Michelin® Australian Motorcycle GP 2016 Nicky Hayden extravaganza with spoilers

Gaz said:

And now, that guy that does not whinge, whine or complain has his usual 'statement' and wants Phillip Island changed to earlier in the year - MotoGP News - Valentino Rossi: Move Australian MotoGP to start of season


I can feel a petition coming on ...............

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It does make sense to run the Phillip Island round at a time its more prone to better weather, but the problem is that the place is in Victoria. It has .... unpredictable weather all year round.

I remember a Christmas I was down in Melbourne with family, Christmas eve was 34 degrees hot and sunny ... Christmas day had a top of 15 degrees overcast with rain.

AJV80 said:

It does make sense to run the Phillip Island round at a time its more prone to better weather, but the problem is that the place is in Victoria. It has .... unpredictable weather all year round.

I remember a Christmas I was down in Melbourne with family, Christmas eve was 34 degrees hot and sunny ... Christmas day had a top of 15 degrees overcast with rain.

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Look at teh history of earlier running though.

WSBK has had tyre issues due to heat, races cancelled due to weather.

MotoGP has actually had very few wet races at the island with the only 'realistic' issue being caused by failure of a tyre company to test on a new surface and thus we had 2013.

Point is, it is a bloody place prone to weather variables and not all can be perfect so really, perhaps there are times when the princess should suck it up rather than spit it out

Pissing down again

Gaz said:

Look at teh history of earlier running though.

WSBK has had tyre issues due to heat, races cancelled due to weather.

MotoGP has actually had very few wet races at the island with the only 'realistic' issue being caused by failure of a tyre company to test on a new surface and thus we had 2013.

Point is, it is a bloody place prone to weather variables and not all can be perfect so really, perhaps there are times when the princess should suck it up rather than spit it out

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Exactly, I grew up in Melbourne until i was 25, the weather is completely ...... all year round, harder to pick than a broken nose. You don't get predictable weather at any time of the year, It doesn't follow weather patterns and seasons like normal places do.

AJV80 said:

Exactly, I grew up in Melbourne until i was 25, the weather is completely ...... all year round, harder to pick than a broken nose. You don't get predictable weather at any time of the year, It doesn't follow weather patterns and seasons like normal places do.

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Mind you - I see a pattern

Last week he doesn't want 3 race weekends in a row

This week he again wants the date for PI moved

I have the solution ............ maybe he should buy the series and do with it what he wants (dashboards, non consecutive weekends, move PI, etc etc)

Just tow PI into the adriatic, hold it in july/aug

Gaz said:

Mind you - I see a pattern

Last week he doesn't want 3 race weekends in a row

This week he again wants the date for PI moved

I have the solution ............ maybe he should buy the series and do with it what he wants (dashboards, non consecutive weekends, move PI, etc etc)

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Gaz, could you imagine if he bought the series and was also competing in it.

Casey who? Go Jack Miller P2 and no crashes. What happened to Crashslow I thought he loved these conditions. Poor old Lorenzo can't figure it out, champ to chump.

I hate it when bad weather ruins races like PI, these tracks are just meant for us to see the bikes hammered around whilst sliding and weaving at crazy speeds.
Instead we get sterile races of attrition, even the flag to flag races are boring.
I'm praying for sunshine so we can see Marquez riding that Honda how it should be ridden.

yamfan said:

I hate it when bad weather ruins races like PI, these tracks are just meant for us to see the bikes hammered around whilst sliding and weaving at crazy speeds.
Instead we get sterile races of attrition, even the flag to flag races are boring.
I'm praying for sunshine so we can see Marquez riding that Honda how it should be ridden.

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Hayden makes Q2 and Rossi and Jorge has to go through Q1????

Exciting!! Love it..


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Mike Jones in front of his Avintia team mate, Tito (where is Harry and MV, Tito needs tips) and Lorenzo ............. great effort even allowing for track familiarity.

Big kudos here to Mike who again is doing himself no harm at all.

1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 320.7 1'33.155
2 43 Jack MILLER AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 326.2 1'33.209 0.054 / 0.054
3 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 321.5 1'34.399 1.244 / 1.190
4 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 319.5 1'34.650 1.495 / 0.251
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 318.1 1'34.721 1.566 / 0.071
6 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati 310.8 1'34.852 1.697 / 0.131
7 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 316.6 1'34.914 1.759 / 0.062
8 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team Honda 322.2 1'35.189 2.034 / 0.275
9 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati 321.8 1'35.269 2.114 / 0.080
10 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Ducati Team Ducati 319.3 1'35.300 2.145 / 0.031
11 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 320.8 1'35.364 2.209 / 0.064
12 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 319.8 1'35.463 2.308 / 0.099
13 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati 317.9 1'35.736 2.581 / 0.273
14 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 321.4 1'36.029 2.874 / 0.293
15 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 317.9 1'36.189 3.034 / 0.160
16 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 316.9 1'36.351 3.196 / 0.162
17 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati 318.6 1'36.447 3.292 / 0.096
18 7 Mike JONES AUS Avintia Racing Ducati 313.8 1'36.756 3.601 / 0.309
19 76 Loris BAZ FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 321.1 1'37.193 4.038 / 0.437
20 53 Tito RABAT SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 288.2 1'38.012 4.857 / 0.819
21 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 307.2 1'38.318 5.163 / 0.306


Apparently Miller's time is on full slicks with Marquez on inter front/slick rear

Interesting for me (although explained by the tyres) was that Miller's top speed is the fastest but again, slicks will equal better drive with tomorrow bring a more realistic level of pace



Will also say now that I am expecting Lorenzo to start from a position lower than 12.

michaelm said:

Bottom line is that they have a tyre for which conditions where Michelin are confident it will last half race distance do not exist, since I gather it was barely possible for PI to have been wetter.

I will have to re-examine my criticism of a wide enough variety of tyres not being made available. They have a tyre which only suits extremely wet conditions which will change significantly before half race distance; presumably each tyre comes with its own clairvoyant who advises before the tyre is fitted. Either that or the tyre has a design or construction flaw, as many of us argued after the tyre delaminations in that previous race.

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Head of Michy said something abiut them being ok for 30laps if conditions stayed as crap as they were during that session. So once again, the question would be better placed with the teams/riders, I guess.
I am not defending Michelin, I am as puzzled about it as you. The only thing that makes sense it that they brought it to the flyaway rounds as a Sepang monsoon spec tyre.

Pic from this morning (not mine)

If it needs a logon, apologies so have attached the image as well

Maverick F's up entering pit lane

Stories vary but supposedly to some there he looked up at the big screen and then did this as he entered the pits - https://streamable.com/ffv3

Sunday is really shaping up to be a strategy race more than anything. If we get the kind of variable conditions of FP3 during the race, that's going to be an absolute nightmare to deal with. Usually GP lucks out and gets dry weather for most Island races.

Lorenzo spent a bit of time out there when only Hayden was out there practicing on the wet conditions. He did get his time down relative to yesterday.

AJV80 said:

I really don't understand what the point of this super soft front wet tyre is. If you cannot do more than 10 laps on them even in the very first practice session why did they even offer the tyre in the first place.

Are there any other tyres that Michelin have this weekend that also have a similar question mark over them?

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The only use for this tyre is a flag to flag scenario, dry conditions to wet, 10 laps remaining.

Barbedwirebikerr said:

The only use for this tyre is a flag to flag scenario, dry conditions to wet, 10 laps remaining.

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True, but even then it requires no more than 10 laps (supposedly) on the tyre which restricts it's use even in a flag to flag as the race is scheduled at 27 laps, thus there would be the risk of a double pit stop.

To me, it just sounds, looks and smells a little fishy in terms of why bring it and why restrict it's use to 10 laps for any of the fly aways.

IMO only, but I wonder if it is a pure test tyre (unofficially) with the restriction in place to try to severely limit the use in race conditions for 2016 (2017 however?)