Joined May 2009
6K Posts | 4K+
Shovel's Club
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
I really hope this is the final year Crutchlow finds himself on anything resembling good machinery.
He's absolutely ....... worthless.
I was really hoping Dani Pedrosa would come on stronger, and I know its early, but seems like he is either content to sit in 5th/6th and ride along...or just lacks the killer instinct the leaders have. Any thoughts on Pedrosa?
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
He's always had issues with getting heat into tires due to his diminutive stature - so there's a likelihood that he's a bit more cautious re: determining the limits of the Michelins. He's suffered so many injuries that have cost him missed races- that it wouldn't be illogical in his case to be extra cautious in the early stages. Unlike Iannone - Dani knows you don't win the championship in the first race of the season. Tho winning it doesn't hurt.
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Other than the fact of the season beginning - I'm happy that the Michelins are something like ready for prime time. Glad there wasn't an excess of crashes. Given that Michelin has said improvements are still to come, there's the hope riders will become more confident and the racing less processional. Also glad that the Honda (at least MM's) is not (thus far) the disaster we all feared. Lorenzo walking away with every race would produce as much fan ennui as the two years of Marquez eating up the scenery. A repeat of that scenario would really ramp up production at the conspiracy factory. Interesting fact; during MM's last year in Moto 2 and his first two seasons in MGP my stock in Reynolds Aluminum went up 18%.
Joined Oct 2008
6K Posts | 5K+
In Cider
Pathetic is the word I'd use.
Lorenzo telling his haters to STFU.
Love it
Lorenzo: Metronomic as usual, seemed to have the upper hand all weekend. That fast lap near the end must have crushed his rivals. I will reserve judgement on the championship until we come to some of his bogey circuits.
Dovi: Rider of the race for me. Only a few days ago I wrote him off as potentially having a Melandri-esque season, how wrong I was so far! Where on earth did he come from after all the troubles he had in testing?!
Marquez: Seems to have learned from last year, rode a solid race and picked up some points.
Vinales: Disappointment of the race for me, never seemed to recover from a bad start.
Laverty & Barbera: Both were impressive.
Iannone: Unlucky, tiny mistake and his race was done. Would have been interested to see if he could have given Lorenzo a harder time.
Joined Aug 2008
6K Posts | 748+
Thailand
Joined Oct 2012
3K Posts | 725+
Crab Key
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Don't know what Pedrosa ran. More curious- how does Qatar surface compare with that of the more abrasive ones? The softs barely lasted the race or so I'm told.
Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
Qatar is not traditionally kind to tyres, primarily due to the abrasive nature of the sand. I think the ambient temperature was around 20 degrees C and 23C surface temp - so not really problematic. Granted, Jorge is kind to his tyres, but did you see his rear tyre in Parc Ferme? Unbelieveable - it looked as though it had done half race distance. We know that Michelin produce and exceptional product when it comes to rears, but you can hear the magnums of champagne popping at Clermont Ferrand because in terms of durability, this is very significant. Saying that, we'll wait and see how it fairs at Catalunya or Sepang with a 55 degree track temp. If those tyres start to go off, that's when we can look to Vale to manage and exploit the situation.
Speaking of which, had he won this, this forum would be awash with insipid yellow right now. Why is there no interest in the sport from the members that deluged this forum last October/November when their hero doesn't feature on the podium? Right now in the UK, glory hunters and bandwagon jumpers are either hanging up their Man Unt. shirts in their droves or trading red for blue. Three years is not too long, I'm already anticipating the yellow coming out in the wash - but it may well be in the absence of regular victories, they will possibly have faded long before then. Personally, I will continue to enjoy Valentino race and at times contest the win. Preferable treatment or not, petulant egotistical diva or not, at 37 it's nothing short of admirable to compete and challenge for wins at this level but I'd like to see it in a dignified manner unlike his ....... following on race day - who as ever seem to resent any notion of competition.
Sod the top speed, wonderful to see a Ducati actually contemplate a corner again.
Sure, he is amazingly competitive at age 37, and more than likely would have been smarter than MM, and have had more raw speed than Lorenzo, when he himself was 25 and beaten both on equal machinery.
I thought Valentino had been humbled a little by the Ducati adventure and liked his attitude in both 2013 and 2014 when he said he was happy to be racing competitively again, unlike JL and Pedrosa who he thought were in despair because they couldn't win against MM in 2014.
I lost much respect for him at the end of last year though, he in no way needs the 10th championship to prove anything, and the idea that somehow a 10th title is his due because he was so good for so long, wants it so much and his fans love him so much which he seems to have bought into along with many of those fans bids fair to turn the sport into a farce imo. Surely Lorenzo and MM are allowed to pursue their own ambitions/create their own legends without being booed for beating Valentino by his fans, and without now being vilified by Valentino himself.
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Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Didn't see his tires. Too tired to go out in middle of night - stayed in hotel and watched race on phone with headphones on whilst wife slept. Re: Yellow Invaders, don't remind me. Agree about Rossi. As a geezer - I'm happy to see him out there doing it at his "advanced age". Re: Ducati - the year Rossi dared to play Pettruchio with the boys from Bologna seem a million years ago. Every year we watched Nicky being ground down by the weight of theirs obstinate refusal to cut loose unworkable technologies, while we all kept dreaming up reasons why it was all going to come together next year was torture. Ducati really have something now. The expression "career killer" hasn't been used here for some time.
Joined Oct 2011
248 Posts | 112+
Adelaide
Joined Oct 2008
6K Posts | 5K+
In Cider
Along those lines, does anyone reckon Crutchlow regrets jumping ship? Arguably his '15 would have been better on the GP15 than the LCR Honda and undoubtedly this yr. Even if not, he'd be picking up a factory paycheque.
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Joined Oct 2008
6K Posts | 5K+
In Cider
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
I'm going to disagree about it being admirable Arrab.
Since we never saw any top rider stick around long enough to that age, it's being viewed in a vacuum. It looks more admirable than it actually is. It's already been proven in other motor sports that people can win at that age, or even older. GP has been an anomaly in that pretty much every top rider hung up the boots as they neared their mid-30s.
Of the last group of great riders; Schwantz, Rainey, and Doohan. Doohan went the longest and was done at 34. Mamola and Lawson were done at 33 and 34 respectively. Rainey had no say in the matter but was finished at 33.
The sample size in GP simply doesn't exist to draw any real inference about it being something remarkable in my opinion.
Of motorcycle achievements though, a 47 year old won the Daytona 200. John McGuinness holds the fastest lap ever recorded around the Isle of Man at the age of 43 all while continuing to win. Those are far more remarkable feats when looked at from a greater perspective imo. To be near the front in GP at 37 takes skill yes, but again, 1:4 chance machinery helps quite a bit and cannot, nor should not be overlooked.
