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

Thanks. Have to say it was a pleasant thing to wake this morning and open the web browser.

Unfortunately I was not in a position to watch the race and also was sufficiently detuned by the qualifying result - even after reading the explanation - that I did not take the trouble to record it.

Sounds like I missed out big time. Had better cough up for a subscription, I suppose. Could be a very memorable year.

(How will their servers handle the wave of subs from Rossi followers? Or should I just say fans of great racing and fall-off-the-couch passes?)

Tough day for Ducati. Hard to avoid facing how much slipped through their fingers. (Although they'll probably manage it. )

That's what I'm talkin' about

Poor old Jorge Lorenzo.
The reigning and two-time Moto GP champion dominates qualifying, holeshots the start and disappears over the horizon with sizzling lap times (smoking the field by 7 seconds!) and everyone is talking about Rossi and Marquez!

Congrats champ!

Dorna is training them well.

I thought they said Rossi turned the fastest lap of the race on his last lap.

The Ducati's finished where they usually do, 7th-ish. In a cluster.
Yamaha has got to be happy. 1-2 and Cal shouldn't fool himself again, so in there.
Marquez was looking good, though both Honda's seemed to have tail-happy bikes. Rossi was so much tighter into the turns than those he was chasing.

Great racing though, thanks to Rossi almost binning it, then going deep to come back at them. And Marquez for trying to the end. Great show.
Ducati are under attack from those ART bikes. :huh

Looking forward to the Austin show. less dirt plumes billowing off the bikes.

The Honda bikes are much better at the start and stop euro tracks. Pedro will. Be back in force.

Yeah Lorenzo smoked em alright,he did have the benefit of a long running Pedrosa roadblock behind him holding any would be challengers at bay. Pedrosa shut all doors smoothly and nobody could pass him down the straightaway,or on the outside sand cushion track.

Lorenzo was fast from the 1st lap of practice and deserved to win no doubt.
Rossi has shown in the past he can rattle Lorenzo's cage just fine and here's hoping they make a great race of it this season.

When Rossi was running full chat right next to the main straight fence,it looked like was on a Mile track with the dirt/dust/sand he was kicking up.
Fearless and he showed it.

His race pace is different then his qualifying pace, and he clearly proved passing wasnt that big a trick......... Just gotta stuff it in there.

Easy for me to say

Maybe they will detune Marc's bike to help Pedro out?

Not a chance. More likely Puig will slip something in MM's water bottle...

I look for Dani to be back, he clearly had rear tire grip issues and rode well with them. He will have his hands full though, Jorge, Mark and Vale will be right there. It won't be as easy as last year.

Is it too early to pronounce Rossi as the champ?

Felt bad for Crutchlow. He probably could have used a few more hp (or some clear track) to outpace the Hondas...who could park their buts in front of him in the corners and squirt away on the straightaways. Cal may have been a bit conservative in charging them but of course things can go wrong very quickly! It seems clear the only way to do it on the Yamaha is to stuff them into the corners Rossi-style, taking away the Honda advantage and catering to the Yamahas...just opposite to what the Repsol boys were doing to Cal.

Easily said from the arm chair of course!

I think Rossi realized,maybe more then most,that if a rider is pushed wide into the sandy area of the track then that rider is done for that corner,there's no way to turn and burn a Moto-GP bike on a dusty dirty track,gotta tip toe back to the racing line and get going again.

It must be impossible to run a track sweeper/cleaner/what ever around a roadrace track to get it clean enough to be more raceable?
Maybe a super vacume truck,doesnt Nascar have one?

Pedrosa looked to be hard to get by till Rossi caught up to him,it didnt take long to get by then.

And Hey! Spies didnt crash in the main event! Im thinking he beat all the non prototype bikes? On a how many million dollar Ducati?

Dovisioso will get used to hard earned 7ths and 8ths like all the Ducati riders have done for years now.

Marc clearly outrode Pedrosa,same bike,same tires to choose from,Marquez had it jump seriously sideways a few times but he didnt let it slow him down in getting towards the front. Hes good.

I haven't seen that many passes in a MotoGP race since Sachsenring 2012 or am I wrong?
At least 46 and 93 are bringing a bit of passing to the race, otherwise its just individual time trials which is pretty boring on a short circuit.

Yeah it was good,funny its the newest youngest Moto-GP rider and a veteran who provide the most excitement. They both love to race and enjoy a good scrap.

That was very exiting race in a long time, there hasn't been that kinda racing much since Rossi went for Ducati, or more recently since Simo was still alive... That guy liked a good scrap too.

What a way to start a season, great race, i expect to see JLO and Rossi to bang farings a la Japan, many times this season. JLO the smooth will be hard to beat.

I could see Bradl's demise coming when he took off to try and keep up with Rossi!? :huh And Marquez set fastest lap on the 3rd lap, before he "backed it down to 100%"! I'm seeing his first victory in Texas!?!

Rossi makes it look easy,guys try to chase.
Doesnt always go so well.

Texas should be really good! Moto-3 is coming there? Or did I hear wrong?
I love watching those kids dice it out.

Cal had a higher top speed on the straight, but the Hondas got up to speed faster and he couldn't close the gap. He needs to work on getting out of the corners faster.


And not blowing it late in the race.

So your thinking a satellite team yamaha is faster then a factory Honda? Maybe he had top speed but acceleration is everything.
Having a jockey like Pedrosa pinning the throttle doesnt hurt much.