Moto GP Round 12 Thread, Brno

The summer break is over and it's back to racing! :woot:

Brno may not be Rossi's favorite track, and Hayden says it's not his favorite either. Melandri or Capirossi maybe?

I suppose the robot ridding the #26 Honda will go well here.

I'm hoping Stoner will make a return to the Podium. Time for Edwards to make a late push. And how will the Suzuki riders fair against each other?

Caution, shameless national pride comment here: COME ON NICKY! :#1:

Your "national pride" isn't because you support Nicky, but because you think Edwards can do a "late push" ;) ... or perhaps did you mean a "late crash"? ;)

:beer:

(This is the week of free beer, payed by Ten-Tenths)

Actually, I said it's "time for Edwards to make a late push." As in save his season. ;) Mind you, I don't think he'll get the job done in that regard.

Are we responsible for paying for the wine then? :wine:

Have a feeling that the M1 will struggle through this one - its a fantastic track, but a bit lumpy in places... the sort of surface that'll test whether Michelin and Yamaha are any nearer sorting out the chatter problems in qualifying. So that's Rossi starting down the grid again...

Capirossi ran well at Mugello, and Brno has those fast, sweeping bends, so I reckon he and the Ducati will be up there. The winner is anyone's guess though...

Capirossi said that this track has been friendly to the Ducati-Bridgestone package in the past. So I'm expecting him to do well also. And if it is a Bridgestone friendly package, maybe we'll see Kawasaki and Suzuki right there as well. I wouldn't be disappointed if a non Ducati/Honda/Yamaha team won.

Well, I just had a look at last year's Brno results. In qualifying we had three Bridgestone riders in the top 10, which included Capirossi on the front row. For the race, we had two Bridgestone riders in the Top 10, which included both Ducati riders. Capirossi finished second.

Rossi won on a track he doesn't like and Hayden started second slipping to fifth at the finish.

So after examining the results, I have come to no conclusions. :tumble:

Btw, Hoffman is on the second factory Ducati.

Thanks for that. Hopefully he makes a better go of that opportunity.
Poor Sete is having a miserable season.

Yes, I think Ducati (i.e. Capirossi) can do well. The climb in the second part of the lap requires a good amount of HP to not be ridiculed by the others bikes.

(And yes, the wine is payed by us, unfortunately. Ten-Tenths don't make that amount of money)

Pedrosa, of course, has won here before on the 250, so maybe the final laps will be a battle between the old guard and the new... with Valentino slipping through the middle? :D

FP1 was headed by Nicky Hayden with a 1:59.387. He was followed by Rossi, Melandri, Roberts, Pedrosa and Stoner. Most of the contenders were in the top 10.

Rossi lead FP2 with a 1:57.871. The rest of the top 5 is all different with DePuniet taking a surprise second. Hayden did not manage to better his morning time and was down in 11th. Rossi's time on a soft tire perhaps?

nihil:

Pedrosa, well seen. In this smooth and technical circuit perhaps he can shine again.

But in the battle of news and oldies, who are the oldies? Colin? Biaggi? In fact I give those two the same possibilities for a win ;) :)

And of course that "boring" Rossi can slip through!

One of the interesting things this season is how far can Roberts and his bike go :)

A Roberts win would be sweet!

Am I the only one here???

Rossi confirms that he ran a qualifying tire in FP2:

"We also tried a qualifying tyre today, in order to give us more of an idea about what we need to adjust tomorrow in the afternoon session in order to challenge for a place at the front of the grid. This is really why I am in first place but anyway the race setting is also good and I was second fastest in the morning practice too so we know we have the pace."

http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~Qu...6~id~135813.htm

But in the battle of news and oldies, who are the oldies? Colin? Biaggi? In fact I give those two the same possibilities for a win ;) :)



Lol... But I was thinking of Loris as the old boy. Granted he's younger than me, but since he's in his early thirties that makes him a veteran on the motogp grid!

Talking of whom, he was third fastest in free practice, on race tyres, not qualifiers, so he's showing well.

With the Kawasaki's looking quick, Pedrosa about halfway down the time sheet, and Chris Vermuelen a full four seconds off the fastest time, its an interesting mix. Guess things will fall into a more familiar order tomorrow, but it bodes well for another edge-of-the-seat race.

Aaah, Capirossi! I forgot him as an old guard. I'd like to see him doing well in race :)

It's a pity Sete is completely out. I would like he doing well here as well.

It's a pity Sete is completely out. I would like he doing well here as well.

Yeah, it must be frustrating to be Sete at the moment. And he deserves the chance to make good on last years misfortune at Brno.

Am I the only one here???

not anymore :)

ducati seems to go well .. Yamaha too . with both bikes in top 5
for now .. . it's Rossi for the win :)

Have gotta say I was watching the qually on Friday and the Yam is still suffereing from horrendous chatter! Well Colins bike was anyway!

Did think Vale must have used a qually tyre as his time was over a second quicker for most of the session until the Bridgestone last 5 minutes came in at the end.

I think Yamaha have been very busy bees in the break put it that way!

Well Rossi is looking very tough indeed. Yamaha do look the business.

The rest of the top 5 are very close.

Thought Predrosa would go better here.

Rossi looking unbstoppable all weekend really. Can't see him losing it tomorrow either, maybe Capirossi can pull a surprise on the Bridgey tyres though?

Rossi could be right back in this Sunday night.

125: Baustisa
250: Barbara
motogp: lois, dani

125: Baustisa


Sad to hear that Bradley Smith broke his arm.

I still reckon Pedrosa will make his presence felt in the race, but I was plainly wrong about the M1 struggling!

Pedrosa's gearing has apparently been wrong all weekend.

Surely this should be sorted even before they hit the track almost?

Still, I tend to agree he will be there or thereabouts come the end...shame Rossi will be halfway to the moon by then.

Oh for heavens sake! Someone reign in Capirex! Wow!

Great result for the championship.

Sooo...Capirex P1, Daylight P2 eh? eh? eh? :rofl:

Well, blow my own trumpet time... Loris, Dani, with Vale in the middle.... But there was no way I expected the gaps between them to be so big. What kind of force took hold of Loris today?!!!

Capirex force. Gotta love Loris when he does this, if he retains this advantage until the end of the season....who knows where he'll end up?

Some favourable tracks coming up for Ducati and Bridgestone, Hayden is due some bad luck.....hmmmm.....!!!

Hayden, it all went wrong! And Hopkins and Nakano get by him on the last lap! Tragic!

Great show from Rossi and Pedrosa. That was brilliant stuff.

Bravo Capirossi and Bridgestone!

I can't remember such a dominant MotoGP victoty, quite an astonishing ride from Loris. As mentioned above, a string of performances like that might keep him in the hunt for the championship. The action behidn was superb, especially the lap where Rossi and Pedrosa kept swapping, and the battling for 4th. Bravo to kenny for making great hsue of the hard tyres towards the end.

Loris showed what you have to do to beat Rossi on track .. out-pace him .. Pedrosa tried to out-race him .. and failed

we'll get a few BS tracks in the latter part of the season .. and I think Sepang is one of those too

As Dani pointed out we are getting to the tracks that Loris dominated last year, Brno, Sepang and Motegi he scored 3 poles and 2 wins iirc...

One retirement from Hayden and his championship is over. Then it's a fight between Melandri, Pedrosa and some guy called Rossi.

Melandri has been the quiet dark horse this season. It would be amazing if he gets the title, when all the limelight has gone to Rossi, Hayden, Pedrosa or even Capirossi. But he can do it.

One retirement from Hayden and his championship is over. Then it's a fight between Melandri, Pedrosa and some guy called Rossi.

That Rossi guy, I don't know...:)

Crackin' race! Well done Loris, great ride!
Felt sorry for Dani, he put on a good show and gave Rossi a good workover IMO. It's a long time since someone's tried to beat Rossi up like that and fair play to him I say, but as DP said, he made a mistake and lost a second and couldn't catch it back again. A well deserved podium though.

I think Rossi is out of the title race IMHO. bad luck for Hayden, a rogue w**k tyre seemed to be his undoing, unfortunately. I agree with David, one Hayden DNF and I think it's curtains but I really can't see it at the moment, he and the bike have been so consistant this year. It would be a huge upset for the bookies of DP took the title though, but I think Hayden is still the favourite.

It would be a huge upset for the bookies of DP took the title though,

I'm not sure that Pedrosa is really ready to take the title... The circuits coming up will definitely favour his speed, but for my money he's still a lilttle bit too inconsistent in race craft in the closing laps of a race.

At Donington it didn't matter, 'cause he was streets ahead, but at Brno, exciting as that exchange beteween he and Rossi was, it was about two or three laps too early. Once Rossi had put him back in his place, did you notice the gap that opened up between them? It was like Rossi thought, "Ok, its been fun to hang out with you, but I'd like to finish this one. Laters!"

If Loris and the Ducati can keep it on song for the remainder of the season, then Pedrosa won't be able to pull out the kind of gap he had at Donington. While I'm not sure it'll keep him off the podium at the end, I don't reckon he'll be on the top step.

i gotta say i think Dani has just been Sete'd!!

I think Vale knew exactly whay he was doing there, he knows Dani doesnt like playing rough and just threw him about a bit coz as soon as he did Dane just fell away! If he was as quick as he looked he would have caught him again. Vale knows his late race tyre concerving skills are bettered only maybe by Loris, so i think the beating up has all bveen Vale's for me!

Good battle between Rossi and Pedrosa there. I was surprised though that Rossi was able to pull away in the last few laps like he did.

I bet Vale wasnt surprised though, he totally beat up Dani there in my view.
Did you see his face and antics after the race, anyone would think he had won the race, he was that happy.
He knows that Loris isnt gonna be a factor every week, and he loves Loris anyway! The reason was that he had just Sete's and Maxed! Pedrosa, he totally beat him up and showed him who the boss is! Was very interesting for me to see the after race antics, Just like a couple of years ago with Sete looking all grumpy and miffed and Vale llarging it up to rub it in!

It was an excellent race from Capirossi, I was expecting Rossi to start clawing the gap back at some point but it just never happened! The race was also good because the title race is getting tighter, with still a decent number of rounds left. Hayden's lead doesn't look very secure.