Marquez, is looking like he wants to fight for the Championship. That pass was not a good one, but he has no fear.

 

enjoyed reading that article on the aggressive Mr. Marquez. Interesting perspective on how riding had become more about precision over the few last years and how Marquez is bringing back a bit of win-at-any-cost attitude.

That video of a midget Lorenzo punting off Joan Olive was awesome. Excellent find. My girlfriend speaks Spanish, I'm going to get her to translate what he says for me.

 

great races at le mans. it good to see the ducati lead for a while - but i knew dovi wouldn't win. hayden did great. and scott redding in moto2 did awesome. i wonder if he'll start winning a lot now that he's broken that barrier...

 

Yes, good races from LeMans. Being a Brit, I enjoyed seeing Crutchlow and Redding doing so well. Redding has been consistently fast for a couple of years on that Marc VDS bike and I would really like to see him have a shot on a MotoGP bike. I wonder if teams hesitate because he's a big lad? It was funny seeing him stood next to Pedrosa at the Jerez press conference, it even made Pedrosa laugh.

I hope Rossi can get things back on track. He looked so competitive at Qatar but hasn't quite had the pace since then.

 

cal can ride! im kind of confused as to why there is a rumor that pol espargaro could take his ride. if anything, wouldn't pol take bradley smith's ride? that would make more sense.

and i'm psyched to see a big kid at the front in moto2. im tired of jockey sized riders like pedrosa being seen as the future ...i guess i'm being size-ist... oh well


rossi was doing well, he just crashed. i mean, look a where jlo finished. we'll see what happens. there's a whole lot of racing to go still

 

I guess it's because Smith has a contract for next year with Tech 3 but Crutchlow doesn't. Crutchlow seems to want to stay with Tech 3 but have a full factory contract and factory bike but Yamaha only wants to do two factory bikes. Personally I hope it gets worked out because he's clearly kicking *** on that bike. If he ends up going to a factory Suzuki bike I find it hard to imagine that bike would be up to speed right away. Ducati is another rumored option but does that mean Hayden's time is limited?

Me too. It still makes me laugh when I see the guys pull into the pits and pretty much fall off the bike when they stop because they have trouble reaching the floor. I always liked watching Ruben Xaus ride because he is the same height as me, about 180cm, and is all arms and legs hanging off the bike.

 

Good races from Mugello today. Moto GP wasn't exactly exciting but it was eventful. Glad to see Cal get another podium. I watched the coverage through the MotoGP website and really enjoyed the additional commentary from Spies during the race. He gave nice perspective on how the riders would be thinking during the race and added a lot to the commentary.

Moto2 was the best race for me. Love seeing Redding do so well and that seemed like a really mature race win.

Moto3 was a fun race. Seeing them all drafting along the huge straight and then going four wide for a bun fight into turn one is awesome.

 

i didn't get to see moto2 or moto3 because i had to drive to NC from FL. but i did get to watch GP and that was a pretty good race. i can't believe marquez binned it on the last lap or 2nd to last lap. and after such a hard and rough weekend, a 2nd place would have been great for him. and it also would have closed the championship right up. but it was good to see cal get another podium - i agree with you optimus. do you remember in the le mans' race's pre-show on speed, gavin emmit had a story about cal's ride being possibly on the line for pol espargaro? how in the hell could cal's ride be in jeopardy? i could understand bradley smith's, but not cal. he was up at the front last year too. and i tell you what, if he hadn't gotten caught up in the rossi/bautista incident or if the race had been another lap or so - he would have caught and passed dani. crutchlow is such a fun rider to watch, and he truly has talent. you can see how comfortable he is when the bike gets upset underneath him and he's also smooth in the rain. you can't beat that. plus, he's only been in gp for 2 years. i'm glad he did NOT go to ducati.

as far as dovi and hayden are concerned - they did okay. it's sad that their bikes were essentially made for mugello and they can't be at the front.

what do you guys think is better? dovi always qualifies well, but he always drops off in the race. he's never finished where he's qualified so far in this season. but hayden, conversely, always finishes above where he qaulifies. he's much better in the race. it's always an improvement.
which do you think is better? from a racing standpoint, from a team's standpoint, from a media standpoint, etc?

i've always kind of looked at where people finish vs where they started as a way to judge how they did, and how they are as a rider.


and what can you say about jlo, he did amazing!

optimus, to your point about ben's commentary, wasn't it almost funny how correct he was about almost everything the world commentators asked him? before he even saw the extra footage from the rossi crash, he explained it correctly. he explained what JLo was going to do if he saw a +.2 on his board. he also correctly predicted what would happen with marquez and pedrosa once lorenzo cleared off a bit.

it just shows how much more involved racing is than any commentator or spectator can really understand.

 

Starting with the last part of the quote above: Sometimes racers do make excellent commentators. Sometimes they're not very good. Ben's explaining on the last broadcast was spot-on. But Moto GP right now is simpler than most racing because there aren't many true contenders.

"Racing" is mufti-faceted, of course. One could (try to) explain any single aspect forever.

Racing bikes, presented as a media product?..I'd be expecting Moto GP to soon be tweeking the rules again to diminish the domination of one brand, thereby creating 'closer' racing...Sells more TV.

The teams and manufacturers? Mainly it's all about the money. The most successful racing 'teams' are those who commit the most re$ources: To keep winning races, money talks loudest, money triumphs in the end!. They hire the best people to design and build the best possible equipment and teams. They spread money around to get rules that makes it easier for their own effort. In the end, the teams with the biggest budget usually win...This is true at all levels of racing, right down to your local club races...There will always be someone out there spending more money, eventually.

Professional Racers?...Yes, they're the fastest riders in the world, or drivers, or bicycle peddlers, or whatever they race...but being able to go fast is not the only important skill they require. Selling themselves is. Getting a Moto GP ride...one could probably write volumes on how people have done that. Just being "fast"...that's not nearly enough...To be a successful professional "Racer" you must spend a lot more time selling than riding....

It's all fun for us enthusiasts, watching. Cheering for the underdogs like Ducati...great fun, but Moto GP as a 'media product'? Not so good right now at least in the US...I predict they'll be needing some 'gimmick' to gain watchers...something like F-1 did with their DRS rules, something, other than a huge budget, that brings slower racers and equipment back into contention.

Pedrossa and Marquez (sp?) is fun to watch...same bikes and Marquez IS a fast guy, for sure....but he still has to develop more 'racing' skills...Going the fastest during a race is useless if you aren't the first to cross the FINISH line, where results are recorded...Often, being smart enough to go slower will get a racer to the finish first...

 

yeah, after Mugello I thought Cal might feel a little justified by his comments that Marquez is a 'one off' and Espargaro isn't the next miracle rider. It's also funny to read Espargaro's comments about how Redding has lots of weaknesses that they will exploit to get points back. That didn't go so well at Mugello.

Always the 'Hayden' model for me. I think from any standpoint it's more better seeing a guy come through the field to do well in a race. Qualifying is about getting an early advantage in the race and I can't imagine teams are too happy if you can't make use of that advantage.

Glad someone else thought his commentary was good too. You're right, he pretty much predicted everything that was going on and I particularly enjoyed his comments on the race tactics and what the riders might be thinking. It reminded me of Martin Brundle doing the old F1 commentary, great technical insight from personal experience.