Moto GP Round 1 - Lights Out In Qatar?

[Bleu]

Gadea wins 125cc, ahead of Olive, Bradl, di Meglio and Redding.

Talmacsi and Smith suffered mechanical problems, Gabor 12th, Smith out of points. de Rosa crashed out.

[f1manoz]

Michelin have certainly hit back hard in the first qualifying session of 2008 by sweeping the front row.

Congrats must go to Lorenzo for taking pole on his debut.

Looks like Rossi's move to Bridgestone will have to wait to see if he was right. It was only qualifying, and perhaps qualifying / racing at night may help Michelin, but that is impressive from a tyre manufacturer that was basically annihilated last season.

Whatever the case, I think it'll be an interesting race.

[Knowlesy]

Sergio Gadea very emotional!

Smith has inherited Pasini's bike.

[Piglet]

Fantastic ride by Gadea who's clearly hurting badly. What about Scott Redding though! One to watch in the future!

[Knowlesy]

Hell yeah! A couple of good Brit rides really, shame Smith had no chance.

Could be a good year for our scabby little island in 125cc.

[Piglet]

Moto GP is going to have to go some to be as good as that!

[Dani Filth]

or that .. 250 was even better

[mmciau]

Rossi fifth in Race 1

Mike

[Dani Filth]

stoner 1st

[Asp]

A lot of stand out performances for the first race actually. Lorenzo beating his team mate with 2nd and the pole in his first time out. Dovizioso for that epic duel and brave manoeuvres at the end. Toseland for his first performance under power.

Some fantastic action (as ever really), but based on today alone I don't think any predictions can really be made for the season.

[chunder]

Interesting to see the way Ducati backed the fuelling off at the beginning of the race with Casey.

He was in the draft and slowest on the straight for first 8 or so laps, then suddenly th thing picks up 20km/h!!! lol

Best ride for me is Dani, buggered hand, hardly any testing and if he could pass opn the brakes he would win more races!!

And of course Dovi, pure class, nothing more, where was the next 07 Honda??

[mig]

Good to see a brit up there and bashing bodywork hopefully Toseland can keep it up for the rest of the season

[mac]

Post race interview with Rossi.

Interviewer: "So Valentino, that looked a pretty tough race with Casey being very strong again - how do you think it went?"

Vale: "Well, we could have had a fantastic race, but for the tyres. They just do not work - it is a shame because Casey's tyres are so much better. The Bridgestone guys have it so easy..."

Vale, is interrupted by Jeremy Burgess who overhears the discussion and rushes over to whisper something in Rossi's ear. Rossi resumes...

"Yamaha really needs to lift their game. They either fix the bike or I go. And Jeremy, get a haircut. I don't like it - every time I see it on the pit wall I am distracted."

[Dani Filth]

you do know you have to provide a source don't you ?

[mac]

I forgot to say "alleged" post race interview...

[Hazza]

I think we need some new nicknames.

I'm not sure if Jorge should be "Jollypop", "Lollypop" or some varitaion on "Jorge Foreman Grill."

I'm thinking Toesland shoudl be "Vanilla Bear", and Dovi is nameless, faceless, so we'll leave him with Dovi.

[Ryan_Briscoe1]

Well done casey, great ride.

1st - Casey on Bridgestones

Next rider on bridgestones:

5th - Rossi on Bridgestones.

[Dani Filth]

is not that simple .. better would be

Stoner+Ducati+Bridgestone - 1st
Rossi+Yamaha+Bridgestone - 5th

[gttouring]

it was OK under the lights- the race was good, but under the lights didn't add anything to the race, and it made it more grim as you could not see the whole track, it felt a little forced not as fun as day race..
but that being said i hat those desert tracks with no green in between the tarmac- that looks worse than a night race

[chunder]

Hehe Dani

You can try mate but you will never stop it!!

Gotta say fair play to Stoner, that combination was simply unbeatable. Only guy on Bridgeys to be anywhere near the pace and also the calculate they they could ahve 5 laps at low revs etc was just an example of how hard its gonna be for everyone else to get even in the same sport.

I think Vale will struggle simply coz the Yam team ahvent got the data, and also now he is the second one, Stoner is the Bridgy main man and rememebr the tyres are tested remorselessly by Itoh and Guareschi. If there is a works Bridge team its Ducati, for no other reaosn than they ahve been their main test and development team for years.

It happened in F1 with Ferrari and it worked. Will be interesting to see if Vale can get teh Yam working. I think he will coz Qatar is a very one-off track. No way would a year old bike be as quick as Toseland and Colin otherwise.

AS said before, think Dani rode like a demon, dont like the bloke but really where was Nicky? Utterly battered!!

[Dani Filth]

as much as i don't like Pedrosa ... i sure wasn't expecting that performance .. imho ride of the race..

[Tazz]

That's what i call a great start
I don't think enyone expected a race that good from him, i was surpised too...

[JohnnyFiama]

Great race but I was at the in-laws so had the misfortune of having to watch the BBC coverage of the race rather than Eurosport. It got to the point where I almost had to turn the sound off. Where did they get the phrase "gapping" from? They must have said it about 50 times, "the leader is gapping Pedrosa", "Rossi is starting to gap him". Since when was gap a verb??

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Ryan_Briscoe1

Well done casey, great ride.

1st - Casey on Bridgestones

Next rider on bridgestones:

5th - Rossi on Bridgestones.

13.3 seconds behind Stoner, not bad for a first race on new tyres. The next rider on Bridgestone, Loris Capirossi in 8th, 32.5 seconds behind Stoner. I would be affraid if my only interest in Motogp would be a fellow countryman who I only started to support since he started to be succesful.

Originally Posted by chunder

Gotta say fair play to Stoner, that combination was simply unbeatable. Only guy on Bridgeys to be anywhere near the pace and also the calculate they they could ahve 5 laps at low revs etc was just an example of how hard its gonna be for everyone else to get even in the same sport.

I think Vale will struggle simply coz the Yam team ahvent got the data, and also now he is the second one, Stoner is the Bridgy main man and rememebr the tyres are tested remorselessly by Itoh and Guareschi. If there is a works Bridge team its Ducati, for no other reaosn than they ahve been their main test and development team for years.

I also thought Stoner rode a very 'mature' race. He never panicked when he was in 5th and Dani was dissapearing. He still has an advantage with staightline speed though and that is where his problem might be when the others catch up (they will eventually). Lorenzo did get him back in the second or third corner after Stoner blasted by him on the straight.

Yamaha have done a great job during winter testing. Although it isn't as quick as the Ducati, it is a great lot faster than last years bike (it was pretty obvious when the Fiat boys came by Toseland). Rossi however, has lost his advantage of last year, his corner speed. Although we won't see these kind of circumstances (cold weather) everywhere, he must be a bit worried. Ducati are indeed the main manufacturer testing the tyres. I think we all know now that the Ducati is a very 'different' bike, with only Stoner being able to ride it (Melandri 11th, Elias 14th, Guintoli 15th). It won't be able to get a bike working with tyres made for such a radical machine.

[Ryan_Briscoe1]

[QUOTE=Gerben24]. I would be affraid if my only interest in Motogp would be a fellow countryman who I only started to support since he started to be succesful. QUOTE]


I only started supporting Casey when he was successful? That's interesting, I didn't know that. I also didn't know my only interest was Casey. Wow, your a genius. Anything else you would like to tell me about myself?

I would be afraid if my only interest was to come on this forum and post absolute , but you seem to be doing ok with it.