MotoGP Round 3 - Turkey

Several questions to occupy this thread until race weekend:

Will we see Bridgestone hit back at Michelin in the tyre war? Or will they still be caught sleeping after their dimmed performance at Jerez?

Will Honda lift their game? Yes, they have been on the podium 2 times out of 2 this year, but they are still looking rather... how shall I say - unthreatening. Whereas Yamaha seem to have the best chassis and likewise for Ducati with their engine, Honda are still looking somehow planted in there with not the greatest mix of either. In short, thus far the 212 doesn't look to be a race-winning motorcycle (but that's just my opinion).

Istanbul Park is a quick and flowing racetrack. Ducati are in my mind going to be the quick guys come race day. Rossi, however, said something about an engine upgrade that'll be able to take place after Jerez. Will that happen? I'm inclined to think that Rossi or Edwards will be on the top step of the podium anyway, but how much of a difference would that engine development make in terms of lap times?

And as for my picks:

1. Rossi
2. Stoner
3. Elias
Pole: Pedrosa

Still 17 days away :( Honda and namely Hayden need to lift their games, aswell as Capirossi..

Tips:

MotogGP

1. Stoner
2. Melandri
3. Hopkins
Pole> Pedrobot

250

1. Luthi
2. Lorenzo
3. Bautista
Pole> De Angelis

125

1. Bancaja
2. Bancaja
3. Pesek
Pole> Bancaja

Its to bloody far away!

I think a bit different, while Yamaha has a pledge with their decent chassis, and Ducati powerful engine will be their mainstay, Honda has the sweetest combination of that two pretty fair parameters.

In long term, Ducati performance at Lossail, and domination of Yamaha at Jerez will not make me being done to put Honda beneath of them.

Melandri, the king of Istanbul will make a great surprise after his furious beefing on Honda to get the same bike and number one part from Honda, win or get out.

For prediction i tend to make it conservative:

motogp:
1. Rossi
2. Pedrosa
3. Melandri

250cc:
1. Bautista (quiete reasonable to step forward from second place)
2. Lorenzo
3. de Angelis

125
whoever, preferably Pablo Nieto and Steve Bonsey :D

I think Turkey is about as hard to predict as both previous races.

Melandri should be strong but I think it all depends on the bike and tires.

Stoner will possibly be the man to beat if he can get his Duc set up as sweet as he had it at Qatar, although his bridgestones need to also perform.

Dani looked pretty good last year. I don't expect him to crash out this time around.

Rossi will be somewhere at the sharp end.

Edwards is a lottery ticket.

Hayden will look strong at the beginning of the race but will fade.

Hopkins, Elias, Chris V, Capirossi, Checa and Nakano all have an opportunity to impress but not all of them will be able to.

I'm reluctant to even guess but I'll go.

1-Stoner
2-Rossi
3-Melandri

1 - Stoner
2 - Rossi
3 - Hopkins

Pole - Rossi

I agree Fatman, it's a hard one to pick.

What a slow 4 weeks! :\

So after the first two practise sessions everyone is at least 2 seconds off the pace. Can we tell anything from these times ?

Nice to see a Ducati 1-2 at the front. 8 Bridgstones in the top 10 :eek: is a bit of a surprise.

I know in the morning session most riders only did a few laps because conditions sucked. Does anyone know how many laps were done in the afternoon? Can bridgestone last the race or will Rossi and Dani be picking them off one by one come sunday?

It's still anyones guess but Stoner looks like the best pick for a win so far.

Practice results after Friday

Pos. Rider Team Bike Time
1 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati GP7 1:54.200
2 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati GP7 1:54.979
3 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R800 1:55.062
4 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha M1 1:55.120
5 Toni Elias Honda Gresini Honda RC212V 1:55.158
6 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 1:55.651
7 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R800 1:55.707
8 Alex Hofmann Pramac D'Antin Ducati GP7 1:55.736
9 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda RC212V 1:55.865
10 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini Honda RC212V 1:55.910
11 Kenny Roberts Jr Team Roberts KR212V 1:56.071
12 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 1:56.225
13 Alex Barros Pramac D'Antin Ducati GP7 1:56.233
14 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team Honda RC212V 1:56.312
15 Colin Edwards Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha M1 1:56.320
16 Carlos Checa Honda LCR Honda RC212V 1:56.555
17 Makoto Tamada Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 1:56.923
18 Shinya Nakano Konica Minolta Honda Honda RC212V 1:56.936
19 Sylvain Guintoli Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha M1 1:57.245

Stoner fastest by nearly 8 tenths!! :eek:

bridgestone looks to be the better one in Turkey..

All that and it's a Yamaha 1-2 in qualifying! :\

Pedrosa was held up by Hopkins.. Too bad, he should've been on pole

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Corny

Pedrosa was held up by Hopkins.. Too bad, he should've been on pole

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Hopkins was also on a flying lap so he isnt to blame, but yes Pedrosa would probably be on pole if it wasnt for that

I'm a bit surprised they didnt break the lap record given that it was set in 2005 the first time MotoGP came to this circuit

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChrisS

Hopkins was also on a flying lap so he isnt to blame, but yes Pedrosa would probably be on pole if it wasnt for that

I'm a bit surprised they didnt break the lap record given that it was set in 2005 the first time MotoGP came to this circuit

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I think the temperatures were higher by then..

Yeah, Dani can't complain too much, Hopkins just barely held him up. It's also so easy to lose all control on a fast lap in the last 3 corners. You can easily lose half a second there regardless if there is someone in front of you.

Interesting grid for sunday.

Fiat Yamaha
Fiat Yamaha
Repsol Honda
Marlboro Ducati
Marlboro Ducati
Repsol Honda

Expect stoner to make a flying start and try to pull away asap. Capirossi could easily tie up Dani and Rossi making Stoners job a little easier. Expect Colin and Nicky to fade by the half way point, with Hoppers either picking them off or desperate to get past.

Also look out for Vermy, he'll be on for a top 5, consistant and pretty quick.. Plus he's actually qualified pretty well for once.. Third row..

damn motogp.com web site is crapping out on me 10 mins before the lights go out !! Fuming.

surprising GP
What the **** was Jacque doing :( ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fatman

damn motogp.com web site is crapping out on me 10 mins before the lights go out !! Fuming.

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I had the same issue. Star sports on the TVU player has the races so it worked out.

Incredible race for 3rd place today.

Sensational racing! The scrap for 3rd with 5 riders was brilliant. Also, the 250 race was a cracker. :up:

WOOOOOOOT! :D :D

BRILLANT RIDE from Casey - as I understand China as in the Istanbull mould so there is no reason he cant win next race!! Showed a great maturity beyond his years. There was doubt that he could be too erratic and unable to keep a level head but hes proven that WRONG - question is can he sustain this form and can the bike last all season...

I loved the scrap for third - great to see Caparossi get on the podium too - loved when he said that hes the father of these two being so old :D

GO CASEY!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Corny

surprising GP
What the **** was Jacque doing :( ?

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by the looks of it he was touch at the back by Pedrosa - could be wrong though

The 125 race was great with 7 riders fighting for the top 3 positions, Concrats to Corsi for his first win. Shame Pasini once again had problems

Dovi had a great 250 race and I was surprised the Honda was able to keep up with the Aprilias let alone taking the win in the last turn, Bautista is making fellow rookies Luthi and Kallio look average

Bridgestone ruled the MotoGP race, shame Vermeulen was taken out, I think he had the pace for a podium, Stoner was again on his own and its nice to see Loris at the front again

I thought the 125s were the pick of the bunch, great to see Corsi and Olive fullfilling their potential, aswell as Bradley Smith, Rafalle DeRosa and Lorenzo Zanetti. 250s were rather dull with three riders only ever in contention, such a large gap between factory spec and the 'rest' in 250s, its a shame.. GP well, bitter sweet for me. Great to see Casey win but Vermy set the fastest lap of the race on his second last one :( Coulda been an Aussie one-two .. Moving on to China I guess.. No comment about Westys weekend, what a frustrator, did about four laps on friday and that makes the rest of the weekend VERY hard..

One two pole position doesn't count anything. Starting the race from front line, didn't make squad of Yamaha Fiat to take benefit a rider to support another to keep leading the race. It wasn't quite a while Edwards dropped off the position to mid group where the most risky collisions usually happens in this group.

Besides formerly crashy Stoner rode that strong, and Elias who was surprising everyone, that was good to see riders rarely to be at the front: Alex Barros, Hopkins, Rde Puniet, and Hofman.

Melandri performance wasn't convincing everybody at the race where he was a king in the previous two consecutive season. This is a contrast to what his team-mate, Toni Elias, has performed yesterday.
With that result, question about the first part of bike left remain a question.

Frankly I was wishing to see the real battle between Rossi against two young guns, Stoner and Pedrosa.

Really enjoyed that race, although a Casey-Vale dice with Casey winning would ve been even better.

From the Suzuki perspective, Hopper rode like a demon, but faded a bit at the end, wonder why? though he still beat Nicky at the run up to the flag to steal 6th Ha!.

If Chris hadnt been skittled I think he would ve been in the fight for third, because he rallied brilliantly after his off. Did anyine else notice how beautifully his bike was collected by Danis and carefully carried off the circuit. Chris only had to straighten it up, hop back on and he was a way like a rat out of an aquaduct.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jim mcglinchey

Did anyine else notice how beautifully his bike was collected by Danis and carefully carried off the circuit.

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I thought it was very clever of Chris to lay his bike on top of Perdrosa's it minimized the damage and made the bike easy to pick up, that stroke of genius allowed him to continue :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jim mcglinchey

From the Suzuki perspective, Hopper rode like a demon, but faded a bit at the end, wonder why? though he still beat Nicky at the run up to the flag to steal 6th Ha!.

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I'll bet for Hopper to steal 6th from Hayden was *almost* as nice as getting onto the podium. No love lost between those two.

Some good racing at points, could have been much better if Jacque hadn't sailed up the inside (yes Dani touched him but only because OJ tried a stupid move just as Pedrosa was about to turn in) Shame that Rossi's tyres went off, meant that Stoner just cruised to victory. He certainly seems to have grown up since moving to Ducati, I know it might be too soon to say but he isn't throwing points away like last season.

Finished watching the 125 and 250s this morning. Excellent racing all around. The last M section of the track creates a lot of excitement for all classes. I'm surprised that it was only in the MotoGP race that riders got a little too bunched up. They were diving in 6 wide in 125.

Pasini is having a terrible start to the season. I was almost certain he would be in contention for the title. His team mate Joan had an outstanding race. It's about time Joan was riding at the pointy end. Matt was telling us all last year what a great rider he was, in Turkey we were actually able to see for ourselves.

Bautista impressed me most in the 250s I think. Apart from Qatar he's having a great start to the season. He probably won't really put up a huge title fight this year, but he'll be stealing points all year long.

Even if OJ took out a couple of candidates for a win, I think the race for 3rd place in the MotoGP class was as exciting as both lower classes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Miguel Sanchez

Some good racing at points, could have been much better if Jacque hadn't sailed up the inside (yes Dani touched him but only because OJ tried a stupid move just as Pedrosa was about to turn in) Shame that Rossi's tyres went off, meant that Stoner just cruised to victory. He certainly seems to have grown up since moving to Ducati, I know it might be too soon to say but he isn't throwing points away like last season.

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I'm quite surprised how he's turned from that pimply guy who always crashes to that pimply guy who is suddenly leading the world championship for the second time this year - he seems so laid back about it that you just think it isn't possible! :\

Jacque just presented bait for a trap. No, he wasn't the one who collided with someone else but man that looked silly when he just dived straight into a group of 10 bikes going around a corner.

Good race for 3rd, though it would've been nice if Rossi or Vermeulen were still up the front battling for 1st on the last lap.

Michelin and Honda still seem to have some work to do though - Ideally there would be more riders at the pointy end of the championship standings.

3 Ducati's in the top 4 would also indicate that they have the best bike at the moment... Yamaha and Rossi need to step it up a bit here I think, because that combination is starting to look like it isn't the combination to beat race in, race out.