Lorenzo edges Marquez in Free Practice sessions, Ducati looking alive again*, Rossi struggles:
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/221775/1/lorenzo-rules-day-one-rossi-10th.html (http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/221775/1/lorenzo-rules-day-one-rossi-10th.html)
FP2:
1. Jorge Lorenzo
2. Marc Marquez
3. Andrea Dovizioso
4. Andrea Iannone
5. Cal Crutchlow
6. Pol Espargaro
7. Dani Pedrosa
8. Scott Redding
9. Bradley Smith
10. Valentino Rossi
11. Danilo Petrucci
12. Yonny Hernandez
13. Maverick Viñales
14. Hector Barbera
15. Aleix Espargaro
16. Nicky Hayden
17. Mike Di Meglio
18. Jack Miller
19. Eugene Laverty
20. Stefan Bradl
21. Alex De Angelis
22. Alvaro Bautista
23. Toni Elias
*While qualifying might look good for the guys in red, it sounds like Honda and Yamaha are likely to opt for the hard tire option for the race, which Ducati can't use, so I don't expect much from them on race day.
What is up with Rossi??
Sounds a bit like punching "play" on a recording from Rossi's days with Ducati - of today's difficulties, he said:
“We have a lot of problems and I don't feel good with the bike and was not able to ride at the limit. The main problem is that I didn't have enough feeling with the front so I had trouble under braking, turning, and also in changing direction I'm very slow. The bike is too lazy and heavy so this means we don't have the right balance."
Lorenzo's chance to get the points lead from Rossi. What a great season with MM a pita to both those guys.
Pol has a headache.
He get some serious "air"?
Quote from: koko64 on August 07, 2015, 07:31:18 PM
He get some serious "air"?
Well, not quite 'Lorenzo' air, but enough. :P
I wouldn't cross Rossi off just yet, I suspect they'll figure out a tune-up tonight.
The weather may still jam everyone's carefully crafted plans on Sunday.
It's Indy, NO cross winds, NO rain, just a plain old boring circuit . . . right?
I was looking for a better result out of the suzuki pair considering Aleix and Mav proved that the bikes can run with the big guys
Be watching it live at 3.30am. Commitment.
Bradl quicker than Bautista is interesting.
Did not expect that first time out.
Quote from: DarkMonster620 on August 08, 2015, 06:39:12 AM
It's Indy, NO cross winds, NO rain, just a plain old boring circuit . . . right?
It's raining
They had a Diavel commercial during the Moto 3 race. First time ever seeing a Ducati commercial on TV. 8)
OMG FOX1 commentary chick [thumbsdown]
Great battle between 1-2 and 3-4 [clap] My boy Maverick came home in 11. 8)
Kinda boring race, also looked thinly attended looking at the grandstands on TV
Quote from: Greg on August 09, 2015, 03:52:42 PM
Kinda boring race, also looked thinly attended looking at the grandstands on TV
I didn't think it was boring at all.
~68,000 in attendance
Quote from: Greg on August 09, 2015, 03:52:42 PM
Kinda boring race, also looked thinly attended looking at the grandstands on TV
The grandstands at Indy are huge. Once again not a popular sport in this country. It takes a 'Big' event to fill that joint. 68k is not a bad showing for that part of the country. ;) Oh, and if you thought the battle between the top four was boring you need to watch it again without any distractions.
Amazing Moto2 race!!!! [thumbsup]
Quote from: swanny on August 09, 2015, 06:03:54 PM
Amazing Moto2 race!!!! [thumbsup]
yeah it was...
and the Moto 3 race was controlled by the weather.
The podium was filled with no names.
How about Dovi? The guy is getting the short end of the stick out of the pair of Ducati's. There's rumors of Crutchlow going back to Ducati
Quote from: kopfjäger on August 09, 2015, 04:01:31 PM
The grandstands at Indy are huge. Once again not a popular sport in this country. It takes a 'Big' event to fill that joint. 68k is not a bad showing for that part of the country. ;) Oh, and if you thought the battle between the top four was boring you need to watch it again without any distractions.
Well maybe the TV coverage distorted the attendance.
There was a battle between 1st and 2nd? What I saw was Marquez following Jorge waiting for his moment to pounce, and when he did he was gone.
The battle between Vale and Dani was better, but unfortunately the TV coverage seemed to miss a lot of it.
Commercial breaks were huge. Too many missed laps.
Quote from: Raux on August 10, 2015, 05:27:49 PM
Commercial breaks were huge. Too many missed laps.
there are options for coverage besides free. :-*
I know the online motogp pass. Ihave issues wjth it on my tablet.
Quote from: ducpainter on August 10, 2015, 05:43:18 PM
there are options for coverage besides free. :-*
[laugh] [laugh] It never make the beast with two backsing ends
Quote from: m9hundo on August 10, 2015, 04:56:55 PM
How about Dovi? The guy is getting the short end of the stick out of the pair of Ducati's. There's rumors of Crutchlow going back to Ducati
He does seem to be struggling. I haven't seen anything on it being the bike though.
Quote from: Triple J on August 10, 2015, 09:55:38 PM
He does seem to be struggling. I haven't seen anything on it being the bike though.
Iannone is riding the same bike. What Ducati is struggling with is mid year improvements. Both HRC and Yamaha have delivered items that have improved their bikes. Ducati does not have the R&D the other factories have so they're struggling to keep up. Iannone seems to be able to get more out of the bike and still keep it upright while Dovi is probably more unlikely to push.
Quote from: m9hundo on August 10, 2015, 04:56:55 PM
How about Dovi? The guy is getting the short end of the stick out of the pair of Ducati's. There's rumors of Crutchlow going back to Ducati
On the MotoGP coverage they were talking about Crutchlow possibly heading to Pramac. Dovi has a contract for next year, but Pramac is getting the GP15 next year, which would allow Cal access to the better bike.
Quote from: ducpainter on August 10, 2015, 05:43:18 PM
there are options for coverage besides free. :-*
I tried to watch it on TV. Started with Moto3 and shut it off before the first commercial.
Agreed on Dovi. That was my point...he isn't doing as well as Iannone because of himself, not the bike. It does seem to be the same old thing for Ducati...you finish with the bike you start with in any given year.
Crutchlow is an idiot. Iannone is on his bike...all he had to do was be patient and keep working.
I love the fact that we still have American rounds for MotoGP but the coverage just kills me. When the announcer was talking about MM "taking his foot off the peg" to get lower I mentally cringed. There was a second or two for Schwantz to process that before he stepped in and said that his foot probably slipped and that def wasnt on purpose.
I think that Cal is simply playing games and trying to make it seem like he has options beyond Honda for contracts.
Oh, and lots of tension during the race and I'm glad that Rossi pulled something out of his hat to make the podium... it was looking pretty bleak there for a bit.
8 races to go in the season. Rossi really needs to get in gear when it comes to qualifying!! This coming from behind from the 3rd row stuff has got to go. There were laps during this last race where they were saying that he was 0.4 secs faster per lap than the leads. C'mon now -- he needs those points!!
Quote from: MadDuck on August 11, 2015, 09:50:40 AM
8 races to go in the season. Rossi really needs to get in gear when it comes to qualifying!! This coming from behind from the 3rd row stuff has got to go. There were laps during this last race where they were saying that he was 0.4 secs faster per lap than the leads. C'mon now -- he needs those points!!
It just seems that he always "finds something during warm up" every time and gets the speed he needed the day before.
This is the one thing that he has not been able to come to grips with. They've changed the bikes from 500cc two-stroke to 800 to 1000, but going from a full hour qualifying to 15 minutes has killed him. He simply takes longer to adjust to the conditions. In warm up he has a full hour to try different things to get the bike going quick.
Quote from: duccarlos on August 11, 2015, 10:56:35 AM
This is the one thing that he has not been able to come to grips with. They've changed the bikes from 500cc two-stroke to 800 to 1000, but going from a full hour qualifying to 15 minutes has killed him. He simply takes longer to adjust to the conditions. In warm up he has a full hour to try different things to get the bike going quick.
I don't know...he has four sessions and over 3 hours to find stuff before qualy...
and warm up is only 20 mins
Quote from: Triple J on August 11, 2015, 08:04:43 AM
Agreed on Dovi. That was my point...he isn't doing as well as Iannone because of himself, not the bike. It does seem to be the same old thing for Ducati...you finish with the bike you start with in any given year.
~~~SNIP~~~
Dovi was in podium contention at Mugello when his rear sprocket fuxxored.
Running 5th at Assen when his seat/exhaust bracket/something broke.
2 unforced crashes at Catalunya and Sachsenring.
A bad run, but not all on him.
Ya, I forgot about the sprocket and didn't hear about the Assen problems. Been a rough stretch since LeMans.
Quote from: thought on August 11, 2015, 08:11:36 AM
I love the fact that we still have American rounds for MotoGP but the coverage just kills me. When the announcer was talking about MM "taking his foot off the peg" to get lower I mentally cringed. There was a second or two for Schwantz to process that before he stepped in and said that his foot probably slipped and that def wasnt on purpose.
Hahaha I know what you mean, I caught that as well. Cringe indeed
And that female broadcaster couldn't keep up with the feed and the topics that were being covered, and the butchering of the names of the riders. It's like they are unaware that there's a place called Europe where riders from different countries race motorcycles.
Ralph Sheheen is the worst things to happen to motorcycle racing coverage ever.
EVER
He makes me stupider every time I hear him.
Schwantz is a legend on the track, merely OK in the booth.
My .02¢
Mark
I don't mind Schwantz or any ex racer really. I give them the benefit of the doubt because being a sports announcer isn't supposed to be their bread and butter and they tend to give a very accurate analysis of what the riders are thinking. Like when Spies did the COTA commentary a couple of years ago... not the most charismatic but a good insight into how the riders were working mentally during the race.
I have issues with sports announcers being terrible. I mean... they have one job. ONE JOB. haha
And while we're on the topic of bashing US moto coverage... was it just me or did it seem like they made sure to have every single pass happen off camera or during a commercial break?
Quote from: thought on August 13, 2015, 07:08:57 AM
And while we're on the topic of bashing US moto coverage... was it just me or did it seem like they made sure to have every single pass happen off camera or during a commercial break?
Well, that's a very different issue. The MotoGP coverage might not show a pass the very second, but they do have the ability to show instant replay. They don't have to worry about commercial breaks either. TV coverage has to break for commercial. I like NBC Sports coverage. They have commercials in a separate window at least in F1 races.
The MotoGP Video Pass coverage missed a few passes as well. I heard that although the announcers were the same as usual, the video crew was US-based, so hence the odd decisions as to what to show (like showing the HRC box when Rossi was passing Pedro on the last lap).
IIRC they were showing MM gaping Jorghey while Rossi was passing the Turd. Even the announcers were talking about the Turd being in third place even when their positions were updated on the left hand bar. It took them half a lap to notice and another half lap to find the replay.
Quote from: Triple J on August 13, 2015, 08:29:11 AM
The MotoGP Video Pass coverage missed a few passes as well. I heard that although the announcers were the same as usual, the video crew was US-based, so hence the odd decisions as to what to show (like showing the HRC box when Rossi was passing Pedro on the last lap).
You'd think the directors/producers would be Dorna people even if the camera operators were US...maybe not
I got to hang out with Gigi...but my Italian sucks.
(https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11903889_10153821203795967_3914994291132073640_n.jpg?oh=31e47854174489c12ca5a5468562b3f3&oe=5636C359)
I would be mesmerized by the power if the unibrow, no need to speak.
That photo is priceless....does that sign actually say "Italian Food" [clap]
WRT Fox and motorcycle racing coverage...they also puked all over the golf coverage (men's & women's US Opens) this summer. Largely unprepared, as if their audiences will just sit there, drink their offerings, and believe whatever they say - hopefully they'll realize that MC racing is not political punditry.