Just in case anyone is wondering, MotoReview is not dead - it's just having a bit of a nap. There is no news. Today I received a press release from Yamaha about their pit scooters. I can tell you that the Yamaha BW scooter is 'very easy to ride and stable with its fat tyres', which makes it the perfect paddock scooter. I can tell you that a bloke called Aldo Drudi has designed a nice paintjob which combines various logos in and colours in, and I quote, 'a very trendy way'. This Yamaha BW is not just a powered two wheeler, oh no. It 'gave a whole new meaning to scooters in the early Nineties', in fact.

Can we go racing again now? :lol: :doh:

Can we go racing again now? :lol: :doh:

Yeah, I need to win some vcash. :pray:

Good point! Place your bets here (http://www.motogpboards.com/showthread.php?p=695). (I'll probably do the usual sneaky thing and wait 'til after qualifying :lol:)

Prediction: Casey Stoner will be very fast.

I expect you're right. Plus all of the riders have a maximum of one race's experience at the circuit, so that should level things out a bit between the rookies and the usual suspects.

I just posted a few quotes on MotoReview and I have to say like Hayden's:
Turn one is pretty wild and the fifth gear right hander at turn 11, which you take almost flat out, is about as good as it gets on a MotoGP bike.
Now that's a proper racer. Super-fast, highly difficult corner = good thing. Not everyone seems to agree about that these days.

Prediction: Casey Stoner will be very fast.

So far so good. :D

1. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1:53.623 :P
2. Casey Stoner (Honda) 1:53.861 :P

It is only practice, but I like it!

Stoner crashed, too. I reckon he'd have been quickest otherwise.

And Rossi, where are ya? (Working on a mind-blowing race setup I'm sure, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts :P)

(Just adding the full times to the site)

According to Yamaha a 'downfall' is predicted for tomorrow. Soggy qualifying session, anyone?

Yeah, that will change everything. If it rains, my money is going on KRJR. That guy is magic in the rain. Edwards too.

When do you close the betting?

Erm, I think it's set to stop accepting bets about 12:00 GMT on Sunday, at least that's when I usually set it for. So any time up to a few hours before the lights go out. I will change the odds after qualifying tho.

I'd love to see how Ellison would do if it rained. If anyone is used to riding in the rain, it's a Brit. :P

I swear Hopkins is after Tamada's 'elbow down crown'.

http://www.motoreview.net/images/stories/race/turkey061/Image00002.jpg

(Istanbul MotoGP Photos (http://www.motoreview.net/pictures/races/turkey-2006/))

Vermeulen. Whodathunk?

Suzuki needed that big time. Number 69 is looking strong again. Disappointed in Edwards though, rain usually works to his favor.

Nice photo of Hopper!

Very impressed and pleased for Vermeulen. In a way I hope it rains tomorrow so that there's a chance he will be more than a rolling roadblock during the race. :doh: Tbh I've never really thought of CV as that great a rider, but it really was something seeing the speed he was carrying through corners today.

I'm trying to be positive, but my lasting thought from that session is: Ellison... what happened, man!? :cry: James had plenty of speed during the wet Barcelona test and yet today he was nowhere.

Oh well. Gibbers starting on the front row should be interesting, as will seeing what Vale does from another crappy qualifying position!

(Oh and Hayden is rapidly becoming a favourite of mine. The determination now seems to be there along with the talent he has always had. He did a fantastic job in qualifying (look where the other Hondas are!) and was still pissed that he couldn't snatch pole. That's a proper racers attitude is that. Top stuff.)

Just got these quotes in from Yamaha:

Carlos Checa (15th 2'10.322, 20 laps)
"The rain caused many problems for me and I can't say I'm very happy with my qualifying position. We had some settings for the dry to try today but the bad weather changed all of it. If the rain is still here tomorrow it will be important to get a good start to improve my position early. If we can do that and with the direction we are heading in, with our choice of tyres and set-up, we have a chance of a good result. This morning we seemed to have found a good direction in the very wet conditions and this afternoon wasn't so wet but we also made some more good progress, but as I said I am not really happy with the final result. We should remember that Dunlop haven't got very much experience with wet weather tyres on MotoGP bikes, but I think that no matter what the conditions are we have made positive improvements ahead of the race."

James Ellison (19th 2:12.298 19 laps)
"I would be lying if I said I was happy. With the amount of water on the track and the slower times it was impossible for the tyres to hold their heat on the straight so that made it very difficult when I wanted to start pushing hard into the corners. Dunlop is learning all the time and that is part of being with one of those teams that are developing tyres at the same time. With the feedback we are giving them, I'm confident that it will work well for us in the future considering the experience the other tyre manufacturers have in all conditions."

Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "It was a good chance to have a proper wet tyre test with many tyres to choose from and we proved to be quite competitive. We now have some useful information for Dunlop in our wet weather tyre development. I am confident that we will have a better result in the race than we have had in the dry and wet sessions of the last two days, because we know now which direction to go, even though we did not have enough time to test everything that we wished to."

(Oh and Hayden is rapidly becoming a favourite of mine. The determination now seems to be there along with the talent he has always had. He did a fantastic job in qualifying (look where the other Hondas are!) and was still pissed that he couldn't snatch pole. That's a proper racers attitude is that. Top stuff.)

Agreed, he is really starting to mature and focus. His brothers are following in his footsteps quite nicely too. Younger bro Roger is presently struggling with racing this weekend or not after breaking his leg last weekend. He wants to race against doctor’s orders, just might do it on Sunday. I hope he does not.

Story here (http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=9179).

Found this interesting: If Casey Stoner wins he will tie Fast Freddie Spencer as the youngest winner of motorcycling’s premier-class, being exactly the same age of 20 years 196 days.

Excellent race. :D Very bad luck (and probably a bit of bad judgement) for Pedrosa, but nonetheless a fantastic performance from absolutely nowhere on the grid. Stoner continues to be ridiculously good despite the fact he's also just 3 races into his MotoGP career, and good to see Melandri back on form too.

Pretty impressed by the Suzukis (especially CV) today as well. The bike's obviously still a way off, but both riders did a great job after Qatar's disaster weekend. (And I suppose I should apologise for using the term 'rolling roadblocks' when referring to 'em :lol:)

Whew, that was a good one. I was hoping Stoner would get it, but Marco was on it. Pedrosa tried to hard and Hayden just lost focus or something. Great battle for the front. Missed the 250 race since the TV did not show it yet due to NASCAR. :cry:

:doh: Pedrosa!!!!

since i dont have cable and i just saw the results, i was just about to ask:

http://www.motogpboards.com/images/smilies/doh.gifPedrosa!!!!

wtf?

Pedrosa was in third place with one lap to go, having qualified in 16th. He lost the front on the first corner of the lap and managed to get it across the line in 14th.

Rookie mistake really, but you know he's not going to make it again.