The Marco Simoncelli MotoGP Thread

watka · Post by **watka** » 03 Sep 2013, 23:38

Excellent stuff, glad you had a great day.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 14 Sep 2013, 16:56

Marquez

And Rossi 3rd, only 0.145 behind Lorenzo.

watka · Post by **watka** » 14 Sep 2013, 21:52

Marc Marquez is simply outstanding. Here's a guy in his 1st season of MotoGP smashing the Misano qualifying record and qualifying half a second faster than everyone else. Bear in mind that the man 2nd on the grid is a double world champion (and twice 2nd place in the championship) who is arguably responsible for the downturn in Valentino Rossi's career and finished 1st or 2nd in every single race he finished last year (and in the 2 races he didn't finish, one DNF was completely not his fault).

Having seen him in Moto2 (on the pace by the middle of his debut season and dominating the championship in his second), I suspected he might have a sniff at the title, but not this sort of performance. Lewis Hamilton's debut season in F1 doesn't even compare to Marquez.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 14 Sep 2013, 22:06

Jocke1 wrote:Marquez

And Rossi 3rd, only 0.145 behind Lorenzo.

But Espargaro is 6th, ahead of both ducatis.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 14 Sep 2013, 22:32

And here I was, thinking Lorenzo's debut season was pretty special...

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 15 Sep 2013, 09:20

watka wrote:Lewis Hamilton's debut season in F1 doesn't even compare to Marquez.

And Hamilton never drove from 33rd (last) to win a race in GP2, either.
Seriously, I saw that final Moto2 race of the season last year live, and I was pretty blown away by Marquez' performance afterwards.
It was one of the greatest things I've seen. And here he is humiliating everyone in MotoGP less than a year later.

roblomas52 wrote:But Espargaro is 6th, ahead of both ducatis.

True, but with better tyres. I think.

Rossi on his new helmet design:

"We decided to make something more serious because it is a long time since Marco is not with us and this is his own race track, more than for me. His house is closer to the track than Tavullia and the circuit is in his name so we decide to remember him with a song from Pink Floyd that every time I hear it I remember Marco. This was the idea for a tribute to Marco."

http://youtu.be/P2WVi_dvvf4

AGV Valentino Rossi Misano 2013 "Pink Floyd" helmet. Misano is always a special circuit for the Doctor, not only is it his home race but also named after the legendary Marco Simoncelli who was a very close friend of Rossi.

The Misano 2013 helmet shows the Pink Floyd album cover "Wish You Were Here" and is referring to his great friend Marco Simoncelli.
"How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl.
Year after year, running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears. Wish you were here."

Carro corner comparison:

And according to motogp.com, there are two Valentino Rossises :shock:

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 15 Sep 2013, 18:42

Good stuff, and good on Marques.
Pity motogp has become so boring in the last few years though.
Lorenzo was way in the distance, after seeing Marques pass Rossi and then pass Pedrosa the excitment was over but good on Marques anyway. It was all over and I went and had dinner (GMT+8 here), moto GP is pretty predictable but the lower classes are often better.

Also, an awesome thing they did to name the race/event/track after Simoncelli. I was gutted when he died, felt the same way when Kato died and many other 4 wheelers too. I can't beleive it's been ten years after Kato died!

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 28 Sep 2013, 00:41

Jorge's bike was set up to demonstrate the 64 degrees of lean he achieves:

FP1
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 328.7 1'49.753
2 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 331.8 1'49.761 0.008 / 0.008
3 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 333.8 1'49.948 0.195 / 0.187
4 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 330.3 1'50.219 0.466 / 0.271
5 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 329.7 1'50.499 0.746 / 0.280
6 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 333.3 1'50.535 0.782 / 0.036
7 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 326.0 1'50.575 0.822 / 0.040
8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 326.6 1'50.852 1.099 / 0.277
9 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 330.5 1'51.020 1.267 / 0.168
10 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 325.6 1'51.263 1.510 / 0.243

FP2
1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 325.3 1'48.987
2 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 331.5 1'49.119 0.132 / 0.132
3 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 330.7 1'49.254 0.267 / 0.135
4 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 326.9 1'49.405 0.418 / 0.151
5 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 328.5 1'49.763 0.776 / 0.358
6 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 319.7 1'49.840 0.853 / 0.077
7 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 325.3 1'49.909 0.922 / 0.069
8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 323.6 1'50.034 1.047 / 0.125
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 313.3 1'50.055 1.068 / 0.021
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 326.6 1'50.446 1.459 / 0.391

watka · Post by **watka** » 28 Sep 2013, 17:47

That really is impressive stuff, just goes to show the inertia that these bikes have at speed.

Marquez on pole again but not by a landslide this time (just one hundredth of a second). Lorenzo has been on top form in the races recently and I think we're going to see an almighty battle for the win between those two, especially with some of the big breaking zones Aragon has. Pedrosa might be in the mix too, he seems closer than in recent races.

Post by **mario** » 29 Sep 2013, 16:20

watka wrote:That really is impressive stuff, just goes to show the inertia that these bikes have at speed.

Marquez on pole again but not by a landslide this time (just one hundredth of a second). Lorenzo has been on top form in the races recently and I think we're going to see an almighty battle for the win between those two, especially with some of the big breaking zones Aragon has. Pedrosa might be in the mix too, he seems closer than in recent races.

Well, Marquez has won the race but is now under investigation for his clash with Pedrosa according to Autosport. Although it was initially thought that Pedrosa made a mistake, Honda have now announced that Marquez did make contact with Pedrosa's bike and tore the sensors for the traction control system off Pedrosa's bike, which would explain why Pedrosa lost control his his bike as soon as he got back onto the power on the exit of the corner. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110229

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 29 Sep 2013, 19:25

Right when it happened I suspected something broke on Daniel's bike, because from the very first replays, you could see Marquez's left side nudge Pedrosa's right. And then Pedrosa abnormaly got that highside.
But to possibly penalize Marquez? Oh, please.

link

Pedrosa escaped serious injury in the crash, but is now 59 points behind Marquez - who went on to win the race - in the standings with four rounds to go.

"I took a heavy knock to my hip and my groin area, but I was unable to escape relatively unhurt from what was a big crash," said Pedrosa.

Matt Beer must have been drunk while writing that story.

watka · Post by **watka** » 29 Sep 2013, 22:46

Good to hear that Pedrosa is okay, but that's his championship over with such a freak accident. Marquez can't be to blame, the contact was minimal and it really was sheer dumb luck that Pedrosa's TC was affected.

Post by **mario** » 30 Sep 2013, 06:46

Jocke1 wrote:Right when it happened I suspected something broke on Daniel's bike, because from the very first replays, you could see Marquez's left side nudge Pedrosa's right. And then Pedrosa abnormaly got that highside.
But to possibly penalize Marquez? Oh, please.

link
Pedrosa escaped serious injury in the crash, but is now 59 points behind Marquez - who went on to win the race - in the standings with four rounds to go.

"I took a heavy knock to my hip and my groin area, but I was unable to escape relatively unhurt from what was a big crash," said Pedrosa.

Matt Beer must have been drunk while writing that story.

It appears that the article was written before the full details had emerged - according to the MotoGP website, the investigation is into the crash itself, with a request from the race director to the Honda team for a technical report into the design of their traction control system. It looks like Marquez himself isn't directly involved, rather the sequence of events that followed on from the moment he made contact with Pedrosa are the subject of their inquiries.

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 30 Sep 2013, 08:51

Here's what Dani has to say about it :

“I was going into the corner. He was over the limit, completely missed the braking, tried to avoid me and at that moment touched me a little bit and went off. When I opened the gas, the cable of the traction control was
broken so I had a big highside and couldn’t really avoid the crash, unfortunately.

I understand that he was racing to beat Marquez and stay in some kind of title contention, but the two Repsol riders must have been briefed with instructions not to interfere with each other, after all Pedrosa has history
of this when he wiped out Championship leader and team-mate Nicky Hayden at Germany (I believe) in 2006. Ok, so on this occasion he was the victim rather than the instigator, but they shouldn't have been that close
anyway. Perhaps he saw this as his last chance to catch up before the team ~did~ impose orders on him to support Marquez - now he will have no choice. Sadly, this season may have been his best chance and it's all going
away from him.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 30 Sep 2013, 16:47

madmark1974 wrote:Here's what Dani has to say about it :

“I was going into the corner. He was over the limit, completely missed the braking, tried to avoid me and at that moment touched me a little bit and went off. When I opened the gas, the cable of the traction control was
broken so I had a big highside and couldn’t really avoid the crash, unfortunately.

I understand that he was racing to beat Marquez and stay in some kind of title contention, but the two Repsol riders must have been briefed with instructions not to interfere with each other, after all Pedrosa has history
of this when he wiped out Championship leader and team-mate Nicky Hayden at Germany (I believe) in 2006. Ok, so on this occasion he was the victim rather than the instigator, but they shouldn't have been that close
anyway. Perhaps he saw this as his last chance to catch up before the team ~did~ impose orders on him to support Marquez - now he will have no choice. Sadly, this season may have been his best chance and it's all going
away from him.

No it was Estoril in Portugal that Pedrosa knocked Hayden out

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 01 Oct 2013, 09:14

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:
madmark1974 wrote:Here's what Dani has to say about it :

“I was going into the corner. He was over the limit, completely missed the braking, tried to avoid me and at that moment touched me a little bit and went off. When I opened the gas, the cable of the traction control was
broken so I had a big highside and couldn’t really avoid the crash, unfortunately.

I understand that he was racing to beat Marquez and stay in some kind of title contention, but the two Repsol riders must have been briefed with instructions not to interfere with each other, after all Pedrosa has history
of this when he wiped out Championship leader and team-mate Nicky Hayden at Germany (I believe) in 2006. Ok, so on this occasion he was the victim rather than the instigator, but they shouldn't have been that close
anyway. Perhaps he saw this as his last chance to catch up before the team ~did~ impose orders on him to support Marquez - now he will have no choice. Sadly, this season may have been his best chance and it's all going
away from him.

No it was Estoril in Portugal that Pedrosa knocked Hayden out

Yup, I've checked it now. Just remembered it was a twisty track and instantly thought of the Sachsenring ...

Gerudo Dragon · Post by **Gerudo Dragon** » 01 Oct 2013, 20:38

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

watka · Post by **watka** » 01 Oct 2013, 20:40

Booooo! I suppose they can cram a lot more fans into Austin and Indy so Laguna Seca loses out. Shame that its gone purely for profit reasons.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 01 Oct 2013, 20:46

On the bright side at least all 3 classes will contest all the rounds. It's a bit hard for me reading Wikipedia and the Moto2 and Moto3 classes go to about 1-9 and then 11-17 because they missed Laguna Seca

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 01 Oct 2013, 22:16

The thing about Dani's accident for me, is that if the TC sensors were damaged by the contact, then it really sums up two things about modern MotoGP:

1. The lack of finese in a rider's application of the throttle on the exit of the corner. Dani just wound it open, expected the TC to kick in and, surprise! Got fired 6ft into the air. Go back 10, 15 years ago and the riders had to apply the throttle with the care Dani would have done if he'd known the TC was bust, only they'd be doing it on the limit, as they tried to win races with nothing else to save them.

2. The level of influence electronics now hold over the racing. I keep saying it, but it's unhealthy for the sport. Some of the riders trot out the 'safety' excuse now, but you go back to 2000 (picked at random), and have a look at the number of top riders sidelined by broken bones during the year. None of them! Roberts Jnr, Rossi, Biaggi, Barros, McCoy, Checa, Capirossi, Abe - they all did full seasons with no problems. The bikes are actually getting more dangerous as the electronics are relied on more and more, and the riders' own self-preservation is eroded by this false "security blanket" which they think they can fall back on. Only when they do reach the limit, the consequences are far worse, because the point at which they'd normally crash without the electronics has been far surpassed. Now we're ending up with a generation of riders that don't know any different from the electronics, and their riding style accommodates that - balls out, gutsy, entertaining to watch, but with terrible consequences when it goes wrong, which is ultimately to the detriment of the championship. If Lorenzo and Pedrosa both hadn't been injured we would have had a great title battle. Instead, it's Marquez's to loose, simply by virtue of the fact that he hasn't been injured.

watka wrote:Booooo! I suppose they can cram a lot more fans into Austin and Indy so Laguna Seca loses out. Shame that its gone purely for profit reasons.

And safety as well. In terms of run-off, barriers, etc it's archaic compared to most tracks these days.

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:On the bright side at least all 3 classes will contest all the rounds. It's a bit hard for me reading Wikipedia and the Moto2 and Moto3 classes go to about 1-9 and then 11-17 because they missed Laguna Seca

It's a hangover from California's strict emission laws which prevented the two-strokes from visiting when they returned to the track in 2005. They've never bothered to bring Moto2 and Moto3 now the engines are four-stroke which I always found odd.

Personally I won't miss Laguna all that much. Aside from the Corkscrew it's a pretty dull track, and has never really produced good racing except that standout moment of Rossi putting it on the dirt to pass Stoner.

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 02 Oct 2013, 11:55

2014 calender announced, with new races at Argentina and Brazil included :

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/2014+MotoGP+Calendar+Announcement

Shame I won't get to see any of it thanks to BT Sport ...

watka · Post by **watka** » 02 Oct 2013, 23:08

It would be very interesting to see how Marquez would manage on a 10 or 15 year old bike. Part of the reason for his success is that he's only ever ridden bikes with a high amount of tech, the likes of Pedrosa and Lorenzo learnt their trade on different machinery.

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 04 Oct 2013, 08:43

watka wrote:It would be very interesting to see how Marquez would manage on a 10 or 15 year old bike. Part of the reason for his success is that he's only ever ridden bikes with a high amount of tech, the likes of Pedrosa and Lorenzo learnt their trade on different machinery.

I'd be equally interested in seeing a young Giacomo Agostini try to be competitive on a modern bike. Part of me wonders if some of the legends of the past would be up to snuff to ride a bike as physically taxing as the current breed.

watka · Post by **watka** » 05 Oct 2013, 12:02

F1000X wrote:
watka wrote:It would be very interesting to see how Marquez would manage on a 10 or 15 year old bike. Part of the reason for his success is that he's only ever ridden bikes with a high amount of tech, the likes of Pedrosa and Lorenzo learnt their trade on different machinery.

I'd be equally interested in seeing a young Giacomo Agostini try to be competitive on a modern bike. Part of me wonders if some of the legends of the past would be up to snuff to ride a bike as physically taxing as the current breed.

I don't think it would be that much trouble for Agostini. He rode around in the days where the Isle of Man TT was part of the grand prix calendar and he also did a season in British F1 at the end of his career so I think he'd have been up to it.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 10 Oct 2013, 11:23

I feel sick. This is disgusting!

10 October 2013
Marquez handed penalty point after Aragón
http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/Sepa ... psol+Honda

Race Direction explains Aragón decision
http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/Race ... a+decision

I have no comment because it is something between Race Direction and Marc. I am only a side effect of what happened in Aragon.
- Pedrosa

You started it, Daniel. You were the one complaining!

"I will not change."
- Marquez.

Terrific.

I think they are wrong (about the one penalty point). They have too many penalties. They should have given him one more point in the championship!
- Lorenzo

Thumbs up for Lorenzo!

Visconti · Post by **Visconti** » 10 Oct 2013, 16:32

Very stupid. Pedrosa just upset Marquez is a better driver...

watka · Post by **watka** » 10 Oct 2013, 23:17

Visconti wrote::evil: Very stupid. Pedrosa just upset Marquez is a better driver...

Yeah, he's a better rider too.

Sorry :mrgreen:

Visconti · Post by **Visconti** » 11 Oct 2013, 07:08

watka wrote:
Visconti wrote::evil: Very stupid. Pedrosa just upset Marquez is a better driver...

Yeah, he's a better rider too.

Sorry

Gah, I always forget that :mrgreen:

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 12 Oct 2013, 06:27

This'll be exciting, Q1 over and it looks like rain for Q2. Anyone else watching?

Edit;

Marquez

Rossi

Smith

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 12 Oct 2013, 08:55

Here is the sensor that Marquez nudged:

And for Pedrosa to say that Marquez was "over the limit":

:roll:

A conspiracy theorist shared this photo: :lol:

Gerudo Dragon · Post by **Gerudo Dragon** » 12 Oct 2013, 23:32

Damn.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 13 Oct 2013, 09:53

2013 MotoGP MalaysiaGP Moto2 Crash
http://youtu.be/cZuHzsBzybk

watka · Post by **watka** » 14 Oct 2013, 00:04

Jocke1 wrote::shock:

2013 MotoGP MalaysiaGP Moto2 Crash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMORlDyRYt0

How the heck did everyone survive that with no serious injuries? It's like skittles! Thank God we didn't have another Simoncelli on our hands.

Almost as scary as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKX_7BSnSfM

On a far lighter note, nice to see Pedrosa back on the pace again and picking up a win.

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 18 Oct 2013, 10:23

Ooh, Hayden to Honda :

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/aspar+honda+contract

On the Aspar CRT/'Production spec' Honda, that is. Seems a decent move, replacing Espagaro ...

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 18 Oct 2013, 15:42

madmark1974 wrote:Ooh, Hayden to Honda :

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/aspar+honda+contract

On the Aspar CRT/'Production spec' Honda, that is. Seems a decent move, replacing Espagaro ...

Espargaro's performances will be nigh impossible for Hayden to recreate I think, but if Hayden can claim the CRT title next season, it'll be a mission well done.

watka · Post by **watka** » 18 Oct 2013, 23:46

I remember there being a photo posted on Twitter (probably either Steve Parrish or Matt Roberts) captioned "They like to make the journalists' life easy, don't they?" which was a picture of Hayden's scooter outside the Aspar motorhome!

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 19 Oct 2013, 08:56

Lorenzo just collected a seagull in Phillip Island qualifying :lol:

Post by **mario** » 19 Oct 2013, 17:42

eurobrun wrote:Lorenzo just collected a seagull in Phillip Island qualifying

Compared to the latest piece of news, the seagull could be the least of Lorenzo's problems - Race Control has announced that every single rider in the MotoGP field will be forced to change their tyres - which effectively means having to change bike altogether - at least once during the course of the race.

The reason for the change is because Bridgestone have said that they cannot guarantee the safety of the rear tyres beyond 14 laps. Race Control have now said that no rider will be allowed to do more than 14 laps on a single set of tyres, every rider has to use the hardest available rear tyre compound and the race distance is being cut by one lap. http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2013/race ... sland+race

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 19 Oct 2013, 19:11

Indy '05 tomorrow? :roll:

Seagull Sucked into Jorge Lorenzo's Bike
http://youtu.be/8xS528BcZeI

watka · Post by **watka** » 20 Oct 2013, 00:12

This is pretty rejectful. But in the interests of safety its the only sensible thing to do and still have a race. A blowout on a motorbike would be about 10x worse than a race car.