Capirossi on pole, the Dukes, Cap and the "Stones" are sure working well
together ATM.
Gibs 2nd and Rossi 3rd, Max is 13th!!!! WTF is up with him????
Well for the race I'd have to say the first 3 qualifiers are a top
choice, surely to God Gibs can't have another DNF!!!
So I'm going to pick Capirossi for the hat trick, Rossi 2nd and Gibs 3rd
(and Max last struggling to fend off the Blata's on his factory HRC
machice).
Paul
>Capirossi on pole, the Dukes, Cap and the "Stones" are sure working well
>together ATM.
>Gibs 2nd and Rossi 3rd, Max is 13th!!!! WTF is up with him????
He's qualified badly all year. He says he can't get this year's
Michelin qualifiers to work for him. Given that a Q tyre is worth
around a second a lap, and the top ten at least are usually covered by
a second, that's a big problem for him.
--
Champ
Paul B wrote:
> Capirossi on pole, the Dukes, Cap and the "Stones" are sure working well
> together ATM.
>
> Gibs 2nd and Rossi 3rd, Max is 13th!!!! WTF is up with him????
>
> Well for the race I'd have to say the first 3 qualifiers are a top
> choice, surely to God Gibs can't have another DNF!!!
>
> So I'm going to pick Capirossi for the hat trick, Rossi 2nd and Gibs 3rd
> (and Max last struggling to fend off the Blata's on his factory HRC
> machice).
Capi's time is two seconds faster than Checa's pole time last year, and
is also two seconds faster than his best times on race tires, which was
right about 59 flat, and his general pace in the session was more like
2-flat. In the morning he was running mid 59s. Last year's race pace,
which was set by Edwards, was mid 59s. Gibernau, on the other hand, was
doing steady low 58s in the session, at the beginning doing six straight
under 58.5. Rossi was more low 59s and high 58s, but he did back-to-back
57.9s later, not sure the tires.
Edwards was doing short stints in the Q, but was down in the low 58s
most of the time. In the morning he was on a steady 58 pace, and did a
long run of 13 laps of which 9 were 58s. Melandri was on about the same
pace as Rossi in the Q, not dipping below 58.9 until the Qs went on. He
was doing mid 58s in the morning, and did a pair of very low 58s when he
set fast time. Checa did three straight mid 58s before he went to the
Qs, which was better than where his teammate was, and also was down
there in the morning.
Nakano was in the 59s with a couple high 58s thrown in, and he was above
2 minutes all morning. Hayden was over 2 much of the morning, then
worked down to some 58s, and in the Q was low 59s before the Qs went on.
Elias, now in the game, didn't do much in the Q, no pace at all, until
the Qs went on, and in the morning was another low 59 guy late in that
session.
Tamada was above 2 on race tires, Roberts was more in the 59s including
a few low ones, Hopkins did one run of 3 59s early but slowed after
that. Biaggi was on a low 59/high 58 pace in the session, but as usual
made up little ground on the Qs. Barros is the guy with big problems,
qualifying with a time barely better than his 2nd-quick time last year.
Anyway, it looks to me that last year's results dovetail nicely with
pace this year, and based on that this will be a fight between Sete
(last year's winner), Colin (2nd and the fastest guy on the track), and
Rossi, who must want to make amends for last year and doesn't want to
see Sete back on top of the box. Checa was on pole last year, was set in
third when his Yamaha went south late in the race, and has the best pace
of the Bridgestone runners, so he may be close to the front. I don't
think Loris will win, nor do I think he'll be on the box. Melandri may
be the most likely of the other guys to get on the box, but I'm not
convinced he can run at the pace all race. Hayden is probably the other
guy with any real chance to get close to the fight at the front. Biaggi
doesn't have quite the pace and is too far back to make an impression,
so he'll probably be working through the Suzukis and Kawasaki somewhere
in the lower half of the top ten.
The smart pick is probably Rossi, but I'll take a flyer and say Edwards
will get his first GP win, perhaps because Sete and Vale tangle at some
point, as this seems like a bit of a blood match for them. I think Colin
needs to get off the line better than he usually does to do that, so if
he's in the top three or four on the opening lap, watch out. Should be a
good race. Regarding those Yamahas, they had some sort of fuel
vaporizing problem in the heat last year that knocked out Checa and
Melandri. I assume they've fixed that...
Mark N wrote:
ar.
>
> Anyway, it looks to me that last year's results dovetail nicely with
> pace this year, and based on that this will be a fight between Sete
> (last year's winner), Colin (2nd and the fastest guy on the track), and
> Rossi, who must want to make amends for last year and doesn't want to
> see Sete back on top of the box. Checa was on pole last year, was set in
> third when his Yamaha went south late in the race, and has the best pace
> of the Bridgestone runners, so he may be close to the front. I don't
> think Loris will win, nor do I think he'll be on the box. Melandri may
> be the most likely of the other guys to get on the box, but I'm not
> convinced he can run at the pace all race. Hayden is probably the other
> guy with any real chance to get close to the fight at the front. Biaggi
> doesn't have quite the pace and is too far back to make an impression,
> so he'll probably be working through the Suzukis and Kawasaki somewhere
> in the lower half of the top ten.
>
> The smart pick is probably Rossi, but I'll take a flyer and say Edwards
> will get his first GP win, perhaps because Sete and Vale tangle at some
> point, as this seems like a bit of a blood match for them. I think Colin
> needs to get off the line better than he usually does to do that, so if
> he's in the top three or four on the opening lap, watch out. Should be a
> good race. Regarding those Yamahas, they had some sort of fuel
> vaporizing problem in the heat last year that knocked out Checa and
> Melandri. I assume they've fixed that...
I pretty much agree and just hope Honda and Yam don't get crazy like
last year. I like Colin. he's overdue and if Yam has any hope of
finishing 1-2 he better get moving. Then it's Vale, or Nicky....
XML Sitemap
>together ATM.
>Gibs 2nd and Rossi 3rd, Max is 13th!!!! WTF is up with him????