Japan MotoGP ***Spoiler Alert***

[Cormanus]

The starting grid:
[li]Johan Zarco 1'53.469[/li] [li]Danilo Petrucci 1'53.787[/li] [li]Marc Marquez 1'53.903[/li] [li]Aleix Espargaro 1'53.947[/li] [li]Jorge Lorenzo 1'54.235[/li] [li]Dani Pedrosa 1'54.342
[/li] Valentino Rossi made a poor decision about tyres and will start from 12th. Andrea Dovizioso starts from 9th position.

Looking forward to the race tomorrow afternoon my time and the Australian GP next weekend. Not to mention the ride to Philip Island.

 

[the Ferret]

Wow Zarco on pole?, and A Espargaro 4 th? I almost stayed up to watch qualifying, but it was on from 1:30 am to 2:30 am. Too late for me.

Race is on late tonight. i will stay up for it.

 

[Houtman_imp]

Best non bike "investment" ever made VR !

 

[the Ferret]

LOL that's what my kids say

 

[redbirds_imp]

Best investment for Motogp is the Video Pass. I watch all the practice, qualifying and races anytime I wish. Watch races from years ago also. Use Chromecast to watch on the big screen.

 

[F800GT_imp]

Zarco won the pole position ? wow !!
Was it raining during the qualification ? That might explain why Zarco won the pole ?

Me too, I'll invest in the MotoGP Video Pass.

 

[Cormanus]

Marco couldn't cut it in the big one, but it was an amazing race to the final lap between Marquez and Dovizioso with Andrea pulling off a remarkable last minute pass. Marquez fought back but overcooked it slightly and couldn't make it stick. My jaw muscles are only just relaxing!

Only 11 points between them in the championship with 3 races to go.

 

[the Ferret]

WOW .... That last lap was amazing. How they ride that hard in the rain just astonishes me. Great race.

Be back in 6 hours or so lol

 

[redbirds_imp]

Very exciting race and now a tighter championship fight. Love it.

 

[use2b_imp]

I always come here for expert analysis before watching the poor mans Youtube snippets !!!! do not have or want cable or satellite but the Honda almost had it .....

 

[F800GT_imp]

Glad to see the two Suzukis competitive again !

 

[hb9400_imp]

Only got the see the main race, it was awesome to see them ride like that in the rain, they are lunatics. Did anyone else think that Petrucci bowed out to give Dovi a chance at running down Marquez once Marquez took the lead? He was too strong to just slip back to 3rd place once Marquez. Not saying Dovi didn't deserve it but I could see them giving the factory Ducati team help.

 

[the Ferret]

Petruuci is still trying to win his first GP. He has been close twice now. I'll bet he wouldn't just give away that opportunity. He was running the super soft rear rain tire. About 7 laps from the end he was starting to lose traction. That's the problem with those soft and super soft tires. They heat up quickly providing plenty of traction in the early stages of the race, but with aggresive riding they won't last the whole race. The riders that use them hope to build a big enough lead early that others on harder tires won't be able to catch them at the end. It never seems to work out, although Petruuci was able to build up enough cushion that he was basically able to coast into third.

 

[hb9400_imp]

Yeah I get the tire selection strategy but to me it looked like he let Dovi go by. If it were anyone else I wouldn't question it.

 

[the Ferret]

I'm sure it's always a possibility that he was looking out for his future with Ducati and used the no traction excuse to let Dovi by. Certainly in the realm of possibilities.

 

[DAC]

Maybe Petrucci doesn't want to race for Suzuki next year.

 

[the Ferret]

:rofl: Iannone did well for Suzuki yesterday

 

[DAC]

:rofl: Iannone did well for Suzuki yesterday

Both he and Rins. It's nice to see a lot of diversity in the top 10. Apriilia is even getting in there and KTM is moving up fast.

Ya gotta wonder what happened to Yamaha though. Their top rider at Motegi is in his first year and from a satellite team.

 

[redbirds_imp]

:rofl: Iannone did well for Suzuki yesterday

Both he and Rins. It's nice to see a lot of diversity in the top 10. Apriilia is even getting in there and KTM is moving up fast.

Ya gotta wonder what happened to Yamaha though. Their top rider at Motegi is in his first year and from a satellite team.

Both he and Rins. It's nice to see a lot of diversity in the top 10. Apriilia is even getting in there and KTM is moving up fast.

Ya gotta wonder what happened to Yamaha though. Their top rider at Motegi is in his first year and from a satellite team.
Rossi claims traction problems, especially on wet tracks. Yamaha started the season strong but has lost ground as the season progressed. KTM and Aprilia are improving consistently and that can only be good for the series.

 

[the Ferret]

From what I understand last years Yamahas were better in the wet than this years Yamahas, but this years Yamahas are better in the dry, which is why you see sattelite riders (riding last years bikes) finishing ahead of factory riders(on this years bikes) when it rains, and the factory boys finishing ahead of sattelite guys when it's dry.