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The Yamahas continuing their form, Rossi ahead of Edwards (who was fastest
in FP1) in FP2. Stoner *very* close to Edwards about 0.3s off Rossi's pace.
Hopkins, Checa and Pedrosa after, about .5s off Rossi. Melandri, Caprirossi
and Elias complete the group that's within 1s.

Things looking tough for Hayden, about 1.5s off the pace and behind the
Roberts Honda. Heck, barely ahead of Alex Hofmann on the Pramac Ducati! Not
good.

 

The fairing alone does not explain 1.5s. Especially when someone who's
even bigger -Checa- seems to have less problems with that part. So it
has to be something else. Maybe Hayden is sitting on a slightly
different bike, has made other choices, or is simply bidding his time
and experimenting in FP1 and FP2. I assume he'll do better tomorrow.

Definitely Elias is one of the more spectacular riders out there.
Talking about that - Edwards is looking really good. He looks
*smooth*, like he's not even trying hard. I am looking forward to him
showing what he can do, it'll be interesting to see if he can (and
will be allowed to) light a fire under Valentino's a@@ if it comes to
that.

Still, one has to respect the fact he's keeping it close to the
others, and putting some distance between him and Capirossi, who may
feel some pressure... none of his teammates have been able to truly
contest his status...

....pablo

 

Edwards looking real strong in the last FP before QP. 0.2s ahead of Rossi.

For all of the talks about the significance about aerodynamics and how Honda
had screwed up -
(a) the Hondas show consistent faster top speed than the Yamahas
(b) Hayden's bike, clocked at 307km/h, is merely 5 km/h slower than
Pedrosa's.

Granted there are additional things that could go into that top speed
measurement, but then again, the Ducs blow past anything, Stoner did
321km/h. He's in third, dogged closely by Hopkins (who's bike does 304km/h,
for completeness sake). Pedrosa is the fastest Honda right now, behind
Hopkins.

hayden's progressed some to 8th, making it to within .9s of Edwards.
Methodical as always, I guess.

 

*SPOILERS*

The Hondas and Ducs are a lot faster than the Yamahas in terms of top
speed. I was reading Checa's comments on practice, and he was
emphasising the importance of top speed for the race. And with Pedrosa
having 10km/h over Rossi, it does seem to me at least that Rossi could
be in trouble if Pedrosa can stay in his slipstream.

Does this mean that the Yamaha strategy might be to make a break at
the start, so that bikes with faster top speeds (including the Ducati)
can't just breeze past them? Or could we even see Rossi spend most of
his time behind a Honda or Duc, to pull a "Rossi special" in the last
lap? Particularly if that allows him to conserve tyres. It's going to
be interesting in general to see how the teams try to maximise their
advantage given the very different lap time/top speed trade-offs.

 

Hmm, I can, in fact, twice just yesterday!
"We went by those guys on the straightaway like they were going on the
trailer. It really wasn't fair."
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2007/Mar/070309a.htm
A quote from Roger Hayden's DIS SSport post race press conference, so
possibly you might want to rethink, or rephrase that rather broad and
obviously inaccurate statement, as top speed(or the lack of it) can most
definately determine who wins, or loses... ;-)

 

I know, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to mess wid 'ya. Check this
out, looks like the Duc's got the juice, huh?

FIM MotoGP World Championship
Losail International Circuit
Doha, Qatar
March 9, 2007
Best Top Speeds During Qualifying:


Top Speeds:

1. Casey Stoner (Ducati), 201.8 mph
2. Loris Capirossi (Ducati), 201.0 mph
3. Alex Hofmann (Ducati), 200.5 mph
4. Alex Barros (Ducati), 198.5 mph
5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 197.0 mph
6. John Hopkins (Suzuki), 194.6 mph
7. Jeremy McWilliams (Ilmor), 194.5 mph
8. Nicky Hayden (Honda), 194.2 mph
9. Toni Elias (Honda), 194.0 mph
10. Shinya Nakano (Honda), 194.0 mph
11. Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki), 193.4 mph
12. Carlos Checa (Honda), 192.8 mph
13. Makoto Tamada (Yamaha), 192.7 mph
14. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 192.6 mph
15. Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha), 192.1 mph
16. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), 192.0
17. Marco Melandri (Honda), 191.7 mph
18. Randy De Puniet (Kawasaki), 191.4 mph
19. Colin Edwards (Yamaha), 191.3 mph
20. Andrew Pitt (Ilmor), 190.4 mph
21. Kenny Lee Roberts (Honda), 190.3 mph

 

Actually I think I was looking at the different strengths of the two
bikes, and wondering what strategy Yamaha would use to play to their
strengths (the faster laptime), while considering Honda's strength
(the faster top speed). So I wasn't ignoring the Yamaha being faster
over the whole lap at all. But I remember seeing races where Rossi was
faster around the lap as a whole, but if a Honda was near enough to
him to get a tow, it would just drive past him on the long straight.

 

Rossi has not had the fastest top speed bike for years.

He wins the same, time and time again.

He is in another class -v- ther others

Good to see world order has been reinstalled, bout bloody time too

Rossi can win and looking for a good strong finish from Casey

PS/ Loved that Rossi called Ped. "a little boy" in a Italian interview
LOL

AUS

 

I dunno Neal, but it sure looked like top speed had it's day in Qatar,
though the question is, will you remember?

 

Please give us your explanation, in 100 lines or more, why Honda have
employed Mr. Hayden for 6 years now if he is their proverbial red-
headed stepchild. Honda US have the influence to place their golden
child on the top team, but not enough influence to ensure at least
equal treatment?

 

Take a step back and think about what the situation was at Repsol when he
got hired.
Equal treatment wasn't in the cards when your teamate was Rossi, and nor was
it expected.
Then Rossi leaves for Yamaha and is replaced by Barros.
Barros fails to deliver and is jettisoned for Biaggi.
In the interim, Gibernau steps it up and gets the front line bits on a
regular basis. An unusual step for Honda.
Normally they would have moved him to the Repsol program, but keeping
Telefonica happy was a goal at Honda then. A policy that went out the window
with the Pedrosa signing.
Nicky never has rec'd "equal" treatment at Repsol, so it was no suprise that
he didn't get it last year.
He ended up on the 'development" bike for the season and it took them only
15 races to work out the bugs.
"Development" for what? 990's were obsolete at the end of 2006. The evo unit
was the safer choice if the goal was the 2006 championship

 

Up to this point, hayden did nothing to deserve equal treatment, either, one
could say based on the chronology you are presenting. When did Hayxden win
his first race again?

Which is why he was on a special bike only he was riding. It was special
treatment alright. Whether it was an advantage is a matter for free
speculation.

And curiously it coincided with him winning the title, which he never looked
close to doing in previous year.

 

So why did Pedrosa get a bike built around him?
Did I miss something and Pedrosa actually won the world title?

Riding development bikes is not a special treatment normally handed out to
the top dog in any program.
That's normally the the 2 guy's job. If it works then it goes up the chain

That was more a matter of the other guys fucking up
than any advantage gained by special equipment.
Rossi had more problems in 2006 than he'd had in total
since 2002. Caparossi got hurt,Melandri got hurt.
Nicky had one of those years where he mostly avoided the major problems that
tripped up the others

 

Several. In 250. And hsi first season, all in all, was more successful and
telling than hayden's several first, you'll admit.

Moreover, Honda doesn't build bikes around anyone. They build what they
think is best, and their conviction that 800s should be build very compactly
makes a lot of sense to anyone that actually rides bikes. So you're just
speculating about them building it for Pedrosa. if pedrosa doesn't win,
they'll get someone else eventually, and build a bike that they think is
better.

Newsflash: every bike is a development bike in MotoGP.

Yeah, sure, hayden was riding the Scrambler he rides around the paddock on
track, poor thing, not getting anything from Honda. yet curiously holding
out in the top team in MotoGP racing for longer than anyone else.

Such bull, really.

The only thing we know for a fact is that Hayden has had one of the best
rides in the grid for 5 years straight. Whether it was the best or not we'll
never know. We know for a fact it wasn't the worst.

 

Apples and oranges
250 titles aren't the same as MotoGP
And Hayden was a complete newbie when he arrived on the scene, whereas
Pedrosa had at least ridden the tracks before. You can only pick up so much
from your PS2...
Considering that Tony Elias managed to win a race last year (something that
surprised almost everyone)
was it a big shock that Pedrosa won two on basically the same bike?

More compact with 0 weight reduction?
That sounds like classic Honha engineering crap.
Probably before your time, but Honda every so often tries to reinvent the
wheel. Sometimes it works (RC211V, NS500) sometimes it doesn't (NR500, 1984
NSR500)
Oh I forgot, the weight reduction was to come out of the rider...
It's pretty telling when Pedrosa is quoted to have said that the RV212 was
the first MotoGP bike he felt that fit him

The end result you see on the idot box is a tested product. It ain't the
beta version...
One of the most dangerous jobs in racing is to be a factory tester. At one
point in time, it was a career that
was a 50-50 shot to get you killed or seiously injured...

Put words into my mouth. I never claimed that. But you are the classic
bullshit artist...

At that level not having the best is worthless.
On the average weekend the difference between first and tenth is1 second.
That is less than 1%
And if you think Nicky was on the best Honda package
last year, you have a strange view of the facts

 

My thoughts exactly, especially so when you factor in the buck$ they were
willing to pony up...

 

That's pure excuse making. Teams want results in MotoGP, and when a guy
brings them, whatever the track record, it's a good thing. It's *not*
Pedrosa's problem Hayden was riding in the USA, nor Honda's.

It's true 250 is a very good development platform for MotoGP (even though
this here forum has had convenient arguments that declared 250cc either an
unfair advantage or a waste of time, depending), no one disputes that. The
again, MotoGP as the most competitive class does not *care* about why a
riders does or doesn't achieve results set by the team.

So now Elias *also* had a better bike than Hayden? It never ends, eh.

It's not telling at all. Pedrosa had huge issues with the size of last
year's bike. He *is* tiny. And yet he still acquitted himself rather well
for a first year. The fact the new bike is smaller is in no way a proof that
it was 100% tailored for him and nothing else. In fact, given Honda's
engineering track record, it defies reason to make such a claim. Honda
thinks a smaller rider-bike package is better. And I think it doesn't take
Einstein's brain to agree.

Ok, discussion over. F*ck you. Up yours. With last year's bike. The big one.

What is it with this forum and these rude fucked-up Hayden fan retards? I am
not putting up with this - another one for the kill file.

....pablo

 

Yeah, but that should've spoke volumes to both him and Earl, now look where
they're at..

I think the direction HRC has taken in regard to all MC racing is, or will
end up being a bust and don't think the old man would be happy at all...

 

He had the best Honda on that day. And if you think they pulled that package
out of thin air, you are a fool.
Elias has little to justify his spot in the Honda program, so don't be
talking about results. 1 podium and a handful of top tens doesn't make u
catch of the day.
And the 250 route to the top is so horseshit...
Hayden was never a 250 guy, Ducati plucked Bayliss back out of WSBK for
Valencia. He spanked all those 250 guys but good.

Hey Einstein, 9 times out of 10 racing sucess is about development and not
innovation
Honda got a hair up their ass about this new direction
and they were were the only ones to go that route.
From what I see, it isn't working. When their prized rider has a hard time
beating the Suzuki guy that's NEVER been on the podium something ain't
right.
Honda has done this in the past, so it's nothing new...

Another classic Pablo response.
You pitch back his puerile retort and you are rude killfile material.What a
fool...

 

Drowning in facts, are we?

The premier class taking a significant reduction in power via a
displacement cut is unprecedented as well. The writing was on the
wall. Hayden and his handlers were gullible fools for not jumping to
Ducati.