2012 MotoGP

[Frost]

With the bulk of testing out of the way and MotoGP due to kick off again in just over 3 weeks it's time to think about placing your bets. Will we see another year of Stoner domination? A return to Lorenzo land? Can Pedrosa keep himself in one piece long enough to mount an assault on the title? Will that Ducati come good? Or will one of the promising new comers finally break the domination of the 'aliens' ?
Slightly unusually this seasons motoGP action kicks off on a Thursday. Thursday the 5th of April to be exact. I'm unsure about having the Moto2 & 3 warm up on Saturday as it means they'll be starting the race having only done an out lap to get used to track conditions that day. From a safety point of view i'm glad it's them not me, but from a spectators point of view it can only add to the madness of turn 1!

Thursday:
Moto3 FP1
Moto2 FP1
MotoGP FP1
Moto3 FP2
Moto2 FP2

Friday:
MotoGP FP2
Moto3 FP3
Moto2 FP3
MotoGP FP3

Saturday:
Moto3 Quali
Moto2 Quali
MotoGP Quali
Moto3 Warm up
Moto2 Warm up

Sunday:
MotoGP Warm up
Moto3 Race - 5pm
Moto2 Race - 6:20pm
MotoGP Race - 8pm

[Shaun]

I'm looking forward to this year, last year was the first year I followed it very heavily, almost religiously checking news sites daily and picking up MCN first thing on a wednesday morning.

I can't see Stoner not winning it unless he suffers a major injury, seeing him at Silverstone last year (from the Ducati grandstand cos I'm a winner ) made me realise just how amazing he is, he's on a whole new level.

I'm hoping to see Crutchlow perform well, the 1000 seems more suited to him and he has to our perform Dovi, they're both riding for a job, young Smith is coming up next year!

It would be nice to see Rossi make a come back but realistically, I reckon he'll be mid pack all season, maybe making a 3rd place or 2 at some point.

I'm going to keep an eye on Kent in Moto3, be interesting to see what he's capable of!

[garth]

^ What he said, you can't ignore Stoner.

This year is looking to be a bit better than last, though. Crutchlow is doing very well in testing, and the Honda/Yamaha gap has closed. Interesting that Dovi ended Sepang II faster than Lorenzo...

The only thing that remains to be seen is how the new Ducati will do. Maybe we'll know more in the tests at the end of this month (Jerez - 23-25 March). Rossi shouldn't be that far back IMO, you don't lose skill overnight. We shall see.

Stefan Bradl is going to be interesting to watch, too!

Not sure on my views on Bradley Smith and the Tech3 contract. He hasn't exactly lit the world alight in Moto2.
____________________
You ain't a has been if you never was

[pinkyfloyd]

Sadly its going to be Stacey Moaner again this year. That Honda is just set up for him perfectly and as much as I dislike the whining prick there is no doubt he can ride a bike well.

Rossi hasnt a hope. Those Dukes wont be ready for another 2 years at least I reckon.

I'd love to see Ben Spies have a chance but for that to happen he needs Stacey to fall off the track, which he was so good at a few seasons ago.
____________________
illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[Frost]

[Musketeer]

I'm a Rossi fan. But I think Stoner will take 2012 WDC title.
____________________
Current Bike: Yamaha XSR900 Previous bikes: Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja, Aprilia RS125 2-stroke

[Mikey3]

Stoner is as always the one up on EVERYONE. He could ride an 'unrideable' Ducati to world championships and victories, and now he's on a bike that is an extremely good bike generally. Look at Pedrosa (when he's in 1 peice) and Dovi's time on the bikes, then put stoners ability on a 'good' bike and you've got a recipe for success or disaster depending on your perspective. You can't not vote for him. He does his back in, does a few laps and destroys the field by half a second on the first test. Making everyone look like amateurs.
I'm a big Rossi fan, always have been. But that Ducati just doesn't ever improve. It always starts positive and gets worse. That's only what we get from the media so it could be even worse in the actual garage.
Its like the person who goes 'i'll be there in a minute' and says it 10 mins later, and so on. It's only in the absence of well, most people that the Duc gets near the front.
Lorenzo could be close again this year, that's who it'll really be between again I think. Lorenzo will do all he can to catch up with Stoner and in some cases last year he succeeded. With his optimism over the new engine and his unmatched 'spartan' (-.-) faith, he might be able to claw close. I'd still favour Stoner for the title though.

Mike
____________________
'04 Yamaha WR450F
'99 SV650 Streetfighter Project - mid build
'Motorcycling is about what you do; not about what you own, or how much you spend on it'

[Frost]

There is an argument that the riders have different styles that make up their speed in different areas.
Corner speed:
Pedrosa

Corner entry:
Rossi
Melandri
Dovi

Direction change:
Rossi

Corner exit:
Stoner
Hayden
Crutchlow

Back when Melandri and Stoner were on the Ducati it had the most power which when combined with stoners throttle control and corner exit ability made him fast as hell. But the lack of front end feel prevented Melandri finishing anywhere but last.
Rossi was on the flickable, sharp handling Yamaha which made him fast too.
Stoner has moved to Honda as it's become the fastest bike in a straight line thanks to a good engine and that fancy gearbox of theirs.
Rossi has moved to Ducati and struggled like mad with corner entry crashing all the bloody time.

So whilst Stoner is a great rider I think he is on the right bike for his style. Rossi is on the wrong bike for his style. Pedrosa could do with being on a Yamaha, Crutchlow on a Honda. The only other person who seems to be on the right bike this season is Dovi who I think will go well as a result.

Rossi can come back but they have so much work to do. They first ran that Ducati a few weeks ago. The Hondas and Yamaha's first ran last year!

There is also the engine size / power issue. Ducati are rumoured to have gone for a 925cc engine due to the 81mm bore restriction and fuel limitations. Who knows what Yamaha and Honda have done...

[Mikey3]

I would love to see the Ducati manage to be right there. The first test had so many positive results with Rossi not suffering from chatter etc. like yamaha and mainly Honda with Stoner (but he whines about anything, even winning) and all of a sudden it's gone again.
Rossi did well on the honda too, but then I was a kid really so didn't understand so I couldnt comment on the bike back then, and he also managed to do blindingly well on the transition to yamaha, as we all know so well.
The duc's always had 'vague front end feel', and with rossi 'set in his ways' as an established rider with his set style, he struggles to adapt.
I do hope he manages to get somewhere, I don't know where he'll go after. All the factories seem to not want him back for deserting them or whatever, could just be MCN bigging shit up whilst nothing was happening (probably) or there was the mention of him having his own team, possible, but I'm not sure how he'd do on a satellite bike against the factories.

Mike
____________________
'04 Yamaha WR450F
'99 SV650 Streetfighter Project - mid build
'Motorcycling is about what you do; not about what you own, or how much you spend on it'

[garth]

I predict the RSV4 CRT of RdP finishing ahead of the satellite dukes.
____________________
You ain't a has been if you never was

[Mikey3]

I don't. Barbera did Rossi and Hayden on the 'fail' 1000.
I predict them finishing above ALL the duc's

Mike
____________________
'04 Yamaha WR450F
'99 SV650 Streetfighter Project - mid build
'Motorcycling is about what you do; not about what you own, or how much you spend on it'

[chris-red]

Stoner, but I wouldn't be surprised if young Mr Spies will be nipping at his heals.
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[Frost]

I hope Spies comes good, but suspect they are listening to Lorenzo more when it comes to bike development.

I think Randy will beat a prototype bike or 2 during the season and depending on injuries and people falling off i think he might have a nice little stack of points for his efforts come the end of the season.

I'm hoping the Superbike engines are a little easier on their tyres and come good at the end of the race, but i suspect that's all down to electronics and the Prototypes will always be ahead on those.

[Frost]

[The Artist]

The 2 I will be cheering on are Spies and Cal.

Mainly Spies. He had a decent but unlucky season last year so I hope he does well.

[Frost]

I'd like to see Dovi beat a honda or two. Also going to be hoping Colin does well.

[Mikey3]

The CRT's have caught on very very quickly, if they can keep up this level of progress I think they could be beating the back of the prototypes by a couple of races in.
Nice to see Valentino make some more progress, he's actually within a second, sadly a rarity nowadays.


Mike
____________________
'04 Yamaha WR450F
'99 SV650 Streetfighter Project - mid build
'Motorcycling is about what you do; not about what you own, or how much you spend on it'

[robbieguy2003]

It looks interesting. Cal has been doing stunning throughout testing, the 1000 works much better for him. He has however massively upped his game over the last year. He regularly cycles over 100 miles a day as well as doing his gym/running etc, so he's stepped his fitness up massively and I think it's helping him. It's nice to see him doing well as he actually seems like a decent bloke.

I think the first half of the season is going to be dominated by Casey/Jorge with maybe Ben/Dani taking the odd win, but I think it'll be Casey/Jorge up front. I do think Jorge is much much closer to Casey now though, and over race distance it'll come down to who wants to risk more I think, but I reckon we might see some good battles out of those two.

The reason I say first half of the season, is because I actually think Ducati might sort this out, I think it'll take parts plus a good few races though. Vale admitted they went the wrong way with the setup in Sepang 2, so after day 1 Jerez being a disaster, they went back to the Sepang 1 setup, started going in another direction and apparantly it's working well, but they need more time on it.

According to spotters at the test, the Traction Control on the duke is doing overtime. They're saying a new swingarm has been in development since Sepang 1, so when that arrives, if that gives them more grip, it could shorten the time a bit, then plus setup gains and they might be more or less there, and more or less is enough for Vale to win when it comes to a full race. I think towards the end of the year a few wins might start coming, but it's got to be Casey or Jorges year, Dani as an outsider maybe though.

The CRTs certainly have closed a massive gap, they seem to be speeding up quite a bit. It's nice to see it tbh. Edwards reckons they're about 92-94% done now, but the satellites will be at 98% so, with that margin for improvement, it's possible the top CRTs will make a dint into some of the Satellite bikes over a race.

I'm kinda hoping Ducati dont take steps backwards now though, everything throughout last season and winter testing has been up/down, a positive is constantly followed by a negative, they dont seem to be able to build on setups, but it'll be interesting to see what happens in Qatar. Not long now anyway.

I'm going to Brands BSB but I'll Sky+ the GP and will be travelling to/from brands each day, so I cant wait, the racing seasons finally starting to get going
____________________
Current Bikes: Honda CBR 600RR - '07, Suzuki GSX1250 FA ST '11
Old Bikes: Suzuki Intruder 125 LC - '2001, Honda CBR 600F - '92, Honda CBR 600RR - '03

[Frost]

The prototypes are 157kg, the CRT's 164kg. Next year minimum weight goes up to 160kg making them closer regardless, but I think if the CRT's prove to be decent their weight will drop anyway as more money gets spent on them.
The extra 3 litres of fuel for the race might well come in to play as those testing times are quali style laps. Throttle them down to race mode and i think the prototypes will lose more speed than the CRT's.

With regards to the race up front Stoner has always been the best at single lap speed, but we saw his pace not always so great over a race distance last year. He's hard on tyres, so he gets the best out of them but tends to run out of them very quickly especially the rear. Randy is similar hence his great lap times. Rossi was always the best on worn tyres but Cal, Spies and Lorenzo are all good at it too so i expect to see them come into things later in the race.

Without such sophisticated electronics and with peaky engines due to chasing peak power i can see the CRTs potentially having tyre issues towards the end too, but i see that being an area they improve on quickly.

[Sako]

can see stoner taking it this year.

[garth]

Stoner didn't do a race simulation. Lorenzo did.

Good to finally see Rossi be a little closer - only .2 or so off the Factory Yam of Spies. It's a start.
____________________
You ain't a has been if you never was

[Frost]

[RhynoCZ]

Well, I already know, who's gonna have the most of falls on the track. Karel Abraham is shame of Czech motosport. His dad owns the team so I don't think they're gonna change him for someone who actually knows what to do any soon
____________________
'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[Frost]

Hmm i did agree that he wasn't much good, but then he won his last moto2 race. His MotoGP results have been okay too. He doesn't look like a world beater but he's only had a season.
Next season i can see him being replaced by someone from the CRT teams, and i can see there being a real fight for the spots on the CRT bikes next season.

[robbieguy2003]

I think it's looking quite good. For race distance I dont think there is much in it between Stoner and Lorenzo, it'll be down to who wants to risk it on the day.

Ducati are still a bit far off, but I expect them to get steadily better now. People in the know are saying around race 5-6, if the plan goes to plan, it'll be up there with Stoner and Lorenzo, but that is if the plan goes well.

I dont think they're in bad shape, they tested a frame with the old motor in November 11, had a working prototype by Feb 12 and now they're less than a second off Stoner/Jorge on tried and tested models with at least a year of development behind them.

Rumour has it Rossi/Burgess and co wanted to go straight to a V4, but Ducati have been more pragmatic and said lets do it in stages, so concept frame (valencia)/old motor, new mounts, concept motor - designed for concept frame/concept frame. The next iteration is apparantly chucking a V4 in which is expected around race 3 or 4. The issues they've got are still some lack of front grip which is giving oversteer and the rear grip is also quite poor, it's constantly lighting the TC up on corner exit. So apparantly new swinger, new motor and revised frame to house it all, but that'll be it, after that it'll be small bits here and there.

If they get to the above by race 3 or 4 and get it working by race 5/6/7 then the championship will have gone really, but I reckon it might be good for some wins.

I've learned most of the above by reading quite a bit on twitter btw, most of the GP paddock are on there. The V4 motor is 'unofficial' but a lot of people are saying a big update is on the way, and people with engineering backgrounds are saying the only thing that'd take that long is a motor.

The racing looks like it'll be top though, the CRTs have tightened up and they've still got a fair bit of dev to do, I expect to see a few, especially RDP chew into the back of the Satellites at some point.

Moto2 is looking quite good as well and i'm kinda looking forward to seeing how Moto3 pans out. I do want Ducati to sort things out though, it'd then mean Casey/Rossi/Jorge/Ben/Dani/Nicky potentially up front scrapping on different weekends. It'd be a bit more interesting than 2 or 3 or at a push 4 of them doing it.
____________________
Current Bikes: Honda CBR 600RR - '07, Suzuki GSX1250 FA ST '11
Old Bikes: Suzuki Intruder 125 LC - '2001, Honda CBR 600F - '92, Honda CBR 600RR - '03