Motors 2014 MotoGP/WSBK/BSB Season thread

MotoGP.com videopass is totally worth it

 

What. A. Race

 

that GP was phenomenal could not have asked for a better opening round to the season.

Was disappointing to see Lowes drop it after being so strong in moto2 all weekend.

BUT: Vale was amazing looked as strong as he was a few years ago when he dominated, Im really happy to see the Ducati back up the sharp end, will be interesting to see how much longer they can go until they lose the soft qualifying concession.

 

Seeing Lowes go out was bad after been good all weekend but having Rabat get taken out and then Zarco who had led most of the race finish 8th after his bike got stuck in 4th gear, made for a interesting moto 2 race.

The gp was a good race, though if Marquez had not been forced wide it may have been a different result.
Lorenzo had half his vision blocked as foam in his helmet came loose so slowed him down half a second he has said after the race, so it could have been closer at the front.

Pedrosa is a doubt for the next race as his ' severe arm-pump' has gotten worse.

 

Indeed there are a lot of what-if's after the GP race,

would be interesting to see what it would have been like if Marc was up the sharp end with them all, and if Lorenzo was able to see properly.

 

My Humax failed to tape the ITV4 re-run

Any web highlights kicking about?

 

highlights are on iplayer

not sure where you can watch the whole race short of having a motogp vid pass

 

a great race, now it has risen expectations for round 2. all the what if's will be answered (hopefully).
I read that ducati have lost there 24l fuel allowance. so there running 22l now, which is not a great deal if you ask me. crt teams 2 years ago were only using 22l and they were allowed 24l. Im not sure about the soft tyre rule, if they can lose that during the season, but that is a big advantage for Ducati, not to mention the engine development.
I can see dorna making a few u turns before the end of the season. yamaha and honda will be protesting soon if ducati carry on there form

 

Gigi said at the GP15 launch, that the various GP14's only used 22L last season, so it will make no difference at all.

If Ducati win 3 dry races they move to the same rear tire allocation as the Honda's and Yamaha's. If they can keep the tire life of their softer allocations at other tracks is the big question for that happening.

But they will retain the extra engines and the freedom to develop the engines regardless of results.

 

thanks for clearing that up woodstock. I feel that ducati as a factory team have used the rules to give them a big advantage. yamaha and honda would never drop there bikes to be an open team, as open rules were only introduced to help the smaller teams and try to stop a 2 tier championship.
The way it is going now, we have factory and non factory. dorna are pushing a controlled ecu but ecu changes will not stop the factory teams.
anyway we are at COTA for the next race, any predictions? i dont think marquez will lose his american record

 

Next year the various classes will be unified, there'll be no more GP, Open Factory and Open, just GP which will be pretty close to what Open is now.

Yamaha and Honda have nobody but themselves to blame, they effectively wrote the current rules and they wrote them so that nobody but Honda and Yamaha had any hope of building a competitive machine under GP rules.

The last bike that wasn't a factory Honda or Yamaha to win a race was Stoner on a Ducati, that is a long time ago now.

 

Pedrosa is having surgery today and will be out for 6 weeks, will definitely miss America and Argentina with test rider Aoyama to replace him- possibly back for Jerez on the 3rd May but probably back for Le Mans on the 17th.

Should we start a new thread for the season or just change the title of the existing thread?

Moto Gp

29 March: Qatar
12 April: Americas, Austin
19 April: Argentina, Termas del Rio Hondo
3 May: Spain, Jerez
17 May: France, Le Mans
31 May: Italy, Mugello
14 June: Spain, Catalunya
27 June: Netherlands, Assen *Saturday race
12 July: Germany, Sachsenring
9 August: Indianapolis, Indianapolis
16 August: Czech Republic, Brno
30 August: Great Britain, Silverstone
13 September: San Marino, Misano
27 September: Aragon, Teruel, Spain
11 October: Japan, Motegi
18 October: Australia, Phillip Island
25 October: Malaysia, Sepang
8 November: Spain, Valencia

 

Would be a shame if Pedrosa misses Jerez, he has been on the podium at every MotoGP race there since 2006 (his debut race in the MotoGP class)

 

pedrosa is mr consistant, you bet he will be at jerez

 

Pedrosa has had his surgery without complications, sounds pretty crazy and radical thou

 

Some more details (from HRC) about Stoner's tweet, quite disappointed that it was not to be

https://motomatters.com/news/2015/04/05/honda_confirms_speaking_to_casey_stoner_.html

 

Casey was done with Moto GP when Dorna chose to do nothing about the Spanish fans spitting on him and Andrea, none of them will admit to it, but that was first reported at the end of 2010 and he was gone by end of 2012, works Honda contract be damned.

Can't say I blame him.

 

Well Great results for Kent and Lowes the GP2 race was great to watch, Disapointed for Redding to have dropped it on the first lap after a great qualifying result for him.

The Rossie & Dovi battle was a fun one to watch, Marquez was just phenomenal his pole lap was just amazing and he rode so well he deserved the race win.

Onto Argentina now fingers crossed Rossi can have a good showing here like he did last year and we can get some great racing again

 

An interesting enough weekend. Roll on Argentina!

 

Moto 3 and Moto 2 where brilliant races, great to see Lowes stay on and get the win, should be a great season fro British riders.

Moto GP it was a shame to see Reading fall off, Smith and Crutchlow both faded towards the end,
Marquez getting out in front and leaving Dovi and Rossi to fight was a interesting battle.

A bit odd to see the second honda back in 11th but will good to have Pedrosa back, though with the Ducati speed its going to be a interesting season.