MotoGP Round 5 - Grand Prix of Frog, at The Men's.

[Gerben24]

Not much more to add to that Chunder, apart from Melandri beat Stoner for the first time

[White flag man]

Watched it on the BeeB. So good it even made me late for work. Great to see Valentino is still the master. Lorenzo just proved that they are all still mad, what a ride! Great commentary, plus the lovely Suzi.
Lets hope the BeeB can make the 4 wheeled variety this good next year, or even slightly less boring than it is at present.

[flying finn]

1. Valentino ROSSI ITA > Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA > 44'30.799 (157.948kmh)
2. Jorge LORENZO SPA > Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA > 44'35.796 (+4.997)
3. Colin EDWARDS USA > Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA > 44'37.604 (+6.805)
4. Dani PEDROSA SPA > Repsol Honda Team HONDA > 44'40.956 (+10.157)
5. Chris VERMEULEN AUS > Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI > 44'52.561 (+ 21.762)
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA > JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA > 44'53.194 (+22.395)
7. Loris CAPIROSSI ITA > Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI > 44'58.605 (+27.806)
8. Nicky HAYDEN USA > Repsol Honda Team HONDA > 44'58.794 (+27.995)
9. Randy DE PUNIET FRA > LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA > 45'00.143 (+29.344)
10. Shinya NAKANO JPN > San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA > 45'01.621 (+30.822)
11. Toni ELIAS SPA > Alice Team DUCATI > 45'05.953 (+35.154)
12. Alex DE ANGELIS RSM > San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA > 45'07.015 (+36.216)
13. Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA > Alice Team DUCATI > 45'22.837 (+52.038)
14. Anthony WEST AUS > Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI > 46'00.106 (+1'29.307)
15. Marco MELANDRI ITA > Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI > 46'10.422 (+1 lap)
16. Casey STONER AUS > Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI > 44'47.085 (+2 laps)
DNF John HOPKINS USA > Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 25'36.029 (+12 laps)
DNF James TOSELAND GBR > Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 3'19.828 (+26 laps)

Championship Standings

1. ROSSI Valentino ITA > 97
2. LORENZO Jorge SPA > 94
3. PEDROSA Dani SPA > 94
4. STONER Casey AUS > 56
5. EDWARDS Colin USA > 47
6. CAPIROSSI Loris ITA > 42
7. HAYDEN Nicky USA > 37
8. DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA > 36
9. TOSELAND James GBR > 33
10. NAKANO Shinya JPN > 28

nice rides from Lorenzo, Edwards and Vermuelen - Stoner needs many wins to catch the top three, maybe the GP9 will help ?

[gomick]

Originally Posted by gomick

blistering in qualifying again - my tip for the race, 9th, in a typical edwards moto gp ride

shooting ya bleedin' mouth off again

great ride by the yamaha boys, jorge is sooo fast - think pedrosa needs help, dump hayden & get dovi on the bike .... unlucky for hopkins on the kwaka, he looked good - west
as for casey, needs to turn it around very, very quickly... poor aussies

congrats to alex debon on his 1st gp win at 32yo

[Hazza]

You beat me too it.

Being an Edwards fan demands 100% Comittment to the faith and cause...

What is insanity? Doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome?

I'll let you connect the dots there.

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Budge up lads, the master has returned to take his crown back.

You mean, me taking over the lead in the 125cc part of the FIM winners game?

[Dani Filth]

WHAT ... nobody mentioned Poggiali yet ??

[bestfit]

Poggiali

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

'Edwards on pole' is quickly replacing 'cows lying down' as a forecaster of rain...

Crazy end to the 125 round - with only 5 laps to go it would have made far more sense to call a result, rather than suppressing the schedule and putting the riders through a lottery. The guys who made bad starts it the second start can especially feel aggrieved; the clutches shouldn't've needed to be used a second time. What exactly are the rules on this now? And it's disappointing that the BBCi commentators were so enthusiastic about the situation. The minute you compromise the riders to suit the fans is the minute you can justify Destruction Derby racing.

I can understand that really but rules are rules. They hadn't done 2/3rd of the race distance yet so the standard response as per the rules was to hold a new race scheduled for the remaining distance to get to 2/3rds subject to a minimum of 5 laps.

They did have the power to call the race, but what they did is exactly by the book.

[gomick]

"The Podge" had a great ride, hope we see more of it this season

[BootsOntheSide]

Originally Posted by Mystery

I can understand that really but rules are rules. They hadn't done 2/3rd of the race distance yet so the standard response as per the rules was to hold a new race scheduled for the remaining distance to get to 2/3rds subject to a minimum of 5 laps.

They did have the power to call the race, but what they did is exactly by the book.

Rewrite the book then. Bring back aggregate times - viewers aren't idiots and do have some idea how to keep track of the running results. Maybe think about restarting behind the safety car, so that riders aren't excessively punished for a poor start. They should surely run the resumption to reach the original lap number, even if it means starting the next race 5 minutes later.

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Rewrite the book then. Bring back aggregate times - viewers aren't idiots and do have some idea how to keep track of the running results. Maybe think about restarting behind the safety car, so that riders aren't excessively punished for a poor start. They should surely run the resumption to reach the original lap number, even if it means starting the next race 5 minutes later.

Have to agree with that. I don't see what the problem was with aggregate races. With half decent TV and circuit presentation no-ones going to be any more confused than they would be with a normal race.

And I also just don't understand why run the 2nd race to 2/3rds rather than full distance, but can only imagine it's to protect the timing of the later races.

[Dani Filth]

exactly
MotoGP must start at 14:00 Local time
and i'm not that bothered with running to 2/3s .. 5 laps can still provide a lot of entertainment in bike racing

[gomick]

especially when it is wet...

[Gerben24]

Even in Motogp, like Mugello a few years back with Shakey on the KR (?) near the front!

However, if I had a favourite rider, who had a massive lead in the first section of the race, than have a slow start in the 2nd race, therefore no chance for the win, I would probably want the aggregate timingsystem back.

[Hazza]

RIO 2001? Checa leading from that Italian guy and on the last corner Ant West gets in the way and thus Checa only won by .50 of a second not 1.5, handing the race to Rossi by one tenth of a second or something?

[Mystery]

Thought this would be useful for future reference

Quote from the Sporting Regulations linked from here

For 125 and 250cc, the number of laps of the second race will be the number of laps required to complete twothirds of the original race distance rounded down to the nearest whole number of laps with a minimum of 5 laps.
– For MotoGP, the number of laps of the second race will be the number of laps required to complete the original race distance with a minimum of 5 laps.