sepang race

Kropotkin said:

We appear to have a defective batch of sarcasm meters.

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Welcome to Powerslide

Dani Pedrosa has seriously stepped up his game these past few races, he's just so damn fast! I thought for sure Lorenzo was going to crash after Pedrosa passed him and upped the pace. Stoner was right there when they red flagged it too, Stoner would've easily passed him in another lap.



Glad Spies is okay, looked like he broke his right shoulder when they showed him being slid onto the stretcher, but I guess not.

Kropotkin said:

We appear to have a defective batch of sarcasm meters.

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Haha welcome to the forum !

JohnnyKnockdown said:

Welcome to Powerslide

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Beat me to it JK

Bet Pramac are wishing they re-signed Hector instead of Spies

stiefel said:

Of course, what really bothers me, is that we always could call the F1 guys a bunch of ....... for not racing on 4 wheels when there's a bit too much water, while "our guys" would ride through downpours and tornado's on 2 wheels. Now, we have a new member here, who's switching over from F1, and the first wet race she get's to see, get's flagged early.

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Yeah, I didn't like to mention that point, but since you did.... Sepang is a track F1 races, so I've seen several wet races there as well and yes, some of them have been red flagged too, not usually when there's only that much water on track though I have to admit. I was a little surprised when this race was stopped given the reputation of motogp to race where F1 drivers fear to apparently. Now the rain that came down after the race? That was race stopping I'd say but then I'm not an expert, I wasn't there so I can't say for sure what the conditions were really like. I only know what you can tell from watching it on tv which isn't the same thing is it?

johnnyvvc said:

As far as i was aware race direction take their stance from the LEAD rider as they encounter anything laying on the track first. Funny i didnt a single other rider put their hand up did you?

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Haven't read the whole thread yet as I am hung over and sleep deprived, BUT...



I guess I could have quoted any of the first posters, other than Cliche, who are on about the red flagging but dudes, you got no idea what you are on about. After the first deluge of tropical monsoon the track did drain but the ground was super saturated with water. The second coming of the monsoon brought standing water almost immediately to turns 1/2 and 14(I think). The last couple of laps before the flag you could see the bikes hydroplaning and fighting for traction on the main straight for Christ sakes. Race direction held the red flag longer than I would have and they certainly didn't need to see any rider's hand waving to make their decision... At that point jet boats were about the only vehicles that were gonna make a full lap without incident!

The way I see it, is they are damned if they do and damned if they dont. If you stop it on lap 2 or lap 12 someone will accuse them of favouring someone!



IMO it was the right call, the race was getting boring anyway as people were just trying to stay on the track. Its easy for armchair experts to criticise if they've never experience aquaplaning on a bike...I did once and ended up kissing a tyre wall!!

bluegreen said:

Like I said, didn't look any worse than Silverstone last year.

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Might not have looked worse on TV, but the rain in England (or Van for that matter) cannot even come close to the tropical monsoon that was hitting Sepang yesterday... I went from dry-as-bone to swimming pool wet in about 10 seconds!!!!

I have one question:



If Stoner was leading and Rossi was chasing him down for his first win on a Ducati, would they have stopped the race?

yep.enough of the wwf stuff already ok? it was funny for a while and some of you guys had a pretty good run but its become boring

Mental Anarchist said:

I have one question:



If Stoner was leading and Rossi was chasing him down for his first win on a Ducati, would they have stopped the race?

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Yes.

IMO, the decision was 100% correct and were the camera not on Lorenzo at the time then we would not be discussing this or trying to create a conspiracy theory when in all likelihood there is no conspiracy.



Again all IMO (and maybe Krop can throw something in here) but I was actually surprised that they left it that long to call the Red Flags as given the number of fallers around laps 12 - 13 the race could have been called at that stage. But at the same time I was wondering if Race Control were holding out simply to ensure that they were in a position to declare the race as having run a sufficient distance were they not able to restart (Krop feel free to add thoughts).



In addition, I do wonder (but doubt that it played any large role) whether the events of 2011 played a part in trying to ensure that the crowd did get to see a level of race as for some time last year the crowd were unknowing oft he situation and did strongly vent disapproval. Which leads to the reason I do believe the decision to be right as in those conditions it is luck as to whether someone suffers a fall as the wet weather when pooled on the track takes away any semblance of control and we (none of us) want riders to fall, nor championships to be decided by the uncontrollable.



Good decision for once from the tower.

Willski said:

Beat me to it JK

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Beat you like a Bostrom

Just re watched and it was 100% correct to red flag the race.

Mental Anarchist said:

I have one question:



If Stoner was leading and Rossi was chasing him down for his first win on a Ducati, would they have stopped the race?

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I think so, but we will never know that. However one thing we know 100% for sure: if it had been Rossi lifting his finger to the sky and having the race stopped next lap just in time -- as apparently he could not control his bike any more, -- you (& C.) would be all over this place shouting at the scandal and WWF and what not.

Luckily for our ears, it was Lorenzo.



Btw, I think the decision was right even if I remember races in same or even worse conditions that went on.

A hypothetical question on scoring. What if Lorenzo had gone down, then the red flag came out 2 corners later. Would he have been scored from the previous full lap and kept second..

povol said:

A hypothetical question on scoring. What if Lorenzo had gone down, then the red flag came out 2 corners later. Would he have been scored from the previous full lap and kept second..

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You have a five minute window to finish the race and keep your place, but you must cross the line.

Damn, now I'm reading on twitter that Spies is out of Oz. Tell him they red flagged it too soon.

J4rn0 said:

Btw, I think the decision was right even if I remember races in same or even worse conditions that went on.

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I guarantee you would not have seen a race "in the same or worse conditions" if they had let it go another five minutes. By the time we had shuffled out of the grandstand the water was ankle deep on every flat surface and running faster than a class five whitewater! The conditions were bad and within five minutes they were infinitely worse, which I'm sure the trackside weather telemetry was screaming out loud and clear!

povol said:

A hypothetical question on scoring. What if Lorenzo had gone down, then the red flag came out 2 corners later. Would he have been scored from the previous full lap and kept second..

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Yes he would have.