Well, having looked at the times from the first test in Sepang I'm pretty excited about the prospects for the season.

I'm happy to see Rossi at the sharp end again and Marquez mixing it with Lorenzo and Pedrosa too. The more guys that can get up to that top pace then the better the races will be.

I'm glad Crutchlow has good speed but his bike isn't much different from last year so hopefully they don't drop away from the front.

The Ducati's don't seem to have found a miracle cure over the winter. Hopefully they can catch up with some development.

 

have you heard the new rules too? no motor development during the season.... only electronics development. there was a pretty good article in cycle world this month.


did you realize that all the factory teams are freezing their fuel to get the most possible energy out of the allowed fuel capacity?

friggin' nuts...

 

Ducati really hasn't changed much. They are pretty much riding last years bikes as whole. Ben Spies is rumored not to test the next 2 days because of his Shoulder injury from last year. They are saying hes not as strong as they thought he would be.

 

A new rider with a shoulder injury taking on the struggling Ducati .....all sounds a bit familiar from 2011!

I didn't know about the fuel freezing, that's hard core.

The lack of engine development during the season is news to me too. It's all about cost saving and leveling the playing field these dyas.

 

ya, i don't know if you read cycle world or anything, but it was an article by kevin cameron on "lets get back to racing".... it was mainly about how all of this "in the name of keeping costs down" and what not is making racing into more of an economy run than a race. i didn't know this either, but honda AGAIN has made the proposition for prototypes to use even less fuel than they did last year. its to squeeze yamaha and ducati....

 

It looks like Spies is out there after all. Hes icing his shoulder alot to his reports. 13th..... thats not good for sure. Hayden being the closest to the factory teams but still over a second. Looks to be a long season for them again. Nicky is just happy to have a factory ride...... as the younger talent riding the Ducati must be scratching there eyes asking what the heck did I get myself into.lol

 

Moved the discussion over.

 

thanks!







you look at where dovi is and where rossi is.... that ducati needs a LOT more work.... bradley smith is faster than all the ducs.... i did NOT see that coming..... holy crap

 

The end of day 3 testing!!

1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 2m 0.100s (Lap 4/44)
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory (YZR-M1) 2m 0.429s (4/60)
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory (YZR-M1) 2m 0.542s (43/60)
4. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 2m 0.636s (32/54)
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 0.734s (5/53)
6. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 2m 1.003s (14/43)
7. Alvaro Bautista ESP Honda Gresini (RC213V) 2m 1.502s (29/48)
8. Bradley Smith GBR Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 2.093s (43/48)
9. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) 2m 2.184s (19/60)
10. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 2m 2.277s (37/43)
11. Katsayuki Nakasuga JPN Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1) 2m 2.616s (12/21)
12. Aleix Espargaro ESP Aspar (ART CRT) 2m 2.628s (37/47)
13. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (GP13) 2m 2.864s (17/35)
14. Kosuke Akiyoshi JPN Honda Test Rider (RC213V) 2m 3.082s (14/28)
15. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 2m 3.874s (40/47)
16. Randy De Puniet FRA Aspar (ART CRT) 2m 4.066s (38/39)
17. Wataru Yoshikawa JPN Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1) 2m 4.137s (5/18)
18. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 4.211s (31/41)
19. Takumi Takahashi JPN Honda Test Rider (RC213V) 2m 4.288s (37/46)
20. Danilo Petrucci ITA IodaRacing (Suter-BMW CRT)* 2m 4.531s (32/34)
21. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB (ART CRT) 2m 4.766s (57/65)
22. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 4.915s (49/51)
23. Claudio Corti ITA Forward (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 5.107s (13/41)
24. Lukas Pesek CZE IodaRacing (Suter-BMW CRT)* 2m 5.321s (39/40)
25. Yonny Hernandez COL Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 2m 5.407s (46/48)
26. Colin Edwards USA Forward (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 5.913s (44/46)
27. Bryan Staring AUS Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT) 2m 5.970s (38/41)
* Control ECU.

 

Nice little clip of todays final testing day 3.