Joined May 2009
6K Posts | 4K+
Shovel's Club
Joined May 2009
6K Posts | 4K+
Shovel's Club
Joined Jun 2016
642 Posts | 244+
Santa Cruz, Cal
I see it slightly differently. It is Ducati that is getting better more than Dovi. Dovi has become an instant contender while remaining Dovi. However, my statement that Dovi is not a contender is now, b.s.. He is definitely a contender. Two more races for Lorenzo to "bring it" is my guess. He just finished fourth, without a ....-load of effort. The Ducati is a powerful bike that is getting better with Dovi, JLo and CS at the spearhead of development. The amount of money that is being dropped into the Ducati racing program is nuts. Did you see how many Ducati employees were in the audience at the podium ceremony? Mind-Duc-aling.
Dovi has always been consistent to be fair (when he isn't getting knocked off by others), whether it be Tech3, HRC or Ducati, his consistency I feel is not questionable.
As for improving on the Ducati, well he has been there long enough that he should be improving and to finally see results for the factory irrespective of who is getting them is good as it shows a return on investment and thus likely building of morale which brings with it the confidence to continue to succeed.
But that all said, it isn't like he has changed to much thus far this year as I still see the same attitude, effort and skillset that has always had him labelled as one of the best of the rest (after the usual suspects). But, it is not unusual that the best of the rest can win races and of course, once you start winning races anything can happen
Jack, the last guy to win a MotoGP race at Assen.
Surely you know him.
He replaced the buck toothed dude with the slim missus that seemed to upset a lot of people by being good, but seemingly hating being that good because he didn't smile, didn't dress like a clown and rarely laughed.
Plus of course, he avoided chocolate
Joined Jul 2011
1K Posts | 872+
Dont Know
Good call bro, no doubt about it Dovi is a contender. The wins are no fluke or anomaly, Yamaha was on it at Mugello and Honda was strong here. Dovi on the Duc doesn't yo yo back and forth like Vinales and Marquez have been to date, can't see any reason why he can't do it. The most critical factor may be Dovi now believes. Or maybe he should just get food poisoning more often. What did he eat, magic mushrooms?
Rossi and Vinales seem to have a difference of opinion.
Vinales - 'It definitely isnt the bike' - https://www.gpone.com/en/2017/06/11/motogp/vinales-this-sunday-was-a-drama.html
Whilst Rossi believes it is the bike and that he told Yamaha so but they did not listen - https://www.gpone.com/en/2017/06/11/motogp/rossi-the-limits-of-the-m1-i-realised-in-november.html
Vinales - 'It definitely isnt the bike' - https://www.gpone.com/en/2017/06/11/motogp/vinales-this-sunday-was-a-drama.html
Whilst Rossi believes it is the bike and that he told Yamaha so but they did not listen - https://www.gpone.com/en/2017/06/11/motogp/rossi-the-limits-of-the-m1-i-realised-in-november.html
Joined Jul 2011
1K Posts | 872+
Dont Know
Excellent observation. It's been reported Vinales studies Lorenzos set up and data very closely at every track. But what happens when Lorenzos old data doesn't work? Obviously they get lost, and Rossi's team has no answer. So Lorenzos claim Rossi was copying his set up appears valid. Zarco and Folga are very impressive rookies.
Is Gigi a genious? He goes for the one rider which we all say least suits Ducati. Everyone says Ducati needs a rider like Stoner, or Marquez. But these riders ride around problems, and Gigi wants to engineer solutions, not rely on a rider bandaid. And with Lorenzo as his team mate Dovi looks much better. Meanwhile how's Iannone looking. Apparently Suzuki are having seconds thoughts about him. Inspired choice Gigi. And they still haven't made up the lost ground of loosing the winglets.
I mentioned it elsewhere and will say again that to me, Dovi is not and was not a rider of the likes of Stoner and yet does ok on the Ducati (forget this year for the time being as JL was signed in 2016) and so to me, it is a fallacy that you must ride like CS to ride the Ducati. We must not lose site that Dovi was taken out a number of times last year from top 5 positions and at no stage was he riding in the mould of Stoner and yet, by years end he had 1 win (Iannonne I have not included as he is more of the 'wild style').
Now forward to 2017 and look where we are as Dubs sits there rubbing his hands with glee with the 'I told you so' moment (and he did so full credit) but with Dovi not changing the style to ride like Stoner but maintaining the Dovi style.
Yes, riders do need to change and acclimatise but Dovi has shown that relatively smooth can now be successful so perhaps Lorenzo is far closer than we believe, with only his need to learn the Mishitlin/Ducati combination the hold-up.
Mavericks interview is my favourite. No bullshiting, calling the tyres as he sees them. Rossi and Marquez are playing it smart only indirectly criticising the tyres while Mav comes out and says what we all know.
I hope that it doesn't affect the rest of his championship but you never really know.
I hope that it doesn't affect the rest of his championship but you never really know.
Joined May 2009
6K Posts | 4K+
Shovel's Club
Jack, the last guy to win a MotoGP race at Assen.
Surely you know him.
He replaced the buck toothed dude with the slim missus that seemed to upset a lot of people by being good, but seemingly hating being that good because he didn't smile, didn't dress like a clown and rarely laughed.
Plus of course, he avoided chocolate
Oh I thought his name was Ted. Bills buddy from the excellent adventure.
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
With you the glass is always half Ducati.
If it's the machine doing all the winning, how is it that none of the other Ducati riders are regularly showing up on the podium???
Dovi is so underrated. Look at his stats on the Honda in the those last two years. He podiumed 7 times in both seasons. In 2010 he had four 3rds, two 4ths, only one retirement. Only two races where he was out of the top 5.
In 2011 he only had two races the whole season out of the top 4.
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Joined Oct 2007
4K Posts | 744+
Tuscany, Italy
Awesome? Maybe, but he made the mistake that others avoided -- attacking in the first laps, and compromising tires. I think he's just too eager these days to demonstrate his talent on the Ducati. In the end he gained some positions, but the three at the top were lapping faster than him and he could never have caught up with them. Wrong strategy.
Ive never seen factory yamaha struggle this much in motogp. This is a big wtf. Wouldnt chock me if rossi goes back to the 2016 bike. That 2017 bike is ..... No grip at all.
Lorenzo looked actually pretty good. Too bad he woke up late in the race. He'll get that win later this year. The duc is really good.
Tech3 have already shown factory yamaha that they can beat them this year. Qatar, le mans, jerzez, barcelona.
And a shame Espargaro DNF'd. He looked great on that aprilia.
Lorenzo looked actually pretty good. Too bad he woke up late in the race. He'll get that win later this year. The duc is really good.
Tech3 have already shown factory yamaha that they can beat them this year. Qatar, le mans, jerzez, barcelona.
And a shame Espargaro DNF'd. He looked great on that aprilia.
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Joined Nov 2015
2K Posts | 582+
A caravan on an island
Looking at Yamaha's struggles on their most successful circuits I think they paid too much attention to Vinale's testing speed and not enough to Rossi's lack of it.
If he has setup issues continuously, test after test, race after race then I would point towards the bike being developed down the wrong path.
If he has setup issues continuously, test after test, race after race then I would point towards the bike being developed down the wrong path.
Surely it's worth talking about how in both the Jerez test and Catalunya test the day after Vinaeles struggled he was second both times. He's blaming the tyres and I wonder if there is something to what he is saying. He predicted that he would be first or second in the test almost immediately after the race and he made good on that prediction.
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