MotoGP: 2016 Round 02 - Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina (SPOILERS)

Rossi has just said live on TV that he had a problem with the feeling of the tyres, not that the bike had a mechanical problem. That could be something as simple as they weren't up to temperature like the ones he got off. Marquez is younger and more gung ho, he nailed the throttle on his second bike on cold tyres and out rode Rossi, it was simple and easy to see. If Iannone hadn't gone all maniac, Valentino would be skulking around in his garage bemoaning 4th again.

Thankfully Argentina is over and done with. It was a clusterfuck of a weekend from the top down. The flag to flag race was moronic...was hoping for a wet race just to prevent that, but alas. Michelin better get their .... together for COTA, though that may be a tall order given it's next weekend.

Ride of the day goes to Marc Marquez. He made up for that Phillip Island 2013 debacle completely. Given how uncertain things were just 2 months ago for the Repsol-Honda it seems almost amazing that one of their bikes wins the second race of the season. I was thinking it might be till June before we saw a RCV victory, but it still goes to show how important MM is to the success of that bike. He managed to make lemonade in the first half of the race, and then made wine in the second half when he dropped the hammer. His pace was absolutely devastating. Kudos to him on a well-deserved victory.

Losers of the day: There's a few. First up goes to Iannone for being a corner away from a podium and riding in hotter than Carmen Electra circa 1995 to torpedo Dovizioso. I'm not a fan of Dovizioso but you can rely on him to be a consistent rider all the time, something I don't see Iannone ever achieving. There was no point to be doing anything other than holding position at that point and to get out with the assured finish. Instead he heads to Austin 0/2. Rossi is a loser since the flag to flag took inadvertently took him from a possible win to what would have been a 4th place. Lorenzo is another loser of the weekend, when he finally looked to get the bike setup sorted out, the rear tires were withdrawn due to Redding's delamination. Vinales is another loser since he made an unforced error that you could see coming a few laps early where he just ran hot into turn 1.

Now we're heading to another Honda circuit, or specifically a MM circuit. The straights are going to possibly be problematic if he can't gain time in the corners. He'll still be the favorite at COTA till something otherwise occurs.

steeeeeve said:

If they knew rossi's first bike was that much faster they would have kept him on it the maximum number of laps.

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I reckon even knowing that was so, they would have been speculating on what tactical advantages MM would gain by being allowed to change first. The possibilities were endless.

Rossi was asked point blank what the difference between the two bikes, he gave a non-answer.

My thought is that it's a vague enough statement to make, but that he has refused to mention anything specific tells me it's possible ........ to cover for the fact that he had no answer for matching MM's race pace, and then got mugged by the Ducati's near the end.

JPSLotus said:

Rossi was asked point blank what the difference between the two bikes, he gave a non-answer.

My thought is that it's a vague enough statement to make, but that he has refused to mention anything specific tells me it's possible ........ to cover for the fact that he had no answer for matching MM's race pace, and then got mugged by the Ducati's near the end.

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He said his two bikes had the same settings, but believes the tires on the 2nd bike were the reason he never felt as comfortable as on the first. Good result either way.

lil red rocket pilot said:

Interesting

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Yes, he has already re-enacted the Laguna Secal 08 corkscrew "pass", and the Jerez 05 last corner pass (except with Loenzo as the other party), so he may be up for reversing the Gibernau curse.

I can't imagine many situations where Rossi will beat MM if MM concentrates on beating him and continues to be judicious in terms of otherwise accepting the best possible result as he did at Qatar. Argentina is the one track where Rossi might have outlasted him on the basis of tyre wear in a full race, otherwise adverse conditions which might advantage Rossi over Lorenzo don't really give him an advantage over MM.

Even a #2 bike shouldn't cause a decrease of a full second per lap. Rossi had pace with his first bike. There was obviously at least some sort of issue with the second bike to account for the huge difference in lap times. When Marquez has a lead he rides flat out, he doesn't "toy" with anybody when he has a lead. I'm surprised all of the Marquez fanboys don't even know his riding style. What a joke

michaelm said:

Yes, he has already re-enacted the Laguna Secal 08 corkscrew "pass", and the Jerez 05 last corner pass (except with Loenzo as the other party), so he may be up for reversing the Gibernau curse.

I can't imagine many situations where Rossi will beat MM if MM concentrates on beating him and continues to be judicious in terms of otherwise accepting the best possible result as he did at Qatar. Argentina is the one track where Rossi might have outlasted him on the basis of tyre wear in a full race, otherwise adverse conditions which might advantage Rossi over Lorenzo don't really give him an advantage over MM.

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I agree.
Although I do think it was a good idea by MM to have the no1 bike waiting, as others have said same settings as no1 on no2 doesn't always equate to the same feeling bike.
During the race I didn't think MM looked settled in part1
There again he never looks settled.

For the record I am in no way admiring or liking MM!
I still despise the little fukker

maybe lorenzo already signed with duc at qatar and AI knows only one of them will stay and he is acting up, two weeks in row he is acting like a maniac. now that suzuki offer probably sounds juicy and dovi doesnt have to reach the points they set for him.

Something is definitely up with Iannone. I know he's always been a bit wild, but man he is really riding over the edge now. Did he even bother to attempt to push his bike across the line with Dovi? When the camera cut to him he was sitting down with a "I don't give a ..." look on his face.

JPSLotus said:

Rossi was asked point blank what the difference between the two bikes, he gave a non-answer.

My thought is that it's a vague enough statement to make, but that he has refused to mention anything specific tells me it's possible ........ to cover for the fact that he had no answer for matching MM's race pace, and then got mugged by the Ducati's near the end.

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I've explained above, he said it was tyres, but I don't discount your opinion. He maintained he could "fight" with Marquez. Bollocks... The lad hammered him good style

michaelm said:

Yes, he has already re-enacted the Laguna Secal 08 corkscrew "pass", and the Jerez 05 last corner pass (except with Loenzo as the other party), so he may be up for reversing the Gibernau curse.

I can't imagine many situations where Rossi will beat MM if MM concentrates on beating him and continues to be judicious in terms of otherwise accepting the best possible result as he did at Qatar. Argentina is the one track where Rossi might have outlasted him on the basis of tyre wear in a full race, otherwise adverse conditions which might advantage Rossi over Lorenzo don't really give him an advantage over MM.

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It's a shame they weren't able to run the race with both riders on their #1 bikes. I reckon Rossi might have put up more of a fight. He looked very confident in practice and in the first leg of the race as well, tho MM might have been holding back in the first leg in order to ascertain the best lines that avoided the damp spots that cost others their race. Rossi seemed to have no problems keeping enough space between him and the Ducatis in the first leg. Interesting too is that the Ducatis seemed to go from strength to strength in both legs. Hats off to Gigi. What was going on with Lorenzo is a total mystery. A Spaniard in the works?


BTW - what the Italian word for 'Schmuck"? Buffone?
Buffone Joe; it has a certain ring to it.

moto vudu said:

Something is definitely up with Iannone. I know he's always been a bit wild, but man he is really riding over the edge now. Did he even bother to attempt to push his bike across the line with Dovi? When the camera cut to him he was sitting down with a "I don't give a ..." look on his face.

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His behavior is starting to mirror that of Simoncelli.

Bern1 said:

Could it be perhaps that a certain Australian was in fact a much better development rider for Honda than he was given credit for from its current # 1 rider?

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No

MigsAngel said:

JLO to Ducati, Maverick the gets Yamaha tide...and Iannone would replace Maverick at Suzuki

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Can you make it through one thread without making up predictions

I think I know someone who would like this post

Seems like Rossi has chosen the wrong bike for a few years now. Or maybe Yamaha has chosen the wrong rider for their alien bike for a few years now

michaelm said:

I wonder if MM has decided that Valentino will never win another race?

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Haha. Nice one Mike

MM sitting behind Dovizioso and Rossi wasn't terribly shocking.

I think this is part of the new and improved MM if you will where he will sit behind just to gauge pace, lines, and weak points for overtaking before he decides to drop the hammer.

I don't know what to make entirely of him even now since he does have some serious ability to be able to have kept his riding style instead of adapting it to these tires.

moto vudu said:

Something is definitely up with Iannone. I know he's always been a bit wild, but man he is really riding over the edge now. Did he even bother to attempt to push his bike across the line with Dovi? When the camera cut to him he was sitting down with a "I don't give a ..." look on his face.

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Ever since he murdered a seagull its like he has no regard for life. Once you've had the taste of blood I guess.