well, does it and if you think so, where are they?

for my opinion on Spies choosing not to mount up in Assen.It seems im not the only one who was disappointed.
From BBC interview

The BBC broadcast of the Assen MotoGP race offered some more insight into Ben Spies not taking advantage of Loris Capirossi’s bad luck to get more experience on the Rizla Suzuki 800cc machine. Suzuki Team Manager Paul Denning was interviewed briefly by Matt Roberts during the race and he had this to say about Spies opting not to ride the available bike:

“[Spies] took his own choice. It was quite surprising for me, personally. I understand his reasons from a competitive point of view, but I would’ve thought it would’ve been a great thing to continue learning the bike. But that’s his decision and that was that.”

BBC commentators Steve Parrish and Charlie Cox seemed to share the opinion that, judging from Denning’s tone as he spoke, Spies had made a poor choice in the boss’ view. With fourteen laps to go, Spies would’ve been at least in thirteenth place assuming he was still in the race. But Parrish went on to point out that since Spies missed the first day, that meant the American would only have had two one-hour sessions and the warm-up to learn yet another new track on the MotoGP Suzuki.

So I don't know if anyone else here is a big football follower but I am and transfer window is generally my favorite time of year. I check the credible sites and the tabloids probably five times a day just to stay up on the latest gossip. I thought that if anyone else follows it like I do, we could post what we're hearing on this thread.

Rumor: Robinho to Chelsea, 25 million GBP.

Rumor: Xavi Alonso to Juve, 16.5 million GBP.

Rumor: Chelsea have agreed to sell Frank Lampard to Inter for 7 million GBP after negotiations stalled over a 150,000 GBP per week deal and the addition of Deco before Lampard's contract was sorted.

Rumor: David Villa and David Silva have committed to staying with Valencia.

Have a Happy Fourth of July Americans!

Let the BBQs and beer drinking kick into full gear.

1. Niccolo Canepa ITA Bridgestone/Ducati Test Rider (B) 1min 44.1756 secs (83 laps)
2. Ben Spies USA Suzuki (B) 1min 44.2269 secs (100 laps)
3. Olivier Jacque FRA Kawasaki Test Rider (B) 1min 45.2738 secs (75 laps)
4. Erwan Nigon FRA Michelin/Honda Test Rider (M) 1min 45.2738 secs (79 laps)
5. Wataru Yoshikawa JPN Yamaha Test Rider (B) 1min 45.5916 secs (76 laps)
6. William Costes FRA Michelin/Yamaha Test Rider (M) 1min 46.1251 secs (75 laps)
7. Nobuatsu Aoki JPN Suzuki Test Rider (B) 1min 57.9687 secs (4 laps)

damn the week went fast.

had rain this morning disrupting 125's

It is self-evident that Rossi is (often) a poor starter. I believe it cost him the WC in 2006, and has often made his races harder than they should have been (In Assen last week it happened again)
In the past it wasn't so much of a problem as he had little trouble getting back through the field in a few laps. The competition is a lot closer now from the likes of Stoner and Pedrosa, so surely Rossi can no longer afford to be giving these places up off the line if he wants to win races. Stoner and Pedrosa tend to check out pretty fast when they have no one ahead of them. Obviously he leaves himself a lot of work to do when he starts poorly. I don't think it is reaction time as he always looks to start moving at the same time as everyone else but seems to lose out in the first few yards and as a consequence drops a few places by turn one. I am very damn baffled how a rider of his obvious talent been a poor starter over the years (even on a Honda).
Can he make up his weakness ? I'm sorry guys, I'm no racer, Rossi is way beyond my reach...so forgive me for this : I think Rossi lets the clutch out too fast at mid-to-high-revs and the engine gets bogged down for a second. If he slipped the clutch more for that instant, whilst powering on slightly slower, then he would start better. I say this purely from my own experimentation with traffic light GP's!

But look at the bright side : The level of competition has increased....

[I'm just trying out something here; if it works I might inflict one of these on you all after every race. ]

[Or it might just die a sad and unlamented death ]

Round One

The Top Ten Reasons Why Rossi Didn't Win In Qatar:

10. Colin Edwards. The "Texas pre-season bluster" has a new pity clause in his contract, which states that "His Rossifuminess shalt not finish more than 4 places higher than I in 2007."

9. His bike is crap; you know, the one that won a shiny BMW just a couple of weeks beforehand.

8. He thought that it was Gibernau riding that Ducati. "Is ok, no problem. He is fast, but always make little mistake. So I beat him again for sure." And there was that whole curse thing, too.

7. Stoner coats his leathers liberally with Vegemite. Sensitive Latin-type that he is, Rossi's eyes were watering from the strong odour instantly recognisable as the world's greatest breakfast condiment, and that made it impossible for him to stay in Stoner's draft. He could only get close on the slow corners, where there was no wind.

6. His bike is a steaming pile of shite; you know, the one that dominated preseason testing, and led Colin "the Texas Nostradamus" Edwards to predict: "I don't see any reason why Valentino and I can't finish 1 and 2 this year."

5. He knew it would piss Pedrosa off to see Stoner get a win.

4. He'd forgotten to get Casey a wedding present, and a GP win was the best he could do on short notice.

3. His bike is like, you know, only the slowest bike to have ever been fielded by a factory team in the history of everything, everywhere. There is nothing at all good about this nail.

2. It's that Japanese mentality. They put too much fuel in it. Also, Ducati were cheating.

And the number one reason why Rossi didn't win in Qatar:

With about 3 laps to go, Rossi barged past Stoner, trying to bluff him with one of his patented "I'm-pulling-the-pin-now" moves. Stoner promptly repassed him, putting paid to that, and then proceeded to gap him, in the process setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap. Rossi could do nothing, and settled for second.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round Two

The Top Ten Reasons Why Rossi Did Win In Jerez:

10. Colin Edwards's pity clause worked in his favour this time, as the Texan "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!" Texan finished on the podium for the first time since... China 2006, a total of 14 races ago. At this rate, he should be on the podium again at Philip Island.

9. His Yamaha was cra-- ... actually, it wasn't so bad, was it?

8. Rossi tried some of Stoner's Vegemite coating on his leathers, and found it had two benefits. The odour of the world's greatest breakfast condiment not only kept Pedrosa and Edwards successfully at bay, but also allowed Rossi to put the hammer down from early on... in an effort to get away from himself.

7. He hadn't won for something like six months, and was obviously a shattered man. Hayden, Melandri and Capirossi personally convinced all the other riders to "let Vale have one".

6. His eight mates standing at the dry sack corner in the ten-pin bowling suits would have looked pretty fucking stupid if he hadn't.

5. Slumming it down with the test riders (Yes, you too, Olivier) during FP3 scared him so much that he invoked an anti-Gibernau curse on himself.

4. After the piss-poor Yamaha that he fronted up with at Qatar Fiat stepped in with some quality parts.

3. Pedrosa would've won, but for problems with a thinning fuel mixture. During the race he kept adding fluids of some description to the tank. Hayden was apparently another victim of Pedrosa's leaky bladder--not that it's an excuse, or anything.

2. Elias got a bad start this year.

And the number one reason why Rossi won in Jerez:

Settling in behind Pedrosa on the first lap, he realised that #26 was looking a little tentative early on. He dived past, quickly established a half-second gap, and that was the race right there. Pedrosa could match him after that, but never got any closer; and then when the tyres went off, Rossi kept on it like they hadn't, recording a comfortable victory that was all class.

Just thought I would share my news..............

I'm resigning in the am ! I'm shitting my pants a bit but it's got to be done. The thread title is a joke because I actually like the job - I've been doing it for 10 years so I must !

But, the time has come to move on. i'm going back to Uni part time and working on site the rest of the time. I'm excited but it's a big step so...................... wish me luck !



















well go on then.....














I'm waiting............................

Although we (me too) keep assuming that nicky has one foot out the door at HRC, let's look at why they may not want to lose him

could it be that HRC (knowing they haven't been supplying nick with the best equipment) may be a little tentative about letting him go, with the knowledge that he might land at Ducati and end up on the same bike as stoner, given that he has (i think) shown, that given a competative bike, he can be competative, and they are not willing to suffer a P.R. disaster like they did with rossi, if nick were to go, and win on a Duc. Not that HRC really cared about their P.R. image after losing rossi, but they might this time given that the U.S. market is a prime market for all manufacturers including Honda.
(now, I'm not claiming some sort of U.S. supremecy here guys)
Interest in GP racing in the states has been increasing dramatically in recent years.
from a P.R. standpoint, the rossi departure (in and of itself, hasn't caused HRC to lose any sleep), but compounded by a hayden loss, and a chance (however small) that he could win an another bike, might be a bit much for honda to take, given their sales figures (which I don't know what they are) in the U.S.

As pointed out by jumkie in another thread, Ducatis desire to beat the japanese at their own game could be another reason they don't want to lose nicky. they don't want to see him go to Ducati and win.
They would then have had two popular riders (not that nicks popularity even approaches that of rossi's) in recent years to defect to other teams and win, thereby leaving the masses to speculate that the titles HRC has won this decade, was indeed due to the rider and not Honda. Now we already know that with rossi, it WAS the rider and not the bike, but the fact that nick one on a Honda, when no one really gave him a shot to win (however you think the win was acquired, in the books it's still a win) may have inflated HRC's ego more than it already was.
If nick were to win on the duc (and I don't mean a championship), even him winning one race and just being competative would be enough for Ducati to garner a larger share of the U.S. market.
now HRC may not be concerned about this but, you can bet that honda corp. is.

now, I've just conjured all this up in my conspiracy theorists mind, so take it for what it's worth

Police dogs could be forced to wear bootees when they search Muslim homes to avoid causing offence.

The Association of Chief Police Officers came up with the suggestion to increase respect for cultural sensitivities as it draws up new guidelines on the use of police dogs.

Dogs are considered "unclean" in Islamic culture and many Muslims refuse to have direct contact with the animals.

It is understood the new guidance could include a recommendation that sniffer dogs should wear rubber-soled bootees when entering mosques and Muslim homes.

A spokesman for the association said: "Where possible the police will take cultural sensitivities into account, providing this does not interfere with effective operational policing."

Leading British imam Ibrahim Mogra said making sniffer dogs cover their feet would not be necessary.

He said: "In Islamic law the dog is not regarded as impure, only its saliva is. Most Islamic schools of law agree on that.

"If security measures require to send a dog into a house, then it has to be done
link

I have been given special permission to create the new F1 thread.

All preseason and in season gossip and news here.

kimi is much more consistant than any other driver!

You may of heard today that F1 return to Donington park in 2010. It was also announced that £100m of changes and improvements are to be carried out over 5 years.
Does this mean the scrapping of the last section of the track ? finally rid of the shitty esses,melborne loop and goddards?
Why would MotoGp even think about considering moving to silverstone when track improvements like this are happening ? Is this dorna once again chasing the money like Doha ?

The Terminal.........Ton Hanks

7/10

Quite good...................true story too

We keep talking about rider size, Pedroccio, Dwarfs etc.

Sete is looking a little heavy on the bike. I don't think that he would suit any other bike besides the ducati. It may be able to haul is big gutt around the track.. Take a look





No more Paella for you Sete!!

Didn't find a threat like this (After 3mins of search so I could be wrong) so I made one.

I've watched every 250cc race this season and I'd say that following drivers could definetly have potential for MotoGP

1. Mika Kallio - Well, I he's just amazingly fast, good tactician, can make great recoveries, never gives up and can safe the bike from difficult situations. But most importantly, he's CONSISTENT, hardly ever makes critical mistakes. Has finished every race this season in top 5, except when the bike failed, taking 3 wins.

2. Yuki Takahashi - Didn't expect him? Well, think again! He's driving a Honda, which definetly isn't the best bike on the grid, but he's still finishing amazingly high on almost every race. Also, very consistent driver and successfully battles with the superior Aprilias and KTM's without complaining. (Not that I've heard )
Anyway, I feel like he could be a good choice for any MotoGP team, better than Bautista I reckon.

There are some more too, like maybe Marco Simoncelli, but on him, we have to have a big MAYBE. His moves sometimes seem very hazard, we've seen strange and dangerous line changes on straights and of course the odd overtake in the last race.
Alvaro Bautista has shown nothing except a nice amount of pole-positions. He just lacks consistency and the final push to become a top-level driver.


Agree? Disagree? Your opinons? Who do you think deserves a Moto GP ride?

the commentators were so cruel laughing at him LOL