The penultimate race of the season. Who's your money on?

money on hayden not finishing first...though it would be nice. im thinking rossi...

last year it was barros. and four in a row for rossi before that, iirc.

It does'nt look good for Hayden going into this one - i've just read Randy Mamola's column in this weeks MCN and rossi has won here 4 times with Hayden never finishing higher than a lowly 7th :cry:

But what has form got to do with it ? :lol:

so far hayden is faster than rossi, by a decent margin. but the big surprise is stoner...fastest in FP2.! i didnt think the bridgestones would do that well here, but apparently they seem to work ok. i wonder now if they will hold up as well as the michelins over race distance, at race pace.

so far hayden is faster than rossi, by a decent margin.

I take nothing from that, or quali for that matter. All year Valentino has run most of the pracs testing for race pace, and quali has been take it as it comes, whereas Hayden has bolted on the stickest stuff he can get his yokel mits on to get up the top of the sheets............

Come race time, we have seen through the latter part of the year how competitive Hayden has been when it comes to the crunch.

I take nothing from that, or quali for that matter. All year Valentino has run most of the pracs testing for race pace, and quali has been take it as it comes, whereas Hayden has bolted on the stickest stuff he can get his yokel mits on to get up the top of the sheets............

Come race time, we have seen through the latter part of the year how competitive Hayden has been when it comes to the crunch.


actually, nothing could be further from the truth. while i agree that practice usually means close to nothing, hayden has not been just sticking on the stickiest of the stickies. most of the riders at the top use practice to find out how long their tires will last. qualifiers usually only last a few laps at best; how would he be doing 20+ laps on them? plus, give the kid a little credit...he is smarter than his kentucky background would lead you to believe.

and even if hayden has been using just qualifiers...it must be working somehow.

Hayden and Rossi on the front row. It's gonna be a good 'un. :mrgreen:

actually, nothing could be further from the truth. while i agree that practice usually means close to nothing, hayden has not been just sticking on the stickiest of the stickies. most of the riders at the top use practice to find out how long their tires will last. qualifiers usually only last a few laps at best; how would he be doing 20+ laps on them? plus, give the kid a little credit...he is smarter than his kentucky background would lead you to believe.

and even if hayden has been using just qualifiers...it must be working somehow.

we'll agree to disagree then callaghan ;). I simply don't rate Hayden as a rider, ok he might be reasonably smart, and he has shown that this year by riding around picking up points......... but i stand by my statement on Nicky not being able to put together consistently quick times on race pace..........

That to me points to a lack of development skills and running too often on quali and other compounds that most would use on testing days. The proof is in the pudding for me when you look at how the bike behaves when he pushes 110%, plus his riding style isn't the cleanest out there.

Anyways....... enough of my Hayden bashing.........

He'll probably come out and cane the field tonight, and make me look like a wanker :(

All set for a great race, i noticed that Casey was 5th fastest running the entire session on race rubber. Impressive.

lol, yeah, his superbike style isnt the best for motogp...makes him look sloppy. i cant believe stoner is 5th. i did notice that hayden had the fastest trap speed. i was watching melandri sliding the bike around, and stoner too. man...to have the balls and skill to do that, i wonder what it feels like to just hang it out, and not crash.

i am also really impressed with mccoy. for a rusty old 500 racer, on a brand new bike, 190cc down on displacement...he did really well. seemed like the bike behaved a little better than the bigger engined field. maybe there is a little less stress on the chassis because of less torque? maybe the Ilmore team will be fairly competitive quickly. i didnt think they would even be close to where they are already.

lol, yeah, his superbike style isnt the best for motogp...makes him look sloppy. i cant believe stoner is 5th. i did notice that hayden had the fastest trap speed. i was watching melandri sliding the bike around, and stoner too. man...to have the balls and skill to do that, i wonder what it feels like to just hang it out, and not crash.

i am also really impressed with mccoy. for a rusty old 500 racer, on a brand new bike, 190cc down on displacement...he did really well. seemed like the bike behaved a little better than the bigger engined field. maybe there is a little less stress on the chassis because of less torque? maybe the Ilmore team will be fairly competitive quickly. i didnt think they would even be close to where they are already.

agreed on all of the above callaghan. McCoy has been a surprise for me also, but i reckon the bike would be a little easier to handle than the 990's, and i hope that the X3 lasts the distance........

Well how about that then? :lol:

unbeleiveable. shows what no pressure does to a rider. They are just saying on tele here that he's out of the gresini seat for net year with no plans as yet for 07.

Yeah he's been without a job for next year for a while, but a win means a lot and this one will mean a hell of a lot to the guys at Honda. I reckon he'll be on the grid next year.

well, looks like someones preminately b0rke!

what happens when you are broke? why, you rob the vcash bank...:lol:

haha :lol: though, shouldnt that be the vBank :lol:

dom - give me all you vCash and no one gets hurt! (too badly!) ;)

damn, i just finished watching the race, and i am speechless. that has to be the best race of the decade! Valencia will be hairy for sure, and i cant wait. if its anything like this race, we will all be in for a treat!