Front row for Qatar is: 1. Capirossi (Ducati) 2. Gibernau (Honda) 3. Rossi (Yamaha) That makes three poles in a row for Capirossi. Can he make it three wins in a row as well? It is great for Ducati to be ending the year being so competitive, it makes me look forward to next year. Capirossi could even end up second in points by the end of the year. Biaggi had another bad qualifying run in 13th.
Valentino: Dennis Noyes says hello. Just met with him yesterday. Says you've already signed with Ferrari for 07, any truth to that? Art Chambers
I know a young american who probably now wishes that he hadn't signed with a certain Japanese manufacturer, when he could have had a Ducati. Art
Yep, Hopkins will only have his cute girlfriend and his millions of $ to keep him company I am very interested to see who Suzuki teams with him. Junior has shown that he still has what it takes, but I would guess he will want too much money. Kagayama? Corser? Checa? Xaus? Many rumors that Gibernau will sign with Ducati for next year. Where that leaves Checa is anyone's guess. Probably teaming with Melandri on the Movistar Honda team would be my guess. Next year may be the best chance Ducati has for a long time for the championship. Assuming no Rossi in 2007, Honda will probably own the class yet again after they switch to 800cc. Maybe a V3 desmododici in 2007?
Girlfriend is long gone. BTW, for him, it was never about the money. Never. Probably true for all of them. It's about winning: Period. Did you know that Rossi took a pretty good sized pay cut when he left Honda? It was all about his place in history, not the money. Art
Big issue is who will replace Rossi at Yamaha in 07. Rumor is that Casey Stoner is going to get that ride. If so, he's represented by the same group as Hopkins, and now that Hopkins has a two year deal, he isn't a candidate for the Yamaha seat. Think he's going to be pissed? Maybe at his new management team? Art
I was going to point out Spies problems, but just let it be said that he's difficult to deal with. Everyone in the industry knows that, so the chances of him getting any sort of offer like that is so small as to be non-existant. He has exactly the same equipment as Matt, but can't seem to run with him, but is great at accusing people of giving him inferior equipment. As you may recall, Matt had a difficult time in MotoGP when he was there, so nobody is looking at Spies. Art
Thought I saw her in the garage shots a few weeks ago, oh well. I'm sure Hopper has that department covered anyway. I didn't know Rossi took a pay cut to go to Yamaha. I thought part of it was about control of his endorsements outside of Honda. Considering he made a reported $28M last year, it looks to be working out for him.
I have read a couple of articles (RoadRacer X, for one) that basically insinuated the same opinion about Spies. He is very young and has enjoyed much success at such an early stage in his career, probably is just a tad arrogant. Incidentally, Mladin rode for Cagiva at about the same age Spies is now. The bike at that time was not exactly competitive. I must admit that I certainly do not root for Mladin, nor do I really like his personality in front of the camera, but I would really like to see how he would do on a Honda or yamaha in MotoGP. Far wiser and more experienced than his first try at the big show. With the AMA having 4 classes (one for every Jap manufacturer to win?), the talent pool seems so diluted it is impossible to tell who is really good if they race with only two or three other top riders.
It looks like the road to a MotoGP ride is through the 250 class. Guys like Casey Stoner are going to get rides, when our superbike riders aren't. That's based upon Hayden, who was supposed to be a great rider, not coming up to form. Watch the turnover in motogp over the next few years, you'll see if you've got a kid that wants to get there, he'd better learn how to ride a gp bike, not a superbike. Looks like McLaughlin was wrong, and Roberts was right (inside joke, if you don't get it, PM me and I've give you the gory details). art
http://www.mcnews.com.au/motorcycleracing2005/motogp/rnd_15/gallery_grid_girls/index.htm I'm sure Colin's very pregnant wife is thrilled...
Kenny Roberts Jr crashed and broke his wrist. He is already back in California. With the rumors of Checa taking his place, will KRJR ride in MotoGP again? Capirossi high-sided his brains out and thought he was just heavily bruised. Soon after it was discovered he has some internal bleeding in his lung. Needless to say he is out for the rest of the weekend, at least.
I don't know if KRJR was going to get his contract renewed with Suzuki anyway. Might ride for Dad if Dad can get motors for next year, but I'm guessing about that. Will be meeting with Chuck Askland on November 4th, I'll ask. Art
In post #8 of this thread, these were my predictions. 1. Rossi 2. Gibernau 3. Edwards 4. Biaggi 5. Tamada 6. Hayden 7. Capirossi 8. Hopkins 9. Checa 10. Melandri Here is how they finished, with the +/- of my original prediction: 1. Rossi (+0) 2. Melandri (+8) 3. Hayden (+3) 4. Edwards (-1) 5. Biaggi (-1) 6. Capirossi (+1) 7. Gibernau (-5) Complete confidence breakdown looming... 8. Barros (No prediction) 9. Checa (+0) 10. Nakano (No Prediction) 11. Tamada (-6) Injured mid-season 13. Hopkins (-5) Other predictions from post #1: 1. Rossi will win the championship yet again this year, probably at least equalling his nine wins last year. The guy is a roadracing god, and dominates MotoGP even more than Schumacher dominates F1. Rossi dominated. Not exactly an off-the-wall prediction. Mentioning Schumacher dominating seems laughable after the year is F1 though. 2. With the steady riding of Edwards, Yamaha also wins the Constructors Title as well. Yamaha won the constructors title. 3. Edwards will win a single race this year (only if Rossi DNF's). Then every US magazine will run huge articles how Colin is ready to be MotoGP champion in 2006. I'm already LOL. Unless Gibernau and Rossi retire at the end of the year, he hasn't got a chance. Delete Edwards, insert Hayden. 4. Ducati will suffer from another mediocre year, fast a some tracks, completely uncompetitve at others. I wouldn't call it a mediocre year, but inconsistent for sure. 5. Hopkins will get at least two poles this year, and continually show up KRJR. Hopper will need to get on a different team is he wants to win, however. Maybe a Hayden/Hopkins Repsol Honda team in 2006? Not even Hopper could get the Suzuki sorted. KRJR had a good year (for Suzuki), but still solidly behind the front-runners. 6. Biaggi, now on his long-wanted works Honda, has to face the painful realization that his best years are behind him. At the end of the year, third in points behind Rossi and Gibernau (on an identical bike), Biaggi retires. Booted off Repsol Honda for 2006, maybe is Max is just hanging on hoping Rossi quits after next year. Very uncompetitve several times this year.
Here is how they finished, with the +/- of my original prediction: 1. Rossi (+0) 2. Melandri (+8) 3. Hayden (+3) 4. Edwards (-1) 5. Biaggi (-1) 6. Capirossi (+1) I WAS CLOSE................... 1. Rossi 2. Hayden 3. Sete 4. Edwards 5. Tamada 6. Capirossi
Sponsors are a bltch, aren't they? Seriously, I assume a sponsor either required Colin to be there or he was paid to be there. Either way Colin got $$$$. If that is a perk so be it. To Ms. Edwards: You need to take the good ($$$) with the bad.....
The Suzuki had 218HP. Madlin's superbike made 205HP. There are memos asking why that was so. Next year's bike is apparently a disaster. Hooper make a huge mistake in signing for two years. They went to pneumatic valves, and it makes less HP than this year's motor, or so I've heard. The Honda's and Ducatis are making over 250. Art
You would think that Suzuki could abandon the V-4 and go back to what they know, an I-4. Even if they kept a similar bore/stroke ratio to the Superbike, pneumatic valves and other prototype trickery would allow at least a small increase in power. Since this is the last year of the 1000cc bikes, though, maybe they don't want to invest in an entirely new engine for only one season. An 800cc I-4 would make a lot of sense, maybe they are just biding their time, relatively speaking. It will very interesting to see how Chris V gets along with Hopkins. Both of them are so good and still young. If Suzuki ever gets their act together, they could be quite a pair.
Well, my predictions were on and off. Valentino dominated as I predicted. Art was wrong, as I predicted Gibernau wasn't second in the championship. In fact, he wasn't even close. Edwards was good as predicted, but not as good. Biaggi wasn't as bad as predicted, but close. Hopkins was even further off the pase than I predicted, but showed good form despite his worthless machine. I said Hayden would do well and he ended up doing fantastic. Kawasaki did better this year as predicted.
