I'm not so sure. Consider that Spies' gap to the top three was .6. That is to say the top three are simply in another league and everybody else is a bit more comparable. That .6 gap is about the same for riders 9-16 (all within almost .6). In that group you had a Honda, a Yamaha, and a Ducati with a front end crash. Those three riders in terms of fast lap (a greater gap than probably their race pace lap runs) was only .29 (you may be tempted to say .29 is significant, but that's the exact gap Randy was faster than Rossi, another Ducati). I don't think the Yamaha and Honda of Edwards and Aoyama were having a much more significant pace to Rossi's Ducati. Dovi and Randy who sit next to eachother, 6 & 7, also suffered a front end crash, keep in mind Dovi on the stable factory Honda. So I'm not gonna conclude it was a pace issue. Certainly the Duc front end is ...., hell they've been screaming for change for over a year, but in terms of pace, the brands that had crashes TODAY were not that far apart. Which is why I hypothesize, its had more to do with track conditions. Just a guess, but backed up by some basic laymen's analysis.
