Yooperbikemike's 2013 MotoGP Thread

lol

ftfy

JLo throws kicks if you're a non factory rider and try and race him on the first lap. Looks like Cal may be on the receiving end of a few kicks this year.

Mark is into slot cars too? Not too surprising, as he is Spanish. But that is just one more thing I like about him. I predict he wins his first in Texas!

I'm a little backwards and just watched FP2 as time was short this weekend. The Bridgestone guy was in with Toby and Julian for the whole session. He mentioned CRT's have their own spec tire this year so its one of the reasons they bridged the gap to the factory machines. They now have a softer tire that should help as in years prior the lesser powered bikes couldn't put enough heat into the tires to make them work properly.

Yep. Everyone who looks at qualifying and grid positions to determine Rossi's race finish forgets 14 years of racing history. That was never his strength, and (all else being equal) he is always there in the race. No one seems to go on baked tires late-race like Rossi either. Qatar's performance charging through the pack is certainly like Rossi of old. The problem with that approach these days however might be that unlike the past, there are now guys (including a certain team mate) starting on or near the pole a few seconds ahead with clear track, who are just as fast! Should be an interesting year!

Right, even if Rossi doesn't win a bunch of races or takes the ship again, it will still be WAY more fun to watch him race than any other guy on the grid. I'm not some Rossi superfan, but I've always enjoyed his racecraft.

^^^ All true. However, those who fell back on that during the Ducati years were mainly disappointed.

The ability to privilege race pace over qualifying glory was obviously still there. But it didn't get him far on the Duc, except with respect to other people on Ducs.

Now that he's back on the Yamaha, it appears Rossi fans can fall back on familiar and reliable comforts after qualifying.

It'd be nice to see somebody competitive on the Duc. Cheers to Dovi for the old college try, but in the end, it was still a 7th place finish. disappointing to see Ben coming in way down in 10th. I think he has more talent then he's displayed in the last 2 years

I think most of us believe that if he was on a Yahondazuki he'd be up there with the others.
Watching Dovi in that race reminded me of the times where Nicky's done the same thing; hammering the bike for all it's worth, hoping like hell the tires would last, while knowing that they wont. Like at Indy where he was obviously trying to make something happen at home, but ended up leaving the race with huge chunks missing from the rear tire. They're both capable of running the bike up front but the bike isn't. So you end up just making sure you stay in front of the CRT's and don't either destroy the tires or yourself in the pointless process. Exactly what Rossi did.

Fuel for the fire;

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/189636/1/qatar_motogp_rossis_race_pace_faster_and_faster.html

Lorenzo did an excellent job of managing his lead... Rossi has to push hard to get to the podium, but Lorenzo was not under pressure for the 2nd half of the race. I have no doubt you would have seen Lorenzo throw done some heat if Rossi was nipping at his heels. Hoping we see that in Austin.

Lorenzo threw down 7 1:55 laps to build his 4 second lead, then backed off a tick and let the race for second build the rest.
Rossi did his fast lap on his last lap, just to make sure Marquez stayed behind him.
Once the race has been watched it is cool to go back through the race again with this lap by lap analysis.
When Cal ran wide he was still running pretty good lap times but that mistake cost him 8 seconds. By contrast when Rossi ran wide at the beginning of lap two that put him about 2 seconds back of Pedrosa. It took him to lap 18 to get back there. He went by the next lap. The next lap he was by Marquez.

If you're going to run wide do so in the opening laps, gives you more time to recover and less time to lose in the process.
I think the rest of the season the front runners will be working to not let ANYBODY get a flyer off the front.

How long to Austin?

too long. Running off the line in Qatar is unforgiving at best, like running off in a partially dry track. With more road and better surface I think there will be much more passing at COTA and you won't see somebody holding up the pack like Pedro did in the last race....meaning, and I hope, a great fight for the lead.

Lorenzo did a great job of managing the lead and I expect he too had a bit more in reserve if he got pushed. You can't take anything away from Rossi's blitz through the pack of course, but when you are spotting someone just as fast as you a couple seconds (and several grid positions) at the start you are giving yourself a lot of work to do! If anyone can make up such a gap it will be Rossi though, and his late-race pace is a matter of record. However, if anyone can hold him off it will be Lorenzo!

Let's not forget Marquez' incredible debut as well, and anyone writing off Pedrosa due to one bad weekend does so at their own peril! Another track on another day could be a whole new ball game.
It should be a great season!

2 of the guys on the podium last week didn't get a very good start either

Why can't they just let Rossi have all three steps of the podium?

MotoGP to test in Argentina in July prior to 2014 race. The track (clockwise) looks quite good I think.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/MotoGP+in+Argentina+to+test

Engine Crackdown

Cheers
pilbara

With his presence, he might as well have.:eek1

I swear, the past two years I almost fell asleep a few times watching the races. I even didn't bother to watch a few of them. Not like me I almost thought about not getting a subscription again. Glad I did.

Like him or leave him, the guy draws a crowd. One race and he has single-handedly breathed life into every commentary of what was frankly, a nearly moribund genre. Marketing gold.