MotoGP: Holland Days (Spoilers)

The guy leading the championship is now all of a sudden “psychologically defeated”???

I´d say the trick is to push very hard, but stay on two wheels. That latter is more important than the number of race wins per year, and especially when you know there will be many tracks coming up, where you´ll have a good chance to win. Sure Assen turned out to be a disappointing weekend for DP, but it´s far from a catastrophe. As long as he keeps doing what he is doing, he will have a very good chance to lift the title. And remember that last year his later part of the season was even stronger than first part.

BTW, Assen is not one of the tracks where Pedrosa has been very strong in the past, either.

And you base that on a picture that was posted of him looking tired after the race?


:eek1

You're ignoring his 7 previous seasons on a Repsol Honda and not winning the WC while 2 of his teammates did. Now this year his green pea teammate is showing him the back wheel more and more, and it's early yet, not to mention The Doctor finding his form again.

He started out with the best chance, and frankly he's looking like 3rd place now, then add in his past history.

maybe DP can console himself with the fact that his green pea teammate is showing everybody the back wheel more and more.

Pedrosa reminds me of riders like Martinez, Gresini, Raudies or Alzamora. Small guys that spent their successful careers with small displacement bikes (Nieto was a dominator in these classes but I have never seen him, I'm too young ). I keep thinking that if he was allowed to stay in a small/middle GP class championship in the past 7 years he would have collected a lot more than he did in MotoGp.

Pedrosa freaked out??? forget it. The guy only started showing emotions 2 years ago, so if anyone can read phsycological burnout off of his face then they should go and work for border control at JFK and catch smugglers. He is in it to win it, his best chance ever but the field is tougher and closer together.

Rossi, yep, I think he has found what he was looking for. He will be after a win here and there but totally happy to be able to fight for a podium.

Lorenzo, now here is the man with stainless steel cojones which pull sparks dragging behind him when he walks down the pits. Probably overcome something which he previously deemed impossible. He will be supercharged.

MM, I dont even think he understands what is possible, he just seems to be enjoying racing, a young puppy on the podium, like he was chatting to his school mates after racing scooters. No pressure and major major skills.

CC, a man on a mission, a mission to prove he is amongst the best, i sense that he feels he has to prove that, just rough around the edges, once he loses some respect for the other four he will scrape fairings.

What a year it is turning out to be.

Point is, a lot of people keep saying: he won 6 races out of 8 last season... ( there was 18 races last season )

06
07
08
09
010
011
012 No WC on a FACTORY HONDA.

6 out of 8 on a 18 race season does not wipe off his years of poor results.

He's not defeated. He's got a set-up problem. He's fast until he's not. You can see his bike losing grip after the half. They all lose a little pace, but he drops of pretty fast in the middle. He has a hard time even holding his lines near the end. Maybe he has to modify his style a little to get more life out of that back tire.

He's allways been like that, fading by mid race.

I wouldn't quite say fading, but in his wins he does open up a good lead early, then manage it from there.

When guys like VR and CC can keep it close, those two know how to race, not just ride fast. I don't see Dani in that same light. Jorge can, but it's learned, not instinctual, if you can get what I mean. Marc can scrap pretty good too, but that's where the mayhem comes in.

His 'youthful exuberance' (fancy words for young and stoopit with a boner) can cause a real shake up. You can, with out hardly effort, see Marc bowling 99 and 26 into the kitty litter. Imagine the points shift if CC won with 46 on his tail in that race...

Any racer have growning up & racing in spain and getting into Moto GP has racing instincts. Full stop.

Yes they have distinctive styles, some would rather not invade others personal space but that doesnt mean they wont when they have to. The more and more they swap paint the less hesitation you will see.

Beauty in motion a clean race jump to a lead and manage that lead means you dont have to swap paint. Thats for some the racers thats the perfect race. For others it needs to be strewn with battles. You need to be able to do both. You didnt see Rossi back off and think "mmm lets have another battle with MM"

Stoner was injured while Dani was cleaning up last year. This is not a slam of him at all. Just pointing it out.

He was the only one who could have taken points off them both. So, three guys for the podiums.

This year, there are five good bets for the podium slots. That really can change things.

Stoner said he liked good racing? He should have stuck around.

Just like how Dani rode injured for the first two races of Stoner's championship year and then missed 3 (I think) more races.

Yeah, Stoner in the mix would have been great. Not that what is going on now is not fantastic.......


Not complaining!

The best thing that would have almost certainly have happened if Stoner was still racing would be that MM would have taken Bautista's seat.

Poor results at what, yacht exams? BTW, he won seven races last year, more than Lorenzo, which of course didn't make him champion, but to say his results have been poor shows a lack of attention or a unique understanding of the word "poor".

One way to look at Pedrosa is a guy whose previous history shows a likelihood of getting hurt; on the other hand, how long can someone's bad luck last? He could avoid injury like last year, and he's already in a better position than he was a year ago.

I understand Pedrosa is light but MM is also quite light. What makes Pedrosa more susceptible to cool weather and low grip? Is it the way he likes his bike setup?

What I feared for Lorenzo was this:

1. I fractured left humerus in high-speed tankslapper get-off a few years ago
2. Had it plated & screwed by orthopods
3. Started riding a pushbike after about 3 weeks
4. Two screws ripped out: NON-UNION!
5. Had to repeat step 2...this time I stayed in bed for a year (well...)

To do what Jorge did that soon was---to me---absolutely petrifying!!

But I guess he's OK.

--Doc

I am 4 weeks out from the right humerus (compound, high side), but no hardware, just letting it heal. I was perplexed that they didn't plate it, but you made me feel better about it. It feels pretty solid now, but I'll probably wait another couple weeks before the bicycle? Totally agree about JL, I couldn't imagine doing it!? :eek1