JerryMather Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Shanghai Practice Second Round I'm not surprized. Link to comment
Todd_Z1 Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 I am not surprised either. What does surprise me and what I find amazing is the .661 seconds between the lap times for the top ten riders. That is truly amazing and makes me wonder why the races are not more closely contested. Go Nicky! Cheers! Link to comment
russell_bynum Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 I haven't studied the timing sheets yet...any idea if those times are on Q's? I really expected the Ducatis to be way out in the lead. who would have guessed that Hondas (the slowest bikes through the traps) would be doing so well? This may turn out to be an interesting race afterall. Link to comment
90%angel Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Stoner had said in pre-race interviews that he didn't think the Ducs were going to have an automatic advantage, just because of the long straight; there's still a lot of corners to go through! Should be another good one! Link to comment
JerryMather Posted May 5, 2007 Author Share Posted May 5, 2007 Saturday's pratice results: 1 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R800 2:00.571 2 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati GP7 2:00.647 3 Colin Edwards Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha M1 2:00.674 4 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda RC212V 2:00.732 5 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha M1 2:00.826 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati GP7 2:00.848 7 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team Honda RC212V 2:01.006 8 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini Honda RC212V 2:01.072 9 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 2:01.251 10 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R800 2:01.289 I wonder who's going to have the best Q tire for today's shoot out? I'll bet on Stoner again. Link to comment
EffBee Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 But when it came down to it, Rossi pulled another 2.4 seconds out of his hat, and took the pole by nearly one full second! The Michelin Q's are very good. It remains to be seen if their race tires have improved enough to match the Bridgestones. Link to comment
chrisolson Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 So, Rossi on pole followed by Hopkins, Edwards, Stoner and Pedrosa. Nicky in 9th. Stoner almost 10kph faster on top end than Rossi, however only 2 kph faster than Pedrosa. He did it for one lap, but can Rossi overcome the lack of top end during an entire race? When questioned in an interview about this, Rossi said he might need a gun to stop Stoner. Your predictions ?? Link to comment
BabyCow Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 SPOILER It was very spectacular to watch Stoner smoking everyone down that looooonnnggg straight. Rossi chased magnificiently as only he can but was beaten by a better package for this track on the day. However the Ducati also seems to stop very well and will be a hard package to toss for the rest of the season. Link to comment
bakerzdosen Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 Like they say, slow and steady (and a couple of really long straights where you can really open up your Ducati) wins the race. You can't blame Rossi for trying... and try he did. Did Yamaha bring the whole company to the race? I was pleasantly surprised flipping through the channels last night to find it on ESPN2 Español (wasn't looking for it, but my 6 hours of sleep before work this morning suddenly decreased by a hour...) Link to comment
pickersgill1 Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 Hi Great Race, watched here in the UK @ a sensible time live at 08:00am Sunday morning. Incredible Ducati! Link to comment
GelStra Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 For a 21 year old kid to have Rossi throwing anything he could find at him and maintain his composure was a blast to watch! It amazed me to see the Duc just roll by him, when the Dr. did pass him, on the back straight. Oh, Russell, Lisa, it was great seeing the killer Repsol in the top pack! Good to see Nic.......uh, never mind. Link to comment
russell_bynum Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 Great race! Major Kudos go to Stoner. Not many riders have been mentally strong enough to withstand Rossi's attacks. He's clearly matured this year and it is great seeing him do so well. You know that just had to frustrate the hell out of The Doc...having to pass this little sh*t every single lap, only to be passed like he was going backwards on the straight. And congats to Hopper for finally landing a podium spot. That's been a long time coming. Tough break for Nicky with Elias torpedoing him on the first lap. I don't think he would have been contending for any of the top spots without that incident, but it certainly didn't help. Two weeks to Le Mans. Link to comment
90%angel Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 Honda is hurting this year for sure. Dani and Nicky were 1-2 last year at this circuit, and this year they're nowhere. Bet Nicky is wishing he'd taken that Ducati spot now! He thought he was going with the sure thing, but the Honda machines are just not there. I was really hoping Nicky could at least pass Collin there at the end. Oh well. At least that incident with Elias didn't knock him on his ass. Anyway, I'm not a fairweather fan; I'm a Nicky fan til the end. Just wish Honda would give him a better bike. Good for Casey! Seems like a nice kid. Glad Hopper is finally a contender too, but I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be at the expense of Nicky. We'll see how everything goes when they get to the European tracks. Should be another interesting few weeks. Link to comment
lawnchairboy Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 It was very spectacular to watch Stoner smoking everyone down that looooonnnggg straight. It really was. It was like that Duc was in a different class, unbelievable how that thing was just rocketing past Rossi on the straights... Link to comment
Jake Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 Got to give Stoner big credit for keeping his head on straight on the last few laps, cuz Rossi was all over him on some of those corners. I really was impressed by Rossi's ability to recover from some of the overshots. Not to take anything away from Stoner, but Rossi was clearly the best rider out there. I know, I know - no duh! Link to comment
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