20 replies to this topic

[rockyrider]

From the looks of things, Dani Pedrosa will not be a threat to Casey, or be in contention for the MotoGP title, as he came in dead last today in FP1. It's a shame this has happened to him. On the other hand, Marco, (the hair bear), has not seemed to advance himself much in points standing, despite his over aggressive style and FP1 win today.
Vale's bike problems, including pushing both bikes back to the paddock, does not seem to fair well for another GP championship this year. Nicky Hayden, although fairing better than he has in most recent years, is doubtful to bring the Ducati to a podium on their home track.
For the Honda Team, this leaves Dovi. He has two podiums this year, and looked very strong today in free practice. He could be the wild card, and possibly a runner up to the championship, along side his fellow countryman, Jorge Lorenzo.
Ben Spies did very well in clean air last week, his first GP win ever. But can he keep up the pace as needed for the rest of the season. Interestingly, he was able to keep Casey at bay, where Jorge could not.
Tomorrow's FP3 and QP will be the decider, as today's FP2 was rained out. We will see if either of the Italian Stallions will bring it home to their Countries track, to contend Casey Stoner on Sunday's Premier Event.

[TooFastTim]

Leguna Seca has proved, I think, the turning point of the season. Stoner ran a mature and aggressive race and was in a different league. His pass on Pedrosa was inspired (probably by Rossi at Leguna 3 yrs ago ) and the way he reeled in Lorenzo was mature. I think he may have broken Jorge mentally.

Edited by TooFastTim, 29 July 2011 - 01:13 PM.

[tony27]

Laguna Seca proved the boy wants the title alright, there wasn't much track left where he passed Lorenzo & to then pull away by a consistent .8 of a second every lap until the flag meant he was out to prove a point.
To be honest after the first few laps I'd written him off as he trailed Pedrosa & looked to be struggling to keep up, must have been waiting for the bike to come to him or at least work out where the others weren't as strong

Edited by tony27, 29 July 2011 - 08:54 AM.

[DGShannon]

tony27, on 29 July 2011 - 08:50 AM, said:

must have been waiting for the bike to come to him

Closing interviews seemed to indicate that waiting for the fuel load to burn down is necessary to getting the bike to turn well.

[rockyrider]

The Czech GP should remove all doubt about Casey's ability to be 2011 Champion. I will admit, after seeing him struggle a bit during free practice sessions, and he himself said the bike had a certain amount of chattering that could not be worked out, I was skeptical weather or not we would be on the podium this week.
However, after starting third on the grid, behind lil' Dani, and Jorge, two of the fastest hole shots in the business, Casey, once again put on a spectacular show of clean sportsmanship to not only lead, but to open a 5 plus second lead over team mate Dovi, to win the race and prove to the world, he really does deserve to be 2011 premier class Champion.

[ausy300pro]

got to agree casey stoner will be and deserves to be champion, it is simple at the moment he is the fastest man out there, I do think danny could run him close when fully fit and up to speed and also marco has shown the speed needed to challenge, sunday seemed to be marco making a concerted effort to get the thing to the flag, he needed a decent result, as far as personalities give me the extrovert rossi, sheene, lorenzo etc anytime over the dour stoner, I also do think he is a whinger (rossis mega pass at laguna was just tough race craft and anyone that has done a bit of club racing will know that), it is impossible to compare stoner and rossi as even the biggest rossi fan will admit he has reached his peak and gone over it, once that happens there is no way of ever being dominant again (in any sport) whereas stoner is at the peak of his riding and will probably be so for another couple of seasons.

Just wish the grid was full (that is the reasoning behind the 1000cc switch back) and we had more riders capable of running at the front, still fantastic to watch but could be even better with thirty bikes on grid and perhaps ten riders in with a chance of winning instead of the three or four "aliens"

Edited by ausy300pro, 15 August 2011 - 05:30 PM.