[badri]

Herve Poncharal will be in seventh heaven now. Even in his wildest dreams wouldn't he have thought that his two rookies would score two podiums by mid season. The bikes may be good and more stable than the factory Yamahas but maximum credit due for the riders too. Rookies in satellite teams dream of scoring points, not fighting with world champions for race win and chasing them down for 95% of race distance. Awesome performance by Folger!

[Abhi_abarth]

Hondas and yamaha bag the start positions at Brno
1. MM93
2. VR46
3. DP26

[five46]

Grand prix motorcycling legend Angel Nieto passed away in Ibiza following the traffic accident he was involved in few days ago. He was 70.

Nieto, a 13-time world champion, died as a consequence of the brain damage he suffered in a collision between his quad bike and a car on July 26.

His tally of 90 race wins at grand prix level, achieved between 1969 and 1985, is only beaten by Valentino Rossi's 115 and Giacomo Agostini's 122.

Link

[mayankk]

Where and when is the race airing??
I've gone through all the ten channels, but it's not showing up.

[five46]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Where and when is the race airing?

Sony ESPN from 14:00 IST

[fz_rider]

Well, Marquez wins another one courtesy a timely pitstop. Starting with soft compound tyre for wet weather, Marquez lost his ground in first couple of laps, forcing him to pit at the end of second lap and jumping onto bike 2 fitted with slick tyres. This move turned out to be a masterstroke, as Marquez was lapping 10 sec faster compared to the lead group. By the time lead group pitted, Marquez already had close to 20 sec lead over second place rider. Pedrosa and Vinales picked up the podium places respectively.

[MonsterPatrol]

Lorenzo's bike not ready. And that's why you never see the words 'Italian' & 'efficiency' in the same sentence. This is MotoGP. They're supposed to be the best of the best. You shouldn't see things that would make you cringe at a club race.

[r_nairtvm]

My heart went out to the "old man". What a ride it was 14th to 4 - Well done Rossi

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[Amey Kulkarni]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

My heart went out to the "old man". What a ride it was 14th to 4 - Well done Rossi

I agree. He was in some momentum and rhythm. That extra lap of Rossi in wets costed him the podium else it was him at third and Vinyales someplace else.

Marquez was lucky to have pulled it off with the dry race and Marquez going into pits for Slicks earlier than anyone.

If it would have rained; Rossi was eyeing for the pole for sure. Marquez even quoted " I wasn't comfortable with those Medium wets in the practice sessions; so opted for Soft wets". It would have been a disaster for him.

Cheers,
Amey

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Amey Kulkarni

I agree. He was in some momentum and ----snip----
Cheers,
Amey

Ditto.
Though, he seems to have a high level of stubbornness. He did the same thing last year, refusing to come in. I don't know if this time maybe the bike wasnt ready, but he carries on, hoping for rain, maybe. Amazing ride by the old man, but could have definitely been a better result.

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by Amey Kulkarni

I agree. He was in some momentum and rhythm. That extra lap of Rossi in wets costed him the podium else it was him at third and Vinyales someplace else.

Exactly! that one extra lap proved to be very costly for Rossi in the end. Marquez was lapping around 10 seconds faster than the others when he switched to slicks. so imagine if Rossi had saved even 5 seconds off his time by switching a lap earlier, then things would have been very different.

14th to 4th is still a commendable feat though !

[Amey Kulkarni]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Ditto.
Though, he seems to have a high level of stubbornness. He did the same thing last year, refusing to come in. I don't know if this time maybe the bike wasnt ready, but he carries on, hoping for rain, maybe. Amazing ride by the old man, but could have definitely been a better result.

The bike was ready. I don't know if he was paying attention to the pit board which called "BOX". The weather certainly did not display signs of rain.

There was a controversial statement made in the similar lines by the Team owners last year post a Flag to Flag race that " Riders take their own decisions and do not listen to team talks or suggestions made".

Cheers,
Amey

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Originally Posted by MonsterPatrol

Lorenzo's bike not ready. And that's why you never see the words 'Italian' & 'efficiency' in the same sentence. This is MotoGP. They're supposed to be the best of the best. You shouldn't see things that would make you cringe at a club race.

I might be wrong, but I think I remember them saying that Ducati had the 2nd bikes setup for Rain which meant they had to make more changes to get the bikes to dry setup.

Dovi still did pretty well to recover from the situation though!!

Originally Posted by Amey Kulkarni

I agree. He was in some momentum and rhythm. That extra lap of Rossi in wets costed him the podium else it was him at third and Vinyales someplace else.

Marquez was lucky to have pulled it off with the dry race and Marquez going into pits for Slicks earlier than anyone.

If it would have rained; Rossi was eyeing for the pole for sure. Marquez even quoted " I wasn't comfortable with those Medium wets in the practice sessions; so opted for Soft wets". It would have been a disaster for him.

Cheers,
Amey

Overall if I think about it, the result was not that bad for the Yamahas. But this is sort of becoming a theme for Rossi/Yamaha. In changing situations they generally tend to play it very safe. I am not personally against it, but I feel they can be a bit more aggressive in certain calculated situations. It really pains to see Rossi leading and then joining back in 14th.

As much as I hate to accept, but Marc and Honda almost always gets it right. And not just right, but smash these changing scenarios. It just goes on to show the level of confidence they have in themselves and Marc too and Marc has always delivered in such situations. I remember 3 races in the last of couple of seasons where Marc did something similar in changing conditions and ended up winning races by more than 10 seconds comfortably.

I don't think this was luck. This was pure risk taking ability and then smashing the situation on its head. I was so happy seeing him loose places and then he diving into the pits and thought this is the end of him in this race. But was stunned 2 laps later when he lapped nearly 10 secs faster than Rossi on wet tyres. This ability to turn the situations on its head gives him a huge advantage and will surely help him in the championship.

Regards
Rachit

[MonsterPatrol]

Lorenzo's bike was "almost ready" according to Dylan. However, Jorge said in the post race interview that it wasn't. I'll take the rider's word over a paddock journalist's. If you guys hadn't been paying attention the mechanics made Jorge lose a lot of time getting his bike started. I'm sure Ducati mechanics could see serious activity going on in the other garages. What were they waiting for? As we all know every team has a spare bike setup similar just in case their rider suffers a crash during the warm up lap. Ducati had more than enough time on their hands to swap the bike setup back to dry. Other factories were ready so why weren't they?

Rossi's stubbornness' (according to all here) in coming in late is understandable. Slicks don't heat up as fast as wets do and cool incredibly fast if not run at optimum pace which is mostly the case in tricky damp/dry conditions. This can easily lead to a crash. Apart from this, even a slick that's nicely heated up can still can cause a crash if the rider hits a damp patch/line or touches the wet astroturf among other things. Although the wets are much slower than slicks on a quickly drying track it's still a safer option to ride with unless the sun is surely out and the track temp keeps climbing. Let us all remember, the priority for every rider is to finish first. And the decision to dive in for the swap solely rests on the rider depending on how confident he feels about the swap at 'that' moment. This is where on board communication can help but I don't like it. It takes away rider's instincts and their decision making ability that sets them apart from the rest. However I agree he could've come in a lap earlier but he couldn't have known Marc was lapping 8 seconds faster than him, could he?

Let's just agree Marc was more daring of the lot. He pulled it off. And he won it. Like he does every time in most flag to flag races. What's amazing to see is this "Marc Marquez" who hardly has 4 years of experience racing in the top class keeps outsmarting all the so called 'legends' and 'goats' of the game time and again. Marquez simply put is the best mixed conditions rider there has ever been. At age 24, with 5 world champions already in the bag and the 6th probably on its way, let's just anoint him as the GOAT already and get done with it LOL.

As a genuine MotoGP fan who always maintains a neutral view of every rider, I think Rossi's retirement in the future will be hard on everyone not just his fans. But not as hard as when Marquez retires. That guy by the end of his career will probably become so big he'll be compared to the greatest of the greats like Ali and Maradona. He would break every single record there is to break and win everything that's there to win. Having attained such a level racing in the golden era of Motogp is no mean feat. I just hope to God that he doesn't injure himself in the process, Marquez is special. Real special. Marquez is GOAT. And I'll be there to watch him live at Sepang when he lifts his Sixth World Title. Oh what a sight!

[Amey Kulkarni]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

Overall if I think about it, the result was not that bad for the Yamahas. But this is sort of becoming a theme for Rossi/Yamaha. In changing situations they generally tend to play it very safe. I am not personally against it, but I feel they can be a bit more aggressive in certain calculated situations. It really pains to see Rossi leading and then joining back in 14th.

The result was not at all bad considering Rossi ending 4th coming back from 14th.

As a true Rossi fan, it was a sad thing. Rossi could have taken Pole easily if he would have gone in at the right time. Marquez saw that opportunity and jumped on it.

Keeping the race aside but definitely the scenario at the Championship points would have turned the tables for Rossi.

Cheers,
Amey