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what's up with melandri?

Hard to say, it's very possible he's suffering from the flu like many other riders. Word is Elias spent most of the day throwing up when he wasn't throwing down fast times. Stoner is apparently quite ill as well. Hopefully they will be well enough tomorrow to stay at the front.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ooost @ Apr 7 2006, 04:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Stoner is apparently quite ill as well.
did'nt seem to affect him very much. what would he have done had he not been sick!

I think the biggest affect it will have on him is stamina, same with Elias. If they are both well they will finish higher than where I have placed them.

i didnt get the passwords for the MGP site so i couldnt watch the qualifying...
did pedrosa fall off, i hear?
but fukk yeah Stoner! ...

AND BUGGER YOU TOPCAT, YOU CONVINCED ME TO CHANGE HIM AS MY SECOND RIDER!

Pedrosa fell off during FP3, nothing serious just lost the front.

Come on Crashey, live up to your name Fingers Crossed
I shouldnt worry, it`s only Stoner

What a fantastic race. I couldn't have imagined it any better.

THE GOOD: Rossi fans, there is never reason to worry, haven't you learned that? Superb stuff from Valentino, the dices he had with Stoner and Nicky were unbelievable. Mr. Consistency had a great race, couldn't believe he got a second place out of the whole ordeal, throughout FPs and through 57 minutes of qualy he looked to be in real trouble. Can he make it seven podiums in a row at Istanbul? Loris is absolutely on fire, in his last six starts he has four poles and three wins, I think he's got the Bridgestones and the GP06 all sorted out. Glad to see Gibbers taking some solid points. Impressive run for Stoner, I thought he would have stayed a bit closer to the front but I imagine he cooked his tire trying to run away from Rossi and Nicky in the early stages and the flu probably didn't help. Great little race from Pedrosa and Melandri for 6th throughout the entire race. Constant passing and re passing was great to watch when they cut away from the leaders. Hats off to Marco for charging to 7th from 12th on the grid.

THE BAD: Where was Colin Edwards? All pre season he was doing very similar times to Rossi now the chatter comes and he's nowhere to be found. Hopefully he can sort it out as well as Rossi has so he can get back to his consistent front running self again. What happened to Kenny Jr.? He was so fast in FPs and was very confident on race tires but he had nothing in the race. Team KR have an all new chasis in the works to be debuted at Le Mans, hoping that can help Kenny bring the KR211V closer to the front. Bridgestone rubber. Besides Ducati's very intelligent decision to run hard compounds on both the front and rear, Bridgestone had a disasterous race. Nakano was their only finisher besides the Ducs and he was nothing spectacular. I thought they were hot weather specialists, they need better tire life because a hard hard setup is not going to work out at every round. The flu. What could have been if Elias and Stoner were healthy...

THE UGLY: Rizla Suzuki. Four confirmed blown engines on the weekend, two for Hopper during FP3, one for Hopper in QP on his flyer and one for Vermeulen in Morning Warm Up. In addition, each rider DNF'd with a mechanical. I couldn't help but notice Hopkins repeated kicking the lower fairing of his GSV-R, probably did as much good as all the engineers at Suzuki Japan combined.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ooost @ Apr 8 2006, 09:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>What a fantastic race. I couldn't have imagined it any better.

Mr. Consistency had a great race, couldn't believe he got a second place out of the whole ordeal, throughout FPs and through 57 minutes of qualy he looked to be in real trouble.
i've noticed a pattern with hayden. in the last 6 races he's done the same sort of thing. he struggles, or seem's to anyway, in practice. then toward the end of the ouali session, put's on the sticky rubber & gets up into the 1st or 2nd row. then come race day he is suddenly on the pace. mind games perhaps?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ooost @ Apr 8 2006, 09:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>THE BAD: Where was Colin Edwards? All pre season he was doing very similar times to Rossi now the chatter comes and he's nowhere to be found.
mr mediocre! there are no more excuses! without rossi yamaha are up the .... river without a paddle!

Could be mind games. I also wonder if Pete Benson just has Nicky try practically every setting they have so they are 100% positive that they have the best idea of what direction to go come race day no matter what the conditions. It would surely explain his sub par times during FPs and the first 57 minutes of qualy. On the grid this morning during pre race interviews Nicky told the new likeable Aussie commentator that they made no changes overnight or after Morning Warm Up.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ooost @ Apr 8 2006, 09:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Bridgestone rubber. Besides Ducati's very intelligent decision to run hard compounds on both the front and rear, Bridgestone had a disasterous race. Nakano was their only finisher besides the Ducs and he was nothing spectacular. I thought they were hot weather specialists, they need better tire life because a hard hard setup is not going to work out at every round.
don't blame the tires. as the ugly say's 2 crappy suzuki's & a wayward frenchman are to blame

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ooost @ Apr 8 2006, 09:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The flu. What could have been if Elias and Stoner were healthy...
not to much more methink's

Agreed but how do you explain Nakano's 11th? That is the big one for me, a consistent top 10 and closer to a top 5 bike/rider combination taking 11th. Gotta be the tires, although the team should have known better than to go with a medium front in the Qatari heat.

What a Race!
I think stoner was shitting his pants when he could hear rossi behind him so he decided to hit the back of the pack so no one could smell it.
Rossi too good!
Whats doing edwards?
Go Nicky!
Suzuki get your act together, 4 blown engines!
Job Duc boys!

Best part of the race was Marco and Dani, what a battle! Were a shame when marco had to take a trip on the fake grass cause i would have loved to see them on the last lap.

Loved every minute of the race. shame about the lack of crowds there

Any catch a glimpse of the footage of the night testing? looked pretty impressive, but as i thought the patchy light wasnt a great help. i think its on the cards though

Glad to see rossi back on top, very enjoyable watching melandri and pedrosa battling all race.

gibernau isnt really doing the business to be honest... think he needs to maybe put a bit more effort in, we have all seen what those ducati's can do.

all in all, another cracking race. looking foward to turkey!

Rossi all the way!!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ooost @ Apr 8 2006, 09:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Agreed but how do you explain Nakano's 11th? That is the big one for me, a consistent top 10 and closer to a top 5 bike/rider combination taking 11th. Gotta be the tires, although the team should have known better than to go with a medium front in the Qatari heat.
well... not really. consider all that finised in front of him. the only 1 that maybe he could of beat was jr. so it's not to surprising is it. sometimes i think u guy's rate nakano a little too highly. although i would like to see what he could do on an rcv!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Morgo @ Apr 8 2006, 09:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I think stoner was shitting his pants when he could hear rossi behind him so he decided to hit the back of the pack so no one could smell it.
yer cold man!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Morgo @ Apr 8 2006, 09:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Best part of the race was Marco and Dani, what a battle! Were a shame when marco had to take a trip on the fake grass cause i would have loved to see them on the last lap.
was an excellent battle!

Just so there is no confusion, here are the official results:

1 Valentino Rossi Camel Yamaha Team Yamaha YZR-M1
2 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team Honda RC211V
3 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati Desmosedici GP-6
4 Sete Gibernau Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati Desmosedici GP-6
5 Casey Stoner Honda LCR Honda RC211V
6 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda RC211V
7 Marco Melandri Fortuna Honda Honda RC211V
8 Toni Elias Fortuna Honda Honda RC211V
9 Colin Edwards Camel Yamaha Team Yamaha YZR-M1
10 Kenny Roberts Jnr. Team KR KR211V
11 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR
12 Carlos Checa Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1
13 James Ellison Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1
14 Makoto Tamada Konica Minolta Honda Honda RC211V
15 Alex Hofmann Team D'Antin Pramac Ducati Desmosedici GP-5
16 Jose Luis Cardoso Team D'Antin Pramac Ducati Desmosedici GP-5

Randy de Puniet crashed on the first lap and appeared to be unhurt. John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen both retired with mechanical problems.

In addition, here are the World Championship Standings after round two at Qatar:

1. Loris Capirossi 41
2. Nicky Hayden 36
3. Dani Pedrosa 30
4. Valentino Rossi 27
5. Toni Elias 21
Casey Stoner 21
7. Marco Melandri 20
8. Shinya Nakano 14
Kenny Roberts 14
10. Sete Gibernau 13
11. Colin Edwards 12
12. Makoto Tamada 8
13. John Hopkins 7
Carlos Checa 7
15. Chris Vermeulen 4
16. James Ellison 3
17. Alex Hofmann 2
18. Jose Luis Cardoso 0
Randy de Puniet 0

That was a great race,from 1st to about 9th-10th,really good battle between Dani and Marco.Bit more stamina from Casey and he`ll be the man in the very near future.Big hats off for Nicky for staying on the pace as we would expect him to and congrats to Vale-total control!!!

Rossi is simple the doctor lol.. amazing man, his "great battle" ( i love it when he says that lol) with Nicky was awesome, and Nicky, excellent stuff!!

I gotta retract some previous statements. Rossi may in fact be God and Nicky is totally .... hot. Truly great race.