One race in and I gotta say I am EXCITED about this season! Ducati & Dovi are looking good. Ducati bosses must be thrilled their bikes are causing controversy in GP and WSBK due to their winning. Rins and Mir at Suzuki are looking surprisingly good. I can’t wait for the Argentina GP!

So glad Moto GP is back on.

Dovi made a great showing at Qatar. Both Suzuki's are looking pretty fast and I am happy to see some new talent. Overall, the GP looked like a Moto 3 race which was exciting to say the least.

The new Triumph's sound great in the Moto 2 class. Everyone seem's to like the power they have too along with the updated gearbox.

So looking forward to another great season of racing.

Ducati won in court and gets to keep their controversial “tire cooler” scoop they attached to the swing arm.
Gotta give them credit that is pretty dang creative.

Man I like that guy!

Watched both practice sessions today. FP2, one second covers the first 20 riders. That’s insane.

I like Dovi. That’s a great tweet!

I finally got a chance to see the race late last night. It was pretty cool to see the difference in handling of the Ducati verses straighline grunt. The Italian machine turns on the afterburners on the straights but just can’t quite turn as sharp as some of the other manufacturers. I loved seeing that on full display as the battles played out.

Marquez was gone quick. Dang. Nice to see Rossi get 2nd and damn did Rins look good. Battling from way back to finish 5th. At his age Rossi is still a contender for another championship. That is incredible. I REALLY hope Rossi or Dovi can keep Marquez from yet another title.

I need to just buy a subscription. Between social media and idiotic YouTube titles I keep seeing spoilers before watching the race.

Get a subscription. I e had one since first available back in 2002 or 2003. I’ve watched every practice session, qualifying, pre-event/qualifying and post race press conferences. They don’t turn a lap all season that I do not see. Even if you are busy you can listen only. You learn a lot about the sport, the bikes, the riders, rule changes, the factories, team leaders, project managers, etc. last riders for health day I did at COTA I was correcting Randy Mamola on shit after we were on the track doing laps.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
I like Dovi. That’s a great tweet!

I finally got a chance to see the race late last night. It was pretty cool to see the difference in handling of the Ducati verses straighline grunt. The Italian machine turns on the afterburners on the straights but just can’t quite turn as sharp as some of the other manufacturers. I loved seeing that on full display as the battles played out.

Marquez was gone quick. Dang. Nice to see Rossi get 2nd and damn did Rins look good. Battling from way back to finish 5th. At his age Rossi is still a contender for another championship. That is incredible. I REALLY hope Rossi or Dovi can keep Marquez from yet another title.

I need to just buy a subscription. Between social media and idiotic YouTube titles I keep seeing spoilers before watching the race.

This in spades!

Great battles for 2nd through 5th. Normally I don't care one way or another what happens to Crutchlow, but that dude got a deep dicking with the penalty, especially considering what happened at this race last year and the lack of penalties.

Anyone going to be at MotoGP in Austin this month? Buddy of mine and I do the Ducati Island (he's a Ducatista of the Nth degree! ) package every year, so we will be there all three days if any SF members want to meet up.

I’m not going to make Austin but I’ll probably be at VIR for the MotoAmerica super bike race in May.

quote:

Originally posted by rkentm:
Anyone going to be at MotoGP in Austin this month? Buddy of mine and I do the Ducati Island (he's a Ducatista of the Nth degree! ) package every year, so we will be there all three days if any SF members want to meet up.

Nah. I've gone every year (and every year to Laguna Seca prior to that back to 2001) of COTA and skipping this year. Just give Marquez the trophy already. He's won every year since the race in Austin was first held. And Honda have a new powerful motor in 2019 on par with Ducati, so it's almost a foregone conclusion really. I live in Texas and the race atmosphere is nothing like Laguna. Laguna was so special. The entire weekend was surreal. Austin is bland in comparison even with COTA being the most technical track on the calendar.

I was planning on COTA, but people generally hate the place. Shitty conditions (pun intended). There aren't many places to go potty and when you do find somewhere, it's rather disgusting. Add in horrible parking and a deteriorating track, I wouldn't expect a huge turnout. They lost funding so it's only gonna get worse at COTA.

Add in what Prefontaine was saying about MM93 and the new engine along with how well he cleared off in Argentina, the only thing that can take out MM93, is MM93! Everyone else is just racing for 2nd.

It is amazing to see the difference between JL and MM on that Repsol Honda. One is just as good as ever while the other is struggling very badly.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
It is amazing to see the difference between JL and MM on that Repsol Honda. One is just as good as ever while the other is struggling very badly.

Lorenzo is riding injured. And he’s extremely picky about setup. The bike has to be set up 100% perfect to him and his riding style. When it is, and he’s healthy, he can beat Marquez. Throw mixed conditions at him, and he’ll muff it. But he’s healthy, bike is setup perfectly, he’ll give anyone there is a run for the money. Can’t stand the guy but it’s the truth.

COTA is also sinking into the fucking ground. The product that they used underneath the track, for stabilization, was the wrong choice. The riders started bitching about the condition of the asphalt in 2017. Last year they said if COTA didn’t do anything about it they’d refuse to ride. I haven’t heard of a repave. This could be the last year they race there as the people running COTA are morons, idiots, etc. I knew they were fucked when they pushed out Kevin. Laguna doesn’t have the garages GP needs for all 3 classes. Indy has like 5 different pavement types on the road circuit and the area is not conducive to attract people from all over the country. This is where Laguna excelled. Right on the coast, lots to do (pebble beach, 17 mile drive, Monterey Acquarim), great cuisine, weather, it was the riders favorite round out of them all. They all loved California. Austin is humid, and COTA is quite far from downtown Austin. And traffic is LA like terrible. It’ll be interesting to listen to the bitching after FP1/FP2 next Friday. I don’t think COTA has done jack bone shit to the circuit.

True. He is riding hurt. I think 99 will get it sorted and heal up quickly.

I am REALLY pulling for anyone but 93 yet again at COTA. Maybe someone will pull off the upset? It would be awesome to see Mav, Rossi, Dovi or Rins pull off a massive upset.

FP1 was earlier and FP2 is just starting now. During the lunch break, Petrucci was going OFF about the condition of the tarmac. So it's still fucked. COTA did remove some bumps over the winter but the existing problems remain. There will be much chatter about this later today once rider interviews are conducted after day 1. Sad that the only American round is represented like this, by fuckheads at COTA. It's the most technical and demanding circuit on the calendar and the people that run the circuit are just a bunch of assholes.

Day 1 is done.

Vin
Maq
Ros
Mil
Cru
Rin
Esp
Mor
Qua
Bag

Top 12 covered by less than 1 second. Tomorrow forecast looks like hard rain.

Good race. Marquez fucked himself. Vale gave it hell. Congratulations to Rins.

What a race!!! I couldn’t have scripted a better outcome. Rins was riding great! I LOVED watching Rins and Rossi battle it out. That was incredible.

Suzuki had one hell of a weekend at COTA. 1 & 2 in MotoAmerica and first place finish in MotoGP! What a weekend for Suzuki fans!