265 replies to this topic

[romantik]

Ova kisa je ludnica. Bila je odlicna Moto2 trka, a sad opet odgodjen start MotoGP. Cini mi se da sve prognoze "padaju u vodu" - skoro doslovno. Lako je vama u Evropi, ali meni je 02:15 u noci - i ovi nikako da krenu...

 

Bas i nije, Moto 3 je bio u 5 jutros, al vredelo je

 

Zarko obranio titulu Jos kad bi razmontirao Rinsa dogodine u Moto GP-u, za kaznu sefovima Suzukija.

[zoran59]

Lorenzo u FP2 popravio vreme oko 0.5 sec. u odnosu na FP1, a Rossi jedva 0.2... Merquez ocekivano pri vrhu, a i Vinales se gura.

Videcemo, dug je vikend.

[Doorn]

Bice cupavo u kvalama.1.30 voze u trecem treningu. I KTM je tu da malo vjezba. Nisam na vrijeme pratio, ali sta je ovo sa Red timom gdje je Bradl?

[Ripper]

Opet palo blago nadjacavanje   

[Doorn]

Lorenzo hoce da zavrsi karijeru u Yamahi sa pobjedom.

[Doorn]

Kao sto sam rekao, Lorenzo se na najbolji nacin zahvalio Yamahi.

 

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Edited by Doorn, 14 November 2016 - 13:45.

[zoran59]

Ej, 10 godina, tri sampionata - nije to bez veze...

 

edit: da je trka trajala jos dva-tri kruga, bilo bi zanimljivo. I sa gumama, i sa Iannone-Rossi fightom.

Edited by zoran59, 13 November 2016 - 18:19.

[Doorn]

Ej, 10 godina, tri sampionata - nije to bez veze...

5 sa moto2 in moto3.

[Doorn]

 

Valencia is supposed to be an emotionally charged race. The last round of the season, the grand finale. The last chance for riders to lay it all on the line, in pursuit of glory. The bowl in which the Ricardo Tormo circuit is set focuses and amplifies the cheers of the crowd, carrying the racing to new levels of intensity.

 

There was an extra layer of emotion at Valencia this year. The excitement is tinged with the bittersweet taste of parting. There is the largest group of riders moving from one garage to another that I can remember in a very long time. Riders and their crew become very close, a tight unit that works intensely together. They celebrate success together, and share their despair during the bad times. These men and women have been through a lot together, forging bonds that are not easily broken. Riders may only be moving a couple of garages away, the parting is no less painful for that.

 

Those departing felt compelled to put on a good show for the people they leave behind, and they did not disappoint. In Moto3 and Moto2, the departing champions put on brave fights to reprise their title-winning ways, with supporting stars offering fierce opposition to add some luster to their victories. In the MotoGP class, all the factory riders switching garages dug a little deeper inside themselves, and pulled some outstanding performances out of the bag. The extra emotion of the final weekend of the season produced three great races at Valencia, with three truly deserving winners.

 

Unstoppable?

 

Jorge Lorenzo had come to Valencia to thank his team, and Yamaha, with a victory. Throughout practice, we saw the Lorenzo of old, the rider who had dominated at Le Mans, who had easily held off every challenge from Marc Márquez. Lorenzo was smooth, confident, and blisteringly fast. His pace through practice was searing, only Marc Márquez capable of getting close. In qualifying, he was unbeatable, smashing the existing pole record and putting nearly three quarters of a second between himself and his teammate. Valencia was Lorenzo's to lose.

 

In warm up, a possible chink in his armor appeared. All of a sudden, Lorenzo tumbled down the timesheets, ending up in seventh spot behind a host of faster riders. The gap to the front was not vast – just over a third of a second – but it was big enough to offer a significant obstacle. Why was Lorenzo so far back in warm up, when he had dominated practice? Two reasons: firstly, it was much colder in the morning than it had been all weekend, light cloud preventing the sun from dispelling the November chill from the air.

 

Secondly, and more significantly, Lorenzo's time in warm up was deceptive. Yes, his fastest lap was three tenths slower than Márquez' quickest, but when you examined the pace he had over nine full laps, it was impressively consistent. Six of his nine laps were within a couple of tenths of his fastest lap. Only Marc Márquez was knocking out laps with such startling regularity. Other riders, while quicker over a single lap, varies their pace too much.

 

The proof of the pudding

 

What was Lorenzo's real pace? The proof of the pudding was in the eating, as the cliché has it. Under sunny skies, the track heated up to where it had been during qualifying. That heat was what Lorenzo needed to make his tires work, and work they did, right off the line. Lorenzo led into the first corner, and disappeared. The Spaniard led by four tenths at the end of the first lap. He nearly doubled it the next lap, then opened up a gap of over a second by the third lap. By lap six, the gap was nearly two seconds. By lap nine, it was up to three seconds. Two laps later, it was over four seconds. With just over a third of the race gone, Jorge Lorenzo had opened a massive advantage over the chasing group.

 

The Movistar Yamaha rider had not built that lead entirely alone. As fast as Lorenzo was getting away, he was being helped by a huge scrap developing over the right to chase the Spaniard. Andrea Iannone was leading the charge, but he was riding inconsistently, and coming under constant attack from behind. Valentino Rossi was snapping at Iannone's heels, while himself being pursued by Marc Márquez and Maverick Viñales, with Andrea Dovizioso bringing up the rear of the group.

 

Passing isn't always as hard at Valencia as some people think

 

That fight would turn into the most entertaining scrap of the race. The prospect of the remaining two podium spots whetted appetites for battle. Iannone led the group, but Rossi sensed the Italian was vulnerable. The Movistar Yamaha rider attacked first, sliding through under the Ducati at Turn 11. But Rossi's lead would only last onto the front straight, when Iannone unleashed the rocket-like acceleration of the Desmosedici GP, powering back past Rossi purely on top speed.

 

It was to become a familiar pattern, Rossi probing and passing at a range of corners. Turn 11 was his favorite, though Turn 6 and Turn 8 were also spots he tried. Iannone usually just relied on the horsepower of the Ducati, but also proved he was no one trick pony by outbraking the Yamaha back into Turn 12, then leading onto the long left hander of Turn 13.

 

The passes were hard, though Rossi gave as good as he would get. "Sincerely speaking, it was a hard fight, but we never touched," Rossi said. "I think he was very aggressive with me, but also I was very aggressive with him." It was a battle 'all' ultimo sangue', Rossi said, an Italian expression for which he had no ready translation, but which can be rendered as 'until the last drop of blood'.

 

New boy as fast as the old boy

 

The Italian battle royal had allowed Marc Márquez and Maverick Viñales to hang with Rossi and Iannone. Márquez had given himself a lot of work to do, after a massive wheelie off the line dropped him down several places. Viñales' start had been much better, the first rider to challenge Iannone. The Suzuki rider held on to Iannone's tail, showing once again that there is nothing wrong with the top speed of the GSX-RR. That would be validated by the speed charts, Viñales third fastest through the speed traps, inferior only to the two factory Ducatis, and with a 2 km/h advantage over the Honda of Marc Márquez.

 

Rossi would soon work his way past Viñales to take on Iannone, while Márquez followed through to stalk the two Italians. After twenty laps of watching Rossi and Iannone take it in turns to lead the group, Márquez finally managed to find a way past first Rossi, then Iannone. It had not been easy, he said. "I take a lot of time to overtake Valentino and Iannone, because like Valentino said yesterday, here is very, very difficult to overtake the other riders," Márquez explained.

 

When Márquez finally got past Iannone at Turn 2, the Ducati man once again put the horsepower to work to get him back again along the straight. Márquez tried again at Turn 14, but was once again put in his place along the front straight. Márquez finally managed to secure second place with a tough pass at Turn 2, which he had to hold on to through Turn 3, running Iannone a little wide as the Italian tried to hold on to his position. At last, Márquez could put his head down and charge.

 

It ain't over till it's over

 

Lorenzo's lead had appeared to be quite insuperable, but Márquez had other ideas altogether. The Yamaha had a lead of nearly five and a half seconds, with less than ten laps to go. But the Repsol Honda's pace was fearsome, while Lorenzo was starting to flag. "I struggle so much in the last ten laps," Lorenzo told the press conference. The front was starting to grain on the right side, but the biggest problem was with wear on the left, Lorenzo explained. "The left side of the rear tire was struggling so much," he said. "Especially in the last corner when I open the throttle the rear just slide so much and couldn’t drive the same as beginning of the race."

 

Márquez closed, taking big chunks out of Lorenzo every lap. By lap twenty three, he had cut the gap to four and a half seconds. Three laps later, and another second was gone. Márquez could see Lorenzo ahead of him, and was closing in every corner. But he would eventually run out of laps. Lorenzo's lead was just over a second when he crossed the line to take the win, with Márquez nearly half a second a lap faster. Two more laps and he could have done it, he opined, but there could be no excuses. "The race is 30 laps, and today Jorge did an incredible race," Márquez said.

 

Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish

 

Lorenzo's early break is what handed him victory. It was exactly what he had wanted, to leave Yamaha with a victory. For his team, to thank them for all their hard work over the years. For Yamaha, to thank them for believing in him, and signing him so early in his career – the deal was done at Laguna in 2006, against opposition from Rossi, though he would only move up to MotoGP in 2008.

 

Above all, though, the victory was for Lorenzo himself, to make amends for the last few races where he had been merely mediocre, to prove to himself that he was still capable of winning, and perhaps to remind Yamaha of just what they were losing in letting him go. In the press conference, Lorenzo twice mentioned the 2015 season, in which he had become champion but which had ended on a sour note. That had been the high point of his time with Yamaha, and also when he had performed best as a rider. His win was a potent symbol of just what Lorenzo can do when he is feeling confident with the tires – tires, more than the bike, are the ultimate factor in deciding Lorenzo's performance.

 

Behind Márquez, the war between Iannone and Rossi went down to the final laps, but the Ducati rider would come out on top. In the end, the Yamaha rider had not been able to use the front tire he wanted, and the soft front had not quite had the support he needed to make the difference. "I suffer a lot with the tire, especially the front. I don't have the right tire for me," Rossi said. "I want to try to race with the hard but unfortunately I didn’t have enough grip on the left. But today with a bit more temperature I suffer a bit with the soft." The temperature may have played perfectly into Jorge Lorenzo's hands, it was not quite warm enough to allow Rossi to run the stiffer hard front, and exploit his late-braking style.

 

The reason for leaving

 

Iannone, like Lorenzo, was delighted to leave Ducati with another podium. He had ridden an incredibly brave race, battling fiercely despite sharp and almost unbearable pain in his back. He had been rewarded with third place, ahead of his teammate Andrea Dovizioso again for the seventh time this season, despite missing four races through injury. He had proudly proved that he was worthy of being considered to remain with Ducati, rather than being moved on to make way for Lorenzo. But the fact that he took his teammate out in the penultimate corner at Argentina is why Ducati ultimately chose Dovizioso.

 

Maverick Viñales finished a very strong fifth, also beating his teammate in the dry once again, and showing signs of being a formidable opponent once he moves on from the Suzuki GSX-RR. He had been very strong in the first half of the race, the second half being a voyage into the unknown, as he had not put more than fifteen laps on a set of tires. Viñales had survived the first drop of the tires, but the second drop after twenty laps saw him lose touch with the battle for third. "I pushed and pushed, I made two or three mistakes that I nearly crashed," Viñales said. "Then I thought it's better that I bring the fifth place to the box than bring only zero points."

 

Fratricide central

 

The battle for sixth behind Viñales was as entertaining as the battle for second had been at one point. Andrea Dovizioso had dropped off the back of the leaders, falling back into the clutches of the Brothers Espargaro. Dani Pedrosa had crashed out before Dovizioso had started going backwards, and Cal Crutchlow had crashed trying to catch the Espargaros. The pair had joined up at the start of the race, Aleix Espargaro unable to pass his brother Pol.

 

Pol had struggled with the front tire in the early laps, preventing him from carrying corner speed, and Aleix had not been able to get past him with a reasonable level of risk. "[Pol] braked very very hard, but then he held the brakes on," Aleix explained. "The first four or five laps he held the brakes on for too much time, he was too careful, and I was a little bit more aggressive, and couldn't overtake him. Maybe I was too careful, because it was my last race with Suzuki and I had my brother in front."

 

It was not just his brother that he was concerned about. Aleix Espargaro – and brother Pol too – is leaving for pastures new at the end of the season. Aleix did not want to destroy the bike and hand it back to his mechanics just as he heads out of the door. "To finish seventh or eighth doesn't change anything," Aleix said. "I didn't want to crash, I wanted to bring the bike back to the garage today to say bye bye to Suzuki."

 

What he leaves behind

 

Aleix Espargaro was proud of the work he had done to bring the Suzuki to the level it is today. "They know I did my best every time I dressed in my blue leathers, I always gave my 100%. I helped them to build one of the best Suzukis in history in my opinion," he said. He had even named one of his dogs Suzuki, he said, as a demonstration of how committed he was to the project.

 

Aleix Espargaro would end the race in eighth, behind both brother Pol and Dovizioso. It was not the ending he had wanted, but he had done what he could. The bike was whole, he was in one piece, and he had another top ten finish.

 

Both Espargaro brothers are extremely emotional, and highly expressive, and they both also have deep-seated need to belong. Both have forged strong bonds with their teams, though Aleix is the rider who most needs to feel a family atmosphere around him. As we journalists waited between the Suzuki race trucks for the elder Espargaro to appear, we could hear the sounds of celebration and mutual admiration in the garage. The team chanted their appreciation of Espargaro, and he changed his in return.

 

More than just support

 

If the MotoGP race was a fitting, if not necessarily scintillating way to close out the 2016 MotoGP season, the two support races provided plenty of excitement. In Moto2, the five riders who have breathed life into this class in 2016 once again did battle, Johann Zarco holding off early challenges from Franco Morbidelli, Alex Rins, and Tom Luthi, while Sam Lowes closed up in the later stages of the race.

 

At the end, only Morbidelli could run with Johann Zarco, though even the Italian had eventually to admit defeat. Zarco went on to close out the season as befits a defending champion, winning the race in style and then going on to celebrate with yet another backflip. All season long, we in the media center have watched in trepidation as Zarco has climbed the tire wall, then launched into a backflip off the top of it. Every time, we have expected him to break an ankle, and perhaps put his championship at risk. Yet every time, he comes away unscathed. Perhaps he does know what he is doing after all.

 

The Moto3 race was also won by the newly crowned champion, but the way in which he did so was positively amazing. Brad Binder has clearly been the best rider in Moto3, and Valencia showed that once again he was head and shoulders above the rest. In the early laps, Binder had suffered a technical issue, which saw the power drop as he opened the gas on corner exit. The South African looked down at his bike before continuing, causing him to lose a massive amount of ground and drop down through the field to 22nd position.

 

Undaunted, Binder put his head down and clawed his way forward again. It was not easy, Binder said afterwards, despite the fact he had done something similar in Jerez earlier in the year. "Overtaking here is much harder than Jerez," Binder told us. Despite that, Binder's passes were clinical, sliding past other riders cleanly and leaving no room for comment. He eventually got all the way back to the front of the grid, and got into an epic battle with Joan Mir, Enea Bastianini, and Andrea Migno. It would be Bastianini who did not make it onto the podium, leaving Mir to take second, and be crowned rookie of the year in Moto3, and Migno to finish third. The three were separated by less than a tenth of a second.

 

And so 2016 comes to a close. It has been a truly vintage year in motorcycle racing, with all three Grand Prix classes putting on a show. After Dovizioso's win at Motegi, the total number of winners was 25 in all MotoGP rounds across all three classes. It is hard to argue with that. But 2017 starts on Tuesday, when the great bike swap begins. We are already eager to see how it will all pan out.

[Doorn]

Sezona 2017 je vec pocela testovima u Valensiji danas i sutra.

 

 

 

The Monday after the final race at Valencia has not been the first day of the official test for a few years now. This is a good thing: the riders are exhausted after a full season of racing, and need a lie in and a day to recover. The team members are the same, mechanics moving from garage to garage, and crew chiefs shuffling around to meet their new teams.

 

The riders might get the day off, but the rest of the staff do not. Mechanics are being shown the ropes in the new garage, and learn how the bikes fit together by helping to strip and reassemble them for the start of Tuesday's test. Factory bosses are also busy, going through test schedules with existing and new riders to sort out who will be testing what, and what to expect.

 

They also make time on Monday to talk to the press. Or at least some of them do. The top brass of Suzuki, Ducati, and Honda all held press conferences to talk to the media, and to go over their plans. The three different press conferences also gave an insight into the different approaches of the teams. HRC were there to present the management team that will take over from Shuhei Nakamoto, who retires as HRC Vice President in April. Suzuki team boss Davide Brivio held a solo press conference in English, to discuss the plans for the team. And Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall'Igna spoke to the media in Italian and English about the 2017 bike and the arrival of Jorge Lorenzo.

 

Honda

 

The Honda press conference was the least informative of the bunch, as is the policy of HRC. Honda never give out details of their technical development. When asked about the new engine Honda will debut on Tuesday, both Nakamoto and Shinichi Kokubu, who is taking over the technical part of Honda's MotoGP project, refused point blank to answer questions directly. Kokubu was the most forthcoming, saying that improving the character of the Honda RC213V had come from examining many aspects of the bike. That included firing intervals, but also chassis and electronics.

 

But they can only hide the new engine firing interval until Tuesday morning. The RC213V that will roll out of pit lane on Tuesday will sound very different to the bike that finished on the podium on Sunday. The recording I have heard of the bike sounds very similar to the Ducati, no longer the screamer that Honda have used since the return of the 1000s in 2012. Whether that change will make the engine easier to handle than the screamer has been remains to be seen. It should help reduce the amount of wheelie.

 

Suzuki

 

Suzuki will not have a new bike to debut at Valencia. Davide Brivio told a press conference that the bike had already made huge steps in the winter of 2015/2016, as witnessed by the fact that the GSX-RR won a race and was fighting for podiums at so many races. The bike already handled exceptionally well, and the engine performance together with the new seamless gearbox had made it competitive.

 

The next steps for Suzuki will be to provide more of an evolution. The bike could still use a little more horsepower, Brivio said. On Tuesday, Suzuki will roll out what Brivio called a "middle step" engine, which will include some of the improvements the engineers have been working on for 2017, the remainder coming at the tests next year. At Sepang, there will be more chassis updates to come.

 

Brivio said that the expectations of Suzuki were much higher for next season than they were for 2016. Both Suzuki and new rider Andrea Iannone won races in 2016, so the combination needs to be a success from the start. Brivio was interested to hear Iannone's input, but warned that the Italian will also need to adapt to the Suzuki.

 

Ducati

 

Adapting to a new bike is exactly what Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall'Igna said that Jorge Lorenzo will have to do. Ducati will be rolling out the GP17 on Tuesday, but the main focus of the changes are in the chassis. To reduce the number of variables in the data, both Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo will be using a bike with winglets. That way, they can do back to back tests on GP16s and GP17s, and more easily understand the difference the new chassis makes. Removing the winglets would add confusion to the data, Dall'Igna said, making it more difficult to analyze.

 

The biggest issue with the Ducati was turning mid corner, Dall'Igna said. Given that this area is precisely where Lorenzo is strongest, it is an area where they will need to improve. But adapting will have to be a two way affair, with Jorge Lorenzo having to adapt to the bike as well. "For sure he has to learn the bike first of all, and try to adapt his riding style to the strong point that the bike has," Dall'Igna said. "But the reverse, for sure we have to try to give him the best possible bike. That means that first of all, we have to understand what he needs to go fast, and second to try to give him this."

 

Dall'Igna was not worried that Lorenzo would not be able to do that. He had worked with him previously, albeit in 125s and 250s, and had a good idea of what to expect. He knows Lorenzo's strengths, and is sure he can adapt. Nor was he worried about Lorenzo's recent struggles in the rains. "Jorge in the past also won races in rain conditions," Dall'Igna said, while acknowledging that the Spaniard had struggled in the past year. The strength of the Ducati in the rain should help give Lorenzo confidence. "I think that he can win races also in the future in rain conditions. Our bike is quite strong in the rain, because all of our riders have good results in those conditions, so I'm not afraid about that. "

 

The Ducati which appears on track on Tuesday will feature winglets, but that is only an intermediate step. Over the winter, Ducati will be working on a new aerodynamic package ready for the Sepang tests. Racing without winglets will not be such a big problem, Dall'Igna said. "With the proper set up, you can compensate the winglet behaviors," he told us. A bike might be faster with winglets, but the difference was very small indeed.

[Ripper]