OT: Racing 2010 (Spoiler Alert)

[toonarmy]

A bit of context that shouldn't be discounted: Helio Castroneves is the most serial blocker in the IZOD IndyCar Series. It's also acknowledged in the paddock that his attention span in drivers' meetings sometimes lasts about about two minutes. Those factors may have influenced Barnhart's decision.

Go to the 2:11 mark of this video, and Barnhart couldn't have been more clear in the Edmonton drivers' meeting about splitting the track in half in the braking zones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e-J6LWropo

Disclaimer: I should have said Helio is most serial blocker among drivers at speed. That gets Milka off the hook.

You are correct that Helio blocks a lot. That is part of my point though. He gets away without punishment quite a bit other than warnings. Why choose such a crucial moment to punish him, and especially on a maneuver that's not half as bad as some of the foolishness he gets away with unpunished? If Barnhart is such a stickler for consistency then he sure hasn't been showing it. Letting things build up and then deciding to arbitrarily punish one event after letting others go is not a good thing. All you have to do is watch the races and listen to the remarks of the drivers to see that the letter of the law is not enforced a lot when it comes to blocking.

[GB_Simo]

A bit of context that shouldn't be discounted: Helio Castroneves is the most serial blocker in the IZOD IndyCar Series. It's also acknowledged in the paddock that his attention span in drivers' meetings sometimes lasts about about two minutes. Those factors may have influenced Barnhart's decision.

Go to the 2:11 mark of this video, and Barnhart couldn't have been more clear in the Edmonton drivers' meeting about splitting the track in half in the braking zones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e-J6LWropo

Disclaimer: I should have said Helio is most serial blocker among drivers at speed. That gets Milka off the hook.

By the letter of the law, and the briefing they were given, it's a block and the penalty is justified. I'm never, ever going to support any rule that calls what Helio did 'blocking'. Just as with the Ferrari business, it leads into another point - the call is right, but is the rule?

If you're committed to a line from the instant you're leaving the preceding corner, you're positioning your car to defend position. You're not blocking the man behind. There is a difference, and I'm not even sure it's a very subtle difference, frankly.

[Rodster]

Yamaha has confirmed they want Rossi to make a decision by Brno. If he leaves they will pick up the impressive Ben Spies to partner Lorenzo.

[pk500]

Yamaha has confirmed they want Rossi to make a decision by Brno. If he leaves they will pick up the impressive Ben Spies to partner Lorenzo.

I think that decision already has been made. The announcement at Brno will be a formality: Elbowz to partner Lorenzo in 2011, with Vale and Nicky Hayden reunited again, this time at Ducati. Spies and Lorenzo already are pretty chummy, and they spent a lot of time hanging out and chatting together last week during the Yamaha press function at Jay Leno's Garage in L.A.

I suspect Honda will have two factory teams next season, keeping Pedrosa and Dovizioso at Repsol Honda and forming a one-bike works team for Stoner. But there are strong rumors that Suzuki is throwing healthy money at Dovi to try and lure him to its factory team, which is a mess and needs a strong lead rider to guide development.

Right now, there are two major questions left for 2011 in MotoGP: Will Jerry Burgess follow Rossi to Ducati or will he move to Honda, his original home in MotoGP, to work with fellow Aussie Stoner? And will Colin Edwards be retained by Tech 3 for one more season, or will he head back to World Superbike to finish his career there, as he hinted at Laguna?

[Rodster]

I'm really surprised Colin Edwards didn't have more success in MotoGP. I thought he was capable of winning seeing he left Superbikes as Champion. I realize the competition level in MotoGP is much higher than SBK but The Texas Tornado IMO had the skills to win in MotoGP. Maybe you guys can offer your opinion on the matter.

[GB_Simo]

I imagine PK might have some fairly good insight into that, Rod. All I can tell you is that Colin's a favourite of mine, but I don't feel he's quite got the most out of any of the Moto GP equipment he's been given. On a WSB machine, though, he was something else at the peak of his career.

[pk500]

I'm really surprised Colin Edwards didn't have more success in MotoGP. I thought he was capable of winning seeing he left Superbikes as Champion. I realize the competition level in MotoGP is much higher than SBK but The Texas Tornado IMO had the skills to win in MotoGP. Maybe you guys can offer your opinion on the matter.

Depends on your definition of success. While Colin Edwards has no career MotoGP victories, he finished in the top five in points three times during the first seven years of his MotoGP career. That's not too shabby.

Colin started his MotoGP career in 2003 on an Aprilia that was so bad that it exploded into flames at speed at the Sachsenring. Then he moved to a Honda satellite team in 2004 that gave him a bike that had little chance of winning.

And then Colin moved to Yamaha as Rossi's teammate from 2005-07. And when you're Valentino Rossi's teammate, you don't have a great chance of winning unless you're a supernatural freak like Lorenzo. In fact, how many times has a teammate beat Valentino Rossi in the 500cc/MotoGP season standings? NEVER. This year will be the first time.

The closest Colin came to victory was in 2006 at Assen, when he led Nicky Hayden with two turns remaining before he pitched it into the gravel in the final turn. I also think he would have won Donington last year if the race was one lap longer, as he was catching Dovizioso at a rapid rate. Coulda, shoulda, I know.

After his stint on the Yamaha factory team, Colin moved to the satellite Tech 3 team in 2008. No one wins on a satellite bike these days. The gap between factory bikes and satellite bikes is just too large, as is the talent level employed by all factory teams except Suzuki.

Colin's lack of victories in MotoGP after a stellar World Superbike career isn't that uncommon. No World Superbike champion has climbed from that series to 500cc/MotoGP World Championship racing and been a championship contender.

Troy Corser was a 500cc flop in 1997 after winning the WSBK title in 1996. Scott Russell finished sixth in 500cc after replacing the retired Kevin Schwantz at Suzuki in 1995 after winning the WSBK title in 1993 and finishing runner-up in 1994. Carl Fogarty won 59 races and four WSBK titles -- both records -- and never did sh*t in MotoGP or 500cc. Neil Hodgson, another WSBK champion who was nothing in MotoGP. James Toseland, a two-time WSBK champion who bombed out of MotoGP after just two seasons.

About the only WSBK rider other than Colin Edwards to run well in MotoGP is Troy Bayliss. He finished sixth in 2003 and won the season-ending Valencia round in 2006 as a wild-card rider, a victory that will always be overshadowed by Valentino Rossi crashing out of that race and securing the world title for Nicky Hayden.

If you look at the past record of WSBK riders who have climbed to the premier class, I think it's not a stretch to say that Colin Edwards had the most fruitful and consistent MotoGP career of any rider to make that leap. Combine that with his great ability to provide feedback to engineers and his great personality, both of which have earned him the respect and admiration of everyone in the paddock, and I'll say the guy has been a success. (Yes, I'm biased: Colin is the easiest motorsports athlete I've ever worked with, and I'm also lucky to call him a friend after getting to know him the last three years through our post-race "Tornado Warning" series at the IMS website.)

There is one WSBK champion who I think is going to reset the bar for riders making the leap to MotoGP: Ben Spies. Elbowz is a future race winner, probably as early as next year on the Yamaha works bike, and he will be a contender for world championships for the next few years, at least.

Spies' results this season on the Tech 3 Yamaha have been astonishing, arguably the most impressive performance by any rider on the grid, including Lorenzo.

The guy is a rookie; he's rode on less than half of the circuits on the MotoGP schedule. A MotoGP bike is radically different than a World Superbike, and it's more than just the 800cc to 1000cc displacement difference. You need to ride a MotoGP bike completely different than a WSBK because of the electronics. You also need to carry insane speed and be incredibly precise into corners on a MotoGP bike because the low-end engine grunt doesn't compensate for early braking or bad lines like a 1000cc WSBK engine. Plus the Tech 3 Yamaha is the slowest bike on the MotoGP grid this season, yet Elbowz is qualifying and finishing in the top five nearly every race.

Trust me, Spies is going to be the Texas Terror next season on the Yamaha factory bike. He is absolutely, 100 percent the real deal.

[pk500]

Double post. Sorry.

[Rodster]

Depends on your definition of success.

Wins baby, wins !

[Rodster]

Interesting article on the State of Nascar

Impactful or Desperate: NASCAR changes either a master plan or a Hail Mary
http://www.athlonsports.com/racing/1952 ... -desperate

[GB_Simo]

What's a rouge Prius? Is that colour on the option list? All the ones I see over here are silver.

Sometimes races, when left to play out naturally, don't have that highlight reel finish. Quite why NASCAR feels there's something wrong with that, I've never really managed to understand. It's only genuinely exciting if it's real, not if it's contrived - Hamlin's example of the caution at Michigan being the obvious one this season. I still watch, and I'll still be watching Pocono shortly, but 26 races a year that ultimately don't count towards the championship and are full of Hollywood finishes aren't going to excite the hardcore, and if you lose the hardcore...

Speaking of things that are either impactful or desperate, though mercifully only desperate in this case, not even I have managed to find an angle on today's F1 flashpoint that paints Schumi in a positive light.

[Rodster]

What's a rouge Prius? Is that colour on the option list? All the ones I see over here are silver.

A Rouge Prius

I've been saying this for the longest time. Nascar's downfall has been it's huge TV contract it got back several years ago when it became a mainstream sport and tried to challenge the NFL. The biggest problem even I saw befalling Nascar was they were no longer in the position of calling it's own shots but now had to answer to FOX, NBC, ESPN and any other TV network it was obliged too. That's how and why 'The Chase for The Championship' came about and why diehard Nascar fans in the South who helped Nascar become what it is today, have had races taken away from them and replaced with cookie cutter tracks in California and the Mid West. The dreadful COT was born to help TV ratings with the idea that car would somehow make races even closer.

I started watching Nascar back in the mid to late 80's when it was a fringe motorsport with a bad attitude and a chip on it's shoulder. Today's Nascar has NO resemblance to that sport. I quit watching Nascar shortly after Dale Earnhardt died. From what i've read he had major pull in that sport even as a driver. Nascar probably would not be in the State of Flux it finds itself today.

Oh and that move by Michael was awful, just awful. I guess Bernie was right, it didn't take Michael that long to get really pissed off.

[Smurfy]

I go visit Canada's arctic for two weeks and what do I miss?

1) Team orders at Ferrari.
2) JPM dominates at the Brickyard and loses.
3) Schumi pulls of a dangerous blocking move.
4) Castroneves is in trouble with the law (IRL stewards this time).

I guess nothing changes.

[Rodster]

8 dead, 12 hurt at off-road race in Calif. desert

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

[toonarmy]

Fun IndyCar race today with Power getting a little revenge on Sonoma. One thing, Versus: going to commercial with 5 laps to go and coming back with only 2 left in the race during a battle between the 1 and 2 positions -- really? I mean, wtf?!?!

[fletcher21]

Fun IndyCar race today with Power getting a little revenge on Sonoma. One thing, Versus: going to commercial with 5 laps to go and coming back with only 2 left in the race during a battle between the 1 and 2 positions -- really? I mean, wtf?!?!

Wow, that was EXACTLY what I was going to say. I dunno if they ran short on commercials or something, but that's just amateur hour on Versus. What a joke. If they knew they were one break short, why not take it with 11 or 10 laps left? Good looking out, toon.

[GB_Simo]

When ITV had the F1 rights over here, they ran 5 commercials per race, each lasting a shade over two minutes. You might recall the San Marino race in 2005, when Schumacher came romping through the field and was crawling all over Alonso as the laps counted down. With just over 2 laps to go, it dawned upon those on high that they'd only had 4 commercial breaks that race. My, how we laughed.


It's because I can separate the lion-hearted, tigerish racing hero from the whining, prickly, melodramatic, self-important prat of the same name that I quite enjoyed this: Cookery Corner with Nigella Mansell.

[Rodster]

Wrt the F1 qualifying format. I must say it's grown on me and something the FIA got right after all. I know there are some who say it's all a charade that cars are just doing laps to burn off fuel before they get serious.

What I do like about this format is that there is always action and cars on the track. Whereas in the format where drivers had a total of 12 laps allocated teams played a game of chicken to see which team would leave first and at times you could wait 25-30 minutes to see a car leave the pits.

[toonarmy]

The current qualifying format is good for the show. Before the staged format it was hard to get interested until late in the session. The current format has me watching from start to finish. I agree that they got this one right. I think it will also be fun in the upcoming F1 game.

Tomorrow's race should be pretty cool. Hamilton jumped up to the two spot on the last lap, and the Ferrari cars should both be strong. It could be a real fight between Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari. Not to mention it's Spa -- my favorite F1 venue.

[pk500]

BEN. F*CKING. SPIES!

'Nuff said. What a qualifying performance today in the MotoGP race at Indy. To put that satellite bike -- which has a pig of an engine -- on the pole easily was the lap of the year. Might have been one of the top laps of the last five years.

[Rodster]

Jorge Lorenzo said he doesn't want the atmosphere that currently prevails in the garage where there's a wall between him and The Doctor to continue next year. He better not tear down that wall if Spies puts a bike like that on pole. It's going to be pretty tense at Yamaha next year.

I thought Lorenzo was damn good maybe the heir to Rossi but now that Ben is riding a crap bike and getting a Pole and top ten finishes I may have to rethink that. USA...USA...USA...

[pk500]

Jorge Lorenzo said he doesn't want the atmosphere that currently prevails in the garage where there's a wall between him and The Doctor to continue next year. He better not tear down that wall if Spies puts a bike like that on pole. It's going to be pretty tense at Yamaha next year.

I thought Lorenzo was damn good maybe the heir to Rossi but now that Ben is riding a crap bike and getting a Pole and top ten finishes I may have to rethink that. USA...USA...USA...

Rossi and Jorge never got along. Jorge and Ben have become tight buds this season. We'll see for how long ...

[EZSnappin]

Can't say that Spa didn't serve up an entertaining event. Though I'm getting tired of stupid, petulant Vettel. He has driving talent but the intelligence of phytoplankton.

[Rodster]

Can't say that Spa didn't serve up an entertaining event. Though I'm getting tired of stupid, petulant Vettel. He has driving talent but the intelligence of phytoplankton.

I wouldn't say Seb is a dumb driver it's that he doesn't have the luxury he's had in the last couple years where he was considered within his team as the clear #1. Last year Webber pushed him and this year Mark has pushed him some more to the point it has caused mistakes.

Look at goofball Alonso. Smart move by Ferrari at Germany with Massa holding 4th today. Where was Alonso in the points? Zero !

IMO and others can chime in but it appears when a driver has competition within the team, comes in with high expectations they are more prone to mistakes. This year Alonso's mistakes have been fairly uncharacteristic of his past record. He has made more untimely screw ups this year.

I think Vettel is a phenomenal talent it's that he's been looking at the rear of Webber's car pretty much all year and there are now only six races left. With that said sweet drive by Lewis, well earned.

[GB_Simo]

Can't say that Spa didn't serve up an entertaining event. Though I'm getting tired of stupid, petulant Vettel. He has driving talent but the intelligence of phytoplankton.

I wouldn't say Seb is a dumb driver it's that he doesn't have the luxury he's had in the last couple years where he was considered within his team as the clear #1. Last year Webber pushed him and this year Mark has pushed him some more to the point it has caused mistakes.

Look at goofball Alonso. Smart move by Ferrari at Germany with Massa holding 4th today. Where was Alonso in the points? Zero !

IMO and others can chime in but it appears when a driver has competition within the team, comes in with high expectations they are more prone to mistakes. This year Alonso's mistakes have been fairly uncharacteristic of his past record. He has made more untimely screw ups this year.

I think Vettel is a phenomenal talent it's that he's been looking at the rear of Webber's car pretty much all year and there are now only six races left. With that said sweet drive by Lewis, well earned.

Alonso doesn't have any competition this year, though, does he? The whole Germany business is a bit of a non-starter in this case too, because Massa would still be 70 points off the back of Hamilton now even had he won Hockenheim. His form from the German race had to carry on for that to really matter, and it hasn't done.

The issue of Vettel's petulance is, in my view, one that's been embraced and blown up disproportionately by the media on the back of a couple of heat of the moment reactions, and he seems like a nice enough chap generally, but he does make too many mistakes. I don't happen to feel they're created by internal pressures - look, for example, at the run of races in early 2008 during which he was incapable of getting beyond the first lap, and his efforts in Australia, Turkey and Monaco last year when he was already clearly outpacing Webber - but by impatience and an occasional inability to play the long game and realise that sometimes, the overtaking move doesn't have to be made right now.

There's a lot of talk that he's inexperienced and it'll come with time, but he's only a handful of races behind Lewis Hamilton in terms of F1 starts. There shouldn't be any excuses made for it - for the second year in a row, mistakes of this nature are threatening to cost him a shot at the world title.