Simoncelli released from hospital



http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/157210/1/...tm_campaign=rss

Fingers crossed these crashes don't dent him like they did to Toseland.

Very pleased to see Hayden post a less embarrassing time at last. And I read that no-one has beaten Rossi in the pre-season yet, there's some inspiration for the reat of the pack...

This is really sad. The domestic 600cc championships are being similarly afflicted; BSS's entries are hovering at the 16 mark, and despite being clearly bumped by AMA Pro to main event status, Daytona Sportbike's problems are too well-known to need any explanation.

Does anyone else think Superstock 1000 (or as it's known in America, Superbike ) is the main undercard in motorcycling championships this year?

Am I reading Vale's comments right, that he set that time with a shagged tire?

wouldn't that make the tyre stickier than usual?

Aoyama has always been very good at Sepang. See last year's race for example!

I think Rossi's talking about tyre specs; that he set the fastest time of the test with a 2009 series tyre instead of one from the awesome new amazing 2010 set of compounds. It's funny how after one year of control tyre, one forgets that a 'new' tyre can mean anything other than one that's yet to fall apart.

Ohhhh, that makes a lot more sense.

craftverk: Usually 'shagged' means that the tire is worn, heated to the point that the oils and other things have burned off and the tire no longer offers the grip that it did when new.

so you didn't get it?

The most critical part from 2009 isn't available. They should have hired Josh Hayes.

I think that would have been a good move, but not replacing Crutchlow of course ;) I like Josh, he's a fighter as he proved last year against Sonofagun. So's Cal, Toseland is on the part of the wave that is going down after the crest though.

If Yamaha are having problems with suspension and thinking of going back to 2009 then do it and instead concentrate on the engine and mappings.

Looking at WSS, there is one Kawasaki rider I hope gets to go up next year into WSB or MotoGP2, he impressed last year and he is continuing this. Considering he is Spanish why is he still in that class? They should be pumping him up.


In other news, I have to get up at 5am to go to a track day 150 miles away, and the superbike races are at 1am and 3am or so UK time. Golly. Wish me luck. I might be the first person who has ever fallen asleep at the chicane and brought the red flags out.....

Andy

Sadly I'll be getting up at 3ish to head to the race track.

Edit: Picked up the bike earlier this evening. 119 horsies in cool temps and 60% humidity. It's almost scary, that's probably around 10% more power than I've EVER had.

I can not believe Honda did not pick up the contract of Haslam. He was obviously the star of last year behind Ben Spies. Instead they took on an injured racer that still is an unknown in terms of how much of his former self he will be able to become.

Did anybody see WSBK qualifying?

British invasion, indeed.

Haga 10th - probably still the favorite.

But honestly, I think things have changed. Fabrizio is fast everywhere these days, and I dont know what the hell is going on with him, but I think he's got the chance to challenge for the title this year. He's got a bike that will consistently be good at all tracks and if he continues to show he's not backing off to Haga like he did in the 2nd half of last season, he's gonna be a thorn in Haga's side, as well as any other challenger at the front.

Haslam is immediately comfortable at Suzuki. Neukirchner did challenge for the win last year on this bike, but he didn't start the weekend off dominantly like this, and Haslam may finally do this bike the kind of justice that Max N might have showed had he not got so seriously injured. Guintoli also showed that the Suzuki form is no fluke. Speaking of Max N, he still looks a bit nervous. Going out in Q3 is not a great sign.

Crutchlow is doing the Yamaha some justice, for sure. Cal said the colder conditions were a help, and if the conditions stay similar tomorrow, I'm sure he's gonna be a contender for wins. Toseland was quick, but got upstaged. Probably not good for his confidence here back in WSBK.

Sykes did a *great* job on the Kawasaki. Showed up Vermeulen(who wasn't bad himself) and got himself in a good position for the race.

I think the races tomorrow will be tight and tough. There's at least 4 guys I definitely think are capable of winning.

But Aprilia and BMW were extremely disappointing. Biaggi wasn't very quick and Camier fell. BMW look no better one year later, although Xaus did make a mess of the bikes available for testing.

Biaggi never is that fantastic in quali, im sure he will be a whole lot more upfront during the race, and it's still the first race of the season.

He was right up there last year, though. After a full year with a lot of promise, I'd thought the Aprilia guys would have made some steam on the competition and at least be able to challenge at the front more often this year.

Could just be a fluke, but its not a good sign.

Really pleased for Haslam.

BMW were disappointing. Mind you, Xaus crashing both of his bikes probably didn't help!

Aprilias one and two in warm-up... Should be an interesting couple of races.

Well done Leon, great race! Thought Rea was going to drop down once the others caught him but he fought back well after Biaggi had passed him.

Whooooooaaaarrrr! Great races!

I know the results but I'm just watching the races now.

A bit disappointing from Aprilia, Honda and Yamaha but I'll choose to believe that the track didn't suit them. Top class from Haslam and Fabrizio and I'm pleased to see Checa back on top. And with Sylvain Guintoli's results (I'd been a bit worried that the Brookes crash had done some permanent damage) but could someone please point Jonathan Green and Steve Martin in the direction of Forvo's Sylvain Guintoli pronunciation.

Great races. Yamaha seem completely lost without Spies now that he's gone

Looking foward to the 2 wheel season, good to get into it

WSBK opener !!!

1st, wsbk needs to start broadcasting PIP (picture in picture) of all the action down the field. the battles all around the field were incredible. and i need to get a few pairs of eyes to go with it, just to follow the actions.

suzy finaly comes with riders haslam and sylvan. hope they can put a close challenge to the xerox copier ducatistas. checkers.... whoaaaa!!! bravissimo ride by checkers.

and good lord those aussie pit ladies were a distraction. you had to tuck down the camera a little bit to peek under their legs to see the grid down the field. oh my....


btw, i've seen mczippy in action zipping his camera in qualifying, more than they showed haslam qualifying laps. don't get me wrong, i think this a good thing, because i fully expect some shots of PI on this board.

cheers!


do we have the guess the bike competition, or i've missed the 1st round

Yep, fantastic races!

Neil

Great races again, the finish off the first race was just amazingly close, really glad for Suzuki they have a great rider pairing this year, Checa getting a win on the Duke was great as well.

Not the best of races for Aprilia, Biaggi did get a good first race too bad he couldn't get and stay past Rea but he made good progress, the 2nd race he went off and still came back very well a shame. And i finally saw some green kwackers actually near the front of the field! Already an improvement compared to last year!

Anyone know how Vermeulen is doing now? Is he ok, it would be a shame if he got injured already.

Crutchlow looked to have the pace to run with the frontrunners in the first race before crashing out. Second race, another mistake cost him any chance of running with the top bunch. I think he's got the chance to win some races this year. Its gonna take a lot to mount any sort of title challenge, though. He's gonna need to really step it up every race weekend.

Aprilia's results were disappointing, but they did look quick. Camier was flying in the races, but it was always two steps forward, one step back, as he made countless mistakes.

Like I expected, Fabrizio has taken the momentum from the back half of 2009 and brought it into this season. Haga may not have been 100%(and did a great job considering that), but that never showed until the last parts of the race, and Fabrizio was up there with him the whole race up until then. Great job by him this weekend.

And Suzuki! Haslam was really good this weekend. Really good. I didn't have a ton of confidence in his ability to withstand the pressure of the pair of Xerox Duke's behind him the entire first race, but he managed it. And then in the 2nd race, he dealt with his teammate roughing him up quite nicely for almost the entire time all while dealing with that same Xerox Ducati presence he had to deal with in Race 1. He was one-upped by Checa at the last minute, but so was everybody else in the race, so its no huge disgrace. Good lead in the championship, and both riders being so quick could be a sign the bike is well-sorted, giving them hope for fighting for wins at most races.

What an opening weekend. God, I love World Superbikes.

a superb start to the WSBK season!! Woo Hoo!!!

Yep, those were some very neat races.
Race 1 was like cat and mouse between Haslam and Fabrizio. I'm glad Haslam took the win, I don't want this season to be a Ducati run away. I expected a bit more from Biaggi as well. And I also would have liked it had Rea been able to stay in touch with the top 3. So, is the Yamaha chatter that bad? Were both crashes just unfortunate?
Race 2 was awesome. You couldn't blink without missing something. Checa's win was fantastic, he should be happy the top 4 fought so hard and kept taking time form each other and allowing him to get in touch. I'm sure even Rea and Biaggi would have snuck in, but going off is no way to win races at all. Rea went from dead last to 5th, right? Hopefully we'll have more bikes other than Suzuki and Ducati fighting for wins from now on.

Is Vermuleun okay?

That WSS field is way to small. Aren't there any R6 for sale that people can use? Has Moto 2 stolen all the possible runners?

I spotted him in Pit Lane after Race 1 and he was in shot again during race 2 standing near the start finish line. I find it quite distracting actually as I spend more time searching for Mr MZ in the periphery of the frame than I do watching the bikes

Seems to be, but he's going to Melbourne for some precautionary tests tomorrow. Linky

I'm sure either the riders are getting shorter or the ladies on the podium are getting taller.

It does seem that Suzuki have replaced Yamaha currently, is it problems with the 2010 bike at Yamaha or that coupled with them not having Spies? Will have to see how it pans out.

Some good racing, a lot of people didn't live up to expectations though, like Byrne, BMW and to a lesser extent the Aprilia's,

How did the racing go ChubbyDeuce? My track day was good, except it rained so much Noah would have felt at home....

Andy

It's not that fun to race on the rain as it is for us to watch others racing in the rain?

What a start

The Yamaha and Honda will be up there very soon, Aprilia wtf?
Ducati need to get agressive a la Checkers, they have the pace to win but not if they are battling with other bikes, the 4s negate the twins handling, smoothness.

wtf was the director thinking in the wss race - has he never covered bike racing? we missed the Keenan - Lascorz last lap battle because we watched an entire lap of Laverty riding around on his own.

2 points http://www.motorazzo.it/CAZZOLA1.jpg

Funnily enough I am more excited by WSB than the Moto bikes this year, Hope Casey and Rossi does well but I hope that the WSB is as exciting as I think it will be

Slow Cazzola is a WOMAN? I read all the practice sessions and watched the race with the vague theory that Paolo Casoli had made an ill-advised comeback. Different people, it seems.

Moto2 test


http://www.gpone.com/news/News.asp?NNews=6519

4 frames within .3 of a second
1st test with proper engines

What's the horsepower of the Honda MotoGP2 engine roughly? Anyone know?

Andy

125 BHP, was intended originally to be about 150 but after grenading quite a few engines they decided to go for relaibility. Makes it cheaper as there are less engine rebuilds.

125 times from Valencia
http://www.gpone.com/news/News.asp?NNews=6520
the age at which these kids get thrust onto the world stage - http://www.gpone.com/DB/Foto_2010_03/20100103espargaro_M.jpg
granted, that pic's not current but its a reminder how young some of these guys are.

Why is everyone so "against" Aprilia? I mean why do you expect Honda and Yamaha to be up there very soon but not aprilia? The first race Biaggi did a great run and the 2nd race both of them had an off but Biaggi still managed to climb back up again.

I think the pace is there they just didn't have the luck/performance this weekend.

You misunderstand - After warm up it was going to be an Aprilia benefit - or so it looked. Aprilia is up there already, somehow they managed to not get a result this week end.

As you say, that picture is three years old.

But Pol is the holder of the youngest ever points scorer record, at 15 years and 8 days.....

And the record for youngest competitor goes to none other than Jorge Lorenzo, at 15 years and 0 days, at his first GP meeting he missed Friday practice, as he wasn't 15 until the Saturday....

34 bikes +

1. Simon (RSV-Aspar) 1.37.548 (giri 19 di 20)
2. Elias (Moriwaki-Gresini) 1.37.552 (21 di 23)
3. Corti (Forward Racing) 1.38.041 (12 di 16)
4. Takahashi (Tech 3) 1.38.089 (17 di 22)
5. Hernandez (Blusens) 1.38.354 (15 di 18)
6. West (MZ) 1.38.662 (17 di 19)
7. Canepa (Scot racing) 1.38.671 (23 di 24)
8. Ivanov (Moriwaki-Gresini) 1.38.691 (13 di 13)
9. Luthi (Moriwaki-Interwetten) 1.38.784 (12 di 14)
10. Cluzel (Forward racing) 1.38.857 (19 di 20)
11. Di Meglio (RSV-Aspar) 1.38.882 (13 di 16)
12. De Angelis (Scot racing) 1.38.899 (19 di 21)
13. Aegerter (Suter) 1.38.988 (18 di 21)
14. De Rosa (Tech 3) 1.39.063 (19 di 20)
15. Pons (Pons Kalex) 1.39.361 (23 di 27)
16. Abraham (RSV-Cardion) 1.39.615 (14 di 17)
17. Bradl (Suter) 1.39.655 (16 di 18)
18. Debon (FTR) 1.39.691 (4 di 14)
19. Pasini (TSR JIR) 1.39.701 (18 di 19)
20. Tomizawa (Suter) 1.39.720 (6 di 7)
21. Olive (Promoharris) 1.39.778 (18 di 19)
22. Redding (Suter) 1.39.782 (18 di 19)
23. Nieto F. (Loriwaki) 1.39.841 (9 di 11)
24. Debise (ADV-WTR) 1.40.062 (18 di 23)
25. Naimi (BQR) 1.40.076 (13 di 17)
26. Talmacsi (Speed UP) 1.40.134 (11 di 12)
27. Baldolini (Caretta I.C.P.) 1.40.898 (7 di 18)
28. Pietri (Suter Italtrans) 1.41.148 (23 di 23)
29. Guerra (Moriwaki) 1.41.206 (15 di 17)
30. Pesek (Moriwaki Matteoni) 1.41.245 (18 di 19)
31. Lonbois (Suter) 1.41.254 (13 di 14)
32. Tode (Suter) 1.41.301 (8 di 12)
33. Iannone (Speed Up) 1.42.651 (12 di 14)
34. Corsi (TSR JiR) 1.44.327 (11 di 13)

http://www.gpone.com/news/News.asp?NNews=6521

Times must be seperate from those posted earlier 3pm. Noyes seems to have crashed and has no time yet he did at 3.

Toni Elias (Gresini team, Moriwaki chassis) in 1'37 "530, with a total of 45 laps. Below Kenny Noyes (Promoharris) 1'37 "692 (77 laps), Claudio Corti (Suter) 1'37" 729 (45), Julian Simon (RSV) 1'37 "810 (47), Vladimir Ivanov (Moriwaki) 1 '38 "040 (39 laps).

ok there were 2 "qualifying" sessions. 37 bikes today
6.7 secs first to last

Qatar 250 2009, 23 bikes and over 8 secs covered the field in FP1, over 7 in qualifying

Valencia GP 7 November 2009 pole
1 6 Alex DEBON SPA Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens Aprilia 262.0 1'36.116

Circuit Record Lap: 2007 Mika KALLIO 1'35.659 150.7 Km/h

http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/...encia_Moto2.pdf

I was commenting last season on how Aprilia needed to get a "today" man rather than a "yesterday" man (Max). The new boy looks OK and will likely get better with confidence at this level but Max just keeps making the same old mistakes, especially outbraking himself, running in too deep etc and takes too long to gain confidence in his tyres. This (the former) as it happened, occurred to the other guy (forgotten his name already!)

The Aprilias, notably in the first race, looked poor in the rear suspension dept, possibly lacking rebound control. Whatever, the factory ought to be asking some hard questions of the race squad. Biaggi continues to underwhelm me and the jury is out on the other guy who hardly looks top drawer at this stage.

I would like to know how Checa managed to pull such a lead between passing Haslam at MG and the exit onto Gardner straight in race 2 - a blinder! Who says old guys can't make it with the young lions? Remains to be seen if Leon can keep this sort of form all season and subdue his teammate. Haga was notably quiet and left Fab to do most of the charging. It looked like the track temperature may have been down a little with the number of get-offs.

Haslam tyres were possibly shot already. In the first race he nearly lost it over the last three corners as well. Fabrizio even hesitated at having a look inside in the last corner.

How Checa managed to race so hard with softer tyres is what puzzles me.

It does sem these small mistakes are always comming Biaggi's way, which is a pity.
How long should it take Yamaha to sort the chatter? Aren't these the exact same tyres as last year?