Okay, I've been under a MotoGP rock for the last five years. Laguna Seca and Indy, so where's the third US race location.
Agreed. The first half of the race I was waiting to see him pop around the corner in the back ground and he seemed very far back. Then out of no where he was right behind cal. In his post race interview he said the bike feels better after the tire goes off a little and slides. Jlo said just the opposite. Interesting.
Don't be surprised if Ducati is not there in 2014. They scaled it down and with attendance, it's not looking real promising. Even with the announcement that Indy is going to hold the race again, they (Indy) have the option to back out. Good race though.
Good question. From what I've heard, the 2014 Desmosedici will be significantly different to this year's bike. Sucks for Hayden to lose his ride this year, just when big changes are starting to happen. 2015, Ducati might even be actually competitive.
I think Hayden was hired as a development rider, and let's not forget the $10 million or so they have put in his pocket. Don't cry for me, Argentina.
Fox Sports 1 sucks. They had three minutes of commercials out of every 10-12 minutes of action. They put Varsha and Mamola in the middle of nowhere, tout the fact that they have the factory Ducati, and then ignore it completely in the warmup to the race. Russell and Shaheen didn't even make the effort to learn the rider's names ('Number 35 passes number 19'). they didn't give any background on the series (i.e. true prototypes versus turnip trucks, I mean CRT entries). Such a shame. The race in general: Does fox have their own coverage sources and editors, or do they have to go off what they are fed by MotoGP? If they (motogp and Fux) wanted to sell MotoGP, they should have had SOME of the gyro camera stuff. When they did go with the on-bike cameras, they never stuck with it more than 2 or three seconds, unless it was just showing the bikes getting onto the long straight. Use the rearward facing cameras for crying out loud! I was laughing my a** off with that pass by Hayden. He should get the award for "most innovative use of a teammate as a braking-marker-apex". MM made it look easy.
Dorna (MotoGP) feed it was ironic that Randy put in a plug for MotoGP.com. Because of the lag for the hookup Fox's feed was before MotoGP's feed. the introduction by Despain was nice.
Rossi has always gone well late-race on baked tires. His ride through the field was like Rossi of old (never really being a hole-shot king) however the big difference today is you cannot spot the guys at the front five seconds right off the bat (from the third row) when they are at least as fast as you. That said, it's the Ducati garage I would have liked to be the fly on the wall for! I'm not sure the Hayden "punting" move will prove as popular there as with FOX commentators and US fans...considering the risks and the fact it let one more satellite team bike (Smith) ahead of the works Ducatis! :eek1
No one at Ducati should be too surprised. Their two riders have been stuck at the back with only each other to race for 3+ years now. Plus, after getting dumped, Hayden had absolutely nothing to lose. It was still not a move I cheered. It was a pretty cheap shot from a guy that usually is full of class. He might have "owed" it to Dovi, but it was so poorly done that there was no payoff for NH doing it. I'm much more fascinated at how Yamaha seems to be almost willfully letting themselves fall further and further behind Honda. And I think JL feels the same way. At some point, even a loyal guy like Lorenzo will get fed up. That's when the shit will hit the fan.
The coverage on the MotoGP video pass feed was excellent as always. Can't believe I used to waste my time watching speed/fox coverage.
The race was awesome from trackside. I can see why people think Indy is boring on TV though. It's real flat and almost fake looking in some areas.