MotoGP thread

harpdoodle

TheBigDipper said:

harpdoodle said:

I have just caught this 'MotoGP' chat thread.

I will be at the Assen MotoGP race on Sunday June 25th.
Riding there on my 2003 Suzuki GSXR 750
Keen to hear from any other bikers going the same way. 

I will be on the overnight ferry Friday 23rd June from Harwich to Hook of Holland. I am staying in Zwoll Sat and Sunday. On Monday I will be riding down to Calais for a 5pm ferry to Dover. 

Zwolle has a lovely little centre, but (if it's your first time) a bit further from Assen than you might think. Don't oversleep! 

Thanks for the info BigDipper. I will ride up to Assen from Zwolle on Saturday, to recce the route. I only have a ticket for Sunday, appreciate the advice. 

quarky

gubble said:

Those Ducati's on the straight were terrifyingly fast.

I called Dovi as the winner as soon as they announced he had food poisoning - he was in a rush to get the the toilet quickly for sure

Good lead at the top for Vinales now too. Great race from Dovi though.

ChuckManual

sinbaadi said:

Just caught up on the Mugello races.

Wow 3 of the absolute best races!  In Moto 3 the last point scoring position, 15th, was 1.5 seconds behind the winner!

Moto 2 and GP were also gripping throughout. 

Moto 3 was insane!

Race of the year, so far.

gubble

Well that was an interesting race this weekend.

Change the track on a friday night, which needed to be done if only to keep Jack Miller going the correct way around it.

Fantastic work from Dovi again. Lorenzo made a huge leap forward but I frankly don't really like the guy and much prefer to see Dovi doing well.

The Aprillia engine of Espagaro blowing up was terrible - he was on for a top 5 finish for sure.

What are people's thoughts on Ianone? Ok the Suzuki isn't the fastest or the most competitive bike on the grid but it is the easiest to ride. The bike is capable of wining and getting podiums. Both riders last year (not just MV) showed it was a very capable machine which could run in the top 6 no problems. Rins is broken so his bike being ridden by wildcards counts for nothing but Ianone should be in the top ten each race, he is severely underperforming.

I've heard some rumours that the factory as very unimpressed with not only the performance but his attitude in the garage and behind the scenes. Will they break the contract early and replace him with another rider? I'm sure they are courting crutchlow who would probably consider going there if he doesn't bag the HRC support that miller is probably being relieved of at the end of this year.

Next up Assen (on a sunday)

rolls1392

Was a good race weekend. Superb result for Dovi.
Agree about crazy Joe.  Where's the crazy gone?

sinbaadi

Catalunya was not a valid comparison.  Vinales is not a "scraping in to the top ten" rider, either.  The heat was doing weird things to tyres on certain bikes and it's not easy to say if the Suzuki is struggling or if it's just the riders.

I rate Ianone quite highly, but wouldn't want him as a team mate!!

rolls1392

I agree. I love watching Joe riding. Hope he is back at the sharp end soon.
Team mate? Nooooooo

ChuckManual

Moto 3 was great (again), Moto 2 was good, but I thought the main race was far from being a classic.

Assen next though... 

gubble

The silly season rumour mill is starting to heat up again after the race with Ianone seemingly being talked about most (along with Sam Lowes).

Aprillia seem quite keen to shift Lowes which is a bit unfair as the guy hasn't exactly had the best support this year. Saturday's qualifying session highlighted this when he was sat in the garage as one bike was goosed and the spare wasn't ready for some reason.

Ianone I've no idea what's happened to him both on and off track. On track he's apparently having issues with corner entry on the Suzuki (which is odd as it's apparently fantastic at all elements of coerning) but off track the team are fed up of his hangers on and recently he attended a press conference where he didn't utter a single word and spent the entire time on the phone. That's really not going to impress the sponsers.

So the latest rumour is he's going to be let go from Suzuki and move across to Aprillia - who will no doubt want a fast Italian on an Italian bike.

quarky

What happened to Vinales? He didn't look at the races (ha ha), but then Rossi was a bit quiet too, so was it just not suited to their bikes? Assen should be good. The lower temperatures will help the tyres anyway!

ChuckManual

Assen - Race of the year.

Absolutely cracking!

FX_Munkee

Indeed, I was literally (used correctly) on the edge of my seat for the last 5 laps.

sinbaadi

Moto 2 and 3 were great too!!
All round a spectacular season of racing so far.

guitarfishbay

Really enjoyed the last race.  I stopped following F1 quite a few years ago as it got a bit dull, never seem to catch Moto GP but man that was exciting.

quarky

Awesome race! Was really hoping Crutchlow was going to grab third, but what was Zarco thinking?? What a race though.

gubble

Great race for sure - I was hoping Dovi would lap Lorenzo but he didn't quite manage it.

Good on Danilo Petrucci for another podium. He's adamant he could have pipped rossi to the line if he'd not had that coming together with Rins.

New chassis for Yamaha - some people speculating it's just the 2016 chassis.

Sausagering on Sunday.

harpdoodle

ChuckManual said:

Assen - Race of the year.

Absolutely cracking!

I was there! I was there along with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of other bikers. 

It was an amazing experience being part of the huge motorcycle gang that roared their way to the event. 

The local residents enjoy the spectacle of seeing so many hundreds of bikes leaving the circuit so much that they park up and picnic alongside the motorway. For 30 miles they line the road and stand on the bridges, waving as we pass. 

It was truly beautiful, a wonderfully unique feeling, to see how important it was for them to say thanks to us all, for coming. 

ChuckManual

quarky said:

Awesome race! Was really hoping Crutchlow was going to grab third, but what was Zarco thinking?? What a race though.

I think his slicks were shot, so he gambled - and lost.

ChuckManual

Brilliant performance from Folger in Germany this weekend. I'd really have liked it if he'd won.

Next time...

sinbaadi

Marquez once again proved how good he is.  Decent races again from all classes.