Moto GP

[Kim Jong Il]

^^^^^

Sensible approach, its his to lose now and he doesn't need to take any big risks to win it.

[Edge]

Not sure he knows how to ride safely...

[Edge]

FP2................Wet !!!

1. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP17) 2m 11.640s [Lap 7/16] 306km/h (Max)
2. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 2m 12.166s +0.526s [9/16] 308km/h
3. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (GP17) 2m 12.695s +1.055s [15/16] 303km/h
4. Maverick Viñales ESP Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 2m 12.878s +1.238s [17/18] 302km/h
5. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac (GP17) 2m 13.048s +1.408s [15/16] 304km/h
6. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 2m 13.071s +1.431s [16/16] 298km/h
7. Alvaro Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar (GP16) 2m 13.291s +1.651s [17/17] 304km/h
8. Alex Rins ESP Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)* 2m 13.416s +1.776s [17/18] 305km/h
9. Andrea Iannone ITA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 2m 13.483s +1.843s [13/17] 293km/h
10. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 2m 13.561s +1.921s [16/16] 296km/h
11. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1)* 2m 13.648s +2.008s [13/15] 308km/h
12. Jack Miller AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 2m 13.740s +2.100s [14/17] 306km/h
13. Karel Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar (GP15) 2m 13.760s +2.120s [13/15] 291km/h
14. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 2m 13.872s +2.232s [16/16] 292km/h
15. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac (GP16) 2m 14.281s +2.641s [9/14] 293km/h
16. Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 2m 14.287s +2.647s [16/16] 295km/h
17. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 2m 14.543s +2.903s [14/16] 294km/h
18. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 2m 14.574s +2.934s [15/16] 290km/h
19. Michael Van Der Mark NED Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 2m 14.938s +3.298s [17/17] 306km/h
20. Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia (GP16) 2m 15.163s +3.523s [10/11] 284km/h
21. Tito Rabat ESP EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 2m 16.280s +4.640s [12/16] 302km/h
22. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia (GP15) 2m 17.627s +5.987s [12/13] 303km/h

[Kim Jong Il]

That looks very wet

I expect this weekend will see it all done and dusted.....and in F1.

[Edge]

I think it would be good if the C'ship was decided and Valencia could be a straight shoot out.

[Edge]

Hmmmmmm

SHELL MALAYSIA MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification 2017 

Sepang, Saturday, October 28, 2017

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	322.9	1'59.212
2	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	320.2	1'59.229	0.017 / 0.017
3	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	324.2	1'59.236	0.024 / 0.007
4	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	318.3	1'59.498	0.286 / 0.262
5	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	322.1	1'59.538	0.326 / 0.040
6	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	322.0	1'59.622	0.410 / 0.084
7	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	320.9	1'59.694	0.482 / 0.072
8	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	316.8	1'59.992	0.780 / 0.298
9	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	315.9	2'00.119	0.907 / 0.127
10	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	318.6	2'00.181	0.969 / 0.062
11	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	319.6	2'00.326	1.114 / 0.145
12	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	319.0	2'00.770	1.558 / 0.444

[Kim Jong Il]

Missed quali as out of my time zone.....Will try and watch it on BT Sport later.

Marq has a bit to do if he wants to win but he doesn't need to win so wonder how it will pan out.

I'll have to play catch up on the race tomorrow as I'm travelling to UK this evening and the race will be even further out of my time zone :-(

[Edge]

Marquez doing what he so often does, finding the limit.......

"It takes a lot to make Marc Marquez's greatest saves list, but Saturday at the Malaysian MotoGP saw the Repsol Honda rider pull off yet another seemingly impossible rescue.................

See video below - click to play:.........."

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/886239/1/marquez-it-was-big-save-video

[PepeLePew]

7 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

Missed quali as out of my time zone.....Will try and watch it on BT Sport later.

Marq has a bit to do if he wants to win but he doesn't need to win so wonder how it will pan out.

I'll have to play catch up on the race tomorrow as I'm travelling to UK this evening and the race will be even further out of my time zone :-(

 

It's on about 6am but don't forget clocks go back tonight...

[Kim Jong Il]

9 hours ago, Edge said:

Marquez doing what he so often does, finding the limit.......

"It takes a lot to make Marc Marquez's greatest saves list, but Saturday at the Malaysian MotoGP saw the Repsol Honda rider pull off yet another seemingly impossible rescue.................

See video below - click to play:.........."

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/886239/1/marquez-it-was-big-save-video

Pretty incredible save.

Not very often you scrape the paint off the tank and get away with it.

[Edge]

Dovi back on top in WU pipping Zarco ...Pedrosa and Rossi looking good.

Marquez no drama but looking frustrated and only 8th fastest.

[Edge]

Good Moto3 & 2 racing with a few rain flags coming out.

No reds but looking increasingly threatening.

Another good one for KTM in Moto2.

Dov 1 Maq needs 2
Dov 2 Maq needs 4 etc back to Dov 7 game over.... I think.....maybe.
Maybe not a bad thing for Maq to start from 3rd row?
That's if he plays it safe......

Edited October 29, 2017 by Edge

[Edge]

Spoiler alert.....oops too late 555

Good result for Valencia.

[Kim Jong Il]

Pretty much as good a result as Dovi could hope for.

Keeps it alive and interesting but unless Marc crashes out its about done.

[Edge]

23 minutes ago, Kim Jong Il said:

Pretty much as good a result as Dovi could hope for.

Keeps it alive and interesting but unless Marc crashes out its about done.

Maybe so, but regardless of the C'ship, with 8(?) Spaniards all heading for their end of season home race it could be interesting.

Valencia no overtaking?

[PepeLePew]

6 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

Pretty much as good a result as Dovi could hope for.

Keeps it alive and interesting but unless Marc crashes out its about done.

Stranger things have happened. Byrne went into the last 3 rounds of BSB with a 33 point deficit and managed to take the title in the last race with a 7th place!

That said I think in MGP MM has it pretty much in the bag.

Good to see the true level of Crutchache now he has factory machinery 

[Edge]

“I’m only human,” Marquez explained after his worst finish in MotoGP since, pointing to his lack of feeling on corner entry as reason behind his lack of speed. “You have a small movement and already you feel like you are about to have a big crash.”

Speaking after the race he said, “I felt really good after the race because it was like the worst conditions I could have had today. It was wet, so slippery the track and so difficult to find the limit because it was so easy to find a mistake.

“But anyway I tried. I started the race quite aggressive on the start. But I realised both Ducatis were faster than me and when I was catching Zarco I was taking some risks. Then I was thinking on the bike that it is more or less the same to arrive at Valencia 24 points [ahead in the championship] or 21 points.

“So I decided to stay in fourth. Something that was so important in this race was to try and be calm all of the laps and not to be rash. [It was important] To try and find my rhythm, and I already said on Thursday it’s a race to try and find a way to arrive in Valencia with better options.”

When it was put to Marquez that Dovizioso’s race was possibly aided by an inter-team understanding with Jorge Lorenzo, the Repsol Honda rider said the possibility of team orders in such a situation is “totally normal.”

“Honestly speaking, for me it’s totally normal. I mean, even if Ducati don’t send anything… I mean, sometimes it’s not necessary to speak. If you are a professional rider and inside a team, you feel the team, you are smart, you have experience, and you understand that your team-mate is fighting for the championship and you’re just fighting for the race. It’s totally normal and I completely agree with what they are doing and great job.”

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/886495/1/marquez-end-i-m-human

[PepeLePew]

Nothing wrong with team orders, Dani would have done the same.

Messing with a championship when you don't have a dog in the fight, that's another story. Goes around comes around.......

[Edge]

Sepang race winner Andrea Dovizioso doesn’t believe his victory in Malaysia will affect MotoGP title leader Marc Marquez’s mindset heading into the final round of the championship at Valencia.

Marquez finished fourth as the Repsol Honda rider’s advantage was reduced from 33 to 21 points, but with only one race of 2017 left in Spain in two weeks’ time, Dovizioso says Marquez holds his own destiny in his hands.

“I don’t think so, also today after a strange weekend, a difficult weekend, he did fourth. Like what he did all season, he did an incredible season and when he is in a bad situation he can get a good position and that’s why he is first in the championship,” said Dovizioso.

“To go in Valencia is his good track, the Honda works well there but also I think we can be competitive there but it is 21 points and something has to happen. The pressure on the last race in Spain is quite heavy but already he did it in the past.

“As I say before, Valencia we have a lot of points [difference] and I think Marc will be competitive from the beginning. The only thing we can do is try to approach Valencia in the same way as here: try to be fast and competitive and try to win the race. What Marc can do is in his hands.”

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/886490/1/longer-wait-title-wont-affect-marquez-says-dovizioso

[PepeLePew]

On 05/10/2017 at 20:20, PR1977 said:

Be great to see Rea in MotoGP with a decent ride.

Its a real pity how far WSB has declined from the days of Foggy, Bayliss and Colin Edwards when I thought the quality of racing was ahead of MotoGP. British Superbikes is even actually probably better to watch than WSB these days.

!00%

Well Rea wrapped it up by taking Colin Edwards record for points in a season that had stood since 2002.

It would be interesting to see if Rea could make it in MGP. He is a real talent.

Sadly in the UK despite producing some great riders historically we didn't have the feeders that point towards the MGP discipline. Hopefully the inaugural British Talent Cup next year will help us catch up with our European rivals. Considering the depth of field we manage in WSB and BSB there should be no reason we can't rival the Spanish and Italians.

Now we just need something similar for F1!

[Edge]

'The fact that we’ve been able to manage some tricky situations, as was the case at the last race in Malaysia, gives me a positive feeling' - Marc Marquez.

Marc Marquez says it is only natural to expect ‘some pressure’ this weekend at Valencia as the Repsol Honda rider targets his fourth MotoGP World title at the final round of the championship.

Marquez is on course to retain his crown in Spain and holds an advantage of 21 points over Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.

The three-time premier class champion will secure the title if Dovizioso fails to win the race. If Dovizioso does win, a top 11 result will be enough to seal the championship for Marquez.

“Of course it will be natural to feel some pressure in Valencia with so much at stake, but honestly there has been pressure for the entire second part of the season,” Marquez said.

“And the fact that we’ve been able to manage some tricky situations, as was the case at the last race in Malaysia, gives me a positive feeling. Regarding the track, I feel good because I like Valencia. It’s an anticlockwise circuit, which normally suits me.

“Of course it’s also good to have a points advantage to manage. That said, we won’t think too much about any of those things. We definitely don’t think it will be easy, so we won’t go to Valencia with any extra confidence,” he added.

“We’ll keep the same mentality and working method that have brought us to where we are, and we’ll give 100 per-cent because it will be important to be fast beginning with FP1.”

Since the World Championship was introduced in 1949, this will be the 18th occasion in which the premier class title will go down to the final race of the year (including 1993 when, strictly speaking, the title went down to the last round with Kevin Schwantz leading injured Wayne Rainey by 18 points).

In the MotoGP era this will be the fourth time the championship has gone down to the wire, the others having been Valencia 2006 (Hayden-Rossi), Valencia 2013 (Marquez-Lorenzo), and Valencia 2015 (Lorenzo-Rossi).

Edited November 8, 2017 by Edge

[PepeLePew]

I'm sure Rossi will have an eye out for some pay back if it falls his way but apart from that Marc just has to stay on the bike. I can't see him needing to finish 12th or better as a pressure situation!

[Edge]

Marquez: the king of anti-clockwise circuits?

Ahead of the #FinalShowdown at another anti-clockwise track, we take a look through Marquez' record when turning mostly left...

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) had his first shot at the title at Sepang, but under the rain, the Spaniard ended the race just off the podium. Combined with the win for Championship rival Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), the title fight now rolls on to the final round for a #FinalShowdown. If Dovizioso wins it now, Marquez need only finish 11th. And that’s not the only advantage the Spaniard has, with Valencia an anti-clockwise track - something that often leads to success for the number 93.

“I feel good because I like Valencia,” says the reigning Champion ahead of the season finale. “It’s an anticlockwise circuit, which normally suits me…”

Marquez even touched on that question in the Press Conference at Silverstone, and it bears even more weight as the Spaniard has taken 20 out of 29 wins on anti-clockwise tracks since he moved up to the premier class. This season he’s won on them all.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2017/11/08/marquez-the-king-of-anti-clockwise-circuits/245299

[PepeLePew]

Sloppy journalism, he was on 29 premier class wins after 2016, add this years and he's on 35.

He's not bad clockwise either

[Edge]

Marquez' 2017 crash record: down 25 times and not out

Pushing to the limits - and finding them - is the reigning Champion's MO. That hasn't changed, from premier class rookie to 2017 challenger.

Going into the season finale, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) holds a 21-point advantage over Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) in the standings, with the rider from Cervera chasing his sixth World Championship and fourth in MotoGP™. It’s a stunning rate of success already for the number 93, but it hasn’t come easy – with Marquez one of the most prolific crashers on the grid. This season, the Championship leader has taken a tumble 25 times so far - the most of any non-rookie.

In 2013, when Marquez himself was a rookie, he fell 15 times. Getting to grips with the premier class and testing the limits, the number 93 nevertheless only suffered one crash out of contention in a race.

That was at Mugello, and it came after a weekend filled with incidents – including one of the most hair-raising crashes in recent times, from which the eventual Champion incredibly escaped unharmed.

2014 again saw Marquez take the crown, beginning the year with his incredible run of ten wins in a row. That’s also the season in which the Repsol Honda rider has crashed the least so far, with only 11 incidents throughout the year. With such a big points gap, the pressure was off by the time he suffered his first crash in a race, at Misano, and even more so once the title was wrapped up at Motegi – leaving Marquez pushing to the limit at Phillip Island to try and make as big a gap as possible. It wasn’t to be, but the reigning Champion was pragmatic: “It’s better that this happened now, so that I gain experience for next year.”

Next year being 2015, when Marquez wholly avoided the same mistake at Phillip Island, winning the stunning Island Battle. But there were a number of DNFs beforehand that saw him dent his title hopes, including a crash at Catalunya and another when trying to stay with leader Jorge Lorenzo at Aragon. Although the Repsol Honda rider only crashed two more times during the season, more incidents happened in races, rather than in practice.

After losing out on the crown the year before, 2016 saw Marquez on a mission to take back the throne. He crashed 17 times, but crucially only one of those came in a race before he wrapped up the title. That was at Le Mans, and it was a mistake mirrored by his title challenger this season - Andrea Dovizioso. Or more, the two were perfectly in sync…

2017 has seen Marquez back in full attack mode, and the crash statistics are his highest yet: 25 for the year so far. The first in a race was in Argentina, before another at Le Mans. The reigning Champion then finished every race up until Silverstone, where he suffered another DNF but this time a mechanical. Although not consisting of crashes alone, if Marquez wins the crown it will be the first time since 1998 that a rider has done so with three or more DNFs.

It’s also the season that has seen Marquez pull off what may be his most impressive save yet – somehow staying upright in this stunner at Sepang.

On his approach and the amount he crashes, Marquez gave one of his quotes of the year following the San Marino GP, succintly standing his ground:

“I crash because I am pushing. I give 100% from FP1 until the race, and try to do my best. This is my style, and it’s given me five World Championships.”

With a 21-point lead, that may be six at Valencia – so tune in to see if Marquez can take the crown on Sunday 12th November.

For some of the crash (and save) videos.............. http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2017/11/02/marquez-2017-crash-record-down-25-times-and-not-out/245164