MotoGP Results - Spoiler

I missed the race I went for brunch on my duck, first ride of the season. How did Hopkins do?

 

A pretty dirty way to finish an otherwise great race.

 

The way I saw it, Gibernau moved down into Rossi (to the extent of which he, Gibernau, gave Rossi the elbow) and Rossi kept his line and balance while Gibernau lost his line and balance and went off the track temporarily. Also, I was amazed that after the race Gibernau complained that his left shoulder was injured as if it were Rossi's fault. So, is there some rule that Rossi can't pass Gibernau on the inside when victory is in sight? Am I the only one (besides my wife) who saw Gibernau use both his bike and elbow trying to knock Rossi off balance? If this is not what happened, will somebody please explain to me what did take place? Just to be clear on this, I saw Rossi take the inside position on a left hand corner, curve, whatever, and then Gibernau moved down having his bike strike Rossi's while his elbow also swung out at Rossi (maybe if Sete had kept both hands on the bars, he wouldn't have lost his line as badly). I cannot see how Rossi can be blamed for this. Aren't the racers suppose to position their machines in the most advantageous position (and if there was a foul in this case, I see it as being Gibernau's)? I'd like to hear what others of you have to say (especially the more knowledgeable of you). thanks.

 

It was an incredible race. I did not see Gibernau foul Rossi. However, I did not see Rossi do anything wrong either. It was a very aggressive and heart-stopping move by Rossi to take the inside line into the final corner and it won him the race fair and square.

 

Rossi came in to the corner too hot and literally pushed Gibernau off the outside of the track. They easily could have both gone down. This was far from a clean pass, but it made for a great show.

 

About the collision - I don't have the race on tape, but maybe those who do will take a close look. I know that Sete threw his left elbow. Sete's body language/actions said, "Out of my way! I can't win if you don't yield." As for Rossi coming in "way too hot," either Sete wasn't in position to keep Val out, or Rossi gained superior position in a legal manner. One of the racers had to have the best line/quickest way through that corner, and the one who did would win. As I see it, Rossi provided another costly lesson for Sete and nothing more than that.

 

John got 14th. Not too good. Complained about the flu and bad tire choice. I think that Suzuki may not have gotten the combination right. John was up as high was 8th, but got run into the first lap, but he should have been able to get back up, if the bike were right.

Art

 

Great race. I loved it. As for the last pass ... that's bike racing for you! If that's not mannered enough, you can watch F1

 

My girlfriend and I watch that pass at least 6 times in slow mo. Was it a pass the Rossi usually makes or enjoyed making? I would say most definitely not. Was it a foul? Not at all. Rossi was in there a bit hot. But would he have ultimately made contact if he did not sense the potential of contact. I don't know too many people who are going to stay on the brakes while bracing to take a hit on the right side (the front brake side) of the bike. I can see the very good possibility that Vale let off the breaks while instictively bracing for a possible shunt. Whether Rossi let off the brake lever completely or not no one but Rossi knows for sure. But I would be willing to bet that he did not stay completely on the brakes as he normally would after realizing contact was going to occur. And we all know that at those speeds and with that type of race machinary a slight too much or in this case too little braking can put you many, many feet away from your intended angle of attack. My point is that the impending contact had the potential to cause Rossi to release the lever which inturn only helped to cause the contact even more.

That along with the fact that Sete was entering the turn much wider than he would have probably liked to. Why, cause Sete was entering that turn hot as well after taking the lead back from Vale on the previous corner. Sete without a doubt closed down on the Rossi who was nearly side by side with him once at the apex.

I equated the pass to a car race where the passing cars front fender was along side the drivers side door of the lead car and the lead shutting him down to prevent a pass. The actions of both riders were a bit optimistic, Vale going for the pass and Sete shutting the door on him, but I call that a racing incident and not a foul . . . and it would seem so does the FIM.

 

Wow what a race!

Re: Rossi's last corner move. I feel Sete left the door WIDE open, so Rossi ducked down the inside and only then did Sete try to close the door; Rossi always goes down the inside, like clockwork so why didn't Sete park his bike in a defenseive position BEFORE the corner and close up the inside? Why would you leave so much room on the last corner of the last lap, with a crazed italian chasing you?

Did Rossi outbrake himself? Yes.
Did he try a desperate move? Yes.
Did Sete screw up? Yes.

However, this isn't Gentlemen's Quarterly racing, it's MotoGP. Sete should have been on his guard until the flag.

In related news, it should now be painfully obvious to everyone that, Irv Kanemoto or not, Biaggi will never be Champion.

I'm also looking forward to watching Bayliss develop on the Honda and am hoping Suzuki will finally put a decent race bike underneath our man Hopkins!

 

I think I'm looking forward to this race more than the F1 race!

 

I hope this link works. check it out: http://img140.echo.cx/img140/2076/rossi8pd.gif
Sorry to repost Hubert, but your link took 500% longer to load (for me) than the one I posted.

 

Amazing race. Absolutely amazing. I'll start my comments at the beginning of the race. Colin Edwards had a wonderful start, but he is on a very steep learning curve as his qualifying times showed. Good things are to be expected from him. Shinya Nakano...Shinya Nakano...what a wonderful job! He's probably riding the fifth bike from the top (honda-yamaha-ducati-suzuki-yamaha) and manages a fifth place out of the box. Wonderful job there. Nicky Hayden...Nicky Hayden...poor kid. Dropping out of a podium with fourth place miles away from him. Way to go Sete for dominating the first part of the race. Way to go Rossi for doing what he does best, making a superhuman pass near the end of the race. Way to go Sete and Rossi for doing what the both of you do best, dicing it out at the end of the race far ahead of everyone else. After watching the final corner several times, I am convinced that "it's just racing." I'm actually surprised Gibernau got off the track. After watching and watching and watching and watching....the replay, I think that both riders could've handled it better. Rossi seemed unable to get the bike to do exactly what he wanted going into the turn. It seems the best action for Gibernau would've been to slow down, tuck under Rossi and attempt to overtake. It seems like he could've at least stayed on track with Rossi instead of coasting into the gravel IMO. Post race, Gibernau held his composure extremely well and I would've liked to have seen Valentino apologize. Overall, a poor end to a great battle and I hope Sete and Rossi can come to terms on this with no animosity.

 

Ditto, in the heat, he got carried away trying to go ahead. I'm sure had he braked harder and tucked in, he would have pulled it off. But hey, last corner of the race ... I was never calm under those situations!
Overall, I think it's all fair. Rossi overshot his braking but Gibernau failed to realize that, and made the mistake of pushing just that much harder ... I would've been pissed to see him win ...

 

If anybody is interested, it's on again tommorow, Tuesday April 12 at 1PM

 

Yes, it's on at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (12:00 Central). Don't miss it.

 

Just finished watching the rerun. Wow, what a nailbiter. Nothing intensional in the last corner. That's just called racing. Their is no comparison between Motogp and F1. You can't get better than this.

 

T.O.Dino, I agree 100%. MotoGP is fantastic. I just hope Sete is ready for this weekend's race in Portugal (shoulder injury healed).

 

Stu Cazz,

via what channel or network do you get motogp

 

speed channel has it. too bad I don't have it.

Art