*SPOILERS*Motogp Jerez FreePractice and Quali discussion *SPOILERS*

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vale4607 @ Mar 28 2008, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Supposed to be pretty windy out there today. Maybe its catching a few of the guys out?

The wetherinfo says otherwise but...
8km/h is hardly hard wind.
whats that ~2.5m/s

That was a really goood session and I'm damn glad I subscribe to motoGP.com. Some great images - especially slow speed of how hard they are breaking and some nice video of the riders laying black lines around the circuit . Looks like Vale is quickly getting to grips with the bridgestones - it doesn't hurt that yamaha have now got a decent bike again. Look at how all 4 yamahas are doing so far in both race meetings.
Jorge is looking ominous. Super quick and consistent. The repsol hondas look good as well, if less consistent than the yamahas.
The ducati's barring Stoner are doing nothing, the kawasaki's suck and the suzuki's are marginally better.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Babelfish @ Mar 28 2008, 02:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>If not very lucky he sure didn't have bad luck getting uninjured from that one. High speed and quite a few tubles and the bike was smashed pretty badly. And in case anyone was wondering, that's a Good Thing.
Doesn't seem like this is stoner's track. Maybe he should content himself with surviving the round. My money is on rossi for the race and hayden for pole.

FP2

1 48 Jorge LORENZO 1'40.321
2 46 Valentino ROSSI 1'40.364
3 5 Colin EDWARDS 1'40.584
4 69 Nicky HAYDEN 1'40.673
5 2 Dani PEDROSA 1'40.815
6 1 Casey STONER 1'40.877
7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO 1'40.909
8 52 James TOSELAND 1'41.028
9 65 Loris CAPIROSSI 1'41.157
10 15 Alex DE ANGELIS 1'41.189
11 14 Randy DE PUNIET 1'41.268
12 7 Chris VERMEULEN 1'41.303
13 56 Shinya NAKANO 1'41.393
14 21 John HOPKINS 1'41.519
15 33 Marco MELANDRI 1'41.825
16 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI 1'42.115
17 13 Anthony WEST 1'42.181
18 24 Toni ELIAS 1'42.183

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Babelfish @ Mar 29 2008, 01:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The wetherinfo says otherwise but...
8km/h is hardly hard wind.
whats that ~2.5m/s
Just reading MCN's coverage of Smith taking provisional pole. They stated it was windy, maybe not, guess we'll find out in the interviews why everyone binned it.

My question and concerns are about the Bridgestone qualifier/race tyre.
Have they improved and has Jerez become a Michelin track again?

Rossi looks good because Rossi always looks good at this track.
Stoner is brilliant but this is his bogey track so... I can't really call it.

None of the other Bridgestone riders seems to be doing anything here. As was mentioned the kawasaki sucks, the Suzuki's suck and the Ducatis satellites are garbage.

So.. other than the odd Nakano/Rookie DeAngelis who knows...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (michaelm @ Mar 28 2008, 03:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Doesn't seem like this is stoner's track. Maybe he should content himself with surviving the round. My money is on rossi for the race and hayden for pole.

I suspect he will improve tomorrow. He wasn't near his best time after the crash, probably becuse his spare bike doesn't work as well, or maybe becouse he need to get the confidence up again.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Duc999 @ Mar 29 2008, 12:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>None of the other Bridgestone riders seems to be doing anything here. As was mentioned the kawasaki sucks, the Suzuki's suck and the Ducatis satellites are garbage.
It's really interesting - do all the bridgestone shod bikes, (besides Stoner and Rossi) suck, or do they suck because of bridgestone, or is it a combination of both? Or, do all those riders suck?
Stoner/ducati/bridgestone is some combination that comes together, very rarely, in such a short space of time. We know Rossi has such a talent that he can get to grips with a new tyre so quickly - but where does it leave the rest?
Where is the development of the kawasaki's and suzuki's heading? And can ducati afford the situation where 1 rider is their only hope - and is that a ducati problem, that only 1 person can ride it, or a rider problem?

well i'll tell ya right now, if jorge continues like today thru the rest of the weekend & none of the others improve much, he's gonna run away with it. he did 12 laps in the mid to low 1:40 range< 1 right after the other, click click click. the rest of the top 6 could only manage 3 or 4 laps in the 1:40s.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vale4607 @ Mar 28 2008, 09:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Just reading MCN's coverage of Smith taking provisional pole.
smith was 3rd.

Yahama's looking good so far. I hope they can keep it up. I'm sure Casey will be strong in the race, but hopefully Valentino can win here. He usually does well in Spain.

Bring on the quali

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Son of Doohan @ Mar 28 2008, 03:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>And can ducati afford the situation where 1 rider is their only hope - and is that a ducati problem, that only 1 person can ride it, or a rider problem?
Good question and I think a really important one. If 1 rider is their only hope then they might want to rethink their long term stratagy..but maybe they are just picking stoners brain and will then focus on making their bike more rideable....any ideas?

Ducati must be praying to all gods and religions that nothing happens to Casey, otherwise they're so screwed.

But it's really curious that nobody else seems to be good on that bike, Capi, Marco and Elias are all race winner, they aren't consistent but at least from time to time they are really fast, so far with Ducati they consistently suck. Really puzzling.

We'll see if they can adapt their riding style, or the bike to them.

Lorenzo quickest again, he might write another book about it . Still it's making Rossi look like a .... for swapping tyres lol

YAAAAAAAAAYYYY!! Its so Refreshing to see Hayden putting in competative times on a race tyre, i hope this can continue to a podium, just what he and the team need to get their confidence back. Lorenzo looks strong but Rossi also has things together, it will be a very interesting battle. Stoner is obviously trying very hard, i hope he can hold it together when it matters.

Haha, a very enjoying thread to read so far. alll I can do is imagine from your comments. So thanks guys! (America=black hole of coverage). Anyway, Babel, don't give up, Edwards will some day win. Vale4607, you're a crack up. But I can't argue until I see the goods too. Even though he does test and qual well, you gotta admit, he did stay with the lead pack most of the race in Qatar, can you throw the guy a bone for at least that? haha.

Thanks Son, for the crash report.

If Rossi can manage his tires for the 'entire' race, we will be in for a cracker. Look to see if he does a Hayden and puts in a whole bunch of laps to simulate a race so he can figure out the wear pattern on his bridgestones.

The only thing Hayden is doing is giving a guy like me hope, only to crush my heart in the race--a bad man is he.

I blame Pedrosa for globalwarming.

Lorenzo seems to be the real deal. Only if he wasn't in love with himself, I might stomach the guy.


Rossi has won seven times a Jerez (I think), but that doesn't seem to mean .... to Stoner. Remember, Stoner doesn't mind starting from the first two rows, so I still think he will be on the podium, the question is, which step? (For the record, I predict a Rossi win, but damn Lorenzo may throw a monkey in that prediction; Disclaimer: assuming of course that Hayden doesn't win )

Will we see a 4 way battle between Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, and Stoner? Lets just hope so. All 4 of these guys are dying to win, I can't wait for Domingo (Sunday). Please gods of racing, grant us a "cracker".

Top speed is one thing that is very interesting to me about Jerez.

Top speed = Tony Elias 280.082 = last (18th) place lap time.

Slowest speed = De Angelis 263.286 = middle (10th) place lap time

You don't have to have a super fast bike on the straights to do well here. Should be a very interesting race. I can't wait.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Son of Doohan @ Mar 28 2008, 08:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>It's really interesting - do all the bridgestone shod bikes, (besides Stoner and Rossi) suck, or do they suck because of bridgestone, or is it a combination of both? Or, do all those riders suck?
Stoner/ducati/bridgestone is some combination that comes together, very rarely, in such a short space of time. We know Rossi has such a talent that he can get to grips with a new tyre so quickly - but where does it leave the rest?
Where is the development of the kawasaki's and suzuki's heading? And can ducati afford the situation where 1 rider is their only hope - and is that a ducati problem, that only 1 person can ride it, or a rider problem?
God only knows. But one thing though, I don't think its Ducati's strategy to make one guy go fast. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but I bet they are trying to get the other guys up on the ladder, its just that Stoner is that much better. Remember, Capi & Melandri are 250 champs, Elias beat the all great Rossi in a head-to-head (neck & neck battle), yet neither have so far managed to figure this machine out. I think Ducati is scratching their heads. But really, I don't think they are worried all that much about something happening to Stoner. He managed to stay safe and click off 10 wins last year. He'll be just fine.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Mar 28 2008, 05:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>God only knows. But one thing though, I don't think its Ducati's strategy to make one guy go fast. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but I bet they are trying to get the other guys up on the ladder, its just that Stoner is that much better. Remember, Capi & Melandri are 250 champs, Elias beat the all great Rossi in a head-to-head (neck & neck battle), yet neither have so far managed to figure this machine out. I think Ducati is scratching their heads. But really, I don't think they are worried all that much about something happening to Stoner. He managed to stay safe and click off 10 wins last year. He'll be just fine.

Knock wood, he could easily broken something today. Remember Elias at assen. Looked very inocent but non the less hooked the heel in the gravel and broke his thigh.

i wonder how nervous is Rossi of being behind Lorenzo. if he's not i bet he'll be pretty soon