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Well my Foxtel iQ gets a big workout this weekend with both these events on. Fortunately in different hemispheres if I'm in insomniac mode but if I need the sleep not a problem to record and watch at my leisure. At Aragon it looks all good for both Rea and Sykes on the Kwakas but I'm hoping that VDM and his Honda will provide a big challenge and keep in the points game. That young lad can sure ride. At the Termas de Río Hondo a man would have to have his money on Lorenzo, but if he doesn't get an early lead then he looses control of the race and it is game on. The Ducatis have the grunt but MM's got the talent, and a Honda. Go MM. I don't even want to think about #46, he is not a favourite of mine but he still has got the remains of his undoubted talent, immense experience and enough bastardry so he is a real threat (especially if someone tries to go outside him  ). However on the other hand, #43, Jack Miller, has got a Honda (of sorts) and he is an Aussie with some talent so he just has to have my best wishes riding with him.
Interesting that, with Hayden gone to WSBK, for the first time in forty odd years there is no American rider in the top class. There has been a real changing of the guard and the glory days of both Australian and US champions battling it out have long gone. There has got to be something wrong at the grass roots level. In OZ, our local events have been plagued by financial and management woes plus competition from many other sports. The international events get a lot of attention but not so the local.
Cheers.
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I'll have the DVR tuned for both. Pamela and I will nuke some popcorn, pour a couple of beers and watch them back to back. Life is good.
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Enjoy, and have a beer for me.
Cheers
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Will do Tony. 
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Spain and Italy both have excellent grass roots programs for road racers and more importantly the people of those countries care as much about road racing as Americans care about Nascar. Lorenzo, Marquez, Pedrosa and Rossi are like gods in their given countries.
America doesn't give a hoot about any form of motorcycle racing. Will be a long time, if ever, before we see another American World GP Champion.
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Oops - I created a duplicate thread. (Gentlemen start your DVRs). Feel free to delete.
I'm really happy Be in Sports is showing Moto2 and 3. They had me worried in Qatar. WSK is icing on the cake.
I hope MM continues to show some maturity. I'd love to see a mix of Honda's, Yamaha's and Ducati"s up at the front all race long. I'll also be keeping a close eye of Maverick Vinales on his Suzuki.
It would be great to see Jack Miller in the top 10. He had a rough year in 2015
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1 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati
2 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda
3 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati
4 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki
5 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki
6 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
7 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda
8 43 Jack MILLER AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
9 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
10 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati
top 10 from Free Practice 1..noticably missing Lorenzo, Iannone and Crutchlow
Rain predicted for the race Sunday
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Wet Race= Anyone's Race. Might want to add an hour to the end if you're recording.
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Results top 10 free practice 2
1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda
2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda
3 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki
4 43 Jack MILLER AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
5 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda
6 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati
7 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
8 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki
9 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
10 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati
still no Ianonne or Lorenzo
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(03-31-2016, 09:05 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: Spain and Italy both have excellent grass roots programs for road racers and more importantly the people of those countries care as much about road racing as Americans care about Nascar. Lorenzo, Marquez, Pedrosa and Rossi are like gods in their given countries.
America doesn't give a hoot about any form of motorcycle racing. Will be a long time, if ever, before we see another American World GP Champion.
That's a replica of the situation here. Four different football codes, cricket, and other sports (or entertainment, depending on your viewpoint) are of much greater interest to the general public than motorcycle racing. It is possible for an AFL club game in Melbourne to attract 80000 spectators. Which eclipses a weekend at PI for an international event and our local events would be fortunate to have numbers in the thousands. OK, there's not much else to do in Melbourne (dons flak jacket), but attitudes to motorcycling in OZ have changed over the last decade or so. Before every family had two cars, and a colour TV , bikes were part of the background to life and competitive biking was of interest to a significant part of the population. Speedway tracks were a part of every city's infrastructure and of most country towns. Speedway and road racing were well attended and its men and machines were heroes to both young and old. At some point motorcycling became "dangerous" and, in the public eye at least, less than respectable. Thank you Johnny (aka Marlon Brando). Motorcycling is once again regaining its popularity but in a different way. Cashed up "boomers", city dwellers who can't find a car parking spot and the café set would make up the majority of bike and scoot sales. A recent OZ survey put the average age of motorcyclists at over 40. I contributed greatly to this result I'm sure. PI is reasonably well attended, even since Casey retired, but I would say a good proportion of the spectators would not follow the season through. If Jack Miller comes good the sport would benefit. Anyway, this sort of philosophising is best continued over a cup of tea, so let the weekend roll on.
Cheers
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