[954Stealth]

News:
Record-breaking Moto3™ rolls into Catalunya
Monday, 9, June 2014

This weekend sees the stampede that is the Moto3™ World Championship charging its way towards the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya off the back off a record-breaking finish to the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago.



Tito Rabat will be looking to defend his Moto2™ World Championship lead in front of a home crowd as the intermediate class descends on Barcelona this weekend.

The battle continues in Marquez’s back garden
Monday, 9, June 2014

Mugello had it all. Rossi’s 300th Grand Prix, rain on the Friday and one of the best on-track fights in living memory thanks to Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo. This time out, they’re in Barcelona and fighting for glory on home turf.




Circuit info
Length: 4.727 m / 2.937 miles
Width: 12m
Left corners: 5
Right corners: 8
Longest straight: 1.047 m / 0.651 miles
Constructed: 1991
Modified: 1995
Laps 2/3 of laps Total Distance
25 - 118.2 km - 73.4 miles

Introduction:

In 1989, through the joint collaboration of the Catalan Autonomous Government, the Montmeló Town Council and the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya (RACC), work began on giving one of Europe’s most beautiful cities a state of the art race track to match. The Circuit de Catalunya opened on the doorstep of Barcelona in September 1991 and welcomed its first international event that same month, hosting the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. It went on to host the European Motorcycle Grand Prix and in 1995 became home to the Gran Premio de Catalunya. Considered to be one of the best designed circuits of the recent era, the Circuito de Catalunya won the much coveted IRTA ‘Best Grand Prix’ trophy for 2001 and has a general admission capacity of 104,000 spectators.


POINTS SO FAR:
1. M. Marquez 150
2. V. Rossi 97
3. D. Pedrosa 96
4. J. Lorenzo 65
5. A. Dovizioso 63
6. P. Espargaró 49
7. A. Espargaró 44
8. S. Bradl 39
9. A. Bautista 34
10.B. Smith 34


Jack Miller's pissed off even though he rode irresponsibly
“I got two Penalty Points and I was surprised that I didn't get more once I started swearing” - Jack Miller.

[954Stealth]

Interesting article excerpt;

"Allegedly, Brembo has found that certain bikes have been travelling as fast as 361 km/h (224 mph), which was reportedly unanimously found as being “too much” by several top riders in the MotoGP including Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Dorna is said to have initiated a study on how to limit the top speed in the premier class. Even though lowering this limit may sound like a bad decision, such a measure is centered on rider safety and as Andrea Dovizioso says, “spectators will most likely not be able to tell the difference between 360 and 330 km/h (224-205 mph).”

[Sedan_Clan]

What are your predictions 954Stealth?

[thetastelingers]

Enter NASCAR restrictor plates!

They are right. It would suck to have a get off at that speed.

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

What are your predictions 954Stealth?

1 - Marquez
2 - Pedrosa
3 - Rossi
4 - Lorenzo
5 - Dovi

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

1 - Marquez
2 - Pedrosa
3 - Rossi
4 - Lorenzo
5 - Dovi

Ooohhhhh! Let's see how close our resident GP man gets this weekend.

• Marquez
• Rossi
• Pedrosa
• Lorenzo
• Pol or Dovi

[954Stealth]

Lol I'd really like to see Rossi take it but I dont see it happening

[954Stealth]

Another excerpt...this is creating some infighting between Honda and Ducati

" a quick recap, mid-April saw Dorna Sports, the rights holder of the MotoGP and the MSMA (Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers' Association) reaching an agreement on the future of the series. The results of the meeting held at Austin, Texas indicated that no software development would be allowed beyond the Assen round in 2015. After this point, all teams currently running their own software for the Magneti Marelli ECU had to “freeze” code development and virtually have their riders race with whichever version they used for the Dutch GP.

The agreement also stipulates that inspectors will verify the date of the last software update, and such checks will enforce the development ban. After the Assen GP, ALL teams should contribute to creating a unified version of the software which will then be operating on the entire grid. For reasons which are not at all hard to guess, Ducati opposed the “freeze” vehemently, even though it eventually yielded, while Suzuki, which plans a MotoGP comeback in 2015 had no objections."

[Chihuahua]

1. Marquez
2. Rossi
3. Pedrobot

This prediction applies to every future race in 2014. Hate to say it, but MotoGP is a snooze-fest these days.

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by Kyle B

1. Marquez
2. Rossi
3. Pedrobot

This prediction applies to every future race in 2014. Hate to say it, but MotoGP is a snooze-fest these days.

It's like Vettel when he was winning in F1 all the time. Good for the team, not necessarily good for the fans. That said, I really enjoyed the duel we saw in Mugello

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by Kyle B

1. Marquez
2. Rossi
3. Pedrobot

This prediction applies to every future race in 2014. Hate to say it, but MotoGP is a snooze-fest these days.

I don't think it's a snooze fest at all. MM is actually exciting to watch, especially when he sees red.

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

1 - Marquez
2 - Pedrosa
3 - Rossi
4 - Lorenzo
5 - Dovi

Actually I'm going to flip Pedrosa and Lorenzo...I forgot about his arm surgery and arm pump problems. he should be good to go after this GP

[thetastelingers]

Marquez
Lorenzo
Rossi

[954Stealth]

Race Report courtesy of Bridgestone:

[954Stealth]

Brembo facts and figures:

The 7 brakings that require the most braking distance


The 7 brakings characterised by greater deceleration



The 7 brakings that subject the driver to greater g force



The 7 braking actions characterized by greater initial speed

[954Stealth]

Hayden's going to try to come back for this race after doing his Superman during his last outing:
“I will try in FP1, see how I feel and discuss it with my team and doctors to know if we can do the race”
– Nicky Hayden.


Pol will be showing off a new livery for his home crowd




If MM93 wins this week, Honda will be at 100 Grand Prix wins

Check out the rankings:
MotoGP wins by manufacturer:
Honda 99
Yamaha 81
Ducati 31
Suzuki 1

Honda MotoGP race winners:
25 – Dani Pedrosa
20 – Valentino Rossi*
15 – Casey Stoner*
12 – Marc Marquez*
8 – Sete Gibernau
5 – Marco Melandri
3 – Nicky Hayden*, Max Biaggi, Alex Barros
2 – Makoto Tamada
1 – Tohru Ukawa, Toni Elias, Andrea Dovizioso

[954Stealth]

Marc Marquez #93
“I really enjoyed the battle in Mugello with Jorge, it was so nice!”
“Now we head home to Montmelò which is a track that I haven't enjoyed myself at so much in the past but the layout is good and with a year's experience I hope the situation will be different this year! The fans and of course my fan club all make the journey to come and support us and this gives me extra motivation, so I hope we can put on a good show for them all!”

Jorge Lorenzo #99
“In Mugello I tried my best, I felt stronger and I think we did a really good job,” said Lorenzo, physically weakened by winter surgery and still adapting to the stiffer 2014 tyres. We were really close to the victory and my physical condition improved a lot compared to the last races. The bike also worked well and I guess if we can do a step ahead either with the bike or my physical condition we will fight again for the victory. Now we are heading to Montmeló, one of my favourite tracks like Mugello and I would like at least to be on the podium.”


Valentino Rossi #46
"I am very happy to go to Barcelona, especially after the good weekend at Mugello where we put two Yamahas on the podium,” said Rossi, who finished behind team-mate Lorenzo in Italy. I really like the Grand Prix of Catalunya. It is a track that I like a lot, it's fantastic! I know that to fight with Jorge and Marc I have to give my best from the first free practice to be very strong on Sunday.

“I will try to do everything to be in front with them, once again. I am very happy with how we are working on the bike. I know that we can do even better, the team is very motivated and for that I really want to start the weekend in Barcelona!”

Hiroshi Aoyama #7:
“I have lived in Barcelona for a few years now so Catalunya is like a second home Grand Prix for me, I know the track perfectly and it always a pleasure to ride at this circuit. Last year I missed out because of injury so I am looking forward to it even more this time and I hope it can be a good race for me. Even though we still have a lot of work to do we are improving our feeling with this bike every weekend and hopefully my track knowledge here can help us make quick progress with the set-up.”


Nicky Hayden #69:
“I am happy to say my hand is feeling better then before surgery and in Mugello, but it’s only been seven days since the operation so still a bit to early to say how I will be in Barcelona. After resting it after surgery for a few days I know started rehabbing it but I really have to wait a few more days to know my level and if it’s possible to go this weekend. I think I will try in FP1, see how I feel and discuss it with my team and doctors to know if we can do the race. For sure I would hate to miss another race after two non point scores but also we have to be smart and think long term and make a decision with both our heart and head. So we wait and see, hope for the best. This track is fast and challenging with a bit of everything, and a lot of long corners with a lot of lean angle where if we can make the soft tire last it can help us be more competitive with the extra edge grip.”

Andrea Dovizioso #04:
“I hope to do well at Montmelò with my Desmosedici GP14: it’s a very strange track, with lots of fast corners and one long straight. Last year was quite bad, with ninth on the grid and seventh in the race, but it is one of my favourite tracks. The bike is a little bit better than last year, and we have to try and get the maximum as always.”

Cal Crutchlow #35:
“After my unfortunate crash at Mugello, now we have to go to Barcelona and improve. I think it’s going to be a tough circuit for us, because the long corners come back on themselves quite a lot, which could make things a bit more difficult. As always we will try and be competitive: we are definitely very strong in the braking area and also in the straight line and we go to Barcelona with a new attitude again.”

Pol Espargaro #44
It goes without saying that I am so excited for my home GP and I will try my absolute best to get a top result in front of my Catalan fans,” said Espargaro, who finished ninth in the first Spanish round at Jerez. “My confidence is high as I feel that I am steadily improving my adaption to the MotoGP bike. In fact both my qualifying performances as well as my race pace have become much more competitive since the beginning of the season, especially in the last two races where I have consistently been in the top five. Therefore I truly hope I can continue this trend for the weekend.

“In addition, I have had some great results here previously, for example last year in Moto2 where I started on pole before winning the race. So this weekend will for sure be one to remember for me in my first appearance on a MotoGP bike. I can't wait!"

Bradley Smith #38
"The last Grand Prix at Mugello did not go exactly how I had planned and it was not a true representation of my race ability. We were just a bit unlucky which can sometimes happen to any rider, however I am confident as always and I know I can get a strong result this weekend. The Yamaha works well here and last season I got my joint best result of 6th in my rookie season. So this year I plan to up the stakes and finish higher. It's demanding and technical but good fun to ride so I am charged and ready to do my best at the Monster Energy sponsored Grand Prix."

Alvaro Bautista #19
“In Montmelo I’ve always been strong and this is a track that I really like; in addition, racing in Spain always gives me an extra motivation. We will start the weekend making a comparison between two important suspension solutions provided by Showa, to quickly identify the best direction to take: the new front fork has worked very well at Le Mans, while at Mugello we preferred to race with the race the old solution. We must therefore determine which one is best suited to this track, which is fast and in some ways is similar to Mugello”.



Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) - He's going to run in motogp as a wildcard this weekend
“It’s good to do this second race on the run at Barcelona, which is a track that I like and I hope to find the conditions that will enable us to carry out our work. I will also be staying behind for three more days next week, so we’ll use the race weekend to establish a good basis and then continue the work over the next three days.”

[954Stealth]

and now here's the proper way to celebrate Hump Day...with some MotoGP Grid Girls!

[954Stealth]

JL99:
"At Mugello, I tried my best. I felt stronger and I think that we have really done a good job," said Lorenzo. "We were really close to winning and my physical condition has improved significantly compared to the last race."
-Jorge Lorenzo

VR46:
"I like the track a lot, she's awesome!"
-Valentino Rossi

VR46 again
"Last year we were able to find a good pace for the race and I can remember that we won against our main competitors, Hopefully, we can this season to fight again. That would be something very special, because Montmelo for me is something like a home race."
- Valentino Rossi

[954Stealth]

It's been a little slow for news and photo ops
but Marc Marquez, Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Viñales, Isaac Viñales, Alex Marquez, Ricky Cardus, Axel Pons, and wild-card Maria Herrera had a presentation at the Barcelona City Hall as well as a friendly volleyball game this week.





Who knows who this is?



The friendly 3vs3 beach volleyball match at the city’s Barceloneta beach saw ‘Team Tramontana’ of Pol Espargaro, Tito Rabat and Jonas Folger triumph over ‘Team Garbi’ of Jordi Torres, Romano Fenati and Alex Rins.



In 18 hours, things will start to heat up!!

[HFW003]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

Who knows who this is?

The little brother of someone who rides for Repsol in Moto GP

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by HFW003

The little brother of someone who rides for Repsol in Moto GP

Exactly! lol