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Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky Predictions & Race Discussion ce

I think MM rode for the points in that race. Probably would have liked to get 2nd place but such is life. He'll probably do the same thing at the Red Bull Ring, unless he has something extra in the tank to offset the Ducati advantage. I think we'll get a Dovi/Lorenzo battle there. Will be interesting if it happens to see what Lorenzo is able to do. MM was super strong in sector 2 last year and was making up most of his time there, so we'll see if the same holds true this year or if the changes to the RCV take away that advantage.
 
synn said:
He is second in the championship without a single win “in a field this stacked”.
So yes, with a few wins added to that, there’s a very good chance he can win the championship.
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thats the probelm a few wins dont kid yourself he isnt good enough to win. he has avg 1 race (thats an 8 year sample size and he may not win one this year) win a year since 2010 where the avg championship win total is 5. hes good enough to circle the field and clean up when the guys pushing crash to gain points. maybe he can do a hayden and get one but i highly doubt it.

ps if rossi wins every race and MM comes in second every race he still wont win and we all know thats not going to happen.
 
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povol said:
Good,you have admitted it, no more whining from you and the sheep about the Yamaha being a turd . Now if you can come to grips that Rossi is not in Marquez’ league you will be a much happier little boy.
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I could call you a moron, but that’s offensive to morons.
 
michaelm said:
Perhaps so. Then again perhaps he just thought he and Dovi had both ridden good races, and Dovi deserved to be congratulated for beating him fair and square if closely.

I would have been happy were I Jorge, if I am not mistaken he was competitive on the hard tire for the first time, and beat MM riding same.
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Being on the podium again could doubtless bring on a state of euphoria induced bonhomie.

Good observation re: hard tire.

Although, and this shouldn't be controversial, I suspect, as others do, Marquez was riding for points, tho given the dynamic on that last lap, I think it might have been too big an ask to get past both Ducatis; especially with an on-form Lorenzo slicing and dicing reminiscent of his second year on the Yamaha. It's really a shame he's leaving just as things were shaping up. I can't help wondering if Dovi will come back to form now that Jorge is on the way out and the team's focus moves to Dovi.
 
I think he had every intention of going for the win but didn’t figure Lorenzo into the equation when formulating the race strategy. He said all weekend it was Dovi who was going to be the one to beat. The strategy was to pull away with 5 laps to go then settle it with Dovi. To his surprise he was having to defend against the fastest rider on the track and couldn’t go on the offensive for the win. Like he said , the Ducs are incredibly hard to pass on a track with fast flowing corners as they accelerate and brake better than the Honda which left him one spot on the track to pass . The Duc was just better this weekend and I suspect they will be next weekend as well . Another race like this one will see Dovi and Lorenzo breathing down Rossi’s neck for second
 
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Keshav said:
Being on the podium again could doubtless bring on a state of euphoria induced bonhomie.

Good observation re: hard tire.

Although, and this shouldn't be controversial, I suspect, as others do, Marquez was riding for points, tho given the dynamic on that last lap, I think it might have been too big an ask to get past both Ducatis; especially with an on-form Lorenzo slicing and dicing reminiscent of his second year on the Yamaha. It's really a shame he's leaving just as things were shaping up. I can't help wondering if Dovi will come back to form now that Jorge is on the way out and the team's focus moves to Dovi.
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He was better in the second half of the season last year, and an astute poster predicted before the recent race that he would be again, and I am sure after this race he will be.

I don't think you can blame Lorenzo for the 2 dnfs he had when he crashed on his own, or for Dovi's drawn out contract negotiations. Interestingly, in the last laps of this race there was a fairly similar situation to the other crash which took all 3 of Dovi, Lorenzo and Pedrosa out, and Marquez didn't do what Pedrosa attempted when Dovi and Lorenzo were passing and re-passing, nor did Dovi refrain from immediately re-passing; I think in that incident there was an element of Dovi being of the belief Jorge should have conceded to him even at that stage of the season, not entirely unreasonably I guess given Jorge's form for Ducati up until then. Still can't defend Lorenzo for not ceding to Dovi at Valencia last year, miniscule though Dovi's chances may have possibly been in Lorenzo's view.
 
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Little Walter said:
You read too much into what was an anodyne statement. He can be unpleasant and still be effective as a rider. I never said he had become unwelcome. And you are one of the foremost persons purveyors of the rider as developer is a myth narrative. I agree on that. As to Gigi wanting him to stay, that's a given. They have history and a strong relationship. No surprise there. The bike, in any case had made the bulk of its major improvements, under Gigi's supervision, well before Lorenzo came aboard. My point was only that Lorenzo might be getting pointers from his manager about presenting a less sullen demeanor to attract better notices from the press, and to not present over much as a primadonna to the folks at HRC, who by all reports are quite happy with Marquez.
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A further reply Walter, apologies, I had a busy day and was crabby yesterday.

Sure Lorenzo could do with some improved public relations, he is making a big further move and has left both Yamaha and Ducati after some discord, and probably was told by all and sundry to tone it down after his pre race acrimony with Dovi.

You touched on some of my longer term pre-occupations however, I wouldn't necessarily award Jorge the major blame for discord at Yamaha, although my anti-Rossi himself sentiments are cooling down and I could see myself getting back to close to my 2014 view of mostly admiring him for still being out there racing because he likes it.

The list of riders who have fallen out with Ducati as factory motogp riders, or perhaps more accurately in most cases with management at a level above Ducati Corse itself, is rather long, and includes nearly everyone, such as the likes of Rossi, and even Ducati luminaries like Stoner and Bayliss at times in their history with Ducati. Dovi is about the only one who has maintained a consistently favourable longterm relationship, which is still in the thus far category for me, although I guess Capirossi did but they couldn't keep both Stoner and him, and Gibernau was replaced after getting injured when it was late in his career anyway.
 
michaelm said:
A further reply Walter, apologies, I had a busy day and was crabby yesterday.

Sure Lorenzo could do with some improved public relations, he is making a big further move and has left both Yamaha and Ducati after some discord, and probably was told by all and sundry to tone it down after his pre race acrimony with Dovi.

You touched on some of my longer term pre-occupations however, I wouldn't necessarily award Jorge the major blame for discord at Yamaha, although my anti-Rossi himself sentiments are cooling down and I could see myself getting back to close to my 2014 view of mostly admiring him for still being out there racing because he likes it.

The list of riders who have fallen out with Ducati as factory motogp riders, or perhaps more accurately in most cases with management at a level above Ducati Corse itself, is rather long, and includes nearly everyone, such as the likes of Rossi, and even Ducati luminaries like Stoner and Bayliss at times in their history with Ducati. Dovi is about the only one who has maintained a consistently favourable longterm relationship, which is still in the thus far category for me, although I guess Capirossi did but they couldn't keep both Stoner and him, and Gibernau was replaced after getting injured when it was late in his career anyway.
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Tis all good Sir.

I have not attributed any of the discord in the Yamaha garage to Jorge, but may have just gone along with the crowd-narrative, that seemed reasonable, that the problem was Rossi's inability to cope with a teammate who was more than a parts tester. I have not heard him griping about Ducati so no comment there. I just thought his accusation that Dovi had been undermining him for years sounded insane, in that he never specified in any detail how Dovi allegedly accomplished this. His all around grumpiness could be greatly amplified by way extreme media attention. Lawson wasn't the cheeriest guy either but, he wasn't in front of so many video cameras all the time, and not being constantly goaded by the press for juicy gossip, so was perceived as being merely "stoic".
 
Little Walter said:
Tis all good Sir.

I have not attributed any of the discord in the Yamaha garage to Jorge, but may have just gone along with the crowd-narrative, that seemed reasonable, that the problem was Rossi's inability to cope with a teammate who was more than a parts tester. I have not heard him griping about Ducati so no comment there. I just thought his accusation that Dovi had been undermining him for years sounded insane, in that he never specified in any detail how Dovi allegedly accomplished this. His all around grumpiness could be greatly amplified by way extreme media attention. Lawson wasn't the cheeriest guy either but, he wasn't in front of so many video cameras all the time, and not being constantly goaded by the press for juicy gossip, so was perceived as being merely "stoic".
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Sure, I was intending to explain myself than further dispute you, in retrospect considering your initial post reasonable.

As I said, I do think Jorge would have been not very unhappy to be beaten narrowly and fairly by Dovi in the fashion he was though, coming on strong late in a race and being able to engage in cut and thrust which he hasn’t done overly for a number of years would be gratifying, particularly on a hard tire.
 
Keshav said:
Being on the podium again could doubtless bring on a state of euphoria induced bonhomie.

Good observation re: hard tire.

Although, and this shouldn't be controversial, I suspect, as others do, Marquez was riding for points, tho given the dynamic on that last lap, I think it might have been too big an ask to get past both Ducatis; especially with an on-form Lorenzo slicing and dicing reminiscent of his second year on the Yamaha. It's really a shame he's leaving just as things were shaping up. I can't help wondering if Dovi will come back to form now that Jorge is on the way out and the team's focus moves to Dovi.
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Well, I hope you are happy, you Dovi boot licker. :) It was a dominating win even though MM disrupted JLo's run at him.

I would not be surprised to see Andrea move ahead of Valentino before the end of the year. Although, that probably means JLo and/or others will have to finish ahead of Rossi also. Val still peddles awfully well for someone old enough to have sired half the field.
 
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Iamapony said:
Well, I hope you are happy, you Dovi boot licker. :) It was a dominating win even though MM disrupted JLo's run at him.

I would not be surprised to see Andrea move ahead of Valentino before the end of the year. Although, that probably means JLo and/or others will have to finish ahead of Rossi also. Val still peddles awfully well for someone old enough to have sired half the field.
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I really believe if this was the final race and Marquez needed to be on top of the podium to gain the championship, Lorenzo would not have been an issue. Happy of course to see Dovi back on form. Last half of 2017 was great and this year (especially Assen) ain't been bad. Folks can bad mouth the control tire all they want - but lap records are being broken while great duels are becoming a regular feature. Call me naive but this is starting to feel like a golden era.
 
You may be right, However, JLo passed MM back without any paint scrapping. Thus, I was impressed with the Ducs and JLo's riding. MM may be smart enough now to only care about staying ahead of VR until the standing change. I don't think that is a stretch for him, actually.
 
Keshav said:
I really believe if this was the final race and Marquez needed to be on top of the podium to gain the championship, Lorenzo would not have been an issue. Happy of course to see Dovi back on form. Last half of 2017 was great and this year (especially Assen) ain't been bad. Folks can bad mouth the control tire all they want - but lap records are being broken while great duels are becoming a regular feature. Call me naive but this is starting to feel like a golden era.
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This has gone beyond a control tire,they are attempting to control the championship by bringing compounds that they know will favor or hinder different riders to try and keep the championship close. Yea, it makes for good drama but it is almost like a penalty system that will not allow domination.Marc is dominating because yesterday was his worst finish this year in races he finished or didn't get penalized. His bad finish is a third. Since the rule was passed where the tire construction can't change, Michelin is ....... with a hodge podge of compounds that is over 20 and counting. This is more of an out of control tire because you don't know what the .... is going to happen
 
Keshav said:
At work and no time to find it. Post a link?
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