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  1. #1
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    MotoGP - Round 2 - Jerez

    Hooray! Round two has finally showed 3 weeks after the championship commenced in Qatar with a bang. Already an expected order has been established with the expected Stoner vs Lorenzo show looking to be fierce and season long with Pedrosa in with his best chance of being the cat amongst the pigeons.

    Jerez looks to be equally intriguing as Qatar turned out to be. Stoner has only had one podium at any level at the Spanish track and will be out to avenge his certain podium he missed in controversial circumstances last year but has he got the arm pump that hampered him three weeks ago sorted out?
    If Jerez hasn't been kind to Casey, it has been very generous to Lorenzo who has won the past two races there and after victory at Qatar must head into round two supremely confident. He has a bike as potent as any other and must start at least a warm favourite.
    Pedrosa heads to Jerez on a positive note after a strong ride to second in Qatar. For once he's fit and on a bike that's fairly sorted and 2012 is looking like his best chance of contending for the MotoGP title.
    Ben Spies will want to remember Qatar and learn that crashing Friday and Saturday is not productive for Sunday. Having not finished a race at Jerez in two attempts, expect a solid results for the Ben.
    Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso may well become the highlight of the championship as they prove that the person you most want to beat is your teammate. They should once again battle just off the podium probably with Ben Spies.
    Pressure is on Ducati to perform after Rossi publicly criticised them on Italian tv recently from a lacklustre start to their campaign. Whilst Ducati have a lot of work ahead of them to get where they need to be, truth be told, Rossi needs to concentrate on beating Hayden and the other Ducatis before anymore outbursts. Would be surprised if they can get any higher than 6th.
    Stefan Bradl impressed many with a strong MotoGP debut on his satellite Honda only losing out to the more experienced and highly fancied Alvaro Bautista by a couple of tenths of a second. There should be a good fight between them and the factory Ducatis and perhaps even the satellite Ducatis of Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham in the mid-pack.

    Colin Edwards 'won' the first race of the CRT bikes, beating home the much more fancied Randy de Puniet. The Texas Tornado is a wily old fox and won't be underestimated this round. He and Randy are the class of the CRT field but the likes of young axe murderers Danilo Petrucci, Michele Pirro and Yonny Hernandez should be able to give them a run for their money.

    So that's my take on round two, which of course goes completely out the window when the rains come on race day again! Overall, I'm really excited for round two, especially after such a pain in the ass wait since the first round. Bring. It. On!
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  2. #2
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    MotoGP Qualifying:

    1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 282.1 1'39.532
    2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 283.5 1'39.667 0.135 / 0.135
    3 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 282.3 1'40.563 1.031 / 0.896
    4 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 281.7 1'40.570 1.038 / 0.007
    5 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 285.9 1'40.577 1.045 / 0.007
    6 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 280.9 1'41.090 1.558 / 0.513
    7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 284.0 1'41.180 1.648 / 0.090
    8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 286.9 1'41.447 1.915 / 0.267
    9 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 287.3 1'41.550 2.018 / 0.103
    10 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 265.6 1'41.700 2.168 / 0.150
    11 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 284.2 1'41.724 2.192 / 0.024
    12 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 288.8 1'41.871 2.339 / 0.147
    13 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 282.3 1'42.961 3.429 / 1.090
    14 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 267.7 1'43.135 3.603 / 0.174
    15 51 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 268.2 1'43.363 3.831 / 0.228
    16 54 Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master ART 266.5 1'44.308 4.776 / 0.945
    17 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens BQR 269.5 1'44.467 4.935 / 0.159
    18 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda 257.4 1'44.645 5.113 / 0.178
    19 22 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR 261.4 1'44.717 5.185 / 0.072
    20 77 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 264.8 1'45.724 6.192 / 1.007
    21 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 264.5 1'46.200 6.668 / 0.476

    Rain to make for an interesting race at Jerez for the second year in-a-row it would seem.
    Get off my lawn

  3. #3
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    Hayden 3rd, while Rossi 13th, even behind a CRT bike?! Well, this is just incredible. Rossi can't blame the bike any more, for the first time in his career he actually has to look into the mirror...

    Before the season it was claimed that the new powerful 1000cc bikes should suit Hayden, so far he has been delivering. It was also argued that the new bikes should suit former WSBK riders, like Crutchlow and Spies. Haven't seen it with Spies yet though...

  4. #4
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    Two very good races straight off the bat for the new class. Why MotoGP stuck with the 800cc formula for five years, I'll never know.

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    The pecking order was quite similar to what we saw in Qatar. This time Stoner managed to keep his position until the end, although in the last couple of laps it got exciting. In any case, so far it has been the worst circuit for the Australian, where never anything has gone right for him. Qualifying 5th created an impression that not much can be expected this time either, but race turned out to be an entirely different matter.

    Revelation of the season has got to be Crutchlow so far. Also big to Tech3, who seems to have found good setups and adapted well to 1000cc bikes as Crutchlow was able to even match the pace of the factory Yamaha. What is wrong with Spies? I don’t get it...

    Ducati doesn’t manage tyres well, it seems. Hayden put up a good fight in the early stages, but later just disappeared.

    By the way, I cannot find the last time, when a German rider finished in Top10 in the overall standings of the highest class. With his neat debut so far, Bradl seems well on his way to accomplishing that feat!

    Moto2 was stunning. The bikes were sliding so much I was impressed the riders actually didn’t fall. Marquez probably left his attack too late as he was clearly ahead by the time of the red flag, but not at the point, where the official results were taken.

    In the wet Moto3 race Romano Fenati completely dominated with a 30-second advantage. Quite incredible considering his age and inexperience.

  6. #6
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    Wow what a pleasent surprise, getting home from Thruxton to see Cal in 4th place and only a couple seconds off the lead! The boy is doing good, fingers crossed he can keep it up for the whole year, and keep that ride for next year!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Allyc85
    --- and keep that ride for next year!
    Well, at this rate not only is he going to keep that ride for next year, but is also threatening Spies' factory ride.

  8. #8
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    That did cross my mind, but I didnt want to get carried away

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