but just...it hasn't come around, hasn't been what we wanted...what I wanted...what Yamaha wanted...and it's been a bad season, but also we've had some good races and every time it seems we start going good like Assen...we looked to have a good race...we had the tire chunk...today we had the swing arm break...you know when does it stop really? I mean...just...right now I have almost given up on the season and try to approach race by race but that's not even happening. We are doing the best we can it's just not working out right now."



Q: "What are your expectations for the second half of the season?"



A: "Pretty much hoping it's better than the first half...it literally can't get any worse."

Did anybody notice how Spies was sliding off the track with the M1 exhaust jammed up his ...? Kinda sums up the season so far for him.

Stoner has figured out the soft tires and maybe the new engine helped a bit also

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“It's been a difficult weekend for us in general especially trying to make the hard tyre work. So for the race I decided to go with the soft option and be a little more careful with the tyre, keep a little more traction and not spin so much,” Stoner explained.​

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Boring race...pretty straight forward. I thought for a second there that it could be exciting



Spies had a broken swingarm which apparently caused his crash.

Rossi had a ducati which apparently caused his crash.



WTF are we gonna do for 3 weeks with no racing?!

Ngads said:

Boring race...pretty straight forward. I thought for a second there that it could be exciting



Spies had a broken swingarm which apparently caused his crash.

Rossi had a ducati which apparently caused his crash.



WTF are we gonna do for 3 weeks with no racing?!

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I beg to differ. From a strategy point of view it was outstanding.

For a while even I lost the faith with Casey when he dropped back from Lorenzo mid-race. Turns out he was nursing his tyres for a late (and successful) run at Lorenzo.

Keshav said:

I don't think it was so much that the Honda had that much more motor. If it did Dani would have been closer to the front at the end.

Stoner just really set up that pass so beautifully and got amazing drive.

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This.



The Honda didn't look like it had motor to spare until Stoner did that pass perfectly and made it look like last years power differential.

bluegreen said:

This.



The Honda didn't look like it had motor to spare until Stoner did that pass perfectly and made it look like last years power differential.

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Yeah if the new motor helped it was by being easier on the tires, it's supposed to be smoother power delivery

On board with Spies at 'that' moment (includes a number of otehr angles)



http://youtu.be/3ZdB8Edvcr8







And one fan gets a keepsake.



http://youtu.be/1qqC0at-dek