Moto GP, excelent race

[ratter]

Excelent race , excelent result

[Racecraft]

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=90327

[ratter]

Originally Posted by Racecraft

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=90327

Check the post time

[Racecraft]

i know you posted first, but if they want to know any details they can clicky on the linky

[kyro_02]

they must be doin reply? philip island yeah ? who wins ? 18 laps to go

[ratter]

Originally Posted by kyro_02

they must be doin reply? philip island yeah ? who wins ? 18 laps to go

?????

Race was live on foxtel

[brenx]

I get to watch it now @ work. Although I'm not a big fan of bikes it keeps me entertained.

[kyro_02]

ya was live but like its reply on ch 10 ........ o think .. who won?

[KBBossedXR]

Its not very often Rossi has to settle for 2nd but when you have a Ducati blowing you away like that and Stoner riding the rest of the track the way he did i dont think he had a choice. I think Stoner was spured on a fair bit by his new wife (sexy thing), she was Italian i wonder how much she had to do with him going to Ducati. Hopefully this is the begining of a very successful year for Stoner and Ducati.

[ratter]

Originally Posted by stroked67

Its not very often Rossi has to settle for 2nd but when you have a Ducati blowing you away like that and Stoner riding the rest of the track the way he did i dont think he had a choice. I think Stoner was spured on a fair bit by his new wife (sexy thing), she was Italian i wonder how much she had to do with him going to Ducati. Hopefully this is the begining of a very successful year for Stoner and Ducati.

I don't think she is italian.
She and her mother have been hanging around the motoGP at the island for long before she and Casey were an item

[mcnews]

Wrote this as I watched the race, yet to be proofread etc. so maybe rough but you will get the idea.

---

After an off season that seemed to drag on forever the MotoGP circus reconvened in earnest for the first showdown of the season in the Middle East at the fast Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

The practice and qualifying sessions had shown some very interesting traits concerning the all new 800cc MotoGP machines.

Top speed figures through the traps had the Ducati men a long way in front of the rest of the field. The gap so large that horsepower could not be the only factor, clearly Ducati have the most aerodynamically efficient design by a big margin. Every session saw the Ducati men consistently record top speeds more than 10km/h better than any other machine and at some stages early on had 20km/h on the rest of the field. Ducati have always built fast machines but the margin they have over the rest of the field in top speed is nothing short of astonishing.

While Ducati had the top speed honours however it was Yamaha men Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards sitting atop the timesheets in most practice sessions. While way down on top speed in comparison to most of the field the Yamaha obviously a sweet package in the turns that both the Italian master and American apprentice exploited to full effect.

In final qualifying Casey Stoner managed to split the Yamaha men to put his Ducati on the front row. It was no one lap wonder for Stoner however as during the final day of practice the diminutive Australian did nearly 20 laps in succession at a close to lap record pace. And clearly the reduced capacity from 990cc to 800cc was going to be no barrier to setting new lap records in 2007 as the top five riders all lapped quicker than the pole record set by Stoner in 2006. And the top 17 on the grid all lapped inside the previous race lap record at the 5.38km circuit.

Rossi though had taken pole by five-thousandths of a second over Stoner to take his first pole position at the Losail circuit and 36th pole of his career in the premier class.

Defending World Champion Nicky Hayden had been outside the top ten in the early practice sessions but steadily improved to ninth in final qualifying. His worst qualifying performance since Donington the year before.

Suzuki's John Hopkins had been strong throughout all the practice sessions despite nursing some injuries from a pre season practice crash. Teammate Chris Vermeulen had struggled all weekend before making some headway on Saturday morning. However under the new tyre rules where riders must choose their qualifying rubber before the start of the weekend a wrong choice saw the affable Aussie languishing down in 13th place by the end of qualifying.

Kawasaki's Randy De Puniet has been strong in the practice sessions but slipped to eighth place in qualifying.

Top qualifying Honda rider was Toni Elias who in contrast to some of the others saved his best for qualifying and went from a lowly 14th in the morning practice session to fourth place in qualifying. Alongside him on the second row was diminutive Spaniard Dani Pedrosa who improved to fifth quickest in qualifying.

When the lights went out the jostling started in earnest but Rossi capitalised on his pole position to lead them through turn one with Stoner, Elias and Pedrosa close astern with Edwards also right in the mix on the back of that group. Not for long however as both Melandri and Hopkins soon forced their way past the Texan to shuffle him back to seventh place. The awesome top speed of the Ducati saw Stoner shoot to the lead on the main straight as they crossed the stripe to commence lap two. Rossi was soon all over the back of the Ducati again as soon as the corners arrived however with the new Yamaha 800 looking to be the finest handling machine on the grid.

Dani Pedrosa then squeezed past Rossi on the straight as they started lap three but Rossi took his position right back at turn one. The tussles playing into the hands of Stoner who was looking to pull an early escape act. Hopkins moved up to fifth after getting the better of Elias and started closing on the leading quartet.

Rossi rushed into the final turn considerably faster than Stoner next time around in an effort to get the slipstream of the Ducati but the Italian machine easily broke the tow and powered away down the main straight. Rossi a demon in the corners though and sneaked his nose in front early on the next lap but was in too hot and Stoner simply slipped straight back through to regain his lead. Rossi trying to pressure the young Aussie into making a mistake and surrendering the lead.

By lap five a clear group of five riders had established themselves at the head of the field with the running order- Stoner, Rossi, Pedrosa, Elias and Hopkins. The Suzuki man put in a new quickest lap of the race on lap four to close on that group.

Stoner running medium compound Bridgestones while Rossi's Yamaha shod with hard compound Michelins. Third placed Pedrosa running medium Michelins. On lap five Rossi slipped past Stoner late on the lap and led the Ducati man on to the main straight by a healthy margin but again Stoner just caught and blew past the Yamaha. The top end pace of the Ducati absolutely amazing.

Rossi again sneaked ahead of Stoner in the tight sections and Pedrosa was quickly hounding the Ducati. Predictably however Stoner simply streaked away on the main straight as though the other riders had a plug lead pulled off. Stoner's Ducati teammate Loris Capirossi had been edging his way forward and with 16 laps to run had moved up to fifth after getting the better of Melandri and was starting to close on fourth placed Hopkins. But late on the next lap Capirossi tumbled his way out of the race while his teammate crossed the line to set a new fastest lap of the race.

Pedrosa really started to challenge Rossi for second place on lap eight while Randy De Puniet's promising start to the season came to a premature end after losing the front end of his Kawasaki in one of the tighter right handers. Carlos Checa went out in sympathy only seconds later with his LCR Honda also ending the race on its side in the gravel trap which promoted defending World Champion Nicky Hayden into eighth position ahead of Chris Vermeulen. With 13 laps to run that duo were more than ten seconds behind the leading quartet.

Pedrosa made some small mistakes as the race passed the halfway mark and Hopkins was quick to capitalise and pushed his Suzuki through to third position. The Spaniard was quick to regain his momentum though to move back up to third position. Their tussle had allowed Stoner and Rossi to escape their clutches somewhat. Stoner set a new fastest lap of the race on lap 12 but Rossi was still right with him while Pedrosa and Hopkins were now 1.5 seconds behind that leading duo. A couple of laps later that buffer had grown to more than three seconds as Stoner and Rossi set the scene for a thrilling showdown to the flag.

Lap 16 saw Stoner put down a new fastest lap of the race in effort to break Rossi but the Yamaha man was having none of it. After starting with promise Elias had drifted backwards through the field before tumbling out of the race with five laps to run.

Rossi hung onto Stoner and made his move in tight left hander with four laps to run. Ducati horsepower soon ruled the way once the main straight loomed and the red machine sucked the new Fiat livery off the panels of the Yamaha as it blew past once again. The final rung on the rostrum was still far from settled also as Pedrosa had Hopkins nipping at his heels constantly in his quest for a podium.

Stoner started the final lap with half a second on Rossi and extended that margin throughout the final lap to take a victory for Ducati with a blistering last lap with the rear tyre squiggling and squirming away powering him to victory by. The effort he put into that final lap was clearly obvious and it resulted in a new race lap record and fastest lap of the race on the final circuit of the 5.38km circuit, a storming 1m56.528 for which Rossi had no answer.

Dani Pedrosa took a podium result for Honda while John Hopkins made it four different manufacturers in the top four positions.

A disappointing eighth place to defending Champion Hayden who was beaten to the line by Vermeulen. The Kentucky Kid was a despondent sight in pit lane as he pondered his chances of defending his crown against the pace of those that finished in front of him at the season opener.

Colin Edwards took sixth place 1.2 seconds behind Marco Melandri.

Jeremy McWilliams did not manage to start the race on the Ilmor while Andrew Pitt retired late in the race.

MotoGP next reconvenes at Jerez on March 25.

[nugget378]

Did anyone notice the live throttle and brake position telemetry.
Rossi was getting on the throttle earlier and was using less throttle than Stoner,and alot less brakes,was very interesting to see the different styles..
Should be a good season..

[mcnews]

You also though have to take into account the different traction control settings of the bikes and also the engine braking from the slipper clutch would be different on either bike so that might amplify the differences. Although it is a fact of bike racing that riders differ so greatly, in a car you only have a steering wheel and a couple of pedals so the amount of difference can never be really great. But on a bike body positioning and weighting through the pegs, bars etc. all makes a difference. Thus why bike riding is infinitely more challenging and physical than car racing.

[SP.UTE1]

Moto GP makes F1 seem like a funeral procession. What a fantastic race. Makes the expence of Foxtel worth it.

[mcnews]

Originally Posted by 1QWKF6

Moto GP makes F1 seem like a funeral procession. What a fantastic race. Makes the expence of Foxtel worth it.

The only reason I have Foxtel is for the bike racing. If they didn't have MotoGP and World Superbike live I wouldn't bother. When the internet streaming of the races is without hiccup for both series I will probably ditch Foxtel then.

[ratter]

it was great to watch the race with no commercial breaks.