I don't think he was trying to put in a time. They were display laps early in the morning, when it was cold. Times would be pretty meaningless.
I thought it was worth asking... The last time I remember him doing demonstration laps was the year after he retired. No helmet, and fast enough to qualify. Qualify well if I remember right too (which I might not).
Bootlace had a watch on him, no transponder on the bike he was riding, about 1:40's. but he was not pushing the bike, body language was sunday ride ( with knee down )! Time to go to work.. Love race day Pete
he qualified 9th ahead of nicky and the satelite Ducatis 1 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 335.6 1'29.623 2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 330.6 1'30.140 0.517 / 0.517 3 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 335.7 1'30.575 0.952 / 0.435 4 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 332.7 1'30.763 1.140 / 0.188 5 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 337.1 1'30.798 1.175 / 0.035 6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 334.7 1'31.200 1.577 / 0.402 7 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 334.9 1'31.490 1.867 / 0.290 8 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 337.4 1'31.661 2.038 / 0.171 9 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 323.6 1'31.667 2.044 / 0.006
10 years of shite rides and bloody hard work, I rekn he now thinks it's worth it! ONYA WESTY!!!!! YOU LITTLE BEAUTY!!!
Well Congratulations to Jorge Lorenzo, the 2012 MotoGP World Champion and to Yamaha, race winner Casey Stoner and Cal Crutchlow for his podium finish. Sad end for Pedrosa.
I enjoyed Moto 2 & 3 but I am well over the Motogp procession. Bad luck Dani , I was hoping the fight would go to Valencia (and you would win) and great ride from Cal, Aleix, RdP and all those bloody Aussies. I do have to give Casey his due, riding so well when he can hardly walk, it was (the few bits we actually saw) a demonstration of superb skill and a great achievement. I'm amazed I managed to get that out without my gag reflex overcoming me.... there's hope for trans tasman relations after all! Please, let next year get the CRTs up with the prototypes so we can actually have some close racing or the GP class is going to become the pre-race for Moto 2 &3. Either that or put them all on CRTs so we can see some fairing banging, when does WSBK start again?
Well, congratulations to Lorenzo. Makes me wonder, Pedrosa just doesn't seem to have that little extra it takes to be a winner. Amazing how it appeared that Stoner didn't even want to be there during the celebrations. Winning a gp in front of your home crowd, standing at the top of the podium listening to your national anthem.. everybody who'se ever done any competitive sport dreams of that, but it looked like a chore to him. Still, he was obviously unbeatable this weekend, so well done to him. The race was rather dull indeed. When virtually the only battle you have is one for fourth (ok, De Puniet and Espargaro too, but it was barely shown), they can rave all they want about how scenic the track is. It's racing I want to see.
Actually I think he was just embarrassed by Lorenzo's over the top antics and trying restore some dignity to the proceedings, if I could lip read I imagine he said to Crutchlow "thank fuck he's pissed off downstairs"
I see that in a bit of a different light. This year Pedrosa has shown, that he´s NOT settling for second, like he has done many times before. Today was a good example, and though it´s easy to say now in hindsight, that he went too fast too early on, he was just 100% determined to keep the others behind, at whatever cost. That was his one and only chance to take the title decision to Valencia anyway. And he probably knew fully well, that Stoner was just about to set a blistering pace, and that he was already in danger of getting passed. BTW, that was Dani´s one and only real mistake on track all year (I don´t think what happened in Misano was his fault at all). Also keep in mind, that Jorge came really close to crashing in Sepang just a week ago, and had that happened, the whole championship would´ve been blown wide open, so there really isn´t much separating these two. Just a bit of good luck/bad luck, that was decisive. It kinda sucked for Dani, that Casey had to win this one, cos if it would´ve been any other track, then maybe there would have been hope of some sort of help from Casey? But Stoner wanting to get this one was understandable, too. The only ones, who never make mistakes, are the people, who don´t even try. I take my hat off for Dani, because he´s really tried as hard as he could, and put everything on the line. This time it did not work for him, but on the other hand, he was closer than ever. And this is the sort of attitude, that he needs, to finally get that elusive title in MotoGP.
Unfortunately, most of them are. With only three riders winning all the races so far, very few surprises. Too bad we don't get more camera work on the rest of the bikes.
Yes, that's true. Maybe he will really have learned from this year what it really takes. It's just somehow typical of him that it happened when it mattered the most. He did try very hard, but he waited until the second half of the season to do so. That's what lost him the championship this time. Next year perhaps he will try to put himself in a position where he doesn't HAVE to rack up six-seven straight wins towards the end of the season to even have the chance.