Would you say if the race was tomorrow, this sheet of results would have looked different? I seem to think not ... JL looking a head above everyone else, unfortunately ... lol
No it was on the hards this afternoon ... "Matthew Birt @birtymotogp 2h2 hours ago Worth remembering that Lorenzo's 2.00.155 was on a hard tyre. Only 0.060s off Petrucci on soft. He ain't world champ for nothing"
The only harsh bit here is chucking a rider off at 280kmph because of a tire failure. But you're right, it's testing. And now DP also crashed on the hard ... they sohuld now remove the hard from testing as well
Baz accident caused by tire failure ... so they withdrew the soft compound. Then JL crashes because is now forced to use hard compound ... And some changes in race direction after the Sepang thing https://motomatters.com/news/2016/02/02/sepang_clash_fallout_race_direction_to_b.html
Thing is JL with his lightning starts and that first couple of laps, the past years no one could stick with him at the start of the races. If he gets away he does not need to fight with anyone in any case... But Rossi can be a late charger and ruin it, hopefully... Hondas are lost this year, too many thing to adapt to, more than the other teams and their engine is still too aggressive, they will be back but I don't think it will be this year.
On the way up, the camera angle does not do it justice, it's steeper than it looks there. Quite long as well, reckon 50 meters ... Hakahana seems to have got rougher than last year, not sure if the rain washed away everything except the rocks, but it's tougher for me now, maybe it's just me.
At Hakahana last week-end, was a mud fest, had to stop twice as the back wheel could not turn at all anymore ... the mud there is like clay. Until we got up the hills where the rocks were nice and clean ... still damn hard work. Upgrades: Wide Lightning Rims, Rapide 720mm Flat bar, 70mm Stem, FOX Factory Shock (was warranty replacement on EVO), STrack Pedals, Raceface NWN 34T, ESI Chunky grips, Specialized Phenom saddle. FIT 4 damper upgrade on fork. 11.6kg
Like Myles said, it's hugely a personal setting again, I'm a lightweight thus can run pressures like this. Also, even riding a dual vs HT will make a difference on how low you can go on the rear. For reference, I'm running 1.6 at the back and 1.4 in the front. Went lower and dented my rim once.
Rode the Spruit the week-end, and coming down a slalom section at speed (think it's called Delta downhill), I had a massive slide on both wheels, felt like 50cm or something, that was the closest I have come to falling, but not falling. Thank goodness I had a Nobby NIC on the front otherwise with the RaRa or RoRo I would have certainly bitten some dust. It slid, and then gripped. My friend behind me had the exact same experience as me, he also runs a new NN on the front. Riding the NN at 1.4
Seems as though HRC have finally realized their error this year ... some interesting comments from behind the scenes that one would not normally know about. http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/225229/1/honda-this-was-our-biggest-mistake.html Next year is gonna be awesomely interesting with all the changes, wonder who will adapt the fastest. such a pity that engine dev is frozen during the year. Basically if you stuff up the previous winter with your engine design, you're screwed for the whole next year. Suppose it is in place for cost cutting, but jeez, all the rule changes the past ocuple of years were certainly not cutting costs, causing more dev work in any case to adapt to the new rules again ...
Same here, Rainey and Doohan was who I rooted for too ... Man those Rothmans Hondas were dominant in those years, with Jerry Burgess as crew chief for Doohan. Those were the days man ...
In other news, looks like Stoner plucked his moer for Honda not asking him to ride in DP's place while he was out, he is going back to Ducati ... https://motomatters.com/news/2015/11/11/casey_stoner_to_return_to_ducati_in_test.html
Fallers, Marquez, Crutchlow, Pol Espargaro, Aleix Espargaro (twice), Eugene Laverty (twice), Maverick Vinales, Alvaro Bautista, Stefan Bradl, Jack Miller, Tito Rabat and Andre Iannone All the others did not fall ...
Wonder how many crashes we will see today on this new rubber ... all the previous times out there were quite a few. Let's hope for none ... Testing has officially started! Pity one has to buy the timing app for R260 to see live timings. It's on 25% discount though. It is for the whole season at least. Edit : I see the times are live on the motogp.com homepage ... duh.
