It's not about the bike...after all

[Richard Simpson]

Or is it?

There's a Ducati in front of Valentino in the grid.

1. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 1:54.714
2. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 1:54.916
3. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 1:55.151
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 1:55.160
5. Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda 1:55.477
6. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 1:55.645
7. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 1:55.711
8. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda 1:55.870
9. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 1:56.315
10. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 1:56.523


Lights blue touch paper and retires...but only after pointing out that our Cal has rather a lot of works Hondas behind him.

Early days and all that...

[redbikejohn]

i've been watching the qualifying all weekand Cal has been right up the sharp end in each session as has Lorenso and Rossi etc. Dovy? well yes he's managed a quick lap tonight but has only managed a few quick ones. mostely he been down the order and i don;t expect him to do much tomorrow. Pedrosa? what the hell is going on there? Has his new team mate screwed with his head?

did you read the interview in mcn ref the Ducati? several things i just could not understand like having to run balls in the tank cos they did make a smaller one and not moving bit to centralise weight etc, getting pisse off when rossi told them it wasn't right? i am a big ducati fan (owned a 916) but they failed themselves

[drdaveboy]

dont expect them ducs to be near the front at the end of the race but certainly expect to see valentino up there , thought spies would have done a little better with his aggressive style although maybe injuries holding him back , think cal would have done something similar with the ducati

[mick-b]

well here my prediction lorenzo 1st ,rossi 2nd and crutchlow 3rd

[Richard Simpson]

I think Casey Stoner had Ducati right when he said you need an open mind to ride it.

It's not a Honda or a Yamaha, and seems to want to go straight on rather than turn.

Stoner seemed to be able to get it to work by riding it almost like a speedway bike and using the power to slide out of corners and pass everyone in the straights.

I would hesitate to say he was a better rider than anyone else in MGP, but I think he was a better Ducati rider than anyone else in MGP.

As for the politics etc in the pit...that's about right for Italian teams...I suspect even Rossi didn't know what was going on half the time.

[APD_660Ten]

But did you see the state of Casey half the time after finishing the races on the Ducati! He looked like he'd been riding a bucking bronko for the duration of the race.

Don't get me wrong, he's in a class of his own really and it's a shame he's gone but that thing is clearly not as easy as the others to bring accross the line and it nearly killed him in the process. I think he also had age and stamina on his side when he did that also.

Mindset.... Not convinced it is just a mindset. More like the commentary said many times. He's riding it like he's stolen it

Glad Cal stayed put.