MotoGP '13 Qatar- Desert in the dark (spoilers!)

Nicky, remember how the Ducati loudener handle only goes to 10?
The Yamaha handle, I am happy to say, still goes to 11!!

Very interesting FP1.

1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 56.685s
2. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 56.743s
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 56.756s
4. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 57.276s
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 1m 57.538s
6. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 1m 57.601s
7. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 1m 57.670s
8. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 57.749s
9. Aleix Espargaro ESP Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 1m 57.843s
10. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) 1m 57.926s
11. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 58.369s
12. Andrea Iannone ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing (GP13) 1m 58.559s
13. Ben Spies USA Ignite Pramac Racing (GP13) 1m 58.575s
14. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT) 1m 59.608s
15. Randy De Puniet FRA Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 1m 59.633s
16. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (ART CRT) 1m 59.758s
17. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (FTR Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 0.341s
18. Yonny Hernandez COL Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 2m 0.426s
19. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 0.563s
20. Claudio Corti ITA NGM Forward Racing (FTR Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 1.227s
21. Danilo Petrucci ITA Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* 2m 1.438s
22. Bryan Staring AUS Go&Fun Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT)* 2m 1.942s
23. Lukas Pesek CZE Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* 2m 2.079s
24. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 2m 2.135s
* Standard ECU.

The top 4 are what I expected, though the order could and probably will change back and forth. Nice to see Dovi in 5th!
Edit, pedrosa must have been stuck in 1st gear! Didnt even notice him down in 8th! He'll be up there I'm sure.

It was soooo good to finally see some Moto GP action.

I'm really surprised to see Dovi in 5th and Aleix Espargaro on CRT bike in 9th. Great job. The amount of people running off in turn 1 was crazy. It seems like some riders did it few times. I'm also relieved to see Rossi on the sharp end.

Espargaro on a CRT less than 1.2 sec to the front!

Yeah I know this is just FP1, but he might out qualify 3 Ducs

Dirty track and still 1 sec off lap record pace and even further off qualifying pace. Still, very interesting results.

Things will be heating up.

Jorge put in some multiple lap runs all around the low :57, high :56. The metronome looks up to it this year.

JC

Bugger,where's that voodoo doll and a set of long needles?

Deploy a Bautista?

Your guy was pretty consistent too.

Rossi is back!!!

Pedrosa isn't

Cal is a podium contender

I hope Spies and Hayden do better by race day.

I could take over!
Pedro seems to have the talent for not translating his mad skills into championships. The only thing getting old is Pedro himself, thrashing since 2006 (which I'll never forget ) while his huge character faults keep the golden ring just out of his reach.

Race prediction-
MM pulls a Biaggi and wins his maiden outing.
9 finger (GF's nickname for JLo)
Bautista
Rossi
Crutchlow

Marquez looked a little out of control during a period when the camera was on him. Not sure if he rides like that all the time. Bike was sliding a lot at both ends. Maybe he was just looking for the edge.

wow, hard to believe that people are still upset over that incident in 2006. :huh

I am not going to make any predictions until after the next practice session, but I would imagine that a factory Honda, or two, will be on the podium come race day.

What gets lost in that story is that was a great race, and I'd encourage people with MotoGP subscriptions to view it, or view it again.

I'm not still upset about it, but I haven't forgotten it either. Pedrosa earned his way out of the doghouse every time he beat Stoner, especially 2012 Sachsenring. I'm now neutral toward Dani.

DP and CS had a mutual admiration thing that DP won't likely have with MM.
He could get stupid again if provoked by MM, but that remains to be seen.

Maybe I am sounding like a broken record but it's funny that Hayden himself has let all that stuff go but "fans" can't seem to get over it.

Back the present. Took all of 3 minutes into the practice session for me to be completely over hearing anything coming from Nick and Gavin. Can't wait til the race to try out the commentator volume reduction option.

MM didn't seem all the far from crashing at the end of the session. He also had some pretty serious wheelies going on.