Posted by Mark N on October 16, 2005, 2:30 am
1) Rossi -
2) Hayden 1.01
3) Checa 4.22
4) Melandri 4.23
5) Gibernau 14.09
6) Edwards 33.20
7) Nakano 45.06
8) Elias 45.10
9) Tamada 45.10
10) Hopkins 50.26
11) Vermuelen 50.70
12) Xaus 1:08.3
Really an interesting race, even with the predictable result. Nicky led
early, then Rossi took over, Melandri got by Nick, who fought back and
then split with Vale, the two running mid-high 30 lap times. Rossi
backed off midrace once he realized that he couldn't break Hayden, Nick
seemed to refuse to take the lead, and then when he did he didn't run at
the earlier pace, now at high 31s, probably not wanting to play Rossi's
game but maybe just having lost the pace in all that. That all brought
the chasing pack of Melandri, Checa and Gibernau back in play, and after
Rossi retook the lead Marco got by Nicky. Nick retook the position, lost
it again, and by the time he was back if front of Marco for good, Rossi
was more than a second ahead, and that was pretty much it. Nicky and
Vale ran high 30s/low 31s the rest of the way, but the margin never
closed enough for Nicky to challenge.
Hayden was visibly disappointed after, feeling he had the pace to
challenge but lost that chance fighting with Melandri. As much as the
announcers went on and on about Rossi's race strategy, I'm not so
certain he was really intending to slow down enough to involve the
others, rather it just played out that way and to his benefit. But
whatever his strategy, it worked out. I was quite happy to see Checa pip
Melandri at the line, after messing up Nicky's race.
Checa didn't have the speed promised in practice, never really in the
fight at the very front. Melandri dug deep and found something that got
him in the fight, even if he really only played the spoiler in the end.
Biaggi, fastest in the warmup, crashed out on the first lap. Edwards was
near the front early on, then faded away. Barros crashed later in the
race at high speed and took quite a tumble. Gibernau really wasn't a
factor, never higher than 4th. And good results for Elias and Vermuelen.
The fight for 2nd in the championship got shook up accordingly. Hayden
is now 2nd on 170, Melandri also 170, Edwards 162, Biaggi 159, Capirossi
148, Gibernau 137. Next up is the new track in Turkey, and Hayden's
progression - 4th at Sepang, 3rd at Qatar, 2nd at PI - points to a win
there. If they can hit on a setup, don't bet against it, momentum and
confidence are very much on his side now. Rossi is at his very best at
PI - and tends to be at his worst on new circuits. Also look for
Gibernau and Edwards (the stars of Qatar last year), and Bridgestone
boys Capirossi (assuming he's back) and Checa. But watch Nicky through
those triple lefthanders...
Posted by pablo on October 16, 2005, 10:50 am
And I the 250cc, Stoner bins it while in the lead, and Pedrosa wins a tough
race and the title.
...pablo
Posted by David on October 16, 2005, 5:31 pm
On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 23:30:21 -0700, Mark N
>Nick retook the position, lost
>it again, and by the time he was back if front of Marco for good, Rossi
>was more than a second ahead, and that was pretty much it.
>Hayden was visibly disappointed after, feeling he had the pace to
>challenge but lost that chance fighting with Melandri.
I've said here in the past that Marco (foolishly) seems to prefer
dicing it up with someone while the leader slips away rather than play
a smart strategy to keep them in touch. He seems to pick the most
inopportune times to make a race of it.
That was my first impression of today's race, but I don't think that's
a fair assessment. In reality Rossi's position on track is irrelevant
right now. The race is on for a very close 2nd place in the
championship. The race today was between Marco and Nicky and it
didn't matter if Rossi pulled out a 30 minute lead. Nicky was clearly
faster that Marco today and they only closed in thanks to Rossi's
little stunt to "control the race from the lead". It appeared that
Nicky lost all his rhythm just then and if Marco could have tripped
him up just enough to keep him close to the end it would have been a
successful bid for 2nd place in the standings.
What first appeared to be yet another foolish volley by Marco was
actually a very justifiable attempt to move up the standings.
Posted by Mark N on October 16, 2005, 11:48 pm
David wrote:
> Mark N wrote:
>>Nick retook the position, lost
>>it again, and by the time he was back if front of Marco for good, Rossi
>>was more than a second ahead, and that was pretty much it.
>>Hayden was visibly disappointed after, feeling he had the pace to
>>challenge but lost that chance fighting with Melandri.
> I've said here in the past that Marco (foolishly) seems to prefer
> dicing it up with someone while the leader slips away rather than play
> a smart strategy to keep them in touch. He seems to pick the most
> inopportune times to make a race of it.
>
> That was my first impression of today's race, but I don't think that's
> a fair assessment. In reality Rossi's position on track is irrelevant
> right now. The race is on for a very close 2nd place in the
> championship. The race today was between Marco and Nicky and it
> didn't matter if Rossi pulled out a 30 minute lead. Nicky was clearly
> faster that Marco today and they only closed in thanks to Rossi's
> little stunt to "control the race from the lead". It appeared that
> Nicky lost all his rhythm just then and if Marco could have tripped
> him up just enough to keep him close to the end it would have been a
> successful bid for 2nd place in the standings.
>
> What first appeared to be yet another foolish volley by Marco was
> actually a very justifiable attempt to move up the standings.
What he was doing was certainly justifiable, but rather unfortunate. I
think it's the best case yet of Honda riders working against each other,
something people talk about too much. I don't think Melndri could
maintain his early pace - he posted the fastest lap of the race on lap 4
(1:30.332) but he never did another 30 after the 7th lap - but that
didn't hurt Nicky too much. When he went by Nick later (twice), he was
unlikely to be able to catch Rossi, something Nicky had shown himself
capable of doing. I just don't think Melandri is quite disciplined
enough yet, riding on the ragged edge, inconsistently and perhaps
dangerously and pressing too hard in a non-tactical manner. But you have
to give him credit for his results so far this year.
I actually think it was more Nicky's fault that Marco was able to tangle
with him. I think Nick really didn't want Rossi behind him, not until
the very end of the race, and when he was forced to move to the front he
didn't want to show anything. But that meant the others caught Rossi,
which inspired him to retake the point and left Marco on Nicky's ass.
Nicky might have lost something there, easier to stay on rhythm chasing
the rabbit, but he might have just screwed himself.
Posted by T3 on October 17, 2005, 2:15 am
Mark N wrote:
> David wrote:
>> Mark N wrote:
>
>>> Nick retook the position, lost it again, and by the time he was back
>>> if front of Marco for good, Rossi was more than a second ahead, and
>>> that was pretty much it.
>>> Hayden was visibly disappointed after, feeling he had the pace to
>>> challenge but lost that chance fighting with Melandri.
>
>> I've said here in the past that Marco (foolishly) seems to prefer
>> dicing it up with someone while the leader slips away rather than play
>> a smart strategy to keep them in touch. He seems to pick the most
>> inopportune times to make a race of it.
>>
>> That was my first impression of today's race, but I don't think that's
>> a fair assessment. In reality Rossi's position on track is irrelevant
>> right now. The race is on for a very close 2nd place in the
>> championship. The race today was between Marco and Nicky and it
>> didn't matter if Rossi pulled out a 30 minute lead. Nicky was clearly
>> faster that Marco today and they only closed in thanks to Rossi's
>> little stunt to "control the race from the lead". It appeared that
>> Nicky lost all his rhythm just then and if Marco could have tripped
>> him up just enough to keep him close to the end it would have been a
>> successful bid for 2nd place in the standings.
>>
>> What first appeared to be yet another foolish volley by Marco was
>> actually a very justifiable attempt to move up the standings.
>
> What he was doing was certainly justifiable, but rather unfortunate. I
> think it's the best case yet of Honda riders working against each other,
> something people talk about too much. I don't think Melndri could
> maintain his early pace - he posted the fastest lap of the race on lap 4
> (1:30.332) but he never did another 30 after the 7th lap - but that
> didn't hurt Nicky too much. When he went by Nick later (twice), he was
> unlikely to be able to catch Rossi, something Nicky had shown himself
> capable of doing. I just don't think Melandri is quite disciplined
> enough yet, riding on the ragged edge, inconsistently and perhaps
> dangerously and pressing too hard in a non-tactical manner. But you have
> to give him credit for his results so far this year.
>
> I actually think it was more Nicky's fault that Marco was able to tangle
> with him. I think Nick really didn't want Rossi behind him, not until
> the very end of the race, and when he was forced to move to the front he
> didn't want to show anything. But that meant the others caught Rossi,
> which inspired him to retake the point and left Marco on Nicky's ass.
> Nicky might have lost something there, easier to stay on rhythm chasing
> the rabbit, but he might have just screwed himself.
>
He should have taken the lead and went for it! To beat Rossi someone
will have to outride him on those last few laps and not let him dictate
anything, press, press, press...
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>it again, and by the time he was back if front of Marco for good, Rossi
>was more than a second ahead, and that was pretty much it.
>Hayden was visibly disappointed after, feeling he had the pace to
>challenge but lost that chance fighting with Melandri.