Yooperbikemike's 2012 MotoGP Thread

[yooperbikemike]

Gresini confirms Bautista signature for 2012

[Rajin Cajun]

Originally Posted by yooperbikemike

Gresini confirms Bautista signature for 2012

I can't wait to see what he can do on the Honda!

[Florin]

Originally Posted by Rajin Cajun

I can't wait to see what he can do on the Honda!

He is riding Aoyama's bike, not the factory 800. He is already 1 second faster than Aoyama was in qualifying.

[Moronic]

Originally Posted by Pantah

Wow - Not a guy I'd like to have a beer with that's for sure! Sort of an adversarial style saying Dovi has no speed and then his remarks on Rossi...Sounds a bit like the HRC that Rossi bolted. I wonder how long CS will ride for that guy?

Amazing to me that he thinks Marquez is the future of MotoGP...It's a bit early for that when he still has Casey and Dani. Maybe Marc struggles with the Bridgestone tires? Maybe he's another Dovi (or Elias!).

Go Yamaha!

Thanks for posting that, Yoop.

I'm with you, almost.

It may be just the way it worked in the interview but he seems to underappreciate how much of his success this year was down to luck.

The comment about Stoner's speed preventing other HRC riders from bitching about the bike says all we need to know.

He signed Stoner, and the result has surpassed his wildest dreams. Take that away tho, and there's every chance Pedrosa would still have hurt himself and Lorenzo would have pulled off the double ...

... with everybody saying the Yams were the business. while Honda threw money ineffectually at a futile attempt to demonstrate mastery of the class it created. Led by the bumbling Nakamoto ...

Oh, and for anybody who came in late, interview with the unassuming HRC boss Nakamoto is here.

[RichBeBe]

Originally Posted by Florin

He is riding Aoyama's bike, not the factory 800. He is already 1 second faster than Aoyama was in qualifying.

I think Bautista is smart and fast. The thing I wonder and can never be answered is how good or bad is the Suzuki versus how good or bad Bautista is. Would Stoner have been putting the Suzuki on the podium every week, or around the same as Bautista or worse. Yes Stoner is the extreme but I was surprised that Bradl was faster than Bautista (from what I saw on some sheets), and RDP was faster than both of them on the Suzuki.
Of course it is only testing and the first day, but when we look at the numbers it does not say a ton about Bautista being held back by the Suzuki.

[shrineclown]

Originally Posted by RichBeBe

I think Bautista is smart and fast. The thing I wonder and can never be answered is how good or bad is the Suzuki versus how good or bad Bautista is. Would Stoner have been putting the Suzuki on the podium every week, or around the same as Bautista or worse. Yes Stoner is the extreme but I was surprised that Bradl was faster than Bautista (from what I saw on some sheets), and RDP was faster than both of them on the Suzuki.
Of course it is only testing and the first day, but when we look at the numbers it does not say a ton about Bautista being held back by the Suzuki.

Maybe Alvaro was not pushing it, since it did not matter much. No need to get hurt when you are going to be testing your new steed in a couple of days. On to the future? The people riding it now have something to prove to convince Suzuki to stay and give them a seat.

[UngaWunga]

So what the hell happened to Aoyama this year? From 250 champ to a consistent last place. I know he wasn't on the top spec bike, and that it must've been demoralizing to see Simoncelli get the factory spec bike on the team, but damn, son. Last place? Behind Ducati?

[Florin]

Originally Posted by Moronic

He signed Stoner, and the result has surpassed his wildest dreams. Take that away tho [...]

Same could be said about Yamaha signing Rossi. Sometimes you need something to get things rolling because no matter how hard you try you just can't get that 0.9% that gets you from 99% to 99.9%.

Originally Posted by RichBeBe

I think Bautista is smart and fast. The thing I wonder and can never be answered is how good or bad is the Suzuki versus how good or bad Bautista is. Would Stoner have been putting the Suzuki on the podium every week, or around the same as Bautista or worse. Yes Stoner is the extreme but I was surprised that Bradl was faster than Bautista (from what I saw on some sheets), and RDP was faster than both of them on the Suzuki.
Of course it is only testing and the first day, but when we look at the numbers it does not say a ton about Bautista being held back by the Suzuki.

I think Stoner would have won a race or 2 with Suzy. Wet or not. Remember what he rode before throwing his leg over the Honda.

IMHO the factory Suzuki is better than the '10 satellite Honda. I also think Bautista left because Suzuki is probably pulling the plug not because he wanted to give a factory ride for a satellite one.

[Florin]

Originally Posted by UngaWunga

I know he wasn't on the top spec bike

He was on Pedrosa's bike and had poor results with the best thing out there.

[Moronic]

Originally Posted by Florin

Same could be said about Yamaha signing Rossi.

Of course. But I've an idea Furosawa gets that a lot more richly than Nakamoto ever will.

[jktpa]

R.D. Was faster on A.b.'s 800 Suzuki than A.B. is on the honda.

[swimmer]

As of 3:07 local time

1	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	1:31.807	-	-	28
2	Casey Stoner	Repsol Honda Team	1:31.968	+0.161	+0.161	25
3	Ben Spies	Yamaha Factory Racing	1:32.393	+0.425	+0.586	49
4	Cal Crutchlow	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:33.310	+0.917	+1.503	36
5	Valentino Rossi	Ducati Team	1:33.332	+0.022	+1.525	29
6	Karel Abraham	Cardion AB Motoracing	1:33.433	+0.101	+1.626	56
7	Andrea Dovizioso	Monster Yamaha Tech3	1:33.463	+0.030	+1.656	41
8	Hector Barbera	Pramac Racing Team	1:33.648	+0.185	+1.841	41
9	Alvaro Bautista	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1:33.863	+0.215	+2.056	32
10	Stefan Bradl	LCR Honda MotoGP	1:34.142	+0.279	+2.335	37
11	Franco Battaini	Ducati Team	1:34.840	+0.698	+3.033	55
12	kousuke Akiyoshi	Repsol Honda Team	1:35.626	+0.786	+3.819	11
13	Ivan Silva	BQR Inmotec	1:36.695	+1.069	+4.888	36
14	Carmelo Morales	TeamLaglisse	1:37.003	+0.308	+5.196	46
15	Yonny Hernandez	BQR FTR	1:37.747	+0.744	+5.940	9
16	Federico Sandi	Grillini Team	1:38.680	+0.933	+6.873	26

[JDLuke]

It looks like Spies needs to find half a second a lap again this year. If he manages it early enough in the season things could get very interesting indeed.

[MODNROD]

At the moment, but Spies is on a Yamaha, so at least he won't be told to just ride faster........

Early days yet.

[mdubya]

Originally Posted by JDLuke

It looks like Spies needs to find half a second a lap again this year. If he manages it early enough in the season things could get very interesting indeed.

Ben is trying a different chassis today. Says the motor is more than fast enough, they just need to choose a direction between the 2 chassis'. He also said he wishes Jorge was there so they could compare notes.