If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
|
Posted by Mark N on June 27, 2008, 11:04 am
Rain in the morning but dry for the Q, Stoner on pole. No surprise there
but it was very close and at least somewhat dramatic.
1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:35.520
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:35.552
3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:35.659
4. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:35.975
5. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:35.985
6. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:36.278
7. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:36.532
8. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:36.768
9. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:36.804
10. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:36.823
11. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:36.899
12. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:36.948
13. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:36.978
14. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:37.287
15. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:37.643
16. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:37.793
17. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:38.726
On race pace, Stoner didn't get in that many race tire laps and ended up
at 36.62, well off his Thursday PM 36.09, but right about where his
general pace was yesterday. Pedrosa's best were mid-37s topping out at
37.43, which was a very slight improvement over P2, so he's going to
have to pull one out of the hat yet again to stay in it. Rossi's best
was a 37.59, he hit the wall at 36.8 in P2, so in the same boat. Hayden
didn't get into the 36s yesterday, and his best today was a 37.23, so
even deeper in the sh*t. Edwards was at 36.93 in P2, and well off that
today, a best of 37.51.
De Puniet got to mid-37s, but you have to assume he won't factor at all,
the usual. Lorenzo's Q lap makes him look better than he was, never
breaking 38, actually a bit worse than his 37.96 14th-best yesterday,
but he was a miracle man at Donington. Vermeulen was faster yesterday at
37.28 but also couldn't break 38 today. Nakano got to 37.74, again
slower than his 37.14 yesterday. De Angelis at 37.28 was the guy further
down with some race tire pace today, just a bit off his 37.13 yesterday.
Otherwise, Melandri continues to passively take up space, a second off
anyone else on Qs, yesterday's 39.2 is his best on race tires. Gibernau
will be testing the Duc again, so his days are definitely numbered.
Hopkins had an off in the Q and broke an ankle bone, but isn't ruled out
for tomorrow yet; if not, a 16-rider grid. With West last among the guys
actually trying, it just gets worse for Kawi. Btw, Hacking said at
Laguna on Monday that he doubts Roger Lee will be able to go in MotoGP
at Laguna.
So it looks like another Stoner walk to this point, hard to see anyone
closing the gap on race tires. Rossi and Pedrosa have to be the
favorites to fill out the podium, Edwards and Hayden as likely as anyone
to follow, and then a dice roll among Nakano, de Angelis, Vermeulen,
Lorenzo, etc. Hopefully there will be some good battles in there somewhere.
So what's the weather report? Rain definitely looks like the best bet
for an interesting race...
|
|
Posted by on June 27, 2008, 12:02 pm
> Rain in the morning but dry for the Q, Stoner on pole. No surprise
there
> but it was very close and at least somewhat dramatic.
>
Will see, forecast says rain.
Henry
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
snail mail : Henry Koplien |/
From the Center of Nowhere o(O O)o
---- eMail : Henry@FamKoplien.de ---------------ooOo---(_)---oOoo-------
|
|
Posted by Champ on June 27, 2008, 12:21 pm
On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:04:16 -0700, Mark N
>So it looks like another Stoner walk to this point, hard to see anyone
>closing the gap on race tires. Rossi and Pedrosa have to be the
>favorites to fill out the podium, Edwards and Hayden as likely as anyone
>to follow, and then a dice roll among Nakano, de Angelis, Vermeulen,
>Lorenzo, etc. Hopefully there will be some good battles in there somewhere.
>
>So what's the weather report? Rain definitely looks like the best bet
>for an interesting race...
I 'watched' the Q on MotoGP's live timing thing, and it was always
clear how out front Stoner was. There was one point when Rossi put a
Q tyre on and gave it everything and bumped Stoner off pole, so Stoner
just put a fresh tyre on and move the bar by a few more tenths.
Rossi and Pedrosa have to be really careful here. Assuming they both
expect Stoner to ride off into the distance, they both need to be
second, but a slip by either will let Stoner right back in the game.
And, there's enough races left in the season that, if Stoner keeps
winning, he's going to be back in the game anyway. Didn't he win 10
last year?
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk
|
|
Posted by Mark N on June 27, 2008, 2:50 pm
Champ wrote:
> I 'watched' the Q on MotoGP's live timing thing, and it was always
> clear how out front Stoner was. There was one point when Rossi put a
> Q tyre on and gave it everything and bumped Stoner off pole, so Stoner
> just put a fresh tyre on and move the bar by a few more tenths.
He at least looked curious sitting in the pit box at the end when Dani
was making his run, but not much more. One has to wonder if they
rewarded a piont for pole as in the AMA how much faster he might have
been.
> Rossi and Pedrosa have to be really careful here. Assuming they both
> expect Stoner to ride off into the distance, they both need to be
> second, but a slip by either will let Stoner right back in the game.
At the moment Stoner is 45 points down on Rossi, and that should be
compared to Hayden's 46-point lead over Rossi at this point in 2006,
after Nick had won at Assen. He got another big boost at Laguna, but
it took a lot to get Rossi back in that, including the Pedrosa
incident. You have to think Rossi looks much more solid now that
Hayden did then. So until something dramatic happens one must assume
this championship still comes down to Rossi and Pedrosa, I think.
> And, there's enough races left in the season that, if Stoner keeps
> winning, he's going to be back in the game anyway. Didn't he win 10
> last year?
Yep. What I think is interesting is that he's suddenly so dominant
after they found something at the post-Catalunya test, which I
understood to mostly be in the electronics settings. If so, that
suggests how important the electronic rider aids have become, and how
reliant Stoner/Ducati are on them being right. Maybe if they win the
world championship trophy should be rewarded to some faceless software
programmer...
|
|
Posted by Champ on June 27, 2008, 3:56 pm
On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:50:45 -0700 (PDT), Mark N
>> Rossi and Pedrosa have to be really careful here. Assuming they both
>> expect Stoner to ride off into the distance, they both need to be
>> second, but a slip by either will let Stoner right back in the game.
>
>At the moment Stoner is 45 points down on Rossi, and that should be
>compared to Hayden's 46-point lead over Rossi at this point in 2006,
>after Nick had won at Assen. He got another big boost at Laguna, but
>it took a lot to get Rossi back in that, including the Pedrosa
>incident. You have to think Rossi looks much more solid now that
>Hayden did then. So until something dramatic happens one must assume
>this championship still comes down to Rossi and Pedrosa, I think.
I think that, mathematically-speaking, if Stoner beats Rossi into
second for the rest of the season, he'll take it. So, sure, Rossi's
got a good cushion, but he can't follow Stoner home every weekend
>> And, there's enough races left in the season that, if Stoner keeps
>> winning, he's going to be back in the game anyway. Didn't he win 10
>> last year?
>
>Yep. What I think is interesting is that he's suddenly so dominant
>after they found something at the post-Catalunya test, which I
>understood to mostly be in the electronics settings. If so, that
>suggests how important the electronic rider aids have become, and how
>reliant Stoner/Ducati are on them being right. Maybe if they win the
>world championship trophy should be rewarded to some faceless software
>programmer...
Hey, software, that's what I do!
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk
|
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 > last >>
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap