Yooperbikemike's 2013 MotoGP Thread

I agree; I just don't agree with the opinion that Ezpeleta is out his depth.

Criticism that one is out of one's depth comes with any job as the head, or even figure head, of a large complex organizations. There is no textbook for running a motorsports world championship. Its a thankless job. Much like to trying to be the voice of reason on the internet.

Is anyone following the practice sessions on le mans? Hayden up there with crutchlow in fp3!?
The BBC guys were on about a new bike for ducati at Le Mans, let's hope it's for real this time.


Four wheels good, two wheels better

Nope, more like CC is having problems: brakes overheating and tire chatter.

I still don't get the "limited starting grid" rule...:huh
Why if Suzuki would like to get back in MotoGP they have to push out some other team so the number of bikes on the grid will remain the same? Why not let it grow?
Logistics? Don't think so... dunno

Money and quality. Dorna subsidizes all of the teams, so there's only so many they can support. And there's only so many good teams capable of being competitive in MotoGP. Look at Moto2, where there's a few good teams and a whole bunch of much less proficient teams.

Now it makes sense. Thanks Kropotkin.

If you go back and look at the results (all on the MotoGP.com website) from the late 70s and early 80s, when grids were full, you see only a few riders finishing on the same lap, and several being lapped multiple times. There are only so many riders/teams/mechanics talented enough to work at the very pinnacle.

So what the hell happens if Nakagami wins the moto2 championship this year? He has shown good pace pretty consistently this year. The japanese have never been shy (rightly so) about trying to put a Japanese rider on a somewhat competitive MotoGP bike. Seems like no bikes are available next year but one would think Honda or Yamaha would have ants in their pants to put Nakagami on a bike should we win the championship.

I am rooting for him this year. He will finish high in the standings if he keeps going well. I wouldn't mind seeing him ride MotoGP on a good bike.

A couple hundred million Euros eases the pain.

Whether CRT is a good idea or not depends on your perspective. It may indeed be a success in corporate terms of bikes/dollar, but from my perspective, it adds nothing but back markers for the front runners to negotiate on their final laps. The fastest CRT bike is the only CRT that ever gets noticed in a positive way and even then it's a footnote.
From the riders perspective it is a dead end career move. If you want to move up to a factory bike, it's better to approach from Moto2. The Moto2 guys that move up to CRT will never gain a factory/satellite seat.

CRT is more of a stepping down place than a stepping up place.

First four races of your rookie season, Lorenzo 2008: 74 points

First four races of your rookie season, Marquez 2013: 77 points

But what I find interesting to observe here, is that JLo had a dream debut – that lasted for the first 5 races ONLY. And after that, it became much more complicated for him. He scored 94 points out of his first 5 races (18.8 on average - an amazing figure, although MM has an even higher average right now!), but then JLo´s total score, from the remaining 13 races to come after that, was only 96 points (7.4 points per race). In fact, after those first 5 races, he only got 2 more podiums all year. He finished with 190 total points, but almost exactly half of those points he had picked up from his first five races!

Is this comparable to Marquez? Other than both were rookies stepping up to MotoGP and making impact straight away, it is probably not, as MM rides a different bike, and almost everything else including the engines, electronics and tyres has changed in five years, too (a big factor: JLo still had Michelins that year). And MM appears very mature in almost everything that he´s done in MotoGP so far, just took podium in the wet with almost no prior wet riding experience on that bike. Almost unbelievable. But I guess JLo´s painful later part of 2008 goes to show, that it is POSSIBLE for a talented rookie to have a truly stellar entry into the series, and still not dominate straight away. It´s still a long season ahead for everybody.

First four races of your rookie season, Biaggi 1998: 77 points

First four races of your rookie season, Marquez 2013: 77 points

Also,

First wet MotoGP race, Pedrosa, Le Mans 2006: 3rd place

First wet MotoGP race, Marquez, Le Mans 2013: 3rd place


Youngest GP winner is the one that really stands out for me at the moment; other stats, not so much.

Interesting tidbit:

The REAL reason that MM cannot be compared to JL is that he does not partake in silly antics after he wins

It was funny when Rossi did it, stupid when Lorenzo did it.

MM is a class act. We are watching history.

Is this motorcycle racing or a Middle East peace accord?

In the whole scheme of things motogp is no more important than fashion.

So is Ben going to be back on his satellite turnip truck at Moogello?

Fixed. Too bad; like many, I thought he was a contender for a few years.

Hey smart ass. Ben has as many MotoGP wins as MM.