2018 MOTOGP Season ****SPOILER ALERT*** *****WARNING - SPOILER *******

[The Black Knight]

Yeah that whole Zarco and Lorenzo bandwagons have been hilarious to be honest but whatever, Zarco will show his true colors at KTM and Lorenzo did at Ducati showing that Yamaha is what made them look great. At least Rossi works through the issues and delivers results even if he’s 1000 years old, that’s what separates him from the likes of Lorenzo and MV. I’m sure he will be far more competitive at HRC than Ducati obviously but oh man once one thing goes wrong he will not hesitate to start playing he blame game as usual.

its being rumored that Pedrosa will announce his retirement by next round at the Catalan GP, that would suck.

Now that's something I didn't expect to happen. Figured Pedrosa would secure a ride elsewhere and ride for at least another couple seasons. But I can see him wanting to call it a day. He's had injury after injury. That poor guy can't catch a break when it comes to riding healthy.

Always thought that when he has his day, Pedrosa is wicked fast and usually unbeatable.

I think Lorenzo will be a lot happier with Honda. It won't be the beast that is the Ducati and he will find it easier to ride.

Well, I can see why people would jump on the Lorenzo bandwagon. He's got three premier class championships. So he at least has the credentials at the highest level to warrant the bandwagon. What I can't fathom is the Zarco bandwagon. He's won jack squat in the premier class. Leading laps and getting the random podium is nice, but if you can't get those "W's", then they're all just stats. Stats no one cares about.

[salsashark]

Anybody else read Rossi's interview regarding silly season being even more sillier than ever? Thought it was interesting, but also kind of easy to make those statements having signed his contract before the season even started.

Personally, I agree with him. I would love to see team move negotiations be relegated to the end of the season... perhaps after the championship has been decided (since we know that doesn't usually take the entire season). Just like politics, we never seem to get out of campaign mode anymore. I'd love to see racers and teams dedicate themselves to the season, and not just the first 5'sh races. Jorge's a perfect example. Why would Ducati do anything for him now that he's signed with Honda?! "Look, we built you the tank you've been wanting! Oh, and now you're gone..."

[MarkT]

Hey guys! Forever since I posted...

Anyways wish Honda would have signed Johnny Rea, would loved to have seen what he could do in Motogp on a competitive bike. Instead we have to endure the whiny bitch and all his excuses for two more years as he fails to achieve the expected results.

[The Black Knight]

Honda:
Marquez
Lorenzo

Yamaha:
Rossi
Vinales

Ducati:
Dovizioso
Petrucci

Suzuki:
Rins
Mir??? <---to be confirmed

Aprilia:
A. Espargaro
Iannone

KTM:
P. Espargaro
Zarco

Tech 3 KTM:
Syahrin
Olivera

Ducati Pramac:
Miller
Bagnaia

LCR:
Crashlow, I mean Crutchlow
2nd seat??

UPDATE:
Looks to be that Pedrosa will be retiring at the end of the season(I'm starting to see more and more reports that this is likely the case). Is yet to be confirmed and will probably come out by Catalunya. Bummed to see the little samurai retire. He's always been super fast.

[madvlad]

Well judging from the live feed just now I think Yamaha may have just talked this dude out of retirement thoughts cause he didn’t announce anything yet even though it was his intention to do so.

[The Black Knight]

Well judging from the live feed just now I think Yamaha may have just talked this dude out of retirement thoughts cause he didn’t announce anything yet even though it was his intention to do so.

Yeah, that was rather lame. Was expecting some big news. With all the hype and even having his own media debrief, thought for sure we'd get some news. Pedrosa just pulled off and epic troll job of everyone in the MotoGP world..

[blaircsf]

My guess is either he thought they would have paperwork signed so he could announce but it isn't finalized, or he actually was planning on retirement but is being wooed by someone.

[The Black Knight]

My guess is either he thought they would have paperwork signed so he could announce but it isn't finalized, or he actually was planning on retirement but is being wooed by someone.

That's the rumor I've been reading. He was all set to announce his retirement, hence the large press conference. But from what I gather, DORNA stepped in and asked him to wait until things are worked out with the Yamaha Petronas team. So it could be a joint effort between DORNA and Yamaha to try and retain his services for the next two years at least. Help to develop another team.

I can't imagine him wanting to stay for the money. He's not going to get anywhere near what he was getting at Repsol. But then again, Dani was never a super high paid racer. So, he may be thinking of staying two more years and the pay could be similar. Especially if it all does fall into place and Petronas is a sponsor. They are huge in Formula 1, so I'm sure they could throw some money in sponsorship with a MotoGP team.

Saw an interview with Nick Harris on BeIN sports on YouTube. And he even mentioned briefly that a Pedrosa and Yamaha Petronas team may be the only place for Pedrosa to go. He said, Pramac might be a place but that would be a rather large step backwards. Whereas with Petronas, it's a new team and he would be leading the effort there. And he may get a very competitive bike from Yamaha being that it will be Pedrosa.

I can't imagine Yamaha offering up a turd for a new satellite team and for Pedrosa. But what a minute!! They have been offering up turds to their Factory Team for the last two seasons, what was I be thinking. A turd of a bike going to Pedrosa from Yamaha is definitely feasible. All joking aside, he may get a very good bike for 2019 from Yamaha. Considering, the IMU ruling set to take place for 2019 and the fact that Yamaha are starting to make some headway with their current bike. Rossi and Vinales looked to have some decent pace today in both FP's.

[madvlad]

Marquez and his insane saves man, this dude must have knees of steel because how the fuck did he not break his leg on that one

[madvlad]

Man how fucking stupid is Yamaha to send that message to Rossi and fuck him out of a front row start... Jesus man, these guys need to get their shit together

[The Black Knight]

Man how fucking stupid is Yamaha to send that message to Rossi and fuck him out of a front row start... Jesus man, these guys need to get their shit together

It's just the way Marquez rides. His position on the bike makes it easy for him to have those saves. But I agree with you he does make some crazy saves and I'm surprised it didn't just rip him off the bike doing that save.

Yeah, Rossi really got screwed by his team today. He had a red sector, but they just had to let him know #93 was following him. Who gives a sh*t!! It's Q2, everyone is going to be around or near someone else. Especially with lap times in the 1:40's(meaning a small track), there is only a finite amount of track that can be occupied by everyone.

I think Rossi would have been on the front row with that aborted lap. But I also think, with the laps fired in late by everyone else. He would be back on Row 2. I think he was shooting for P5 next to his teammate, and would have been there close.

Just when Yamaha seem to get things together, and make a some progress. They go and do something like this and totally redeem themselves. They don't want us to forget that their team management can go south at the drop of a hat. Bunch of rookies....

[madvlad]

Yamaha knew they weren’t going to beat the time, might as well let it be and help your rider be as far as up as possible, with that time he would have been much further up than 7th for sure. If Lorenzo gets away tomorrow that’s game over yet again.

[The Black Knight]

Yamaha knew they weren’t going to beat the time, might as well let it be and help your rider be as far as up as possible, with that time he would have been much further up than 7th for sure. If Lorenzo gets away tomorrow that’s game over yet again.

Lorenzo does have very good pace. Going off the analysis from both FP3 and FP4, he does have very good form. But, so does Marquez, Dovi and Rossi. So it could be a close battle. I think if Dovi and Marquez can rattle Lorenzo at the start, then it's game on.

Lorenzo is probably the hardest guy to beat if you let him get into his rhythm. But at the same time, he's also the easiest guy to stop. As long as riders can interrupt his lines and keep him on the defensive. Then Lorenzo can't break and away and do his "martillo" routine.

I think we've easily got a four or five rider battle for the podium tomorrow. So we'll see how it all turns out.


EDIT:

Also, not sure if you have seen it. But looking at the analysis I can't believe the overall top speed the Yamaha's are giving up to everyone else. Both Rossi and Vinales are stuck at 338(normally around 335kph, with their low at 330kph, I don't count the passes in the 320's because they probably aren't getting full drive out of the final corner. 330's suggest it's full attack.) being their absolute top speed, while the Ducati's and Honda's are all close to 345ish, with I believe Dovi having the fastest at 346kph

So found a quick conversion table on google and the Yamaha guys are giving up around 6-7mph on average and a max of 10mph!! That's huge in terms of passing power and speed. I'm wondering if the Yamaha is down on steam or just doesn't have the legs(gearing). I have head it mentioned that the Honda is now close to 280hp!! I'd imagine the Ducati is every bit of that as well. Yamaha's could be closer to that 260hp area. That's again big gains by the others and Yamaha is fall behind.

Or it could be Yamaha's way of dealing with eating the rear tire on the bike. Not allowing it to hook up as hard on that final corner, thus limiting their overall top speed when it's all said and done.

Either way, I don't see a Yamaha winning(I sure hope for it) tomorrow and I think even a podium will be hard fought.

[madvlad]

Only a gas tank caused all of this? I’m going to call bullshit immediately they had to tweak majorly with the frame and suspension, he runs super low times with soft tires on one of the highest powered bikes on the grid and those tires didn’t fade out like before? Yeah I’m not buying the whole gas tank story lol. Don’t know how he was able to not overcook those soft tires pushing low 1:40 for the most part and meanwhile Marquez fades away with hard tires even though he stayed there for 10 laps,, beats my mind on that. Congrats to the dude even though I dislike him very much.

Glad Rossi is being able to salvage some important points to stay in the fight and hope that Yamaha can deliver further answers soon so he can perhaps fight for a championship run. Who knows what’s happening with viñales, that dude makes horrific starts but yet blames Yamaha for all the ground he has to make up, looks like he needs to get to work and stop finding excuses like Lorenzo does when shit goes south

[The Black Knight]

Only a gas tank caused all of this? I’m going to call bullshit immediately they had to tweak majorly with the frame and suspension, he runs super low times with soft tires on one of the highest powered bikes on the grid and those tires didn’t fade out like before? Yeah I’m not buying the whole gas tank story lol. Don’t know how he was able to not overcook those soft tires pushing low 1:40 for the most part and meanwhile Marquez fades away with hard tires even though he stayed there for 10 laps,, beats my mind on that. Congrats to the dude even though I dislike him very much.

Glad Rossi is being able to salvage some important points to stay in the fight and hope that Yamaha can deliver further answers soon so he can perhaps fight for a championship run. Who knows what’s happening with viñales, that dude makes horrific starts but yet blames Yamaha for all the ground he has to make up, looks like he needs to get to work and stop finding excuses like Lorenzo does when shit goes south

Yeah I don't buy the whole gas tank story 100% and for sure it was a bit of a snooze fest in terms of racing. Lorenzo did his usual check out with metronome pace. Which he looked to be set to do regardless. I think Marquez and Iannone wanted to put in a fight but faded.

Congrats to Lorenzo for the win, Marquez just bringing home points and Rossi doing well to salvage another 3rd place(yet again).

I agree with you, I do find it a bit hard that Lorenzo can make the Soft's work that well and not experience massive tire wear. However, he's always been able to make the softer tires on any given weekend work for him. I remember him at Yamaha back in 2015 and 2016. And it was almost a given that whatever Rossi ran, Lorenzo ran the next softest tire. Rossi has always been the king of Medium tires and was surprised to see him running Soft/Soft today as well. Yamaha just need to figure it out, Rossi had great pace and for a moment during the race was clicking off very fast laps. So he had the pace but just ran a very conservative race. I think if Rossi would have that kind of pace on Medium's, then you might see him attack more as he knows he's got better braking stability. Also remember all the way back to 2013-2015 even. Rossi at times would run even the Hard front's and Medium rear's. So you can tell he's trying to make something work for the Yamaha. Soft/Soft is not his forte by any means. He's usually a (M)(M) or (H)(M) tires racer.

Gotta feel bad for Dovi. Another pile of points just thrown away. Although, had he stayed upright he wouldn't have been on the podium. He was beginning to fade a few laps before he fell and I believe Rossi would have caught and passed him in another few laps. Dovi just looked totally busted when the camera caught him in the pits. And I agree with the commentators, I'm sure Ducati brass are starting to scratch their heads.

I can't really comment on Vinales. He shoots himself in the foot getting crappy starts and then 1/2 race distance starts showing some pace. He needs to go to the drag strip and spend a couple days working the tree for reaction time. Cause his starts flat suck. Watching the replay of the start it's almost as if he's doing it on purpose, his start was that bad.

On to Assen!! Let's hope Rossi can at least find a win there.

[madvlad]

The Yamaha was much smoother on power delivery and not as erratic to ride compared to the Ducati and at the start of the season and even last season he would cook those soft tires and fade out insanely, whatever it was they tweaked is working wonders cause holy shit, I mean to put nowhere near a 1:41 for 20+ laps on soft tires on that Ducati, that’s something else. Looks like the Yamaha deal is just about done with Pedrosa, they saw him talking to the Yamaha brass this morning yet again.

[The Black Knight]

The Yamaha was much smoother on power delivery and not as erratic to ride compared to the Ducati and at the start of the season and even last season he would cook those soft tires and fade out insanely, whatever it was they tweaked is working wonders cause holy shit, I mean to put nowhere near a 1:41 for 20+ laps on soft tires on that Ducati, that’s something else. Looks like the Yamaha deal is just about done with Pedrosa, they saw him talking to the Yamaha brass this morning yet again.

Well it could be a break through for him at the last minute with the bike. I also like to chalk it up to the fact that he's finally got his future for the new two years sorted out. So now he has the "who dares, wins" mentality. He has nothing to lose and all to gain from thinking that way. If he loses and crashes, who cares he's moving to Honda next year and it's all new from there on. If he wins(races) then it's just icing on the cake and he has it in his pocket to rub Ducati's nose in it.

I think that's why we've seen Iannone show some glimpses of very fast pace and good results. He know's he's on his way out, and it's all or nothing now. So when the chips are down and he's got nothing to lose, that's when we see the true "Maniac" ride.

Without great risk, there won't come great reward. So the riders that exemplify that mentality are the ones that rise to the top. It goes back to a favorite analogy I like to use. "The wolf on top of the mountain, is never as hungry as the wolf climbing the mountain." Sooner or later, the reign at the top becomes boring and a "been there, done that and got the t-shirt" mentality sets in. It's why I don't think we'll see Rossi get that 10th title. I think we'll see him get some more wins(hopefully a lot more) but he's not hungry enough for the 10th title. I also think 2015 took a lot out of him, mentality that is.

Rossi knows that a big crash could put him out forever, and right now he's got another two years in his pocket. Two more years to keep doing what he loves to do and by then he'll be 41. Rossi at 41 will not be as hungry as Rossi at 25, no way we slice it.

It sounds corny as hell but really it's the best example I can use here. It's the "Eye of the Tiger" look that people get. Doesn't have to be a fighter or a racer or anything like that. It's the look that someone gets in their eye when they are really wanting to achieve, to succeed and no matter what they let nothing stand in their way.

As for Yamaha, that's cool if they pick up Pedrosa. Would like to see him on something other than a Repsol. He's fast and I think it will translate over to riding a Yamaha M1. On one hand it's cool to see someone retire from one team they rode for their whole career, as it shows longevity and validity. On the other hand, it's very nice to see someone move on to new horizons and new adventures. Tackling a new challenge with a new direction. There are pro's and con's to both for Dani.

[Okrapp]

Holy 11 DNFs batman.

[madvlad]

Just saw the interview on the tests and Vale is frustrated as all fuck lol, they can’t improve the bike whatsoever

[The Black Knight]

Just saw the interview on the tests and Vale is frustrated as all fuck lol, they can’t improve the bike whatsoever

Seen it as well. He doesn't look happy but I also read that they won't be testing anything new or for 2019 until Brno. So really this test was a waste of time. I think they need to focus on the software and how to work or manipulate it. Yamaha needs to put out an A.P.B! to all the hackers of the world and get someone in there that can rip that software apart and help them to understand it. Honda and Ducati have it down, heck even Suzuki is getting to grips with it.

Reality is they need to focus on next season I think. Sure, finish the 2018 campaign out and do your best. Maybe, just maybe they might snag a win here or there(which is good for morale). But come back with a vengeance in 2019 with a proper new bike.

I also think where Honda and Ducati have the edge is their test riders. Yamaha needs to snag someone of Casey Stoner's caliber to help test the bike. There aren't any limits with non-factory riders or test riders. They can crank the bikes out back in Iwata and see what works and what doesn't.

[madvlad]

What....a.....fucking..... race..... holy shiiiiiiet!!!!

[Ted]

Oh yeah..... it was ! I was hoping my man #99 would make this another "boring" race. Oh well , maybe next round !

[madvlad]

Glad Lorenzo was finally exposed yet again, said it many times before a bit of pressure and he crumbles. Sucks Viñales couldn’t hang and both him and Rossi ran wide. What a showdown though

[The Black Knight]

Now that was the best race I've seen in a very long time and the best of 2018. That's the kind of good hard racing with even some dirty moves that make it a good race. There's times in racing when something is just straight up a dirty move and it's not cool. Then there are times when the moves are a little dirty but everyone is rooting for them. That's when you get a great race. Cause you know the guys doing all the moves were saying to themselves, "that son of a bitch just cut me off" LOL!!

That was a very enjoyable race. Wished Rossi wouldn't have screwed up at the end and just let Dovi have 2nd and then pass him again on the next lap. Oh well, sh*t happens...

Assen 2018