[dicknose]

Qatar - the first round of the season has started!

The friday practice session
1 27 STONER Ducati 1'57.053 328.967
2 46 ROSSI Yamaha 1'57.439 327.471 0.386
3 5 EDWARDS Yamaha 1'57.835 322.677 0.782
4 99 LORENZO Yamaha 1'58.272 326.579 1.219
5 15 DE ANGELIS Honda 1'58.452 326.975 1.399
6 65 CAPIROSSI Suzuki 1'58.468 323.643 1.415
7 36 KALLIO Ducati 1'58.499 328.367 1.446
8 4 DOVIZIOSO Honda 1'58.506 325.693 1.453
9 33 MELANDRI Kawasaki 1'58.757 324.812 1.704
10 14 DE PUNIET Honda 1'58.771 321.332 1.718
11 52 TOSELAND Yamaha 1'58.850 320.000 1.797
12 24 ELIAS Honda 1'59.094 327.471 2.041
13 69 HAYDEN Ducati 1'59.158 324.519 2.105
14 7 VERMEULEN Suzuki 1'59.348 316.437 2.295
15 72 TAKAHASHI Honda 1'59.437 319.621 2.384
16 59 GIBERNAU Ducati 2'00.595 323.547 3.542
17 88 CANEPA Ducati 2'00.597 317.927 3.544
18 3 PEDROSA Honda 2'01.435 326.876 4.38

No great shocks - Stoner and Rossi on top.
Pedrosa turned up but it slow. Honda really need him fit and firing. Best place Honda is 5th - they arent used to that.
Suzuki is looking good - is it my imagination or are that going - good year, poor year, good year... this might be a good year for them (by their recent standard - maybe a win and a few podiums)
Kwaka is possibly competitive and Melandri has done well. Obviously Ducati wasnt the bike for him - he can ride, lets hope he can do something with the green machine.
So Yamaha - looks like another year where they could dominate the top 5. Yes they have some very good riders, but looks like a continuation of last year where the Yamaha was clearly the dominant bike.
Ducati - for all the (still continuing) talk of how good/fast this bike is, it still looks like it only works for 1 guy - and no suprise he is at the top of the timesheets.
Kallio has started well for a rookie in the bigger class.
And that leaves Hayden - popular with fans but not so much with Honda management. Everyone hoped the Ducati would suit him, but its not looking that way so far. The worst sign is not the 2 seconds he is behind Stoner, its the 3/4 of a second he is behind Kallio.

Anyway - its on, Im excited and hope that the racing this year is closer, hopefully with a few more people mixing it at the front.

[dicknose]

Just realised this round will be Hayden's 100th GP start (all in the top class)

While this is a lot of top class starts - only the "old men" in Rossi (118), Capirossi (112), Edwards (102) and Gibernau (154) have more (surprisingly Gibernau is the one with the most and sat out the last 2 years!)

Melandri isnt far behind - 97

But what is interesting is that most of the other guys in MotoGP has more GP races across all classes - Melandri, Stoner, Pedrosa, Elias, de Puniet, Dovizioso, de Angelis, Lorenzo and even Kallio.
Toseland and Vermulen dont - came from superbike background.
Even Takahashi has 66 GP races.
So you got to feel for Canepa on the Ducati. While he has been a test rider he is a total GP rookie. The next least experienced I think is Toseland - if you can call 7 years of world superbike and one world title inexperienced.

[SusanRepsol]

I missed the race, set my alarm and it didn't go off damn where can I view it? lol

[dicknose]

I missed it as well.
It didnt get broadcast in rural areas. So I was up at 4am and got to see a religious program.

I believe ch10 is showing it again tomorrow night (but possibly only on ONE digital)

[setanta]

You didnt miss much, just a replay of the time trials nearly

[dicknose]

The 3rd round is happening...

Pedrosa looks like his injuries are behind him and Lorenzo is back to the early form he showed last year.
Heck - this year might end up with Rossi and Stoner not making the top 2!

Really looking forward to another interesting race (and hopefully an exciting one!)

[setanta]

125s on now, Bradley Smith LOL

[spina220]

doesn't anyone have dvr cable service to record it? Its ok your not missing anything it is like watching golf on tv. 250gp and World superbike, now that is exciting.

[setanta]

The 125 and 250s were great races

[spina220]

they usually are!

[dicknose]

Yes the MotoGP race wasnt the most exciting.
Interesting when Rossi and Stoner passed each other. That was 1 lap!

Was getting nervous about Stoner and Lorenzo and that looked like it could go down to the the last lap.

[setanta]

yeah it was boring, but once again its amazing How great Rossi is

[spina220]

For some reason I can never get sick of watching Rossi win.

[setanta]

Me either cause as he gets older the rule is the younger ones should be better, but feck no he shows them all up

[dicknose]

Originally Posted by setanta

Me either cause as he gets older the rule is the younger ones should be better, but feck no he shows them all up

I mentioned before (in another thread I think) that Doohan won his 5 world titles from the age that Rossi is now.

Definitely at some stage the edge goes off - but Rossi has been that far ahead of everyone that he can be below his peak and still be the best.
I think he could stay at this level for another few years and still be at the front if not winning the championship. In some ways the new guys are a new challenge to inspire him.

[dicknose]

No one interesting MotoGP anymore??

Will be interesting to see if Rossi can keep his amazing run of victories at Mugello. Its also the first time in the premier class that he hasnt qualified on the front row.

Looking forward to it!