MOTOGP 2015

Soldato
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Watched it too. There's some impressive lap times considering they're new to the tires, and no technical data on how to best setup the bike to go along with the tires.

One thing I'm a little upset about is that MM93 is quick on the Michelins. Part of me was hoping they'd give him some trouble.
 
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I hope lap times across all the riders are more similar this year than last so there's even more 'racing'. Not particularly interested in 'racers' who get to the front and put on lap after lap of fast times with no overtakes, it's not a time trial. It's one of the reasons Moto3 and Moto2 are so good.
 
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Casey Stoner back with Ducati in a testing role, and possible wild card race(s). Was angry with Honda for not letting him race in Dani's absence, and not using his feedback on 15 bike. I can see him coming back fulltime, you can sense he is itching to race again!

Wonder if this could give Rossi food for thought over any retirement plans he might have?

Edit: he still has a contract with HRC until 31 December, so expect an official announcement then.
 
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Casey Stoner back with Ducati in a testing role, and possible wild card race(s). Was angry with Honda for not letting him race in Dani's absence, and not using his feedback on 15 bike. I can see him coming back fulltime, you can sense he is itching to race again!

Wonder if this could give Rossi food for thought over any retirement plans he might have?

Edit: he still has a contract with HRC until 31 December, so expect an official announcement then.

Just seen this elsewhere, would be good to see him race again on the ducati test bike. Pirro has done quite a few races this year as a test rider, so if he does go to Ducati, there is a chance he'll do a few races if it's what he wants to do.

Redding is also looking good based on the times and comments after the first test. Was using the new ECU from the start, whereas some of the faster riders set there best times on the old ECU.

Hopefully the ECU will level the field more, and give the rest of the field a chance to compete and show how good they really are. MotoGP needs some of the smaller teams and younger riders competing for at least podiums.

I have a feeling Rossi will take a little longer to adjust to the new tyres and ECU than the other top riders. But he shouldn't be top 4 again at most races, and his consistancy will probably see him challange. But I really can't see him being anywhere near the championship at the end of the season.
 
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The plot thickens:

"HRC has again postponed revealing the Sepang data from Marquez's bike, this time after a request from Dorna and the FIM"

Link to this please.

Not seen this request. The truth is in that data.... Also for Valencia. I'd like to know what exactly Honda would have to say about this... If their racer was racing on his own agenda rather than wanting to put their bike on top of the podium, when it was fully capable, then surely something is gonna hit the fan ?

Wouldn't you say?
 
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Casey Stoner back with Ducati in a testing role, and possible wild card race(s). Was angry with Honda for not letting him race in Dani's absence, and not using his feedback on 15 bike. I can see him coming back fulltime, you can sense he is itching to race again!

Wonder if this could give Rossi food for thought over any retirement plans he might have?

Edit: he still has a contract with HRC until 31 December, so expect an official announcement then.

Stoner upset and angry? Surely not? :p

Would he even be competitive now tho. After being out the game for so long. It's all elbows now !
 
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As long as the data shows he was pushing for the last couple of laps, i don't see what the issue is. He's basically admitted he was waiting until the final lap to attack Lorenzo, but when Dani overtook him it cost him time that he couldn't make back up.

If that's the truth, i don't see any issue to be honest. It was how Marc used to race in his first season, pacing himself against other rides, then going 100% on the final laps, he didn't always pull it off. But it normally worked out.

The issue here is that a lot of people are hearing Rossi saying he sat there on purpose and let Lorenzo win. The data probably does show that he sat back for most of the race. The Honda's were struggling for tyres and weren't confident they'd last the full race. Dani, sat back the entire race too, before finding time in the last few laps, But no one is say Dani helped Lorenzo.

It's also telling that Marc fought Dani off too, Marc could have just let him past and stayed third. Even if Dani went past Lorenzo he would have won the championship with Marc between Rossi and Lorenzo.

I suspect this is the reason Honda might be holding the data back. It showing both riders pacing themselves for most of the race, waiting for the right time to attack Lorenzo, as they clashed and held eachother up, none of them was able to do anything on the last lap. The exact same data will also show them sitting back and letting lorenzo win if thats what you want to see from it.

That's what I saw anyway, maybe others saw it differently.

Edit:

I've just noticed that this is for the Sepang data and not Valencia. Didn't realise that was still going on.
 
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Stoner upset and angry? Surely not? :p

Would he even be competitive now tho. After being out the game for so long. It's all elbows now !

Well he won on the Ducati, the bike that everyone else even Rossi struggled to even get on the podium with. I don't think people give the guy another credit.

Also I don't think he'd even consider coming back if he didn't think he'd be able to be competitive, and that Ducati were able to give him a good enough bike to win.

It would be good to see him back fighting for race wins with Marc, Dani, Lorenzo, Rossi and the other Ducati's
 
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Well he won on the Ducati, the bike that everyone else even Rossi struggled to even get on the podium with. I don't think people give the guy another credit.

Also I don't think he'd even consider coming back if he didn't think he'd be able to be competitive, and that Ducati were able to give him a good enough bike to win.

It would be good to see him back fighting for race wins with Marc, Dani, Lorenzo, Rossi and the other Ducati's

Ducati came out with a good package in 2007, but it went backwards from there. Until 2015 when they did come back with a semi-competitve bike, however at the cost of putting more wings on the damn thing than that of a bi-plane !
 
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Ducati came out with a good package in 2007, but it went backwards from there. Until 2015 when they did come back with a semi-competitve bike, however at the cost of putting more wings on the damn thing than that of a bi-plane !

Capirossi couldn't do anything with that bike in 2007, Melandri the following year and then Hadyn after that.

If the bike was so good then at least one of those other riders should have been closer to the top, fact is stoner was winning races every year, his highly rated and proven team mates were running around mid pack.

I agree the bikes performance dropped in relation to the other teams. But I don't think people give Stoner enough credit for what he did with the Ducati. You only need to look at what his team mates did and the other riders since he left Ducati.

He won 4 races for ducati in 2010, they've not won since. Rossi took the bike in 2011.
 
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Capirossi couldn't do anything with that bike in 2007, Melandri the following year and then Hadyn after that.

If the bike was so good then at least one of those other riders should have been closer to the top, fact is stoner was winning races every year, his highly rated and proven team mates were running around mid pack.

I agree the bikes performance dropped in relation to the other teams. But I don't think people give Stoner enough credit for what he did with the Ducati. You only need to look at what his team mates did and the other riders since he left Ducati.

He won 4 races for ducati in 2010, they've not won since. Rossi took the bike in 2011.

Stoner is to Ducati as Rossi was to Yamaha...

Stoner found a bike he could ride well, he adapted his riding to suit it better and the team listened and gave him a bike that was "almost there" and he took it to the top and left uncompetitive teammates lagging behind...
 
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IMO until Lorenzo or Marquez win on a different bike, as Rossi has (500 days admittedly) and has Stoner has then they won't be in the same league. Sadly I can't ever see them moving unless there's a huge, major fall out.
 
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IMO until Lorenzo or Marquez win on a different bike, as Rossi has (500 days admittedly) and has Stoner has then they won't be in the same league. Sadly I can't ever see them moving unless there's a huge, major fall out.

I'd be surprised if Lorenzo swaps bikes... Marquez... I'm not sure either... But I do see Pedrosa jumping the Honda ship...
 
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IMO until Lorenzo or Marquez win on a different bike, as Rossi has (500 days admittedly) and has Stoner has then they won't be in the same league. Sadly I can't ever see them moving unless there's a huge, major fall out.

In the 500 days Rossi only won on the Honda NSR500, it was in the MotoGP 4 stroke era where he won on Honda and Yamaha.

As for stoner being back I don't see it, just because hiss Honda test contract is up soon, means nothing. Honda will sign him again to keep him away from ducati
 
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I don't see what winning on another bike proves. At the minute the only bikes that can win are the factory teams of honda and yamaha, there is very little difference between them over a season. Any of the top 4 riders are capable of adjusting there riding style slightly to win on either bike, it doesn't make them better.

That is the only reason Rossi left Ducati to go back to Yamaha, he knew the Ducati wasn't going to be a winning bike anytime soon and the rider can't make as big a differance anymore. Not like when he went from Honda to Yamaha.

It's not coincidence that the top 4 riders are riding the top 4 bikes. Throw any of them on the Ducati or Suzuki of this year for example, and i'm betting they'd struggle to even win 1 race.
 
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