Just seen the official entry list for MotoGP and firstly, noticed that there are a measley 19 riders! Secondly, that WCM seem to have finally been forced off the grid...
How is that progress, after the promise of packed grids, 30 bikes etc...
Rant over! _________________ NSR300R - Why did i ever have a 250...
Who promised packed grids? More factory involvment yes, and we've got it, five factories fielding fully backed teams.
The "promise" was of less bikes no where near on the pace and of something vaguely resembing market relevance, every factory, HRC included races for one reason, to sell bikes for the mother company.
Anyone who had the fortune to actually attend a GP in the 90's will know how badly attended they were by both decent teams who might actually win (bikes like the NSR v-twin that were 30% down on power do not count) and the paying public themselves. _________________ Please do not PM me technical questions, if you can't find it on the Forum start a thread
And no where near the pace... Is that the 2 D'Antin Dukes, the no more WCM's, Suzuki's, Kawasaki's, Moriwaki, Roberts KR, sattelite Yamaha's....etc. It's a Honda Yamaha championship and will be for the forseeable future. And if they both fielded the obligatory 2 bike teams then there'd be 13 bikes on the grid! _________________ NSR300R - Why did i ever have a 250...
1. Sete Gibernau - Ducati Marlboro 1'56.355
2. Colin Edwards - Camel Yamaha 1'56.449
3. Kenny Roberts jr. - Team Roberts 1'57.508
4. James Ellison - Yamaha Tech 3 1'57.899
5. Carlos Checa - Yamaha Tech 3 1'58.589
6. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro 1'59.560
7. Toni Elias - Fortuna Honda 2'00.209
8. Tadayuki Okada - HRC 2'03.912
9. Jose Luis Cardoso - d'Antin Ducati 2'05.468
10. Vittoriano Guareschi - Ducati Marlboro 2'06.455
only 2 factory bikes in the top 5 and one of those is a Duc, and only 4 factory bikes in the top 10, and Suzuki was fastest through the speed traps.
you didnt mension that the Roberts bike at least now has a competitive engine and I beleive we will be seeing a Bimota of sorts sometime in the season.
Jerez Test- MotoGP from MOTGP .com today
Day One: Provisional times as of 1pm
1. Sete Gibernau - Ducati Marlboro 1'41.450
2. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro 1'41.619
3. Colin Edwards - Camel Yamaha 1'42.038
4. Shinya Nakano - Kawasaki Racing 1'42.173
5. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'42.273
6. Carlos Checa - Tech 3 Yamaha 1'42.435
7. Valentino Rossi - Camel Yamaha 1'42.448
8. Randy de Puniet - Kawasaki Racing 1'42.614
9. Makoto Tamada - Konica Minolta Honda 1'43.121
10. Marco Melandri - Fortuna Honda 1'43.579
could you be more wrong OK its testing and not a race but at least there are a number of manufactuures in the mix Honda did after all make GPs painfull.
Max your rant about dated 500s is I am sorry to say (dont take this the wrong way) getting a bit boring _________________ MC21SP - Roth-tax
CBR400 - track
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Mate, you beat me to it, god forbid that it may be the truth that the racing at the GP (and we actually do go and watch it) is by far the best I've seen, only half a dozen bikes on the same lap was normal back in the Doohan 500 days and it's busier on practice day now than it was on race day 10 years ago.
The racing everyone has clouded memories about was good because fate put 3, 4 or 5 of the most talented riders of all time on the grid togeather, Roberts, Rainey, Schwantz, Doohan, Gardner, Lawson, Spencer, people can put up a reasonable arguement that any of those are the greatest ever.
Really (and this is the honest truth), mid 90's I used to watch the 125 and 250's then go out for a spin, I knew who'd win the 500's, Doohan, it was rubbish and not worth wasting a nice day for. _________________ Please do not PM me technical questions, if you can't find it on the Forum start a thread
I've been holding myself back as I tend to get all excited on such topics and write capitals and funny colours and generally break the five commandments...
I don't think it matters one bit wether they're 2 stroke or 4 stroke. MotoGP is the top class for the best riders in the world, and the racing last year was just that, the best in the world.
I wasn't lucky enough to attend any of the "golden era" races from the 90's or whatever, but I don't see any difference from what coverage I've seen from then, to what I see now - amazing riders going amazingly fast. And there were at least 4 different race winners last year - Rossi, Melandri, Hayden, Capirossi), on 3 different bikes - I'd have thought that says it all. ie. Exactly the opposite of wot Maxim said - I don't think 4T have effected MotoGP either way.
Girls... You're putting words into my mouth! If you think having 19 bikes on the grid is good for the sport then good on you. I'd like to see a lot more, s'all I'm saying, because to me it hasn't changed much in this respect... jeez!
I made no mention of the 'good ole days' blah blah, just pointing out that journo's, armchair champions etc all moaned about dwindling boring 500 grids, and it's going the same way now. 6 Hondas and 4 yamahas, with another Honda engined bike in the KR... That's over half the grid with just 2 factorys.
The Spanish didn't seem too bothered during the 90's with their 150000 + attendance at Jerez etc in the same year superbike junkie UK could only muster 18000 for our GP. _________________ NSR300R - Why did i ever have a 250...
Colin NSR wrote:I wasn't lucky enough to attend any of the "golden era" races from the 90's or whatever.
There wasn't one, it's a myth, Rainey (quite clearly the best short circuit rider to ever live) dominated despite riding a Yam sometimes with Dunlops, Doohan threatened to take over then smashed his leg to pieces, then Rainey broke his neck, Schwantz won because Doohan was still recovering and Rainey was out, Doohan recovered and won just about every race from then on until he crashed badly again and retired.
Que abuse from Schwantz lovers everywhere but if they think he'd have beaten Rainey and Doohan both at 100% they're living with the pixies. _________________ Please do not PM me technical questions, if you can't find it on the Forum start a thread
And now its just the same, but its rossi doing all the winning, so no change at all.
so by that reckoning, the 250s must have been crap for the last two years because pedrosa won everything
Edwards that is, I've followed him since he started in world supers on the yzf750 _________________ If you dont like the way that i ride.....Stop trying to keep up!!!!!
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