The MotoGP 2010 Thread

[five46]

Hello Folks,

It's smelling oil again. The last season of the e-motoGP class (condemned by many as the 'too much electronics assistance' class). Pre season tests are full-on. Time to poll. But first, the 2010 Calender:

Date Grand Prix (Circuit)
April 11th* Qatar (Losail)
April 25th Japan (Motegi)
May 2nd Spain (Jerez)
May 23rd France (Le Mans)
June 6th Italy (Mugello)
June 20th Great Britain (Silverstone)
June 26th** Netherlands (Assen)
July 4th Catalunya (Catalunya)
July 18th Germany (Sachsenring)
July 25th*** United States (Laguna Seca)
August 15th Czech Republic (Brno)
August 29th Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
September 5th San Marino & Riviera di Rimini (Misano)
September 19th Hungary (Balatonring)
October 10th Malaysia (Sepang)
October 17th Australia (Phillip Island)
October 31st Portugal (Estoril)
November 7th Valencia (Ricardo Tormo Valencia)
Reserve Circuit: Motorland Aragon Circuit
* Evening race
** Saturday race
*** Only MotoGP class
Calendar still subject to changes
Source



Next, the team line-up:

N0. RIDER NATION TEAM MACHINE
4 Andrea Dovizioso ITALIAN Repsol Honda Team HONDA
5 Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA
7 Hiroshi Aoyama JAPANESE Interwetten-Honda MotoGP HONDA
11 Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA
14 Randy de Puniet FRENCH LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA
19 Alvaro Bautista SPANISH Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI
24 Marco Melandri ITALIAN San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA
26 Dani Pedrosa SPANISH Repsol Honda Team HONDA
27 Casey Stoner AUSTRALIAN Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI
36 Mika Kallio FINNISH PRAMAC RACING TEAM DUCATI
40 Hector Barbera SPANISH ASPAR MOTOGP TEAM DUCATI
41 Aleix Espargaro SPANISH PRAMAC RACING TEAM DUCATI
46 Valentino Rossi ITALIAN Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA
58 Marco Simoncelli ITALIAN San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA
65 Loris Capirossi ITALIAN Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI
69 Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI
99 Jorge Lorenzo SPANISH Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA
Source

Are you ready boots??

[Turbo Head]

Wow, Rossi is undisputed champion with 100% votes

[five46]

Race day... er... race night tonight.
Casey continues to be supreme in Qatar, scores a pole, Vale to shadow with team mate Jorge.
Red lights to go off soon.

[Addy]

Valentino Rossi won the Qatar GP bringing an end to Stoner's reign on that track for 3 years. What a race it was, just the first race and so much excitement just shows whats in store for the rest of the year.

It was an awesome start from Dani Pedrosa who as usual who from 5th on the grid moved got up to the 1st place by the first corner, with Rossi in 2nd and Hayden in 3rd followed by Stoner. Dani Pedrosa began to drop down which what looks be because of the suspension issue. Stoner took over but not for long and on lap 5 or 6 lost the front end of the bike.

After this it was Rossi in the lead followed by Dovi and Hayden who were less than a second behind him till about lap 15 I guess. Then Dovi slowly closed in on Rossi and made a move on him on the start finish straight. But Rossi took over i the again and found something on the bike and was able to open up a gap of about a second again.

This brought Hayden closer to Dovi and he overtook him at one point, only to be over taken by Dovi on the start finish straight, man and the Honda's are fast like a bullet on the start finish straight. The fight between these 2 brought the Lorenzo closer to them and some really BRAVE moves took him upto second, on the last but one lap if I am not wrong. Hayden made a move on Dovi on the last lap only to be overtaken once again by Dovi on the start finish straight to gain the last spot on the podium by 0.011 secs. Yes it was that close!!

On and not to forget the perfect calculation by Rossi's crew as he ran out of fuel on the celebration lap. All in al its gonna be a hell of a season!!

The full results below:

1. Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 42m 50.099s
2. Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 42m 51.121s
3. Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 42m 51.964s
4. Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Team 42m 51.975s
5. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 42m 54.002s
6. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 42m 59.421s
7. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 43m 6.607s
8. Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 43m 9.966s
9. Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m 10.992s
10. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 43m 11.199s
11. Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 43m 21.737s
12. Hector Barbera Paginas Amarillas Aspar 43m 22.672s
13. Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 43m 30.879s

[SohailPistawala]

Worth getting up in the early and watching it. Rossi at its best again. Surprised by Lorenzo's pace in the 2nd half of the race. He started the race from 3rd position, lost couple of positions reached 5th and managed to complete the race 2nd. Good one by ben spies too. Nice to see hayden in top order. two weeks from now is Japan. Cant wait to watch this.

[raj.barcode]

POST DELETED

Do not quote a large message with a 1-liner that adds no value to the discussion.

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[nitrogary]

this is the third time stoner has fallen from the lead.
and this is not new when one has a certain #46 behind him. i ve seen it happen to loris capirossi when vale was with him in the 250s, gibernau, biaggi, etc.
i love it when rossi puts pressure form 2nd place.
but maybe this time, it was stoner himselft who fumbled. pretty much like what he did at laguna.
finally! the dry weekends are over...
i am really happy as in WSBK, haga also took a victory in race 2.

[RX135]

Hondas are fast! Dovizioso was clearly able to surge ahead on straights. Too bad that he could not do the same over corners. At one time, he closed on Rossi, but thereafter, Rossi maintained comfortable lead. Still, that straight line speed helped him clinch 3rd place after Hayden overtook him on last corner.

The way Lorenzo pushed ahead on the last lap was amazing. Unfortunately, it was too late charge to challenge Rossi, who was quite ahead by that time. Otherwise that would have been amazing duel. Is that a prelude to what's going to unfold over rest of the year?

[five46]

Originally Posted by RX135

...
At one time, he closed on Rossi, but thereafter, Rossi maintained comfortable lead. Still, that straight line speed helped him clinch 3rd place after Hayden overtook him on last corner.

This was Dukes forte till now. Dukes were always considered to be rockets on the straights. Remember 2006 when Troy Ballis pulled a similar one on Vale which also contributed to Vale losing his title? I was really surprised to see that Honda doing a Duke.

Originally Posted by RX135

...
Otherwise that would have been amazing duel. Is that a prelude to what's going to unfold over rest of the year?

Make it a crowd of three with Casey!

It was nice to see Nicky with the top dogs again, but one ride worth praising was of Ben Spies. His first proper season in motogp begins with a neat ride from 11th to 5th.

Hoping for a cracking season!

@ raj.barcode: Sir, please do not quote the entire thing. Makes pain for small time mobile web-browser users like me.

[Addy]

As I mentioned in my earlier post that Rossi ran out of fuel, this is how he arrived back to the Parc Ferme (If its called as it is in F1). Man no wonder this guy is loved among the paddock by all the teams. Instead of getting ridden back, he rides back. The marshal would be over the moon to have Rossi ride his bike, with he seated behind. Look at the marshal wave to the crowd. Ha ha ha. Just AWESOME.!!

[route666]

couldn't watch it live. but saw the highlights yesterday. Amazing race by lorenzo. the overtaking move on dovizioso and blocking him on the straight on the penultimate lap were breathtaking. and congrats to the Doc. amazed to see that his staright line speed was like 9 kms slower that the top speed of Hector Barbera. Amazing race.

[nitrogary]

rossi just loves sandbagging doesnt he??
maybe they pretended that they have finished the fuel. remember there are only 6 engines this year. yamaha may not want to spend a single rev extra for these engines.

[SohailPistawala]

Its Race weekend for MOtogp.. the gang goes to Jerez with japan race getting postponed. Today was the 1st practice and as usual during the season practice Stoner on top of the sheet, followed by Lorenzo, Hayden, Pedrosa and then Rossi.

Rossi racing with and injured shoulder after the Motocross practice two weeks back. Pure FUn.

[VLOCT]

I'm a Ducati guy since I own one (Ducati 999 – The half sister of ….(666) [Pics]), will always be so, and I'm rooting for Stoner. Rossi though is the master and will remain so until Stoner loses his old crashing habits. When he did, that year he won the championship. The guy is absolutely the fastest when he is on.

Go Ducati.

[SohailPistawala]

Qualifying done Pedrosa takes the poll, followed by Lorenzo, Stoner, Rossi, Hayden.

infact the top 8 pole position timings are all in 1.39's. It should be a cracker race.

Go Valleee