MotoGP 2018

[Crasherfromwayback]

Looked to me like Puig marched Marquez down to Rossi's garage, otherwise Marquez wouldn't have done anything.

But I love watching Rossi fan's after something like that. Talk about tears.

And neither should he. Do you remember Rossi going to apologise to MM after the Sepang take out? Which by the way, was deliberate. And yep. Boo hoo all round!

There hasn't been much physical "hows yer father" in MotoGP. Rossi V Biaggi and Hayden V Biaggi are the only instances I'm aware of.

Tell ya who my money would be on in a dust up between MM and Rossi...long as he didn't include his bouncer (sorry BF) as well! Fuck me, Imagine if Stoner had sent his wife out to tell Rossi to fuck off! I'm still wetting myself over the images!

[AllanB]

Marquez can get fucked. There's no need for that.

100% agree - that's just stupid riding. They need to send a message - ban him for two races.

[carbonhed]

Looked to me like Puig marched Marquez down to Rossi's garage, otherwise Marquez wouldn't have done anything.

But I love watching Rossi fan's after something like that. Talk about tears.

Puig said exactly the opposite in his interview... seemed pretty straightforward and upfront about it.

[steveyb]

I don't care what youse fullas say, Italian is the best language in the world!!!!
Vorrei palare piu itliano!!!

[HenryDorsetCase]

Looked to me like Puig marched Marquez down to Rossi's garage, otherwise Marquez wouldn't have done anything.

But I love watching Rossi fan's after something like that. Talk about tears.

I just want to go on the record and say it wasnt acceptable when Rossi did it either. Its funny - I am not the motogp fan I once was. I mean, I watch the races, but I just dont get obsessed with it. I far prefer watching old clips on youtube (and listening to the 2 strokes). Its because I am old and that was what was cool when I was first into it. Plus it was fucking impossible to get information.

[BMWST?]

MM should have been sent to pit lane for the start.That whole starting thing was a complete fiasco.everyone but Jack should have been disqualified.They left the grid!
MM absolutely lost the plot after the ride through.And in some ways you cant blame him.As I said they should have forced him to start from the pit lane.

i may have missed it but did they declare the race a dry race AFTER they had already said it was a wet race.IS that why they all left the grid?

[steveyb]

I dunno Pete, I think you might be losing a little sight of the real ethos of motorbike racing here.
We (you and me and others) have not raced at the pointy end of road racing in some time, but I can guarantee you that if someone were riding like MM did today against us we would not have had a spew to the press. We would have presented him with a knuckle sandwich good and proper.
We all traded paint and all that, but on 250 Proddy bikes bro, not MotoGP bikes.

I think that today (and perhaps the weekend) the red mist got the better of MM and he really did show a lack of respect for the other riders, and as VR suggested, perhaps even from Friday (I can't verify that).

VR has absolutely nothing to gain by talking shit up in the press. He is the most famous motorcycle racer of all time (probably the best, but MM is likely to gain that crown) and one of the most famous people Italy has ever known. He needs no more press time. Sure he wants to gain a psychological advantage if he can. If he didn't then he would not be 9 times world champion.

But he also does not want to get hurt again, nor have anyone else hurt. He also loves motorcycle racing. This is evidenced by the creation of The Ranch, VR46 Academy, VR46 Racing and other activities. MM is still much younger, but we have yet to see the MM93 Academy. This is why he says that MM today destroyed motorcycle racing (a pinch of salt with the translation from Italian to English). Similar issues are at play with the decline of participation by young people in American Football in the USA and Rugby in NZ and Australia, due to the overtly physically damaging nature of the sports.

I am about to start coaching an 11 year old into Red Bull Rookies Cup and Asia Talent Cup and when his parents see this sort of stuff, they are going to being questioning the correctness of their choices.

MM's moves today were OTT.

I don't know how close you have been to MotoGP bikes (I know you have been to events), but I have been 20m away from them at Estoril as they come up the hill and down to the infield left (cos the paddock fence is that close to the track). I know how fucking fast those things are. You really could not focus on them as they went past. We here think perhaps that our NZSBK Superbikes are fast. Fuck me, they are nothing in comparison. I am not criticizing, just trying to give other readers an idea of just how fucking fast these guys are going. The TV, because of the angles and the tracking, gives you absolutely no idea of the speeds involved. And no idea what can happen to a rider if shit happens at those speeds.
Yes, I am a VR fan. I love Italians more than Spanish (one might even turn for Mattia!! LOL), so sue me (actually a mate of mine is a mate of Vale's, and Dovi's, so 2 degrees of separation and all that) and after watching the MM doco one is even inclined to like him too.
But today was uncalled for, totally.
The first collision, OK, he is going hard and wants the spot. Zarco had the same sort of issue with Pedrosa (really shit for Pedrosa. Really hope he is OK as he landed flush on his head), but there were no more after that. But MM, after the first one? Calm the fuck down bro!
Old Mike Webb is probably still awake dealing with the SNAFU.

[steveyb]

MM should have been sent to pit lane for the start.That whole starting thing was a complete fiasco.everyone but Jack should have been disqualified.They left the grid!
MM absolutely lost the plot after the ride through.And in some ways you cant blame him.As I said they should have forced him to start from the pit lane.

i may have missed it but did they declare the race a dry race AFTER they had already said it was a wet race.IS that why they all left the grid?

Have to agree.
I think that race direction were just a bit overwhelmed.
They did not want to have the same situation as Sachsenring a couple years back with all the riders, bar Jackass, starting from pitlane, which was what needed to happen.
But can you imagine 21 riders starting from pitlane all at once?
The wording of the rules might be interesting in this situation.
The race was declared Wet. It cannot be then declared Dry.
Therefore, it was up to the riders to enter pitlane once the white flags were shown (pitlane open) should they decide to, AFTER the race had started, or change tyres and set up on the grid prior to the race start, like Pramac Ducati did.
I think that by removing bikes the teams were gaming it. And they won by doing so, which is a pity.
It is also a pity that they were at this track, due to the proximity of the final corner to the start grid.
At other circuits they may have been able to form the grid after the last row of the original grid, ie start from the back of the grid. But here, it would seem, the last riders might have been in the last corner, so the first row of the new grid was a lot closer to Jack than it should have been, or something like that anyway.

[Crasherfromwayback]

I dunno Pete, I think you might be losing a little sight of the real ethos of motorbike racing here.
We (you and me and others) have not raced at the pointy end of road racing in some time, but I can guarantee you that if someone were riding like MM did today against us we would not have had a spew to the press. We would have presented him with a knuckle sandwich good and proper.
We all traded paint and all that, but on 250 Proddy bikes bro, not MotoGP bikes.

.

You know what I think Steve? I think you're full of shit. Because your such a Rossi fan, you're blinkers cloud your judgment of what's ok, and what's not. The Rossi fans (yes you Steve) love it when he dare go beyond what is reasonable, safe and yes, fair. But you all squeal like little bitches when your man get's handed his arse to him like you cheered for him doing so when he was king.

It doesn't matter if you're racing 250 proddie (don't remember locking horns with you back then, so can't comment), 125 moto-x or 883 fucking Harleys. Racing is racing, fair is fair, mistakes get made, people get a rush of blood to the head. Is your memory really that bad Steve? If MM had locked the front tyre (you know. like Rossi did getting in 50kph too hot on Stoner) and skittled Rossi...would that then, by your definition be ok? Seriously? MM got in too hot, yes. But he neither skittled him, nor picked it up mid corner to purposely run Rossi off track. (you know, like Rossi did the MMis Sepang!)

So take your fucking blinkers off. And if you train racers to think like that...retire.

[onearmedbandit]

What a race. Here's my take.

What race direction did was probably the best option they had for the sudden event of almost every bike leaving the grid. Maybe a better option would be to hit any rider leaving the grid to change bikes etc suffers a time penalty added to their race time. Just an idea.

Marquez huh? Well it seems he ignored a race officials instruction to go to the pit lane and also rode in the wrong direction. He's a professional rider, even an amateur club day rider knows you can not ride in the opposite direction. Or ignore those in charge of the race. Still he got his penalty for that so done and dusted. His two most noticeable indiscretions otherwise were in my humble none racer opinion unnecessary. He was obviously faster on the day than both riders and could've easily taken them cleanly. Had they been battling for laps and matching each other than maybe a little more understandable. But they weren't. And I'll state here and now that I didn't agree with VR's similar moves in the past either. I want to see him win yes, but with clean smart riding. I don't like to see anyone gain an advantage by being a cunt.

Would've loved to see JM get the win, but things didn't go his way. Rins was amazing and outclassed his team mate again. Great win to Cal though, never upset to see him take a win.

A controversial race for many reasons but that's part of the reason we love this sport. It's the best drama on TV.

Oh one other thing, the gay slurs are a little 1980's aren't they Pete?

[onearmedbandit]

Y If MM had locked the front tyre (you know. like Rossi did getting in 50kph too hot on Stoner) and skittled Rossi...would that then, by your definition be ok? Seriously? MM got in too hot, yes. But he neither skittled him, nor picked it up mid corner to purposely run Rossi off track. (you know, like Rossi did the MMis Sepang!)

So take your fucking blinkers off. And if you train racers to think like that...retire.

Do you mean this incident?

[carbonhed]

There's a lot of whining about "oh but the bikes are so fast and think of the poor children... blah blah blah"

Anybody else remember Rossi's little trick on Pedrosa at Aragon? Down the back straight at 300kph, pushed him to the paint? And when Pedrosa complained the cocksmokers response...

“You know, if he's not happy, Pedrosa, [he] has to race alone I think,” Rossi said. “This is what I think.

“Because everybody make the same to me when I want to overtake, especially on the last lap. But sincerely exit of [Turn] 14, you always go to the left.

“Maybe I go one metre more... so, I don't know, maybe these riders think that they own the track.”

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/ne...n-feud-957337/

[Autech]

There's a lot of whining about "oh but the bikes are so fast and think of the poor children... blah blah blah"

Anybody else remember Rossi's little trick on Pedrosa at Aragon? Down the back straight at 300kph, pushed him to the paint? And when Pedrosa complained the cocksmokers response...

“You know, if he's not happy, Pedrosa, [he] has to race alone I think,” Rossi said. “This is what I think.

“Because everybody make the same to me when I want to overtake, especially on the last lap. But sincerely exit of [Turn] 14, you always go to the left.

“Maybe I go one metre more... so, I don't know, maybe these riders think that they own the track.”

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/ne...n-feud-957337/

Yup n thats way more dangerous...

My main concern with the penalties handed to MM was the inconsistency from race direction. Other similar incidents went unpunished, don't envy them their job one bit!

I don't give a fuck what Rossi or MM are saying to the press, they can go shake hands like real men and move on, this isn't F1.

Pedrosa has hurt his wrist, here's hoping this doesn't impact his title hopes this year yet again.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Dadpole]

If I find anyone moaning about Coronation St not being on, I will point them to this thread.

In case anyone missed it, there was a good race at the front.

[pritch]

Plus it was fucking impossible to get information.

Ah yes. Occasionally when viewing a GP live I recall how when I first got into bikes we had to wait three months for a magazine with a few b&w pics. It's only in recent years I learned what colour some of the bikes were painted back then, others I still don't know.

Among all the ranting and raving by one-eyed fans there is this from PecinoGP who is rated by David Emmett as one of the best in the business. http://pecinogp.com/no-marc-there-was-no-need/


The two people who I feel sorry for in all the kerfuffle are Cal Crutchlow who won the race and, however briefly, is leading the world championship but is being almost totally ignored. And Jack Miller who was robbed of the benefit of his tyre choice.

Ezpeleta says matters arising from the incidents on Sunday will be discussed at the Safety Commission meeting in Texas. They could sell tickets to that.