2017 MOTOGP Season ****SPOILER ALERT*** *****WARNING - SPOILER *******

[Gramps]

I give Qatar to a Dovi or 99.

Dovi maybe. 99 would be divine intervention. That dude even admits he doesn't know how to ride that Duck yet.

25 is going to have to learn some racecraft now that he has a fast bike.

Who knows who wins Qatar but it will be fun to watch!

[The Black Knight]

Dovi maybe. 99 would be divine intervention. That dude even admits he doesn't know how to ride that Duck yet.

25 is going to have to learn some racecraft now that he has a fast bike.

Who knows who wins Qatar but it will be fun to watch!

See, that is where I think Vinales might struggle. Sure he's riding a wave of confidence and euphoria because he's suddenly the top alien in speed. The problem is, come race day, the guys that switch to that "it" factor, make their switch. Then it's a whole different ball game. What Vinales may come to realize that being fast isn't enough and he's going to be dicing it up with the heavy hitters for wins.

I think a similar thing happened with Stoner. Lot of people will think I'm taking a dig at Stoner but believe it or not, I have his book "Pushing The Limits" and it's a great book. I'm always interested in what makes the best of the best tick. I also have Rossi's autobiography, "What If I Never Tried". Funny thing is, I haven't read it yet.

Anyways, one of the take aways from Stoner's book is that when he was young, he just won. He won every race he'd enter. Yeah, he lost a few here and there but for the most part he would always win. So when he hit the pro's that kind of mentality just stuck with him. He was just so used to winning. When he jumped on the Ducati and started winning, he let it go to his head.

I think that's one area he really suffered in. He's still one of the fastest guys I've ever seen, and perhaps the fastest. I've never seen someone just right out of the box, start laying down super fast laps. Marquez comes close but he's the only one. But will the winning and all the fastest this and fastest that, Stoner lost his ability to know how to lose. I think that's why he took 08 Laguna so personal, well and a host of other things.

The same could happen with Vinales if he doesn't keep his head in check and feet on the ground. Sure he's fast and awesome but he's unproven and needs to really become one with the aliens.

We'll see how it all pans out. Qatar is a hard race. Everyone is competitive at Qatar. Everyone is anxious to get their season off with a bang.

If I had to pick a Qatar rostrum it'd go something like this:

1st - Marquez, Vinales and maybe Rossi

2nd - Rossi if he can't win, and Pedrosa or Dovi

3rd - Rossi if he can't secure 2nd and really has a bad weekend, Lorenzo or Dovi.

4th(best of the rest) - I'd say Bautista may surprise some folks, along with Folger or Crutchlow. Iannone a strong candidate for 4th.


Now the reason I'm picking Rossi for all three spots is going off of his Day 2 performance. Just because I'm a Rossi fan doesn't cloud what I think of his pace but honestly, from what I've seen. I really think he is sandbagging a bit. The fact that he was nowhere on Day 2 and then towards the end put in that hot lap that was .122 behind Vinales, tells me he's got something up his sleeve.

I do think Rossi is in a bit of trouble with sorting the tires for full race distance and having some front end issues. But I don't think he's making it as dire as it seems. Who knows though, he really could be up a creek without a paddle and we won't know until the season starts.