Rodster wrote:Thrilling finish for sure. I caught the Stoner spill at the end of the race when they showed the highlights. Quite unusual for someone of his skill and he was in the lead which makes it even more unusual. Was there a reason why he crashed out?
A replay never was shown. Piss-poor production, especially when these bikes have cameras mounted front and rear. About the only blot to an otherwise sterling hour of watching MotoGP on SPEED -- finally in HD, too!
Rodster wrote:With Stoner's performance and Rossi's win and add Lorenzo finishing second, then add Nicky, Pedrosa, and Ben Spies in the mix this looks like one hell of a MotoGP season.
Absolutely. And don't forget Colin Edwards. The "Texas Tornado" was quiet last weekend, but he'll be in the mix for a podium or two, too.
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
My bad, guess I need to change the battery in my hearing aid.
I thought I heard the announcers say Colin Edwards making his 300th start. And I thought that was odd since he went to MotoGP back in 2003 if i'm not mistaken from SBK.
Rodster wrote:My bad, guess I need to change the battery in my hearing aid.
I thought I heard the announcers say Colin Edwards making his 300th start. And I thought that was odd since he went to MotoGP back in 2003 if i'm not mistaken from SBK.
Correct. This is Colin's eighth year in MotoGP. He won the World SBK title in 2000 and 2002.
If you're looking for a GREAT guy to cheer for in MotoGP, look no farther than Colin. I've had the pleasure and privilege of getting to know him pretty well the last three years through "Tornado Warning," our exclusive interview series with him at redbullindianapolisgp.com. I call him before every Grand Prix, and we chat about racing and other things, and I post the transcript of our chat on the Web site.
Colin is easily the coolest, most "normal" professional athlete with whom I've worked.
The only bad thing about becoming a Colin fan is that this could be his final year in MotoGP. He's 36 -- no kid anymore. But he's such a terrific guy -- funny as hell, too. So root for him!
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
MotoGP is one of the few Motorsports where I like several riders. My favorites in the Sport are in this order:
1) Nicky Hayden
2) Colin Edwards *OK it's a tie with Nicky
3) Rossi
4) Stoner, only made the list cause he appears to be a nice guy, one hell of a rider and has one hot looking babe/wife.
5) Add Ben Spies to the list
I finally got around to signing up for IndyCar Nation last night to enjoy the Long Beach event, and having not seen a road course event all the way through since the dying days of ChampCar, I'm not entirely sure whether Alex Lloyd's behaviour was the standard way to behave when the leaders are behind you. Certainly, his post-race assertion that Hunter-Reay and Wilson were too far behind for him to jump out of the way sounded like a Grade A piece of post-race driver bullshit, but perhaps someone a little better versed in these things can tell me whether he was being as boneheaded as it appeared to these European eyes.
GB_Simo wrote:I finally got around to signing up for IndyCar Nation last night to enjoy the Long Beach event, and having not seen a road course event all the way through since the dying days of ChampCar, I'm not entirely sure whether Alex Lloyd's behaviour was the standard way to behave when the leaders are behind you. Certainly, his post-race assertion that Hunter-Reay and Wilson were too far behind for him to jump out of the way sounded like a Grade A piece of post-race driver bullshit, but perhaps someone a little better versed in these things can tell me whether he was being as boneheaded as it appeared to these European eyes.
I would say he was being boneheaded. Not to mention that on the final restart Sato also seemed to be doing everything he could to hold up Wilson and Power for a few laps. Then all of a sudden he drops like a rock. I assume race control must have told him to quit racing the leaders when you are a lap down. Unfortunately, by the time he let them by Ryan Hunter-Reay was long gone.
Last edited by DChaps on Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I worked Long Beach for the IRL and have Race Control on my radio when writing live press notes. Race Control warned Lloyd to be courteous. The quote to him, somewhat paraphrased: "Car 19, I know you're on the tail end of the lead lap, but you've got first and second right behind you, and they're faster. Be courteous, be professional."
I don't think Lloyd followed instructions very well.
Sato, on the other hand, was praised by Race Control on the radio for his racecraft and ability to get out of the way of the leaders without causing undue holdups.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
What's a 599 go for? The standard response is 'if you have to ask the....". I read, Ferrari is only making 599 of these machines which is where the car got it's name.
Now that McLaren is building Super Cars it'll be interesting to see how it stacks up against Ferrari's best.
Onboard, slowly because those tyres look awfully slick and the track awfully damp, at the new Silverstone. Hard to get too much of a read at these speeds, but if there isn't at least one overtaking opportunity in the new section, it really is time to have a good hard look at the current generation of Formula 1 cars:
Gurantsu wrote:Holy crap that was nuts! How the hell did he get up there?
From what I've read, Teixeira is a pretty light in the talent department. All I can deduce is that he missed his braking point by many meters, ran over the leading car's rear wheel with his front wheel and was catapulted skyward.
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
If you watch the action on the onboard camera, watch the right mirror. That's where you'll see the car fly right over and land in front of the driver causing a chain reaction wreck.
It looks like Adrian Newey has built another monster. The Red Bulls look unbeatable and rival the dominance of Ferrari back in the late 2000-2005.
The only stopping Red Bull is the weather during the race or mechanical breakdown.
The only impressive thing I heard while watching qualifying is that Alonso at certain points at the track has no hands on the wheel, between changing the brake bias with his right hand and closing the F-Duct with his left hand.
Darlington is an awesome, awesome track. Love the speed, how it puts the drivers up on the wheel every lap, how it eats up tires and has such a speed differential between fresh/worn tires.
But it is tough as hell and always a pain in the ass in NASCAR games, that's for sure.
I could drive to Monaco easily in less than a day and I'm at the other end of the continent, so I don't know if travel is the primary factor in this instance. Not that I know what the alternatives would be either. The race was traditionally held on the week of Ascension Day, which would fit in with some of the recent date shifts - 2003's move to the first weekend in June, for example - and this year's race falls in line with Ascension Day too. Other recent races, notably 2008, don't fit in with that idea at all...
In much the same way, the decision to penalise Michael Schumacher doesn't fit in at all with the idea of promoting racing between world-class drivers. Not that the stewards had a choice necessarily - rules are rules and all that - but the existence of the rule and the ambiguity of it are both black marks that we could do without. They've been doing so well, too, with the freedom the drivers have been given to race throughout the rest of the season so far.
The Schumacher penalty goes to show how screwed up the FIA is. They instituted a new rule which basically says if the Safety Car is out and it's the last lap you cannot pass until you cross the start line which in this case is the start/finish line. So basically we have a NASCAR rule here.
So what does race control do? They have a rule that states NO PASSING under those conditions and they drop the green flag.
Any race car driver with half a brain or an ounce of talent is going to sieze an opportunity, which Schu did. IMO the FIA should just come out and say Charlie got it wrong and dropped the green flag which he shouldn't have under those conditions. They should not penalize Schumacher and give him his 7th slot back. Jean Todt should step in as President and do the right thing.
It looks like Fast Friday is going to be Rained-out Friday instead at Indy. Seems like a really sh*tty weather week there...but the two days of qualifying look fantastic.
Seems like another Penske/Ganassi battle for the front row, but that still leaves four spots in the top 9 for the pole shootout on Saturday. Not sure what I think about the concept, we'll see how it plays out. Wheldon, Mutoh, Kanaan, and Tracy have looked pretty strong and will have a shot at the top 9; but the rest of Andretti's squad could be tough if Tony dials in the setup for everyone.
But who knows what will happen when the cars get on the track by themselves, anything over 226 seems to be the result of a tow. I'll throw out 225.5 as a pole speed, what do you guys think?
