2019 MOTOGP Season ****SPOILER ALERT*** *****WARNING - SPOILER *******

[blaircsf]

It's a possibility, but if I remember right it was 8 out of 20 laps and Marquez was almost 4 seconds ahead. He seemed to be just slowly pulling away, not quite at the rate of Argentina but no one else was running the same lap times.

[The Black Knight]

It's a possibility, but if I remember right it was 8 out of 20 laps and Marquez was almost 4 seconds ahead. He seemed to be just slowly pulling away, not quite at the rate of Argentina but no one else was running the same lap times.

Looking at the race Analysis on MotoGP's website, from what I see, Marquez made most of his gains on Rossi in laps 3 and 5. Lap 3 was almost 7/10's faster and Lap 5 was close to 9/10's faster. Marquez' fastest lap was a 2.04.2 and Rossi's a 2.04.4, from lap 9 on, Rossi spent the rest of the race in 2.05 range, with a last lap 2.04.

Certainly Rossi wasn't exactly the same as Marquez, but he was matching his pace for the most part. We don't know how Marquez would have dropped off as he fell on lap 9. I'm fairly sure he would have dropped off as well. Again, had Marquez have stayed on, he would have won based on his lead. But I don't think it was the massive 10+ seconds he had in Argentina. He was lapping close to a full second faster than everyone in Argentina

Also keep in mind that Rossi was in the beginning somewhat in a fight with Crutchlow. I'm sure he knew he was there as well, so had to take some defensive lines. Not his usual faster lines that he would use not having to defend his position.

I agree, not exact lap for lap times, but for the most part in the 8 laps(with the exception of a couple) he was within(or under) the .5 sec a lap, which is close and keeping within striking distance.

Rossi has always ridden better in the past with the carrot in front and seems to do well having a reference up front. Allows his to study where he's fast and make the most of it.

[The Black Knight]

I've been thinking about this race a lot for some reason lately. I remember watching all those years back. As much as I have enjoyed watching Rossi over the years, you can really tell the difference between him now vs. him back in 2004.

I know Rossi is faster now, they(MotoGP riders) all are. But I think a lot of that has to do with better technology, better tires and better because it's 2019(things just progress). Look at the difference in riding styles. Sure in 2019 Rossi is dragging his elbow and riding on the limit, but his style now is very refined(obviously with his age) and it's very clinical. Now look at 2004 Rossi, his riding style back then(though not as aggressive in elbow dragging) was very vicious. In 2019 Rossi makes good hard passes but they are very planned out and done with precision. 2004 Rossi was passing Biaggi in this race in some very hard spots and seemed almost retaliatory in nature as a response to Biaggi when he would pass.

Rossi just doesn't ride the way he used too. Rossi of 2004 would have denied Rins the win in COTA two weeks ago. I dare say Rossi of 2004 would have been all over Marquez had they raced today in 2019.

In my opinion, for Rossi to win the title again. He needs to find whatever mojo the Rossi of 2004 had, because that's the only way I can see him beating everyone now.

I think it all boils down to drive and hunger. Rossi is hungry, but ain't no way is he as hungry as he was in 2004. Rossi set out to destroy Honda to prove a point and he was going to win, even if it took him to the brink, to the razor's edge.

2004 Welkom:
http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009...-gp-2004/91240

If you don't have the subscription pass, get it. This is a race that must be seen to understand.

[madvlad]

Well with age smarter riding comes along and he knows how much he risks with maybe riding as loosely as he did back then, can’t recover from injury as fast as before in case he pushes a little too far and he knows if that’s the case it can also be game over if the injury is bad enough. Back then he was young and as we all know when we are young we are more wild and full of thoughtlessness. I’m sure he’d rather play his cards this way and try to find consistency to contend for the title, bummer that Yamaha won’t provide him with a better bike cause if they’re able to come up with a bike of the 15-16 level, they both would be contending without a doubt and bringing it to Honda/Ducati. Maybe as the season develops and he happens to be in the fight towards the end we may see an all out Rossi for last resort sake. Moves of desperation like the super deep dive that early on Rins that cost him the race definitely won’t do it, he needs to be more calculating and patience as also the Yamaha is not up to par 100% as we all know.

[madvlad]

Jerez once again proves that Yamaha is still at the same spot as the last two years, while Maverick, Quartararo and Morbidelli have been able to put good laps but does seem like all of them struggled something fierce in the afternoon once the temps rise... incredible to me that Yamaha after nearly 3 years and still can’t figure this out while other teams are making huge strides and walking away.

[Kristian]

Looking bad for team blue!

[The Black Knight]

Congrats to Petronas team for flat riding the wheels off their bikes in Q2!

Marquez looks a bit rattled and all over the place. Still looks like more of a Marquez vs. Dovi race again.

And good old Yamaha Factory team. Great job guys, you've made tons of progress... errr in the wrong direction.

I hate to say it, but I'm starting to think some of the problem on the Factory Yamaha's is the riders. Rossi's 13th is embarrassing and Vinales can't find a fast lap to save his life. Then you've got the Yamaha satellite guys both 1-2 and taking it to the factory guys. That's just grim, no matter how you look at it.

I still think Rossi will find some mojo and be fighting for top 6 come tomorrow. But not sure he'll be the fastest Yamaha again.

[madvlad]

Yeah that’s pretty incredible that the satellite team is able to make the bike work better than the main Yamaha guys, it’s becoming beyond embarrassing to be honest. Happy for them though without a doubt, they’re flying and hope they can bring the results that the main team can’t. Guess we’ll see at race pace tomorrow how the tire life pans out cause well one thing is qualifying and another actual race management. Lorenzo seems to be gaining some confidence on that Honda, been riding pretty good all weekend.

[The Black Knight]

Yeah that’s pretty incredible that the satellite team is able to make the bike work better than the main Yamaha guys, it’s becoming beyond embarrassing to be honest. Happy for them though without a doubt, they’re flying and hope they can bring the results that the main team can’t. Guess we’ll see at race pace tomorrow how the tire life pans out cause well one thing is qualifying and another actual race management. Lorenzo seems to be gaining some confidence on that Honda, been riding pretty good all weekend.

I've read some comments now that the Factory were busy working on race pace and not focused on Q setup. That's all well and fine but you've got to go into Q1 and Q2 to make it to the race in order to see if that setting for the race works well. And if that is the case, why spend all that time dicking around with race pace with no focus on qualifying?? Doesn't make sense to me.

It's true that the race is all that matters but man, having a good spot to fight from does help as well. Makes the riders job a bit easier starting on the first two rows, means they can stay as close as possible to the lead pack.

Lorenzo is doing well, seems to be coming to grips with the bike. His fall messed up his qualifying spot but I think he'll be close come race time.

[madvlad]

Yeah at this point in this venture I am sure that Meregalli and Jarvis heads will be on the chopping block soon with this type of poor decision making, it's just astonishing to me that they start from point T and move back to A... Some people in that garage have got to go, it's almost like they're doing it on purpose. You just don't see any sense in it, now tomorrow both factory riders will shred their tires trying to climb their way through the pack and attempt to salvage some precious points. It just boggles my mind that they are taking this long to deliver a solution, just in any way that you look at it it makes no sense and now even more so with the Petronas team showing they're strong out of the gate with two younger riders. I honestly foresee this being Rossi's last season in the premier class and Viñales setting sail for elsewhere cause he hasn't delivered anything credible either. Just something in that factory garage doesn't add up and it's like they're playing some bullshit presidential compliance time game, not fair for the riders.

[madvlad]

Good lord what a snoozefest that was... can't remember a boring race for a while now but it's looking like it will become the normal with Marquez regaining control yet again. Rossi again salvaged precious championship points out of nowhere, Viñales surprisingly stayed up there and didn't fade out too bad, good podium for him. Did expect Morbidelli to drop off as he usually does but man what a heartbreaker for Quartararo, that kid was on the prowl! Rins as usual finds himself in the right place at the right time... Ducati doesn't look very strong man even though they have a better bike this year, just can't tell with those guys anymore. What happened to Lorenzo too? Was rather strong throughout the weekend and he was way down the order today, hell Bradl was in front and he's the test rider... Hope more exciting races are ahead cause man I literally nearly fell asleep on this one, bring the good ol' scraps back!

[The Black Knight]

I agree, it was a crappy of a race in terms of excitement and racing. Kind of processional at best. Not lots of dog fighting and just looked more like a long practice session for some of the riders.

I've been looking at MotoGP.com and it seems their race analysis PDF is broken/or down. I was curious to see Rossi and Vinales laps. Commentators mentioned it and it was obvious that Rossi had some decent pace, just his qualifying jacked his race for sure. Vinales didn't really seem to go forward, rather just inherited some positions by others breaking or losing their tires. So I would have liked to have seen Vinales race pace vs. Rossi's race pace. I think had Rossi started higher up(i.e. row 2 at least), he would have gone with Rins. Not sure if he would have beaten Rins, but had podium pace for sure.

So I don't really feel bad for Rossi in this race. He seems to have found some speed but he's back to sucking during Qualifying sessions. At least this race wasn't an utter disaster for him and he's within 9 points of Marquez. It's still game on for anyone, though the pendulum did swing heavily back in Marquez' favor.

That being said, the real loser in this race was Lorenzo. That guy is going to have a real bad next couple of days. He got it handed to him by the test rider. Lorenzo looks deflated at the moment. He built up Jerez so much and it tanked for him. I'm sure he's going to come to grips with the Honda, but this race made him look really bad. If he has a few more results like this, I can honestly see HRC thinking about dropping him after one year. I'd say even if he has several more results like this, the only way he could stop the bleeding, would be to go on a win streak, and that may even be too late. His results suck, and this was supposed to be the race that turned things around.

If he can't get it together by Sachsenring, we may not be seeing Lorenzo after 2019.

[The Black Knight]

So finally the analysis PDF is up at motogp.com and I got to compare the laps. And just glancing over several riders lap times. Rossi honestly was where his pace said he should be. I'm sure he might have had a bit more if he were in a podium battle, but judging by his lap times, he didn't have anything for the guys in front of him. The rider who he closely mirrored in times would have been Petrucci. Vinales laps were good couple tenths better each lap. So I'm not sure Rossi would have had much to fight Vinales with. Vinales managed to put in two 38.1's both on lap 24 and 25. Rossi's fastest was a 38.3 on lap 19. Laps 24 and 25 for Rossi were weird, he was around four tenths slower on lap 24 but 1.2 seconds slower on lap 25(last lap of race). Course Vinales was fending off Dovi on the last two laps so I can see why his last laps were fast. Dovi put in a 38.0 on the penultimate lap.

[The Black Knight]

That was a o.k. race. Good dicing it up in the first part of the race. Then it turned into a snooze fest processional after that. Congrats to Marquez, he earned it. He's riding well. Was kind of hoping Petrux would pip Dovi as I'd like to see Danillo snag a good 2nd place. But for the championship, I'm glad Dovi kept that 2nd. Miller looks good and is riding well. Rossi didn't pose much of a threat but had decent pace to stay with the Ducati's. I think this was a big damage limitation for Yamaha this weekend. There are some positives for Yamaha, at least they are close to Ducati now, which they were miles away last season. I'm also thinking Rossi is making most of the difference in the equation.

Have to say, Quartararo was in beast mode today(his lap times were fast). I'm thinking that kid will take Vinales place if Maverick can't sort his problems.

Well on to Mugello, and I'm really hoping Rossi finds something for Mugello. I'm pretty sure if he can win in Mugello, it will break the internet. Either way, I love Mugello and can't wait.

[madvlad]

Another bit of a snooze fest again but I foresee a lot of this for the rest of the season, Honda and Marquez just have it figured out, there is simply no dethroning this man, there is no rider or bike in the paddock that can keep up with this dude, this title is already a wrap for him and his alone to lose. Yamaha still having nightmares but well each race weekend is the same rap now so no surprise there, they just don't seem to give a shit to deliver a competitive bike and have settled for mediocrity. I also foresee Quartararo taking a factory seat as soon as next year once Rossi's seat is vacant or even Viñales since he has managed to do nothing special all these years, Quartararo's pace on a Yamaha is insane, obviously the only one who has figured out how to ride this thing. KTM making massive strides, what a ride by Pol Aespargaro and making KTM looking foolish for having Zarco as the lead rider, Zarco just looks deflated and just plain defeated the poor guy, I'm sure Herve Poncharal is also kicking himself in the dick for having left Yamaha and Petronas stepping in doing an outstanding job in that garage... onto Mugello and back to bed I go

[The Black Knight]

Another bit of a snooze fest again but I foresee a lot of this for the rest of the season, Honda and Marquez just have it figured out, there is simply no dethroning this man, there is no rider or bike in the paddock that can keep up with this dude, this title is already a wrap for him and his alone to lose. Yamaha still having nightmares but well each race weekend is the same rap now so no surprise there, they just don't seem to give a shit to deliver a competitive bike and have settled for mediocrity. I also foresee Quartararo taking a factory seat as soon as next year once Rossi's seat is vacant or even Viñales since he has managed to do nothing special all these years, Quartararo's pace on a Yamaha is insane, obviously the only one who has figured out how to ride this thing. KTM making massive strides, what a ride by Pol Aespargaro and making KTM looking foolish for having Zarco as the lead rider, Zarco just looks deflated and just plain defeated the poor guy, I'm sure Herve Poncharal is also kicking himself in the dick for having left Yamaha and Petronas stepping in doing an outstanding job in that garage... onto Mugello and back to bed I go

I agree, I think the stand out satellite team is Petronas. You can tell they went into this season with some goals and milestones to hit. Quartararo is fast and Morbidelli isn't a slouch either. He hung in there the whole race this time.

That's who I left out in the first post was KTM. Big congrats to them for securing a solid top 6 and actually showing some decent pace. Yeah, Zarco is what he always was and always will be, a flash in the pan. He thought he was awesome on the Tech 3 bike, when in reality he wasn't that good. He showed some bits of brilliance and pace but for the most part just seemed to end up as a turd most races. Everyone always said, he's here to get big results and he's here to take Rossi's spot. And then Rossi would go out race after race and beat him.

And what was the deal with Abraham and Mir?? They both fell over at the same time. It seemed to me that there might have been a damp spot or some oil. But everyone else went through there fine, so I'm guessing it was cold tires and they both did the same mistake and braked a little hard trying to get some more temps in the tires. Talk about having a lame start to a race, going down on the warm-up lap is really a bummer.

I don't know if we'll see Rossi vacate the seat next season. Good possibility but not sure 100%... He really didn't have bad pace this race, especially since he was no where all weekend. Goes back to the old, he's a race day rider and he really is, as he finds something to just make it work in the race. I think honestly for Rossi, he has to take some positives away in that he stayed very close to the Ducati riders. Especially on Soft tires, Yamaha's don't usually use the Soft and the Ducati's do, so for Rossi to stay close on a tire he doesn't like does show some progress.

Vinales got taken out so not really his fault this race, but man the guy was no where as well. He's the exact opposite from Rossi. He's scorching fast during the FP's and can do well in Q2. Then the race comes and you'd think he was a different guy. Commentators kept saying, he's the only one with pace for Marquez. Really?? cause his lap times in the race didn't show it. Only one who ran similar pace was Quartararo, and he did it cause he was on fire and has nothing to lose anyways.

[The Black Knight]

Yeah, just looked up the PDF race analysis and Vinales had no pace. He didn't do one 1,32 before he was taken out. Least Rossi had high 1,32 pace for most of the race. I really like the guy as a racer and think he's fast but you start to see these kinds of times and I've come to the conclusion. Vinales just flat sucks...

And really, after reviewing the lap by lap analysis. Quatararo wasn't as fast as he seemed, it was just everyone else around him was that much slower. Just glancing at his pace, he wouldn't have had much for Rossi and I think Rossi was faster.

So once again, it goes to show the old man seems to extract the most from the bike...

[madvlad]

Man why do I get the feeling that Yamaha is trying to push Rossi out... each weekend it gets worse for this dude and with Quartararo coming up on the ranks I foresee a bit of presidential compliance happening here... what a joke.

[The Black Knight]

Man why do I get the feeling that Yamaha is trying to push Rossi out... each weekend it gets worse for this dude and with Quartararo coming up on the ranks I foresee a bit of presidential compliance happening here... what a joke.

LOL!!

Well I can tell you this much, I can tell you who is "NOT" going to win the Mugello GP tomorrow and his number stars with a 4 and ends with a 6. It's starting to get pathetic and look embarrassing.

And at this point, I don't care how fast Rossi thinks he is. 18th is flat asinine. Yamaha apologized to Vinales and Rossi last year for their lack of efforts. I think it's time for Rossi to apologize as well for his lack of efforts. I mean 18th!?!? This is supposed to be the legendary Mugello, the circuit that he draws all of his strength from and pushes that extra little bit to ride at the limit.

Well Mugello, looks like you get 18th this year.






P.S.
at least on a bright note. The new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare looks freaking bad ass!! Can't wait til Oct. 25!!

[madvlad]

The problem is in the garage man, they take too long to figure out a set up. Quartararo is the only one who apparently has figured out how to ride the piss out of this thing. Hopefully the muses smile down on him and he can actually perform well this weekend.

[The Black Knight]

The problem is in the garage man, they take too long to figure out a set up. Quartararo is the only one who apparently has figured out how to ride the piss out of this thing. Hopefully the muses smile down on him and he can actually perform well this weekend.

I've always wondered that as well, if it is his garage or his team. If that is the case a good leader has to sit down and evaluate who is contributing to the development and performance and who is not contributing or pulling their weight. Tough decisions have to get made and some people may need to move on, whether they be mechanics, engineers, etc. Something has to happen because this is becoming the norm and not the exception. Race after race he's constantly having problems in the FP's and then Q1 or Q2 fall apart. When it all comes together and he does have a good result, then it's a sigh of relief.

And I want Rossi to perform and achieve as much as anyone. But come on man, 18th?? That's an embarrassment that shouldn't have happened in my opinion. Getting things wrong at best should warrant just making the top 10 in Q2. O.k. that's acceptable and that's an o.k. performance for getting things wrong.

But 18th?? Might as well go for the back row, I mean why even try at that point?? Put it this way, he's closer to the back of the grid, than he is to the front of the grid.

Here's the thing this would all be swept under the rug if it were at some other circuit. If this happened at say Silverstone or Aragon. I don't think people would be saying much or expecting as much. But this is Mugello!! Besides Misano, he lives at this track. Mugello is Rossi's track and this is all it gets?? 18th??

Thing is, I'm sure he'll provide a good result tomorrow and it will be commendable by all and he'll chew his way back through the pack and secure probably a top 6(at best). To me, this is nothing more than utter disappointment.

Oh well man, I'm not going to get up to even watch the race. I already know who's going to win. I'll catch this abomination of a race tomorrow afternoon.

[madvlad]

Yeah not looking very good even today but well he’s shut me up a few times now so hopefully he does it again today. It’ll definitely be a scrap in between Honda and Ducati but the main point will be who will be smart enough to stay with Marquez and not run out of steam too early while he runs off into the sunset

[madvlad]

What a freaking race man!!!! Amazing!!!! This is what MotoGP is about, love it!!! Huge congrats to Petrucci man, well earned win and at home nonetheless

[The Black Knight]

That was a good and dicey race. Just finished watching it and big congrats to Petrucci. He's such a calm guy, nice to see him take it to everyone and get that win. Plus he did it on home soil for him and the team. Dovi seemed to be surprised by the speed of Petrucci but did ride a good race as well. Least it wasn't Marquez taking another win but he still extended his points lead. Got one hand on the trophy now. And what about Rins, he's showing some serious grit and determination. Doesn't look like he really had problems with the speed deficit. He just kept pushing and made some good passes.

Can't wait for Catalunya in two weeks time!!