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Posted by Mark N on June 22, 2008, 10:43 pm
sturd wrote:
> Mark N reports:
>
>> 1. Casey Stoner (Ducati), Bridgestone, 30 laps, 44:44.982
>
> Barely looked like he was trying. In the zone.
At least his bike was...
>> 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), Bridgestone, -5.789 seconds
>> 3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda), Michelin, -8.347
>
> Speed had a very brief graphic with both Rossi and Pedrosa's
> throttle and brake position (or effort, couldn't really tell which).
> Interesting that Rossi just wacked the throttle on exit and held it
> wide open, Pedrosa had to modulate throttle position a bit. If
> the graphic was really representative of what's going on at
> the handlebar (if, if, if) would imply that Yamaha electronics
> allow el dottore to not worry about wheelies and spinning
> as much as the midget on the Honda.
From all reports Honda's system from last year was the least developed
in the paddock, and Yamaha uses the same (or similar) Magneti Marelli
system as Ducati. So that would be no surprise.
>> 7. Nicky Hayden (Honda), Michelin, -18.196
>
> Guess the airvalve motor didn't help so much. They didn't
> show the last half of the race back there, Nicky was lower
> than this and looking like the Honda's reverse gear worked
> best about 10 to go. Cycle Spew quotes Nicky saying
> electronics problems (what's that red light?) slowed him
> down.
Seems like he had two problems today, the first being that his number
one bike (as much as you can have that in your first weekend on a new
machine) had problems in the warmup and he had to switch to his backup
in the race. The second was that a warning light lit up about a third of
the way into the race. When that hit he'd been doing mid-low 29s, but on
lap 11 he dropped to a mid-30, and pretty much stayed there for nine
laps, then dropped into the 29s again, doing three straight 29.6s. In
the process he went from 5th and 4.9 seconds back to 7th and 14.8
seconds back. What he seemed to be saying after was that there wasn't
anything wrong with the bike, but the light was spooking him, as
something going wrong in the electronics can be deadly on these things.
In any case, it was a start on a new bike, and he had only a day working
with it there in the dry. It seemed to me that he expected problems this
weekend, being rather fatalistic about switching on a race weekend. So
it may not have helped his result on paper this weekend, but he
definitely feels it will help him in the longer run. He certainly looked
different riding it, doing more of the turn and burn thing and
stretching the throttle cables while it kinked and bucked. Not sure if
that was just his preferred style of if it was just the somewhat
unrefined nature of that motor at this point. But my immediate feeling
is that he's headed in the right direction, finally.
>> 14. Ben Spies (Suzuki), Bridgestone, -49.591
>
> Coulda been better but coulda been worse. All good experience
> I suppose, on to Laguna.
I'd rate it better than that, although I'm sure he was hoping for more
than 14th. But I would guess that he opened some eyes this weekend, and
there will be more than Suzuki looking at him. Hopefully it will make
them think twice about doing the "same old, same old" and hiring Loris
back for yet another season at age 36. Time to think about the future.
Anyway, when was the last time anyone came into a premier class GP so
raw and acquitted himself so well? Kocinski at Spa in '89?
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