Round 17: Sepang

[DooberRoni]

FIM MotoGP World Championship
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History:
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Sunday October 19th

MotoGP World Championship
6:00pm Eastern
3:00pm Pacific

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How come nobody told me I messed up last week's time schedule? Math is confusing.

[ÜberDoober]

Anybody read that KTM is calling it quits in the 250 class? That's too bad.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71431

[ÜberDoober]

Under overcast skies, 44% humidity and about 92º F, the first free practice session for the MotoGP boys has just completed. From what I'm reading, weather may be a factor for the weekend?

Rossi posted a fast time early that held for the first 40 minutes of the session. Stoner and Lorenzo traded time at the top but Valentino again stamped his mark on the practice.

Suzuki's wild card entry, Aoki was a good 5 seconds off the pace most of the outing. Unless he finds something, he's likely to not qualify.

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Looks like I'm going to be staying up until midnight to catch the video action of FP2...and on a school night. :ack2:

[ÜberDoober]

Well, okay, I stayed up but started to nod off just before the end of FP2. I did manage to grab the times before going to bed.

Here's a few selected quotes from motogp.com and autosport.com

This afternoon´s session was quite tricky, there was a light rain pretty much the whole session, but it´s so hot here that the rain is pretty much gone before it even touches the ground. The bike feels pretty decent and the tyres seem okay, so I´m confident that we can improve, that's the plan. It was quite strange this afternoon. If that had been the race it would have been interesting – it was raining pretty heavy at one point, everybody came into the pits at one point. It´s been doing that the last couple of afternoons, so maybe it´ll be like that on Sunday. We haven´t had a half-and-half race for a while, so maybe that would be quite cool?

Today was a good practice day that ended with a good result. We wanted to do a more intensive programme of testing but this morning the tarmac was simply too slick and the condition of the track not the best, but we did try some tyre solutions as we concentrated on finishing our set-up for the race.

It has been a frustrating day to be honest because we don't seem to have a tyre that works at this track and suits our bike," said Stoner.

The weather didn't help because this afternoon it was constantly spitting and we couldn't really push hard enough to get any decent information back. Hopefully, with the data we have from a couple of laps we can improve the bike a little bit for tomorrow.

So, up again late for qualifying tonight and I'll be doing double duty as Bormula 1 qualifying from China is also on at the same time. Think I'll take a nap this afternoon? :)

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/FP2.jpg

Oh yeah, Colin Edwards? Seems he threw out his setup notes and went back to what he was running earlier in the season.

It´s very disappointing in a way, actually,´ said the Yamaha satellite rider as the day drew to its conclusion. `In midseason we put a really large offset on the bike, and I think that we´ve proved the theory about teaching an old dog new tricks.

I´ve been on a particular offset with the front forks for three-and-a-half years, and we had some good results after changing it. Then we went even bigger and it all went downhill after that; I struggled with the front end and grip.

The switch back came at Edwards´ behest, as he looks to end his season in a positive manner.

`I thought that I need to go back to what I know, and it felt great straight away; just natural and like I can ride it again.´

[ÜberDoober]

Well isn't this interesting? Maybe having a new ride lined up for next can give a rider a little extra something?

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/FP3.jpg

Aoki is only 3 seconds off now. :ack2:

[ÜberDoober]

What a crazy qualifying session. Started with the track wet and ended up seeing the fastest time of the weekend by the time it was done.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/MALqual.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

Reflecting on last night's qualifying a little more this morning as I was also trying to catch Formula 1 qual from China at the same time. For the folks that don't follow, there's only one race left in F1 after this weekend and the championship has not been decided.

At any rate, I am surprised that they sent Stoner back out when there obviously wasn't enough time to make it back to the line to get another lap in. I thought Mr. Rossi had the pole until he was pipped by the pipsqueek who did get in one last flyer. There's a couple of other boys that are looking pretty strong and this could be the fight of the season we've all been looking for? Heck, even Shinya Nakano was fast but he's riding a works bike again. Not sure though what happened to Tony Elias? That was a bit of a surprise but then again, I was splitting my concentration between motogp and F1 and probably missed it.

Motogp.com is reporting the 3rd Kawasaki team run by Aspar is a dead deal, but Gavin, Nick and George were going on about it like it could still somehow happen? Would be nice to see a few more bikes on the grid and a 3rd Suzuki and Kawasaki is the logical choice since there seems to be about eighty Honda's and Ducatis out and about.

Rain is a good possibility but I'm hoping it stays dry so we can watch the battles. I'm getting a nap in and hopefully won't be as sick and feverish as I was last night but it's too early in the day to tell yet if I'm on my way to feeling better, but I'm hoping.

It will be damned interesting to see Stoner start from the third row. We expect Valentino to come through the pack when he doesn't start up front but don't get to see Stoner demonstrate that talent too often. Should be a good one! :)

[Hoofhearted]

It will be extremely interesting to see if Stoner has what it takes to make up a few places. He's no doubt a highly talented rider but I always felt Ducati played a bigger part in his championship than he did.

[ÜberDoober]

The weather was hot (107º) but the race was fairly lukewarm. The battle for third was the best on the track and it was good to see Nicky making an effort. I like Dovi and am glad to see him finally podium but I was cheering for NH to get around him.

Stoner never really showed up and as I thought, Nakano was strong. Only one more race to go but time to switch over to watch Bormula 1 now. :)

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[Hoofhearted]

I enjoyed the race. I love watching Rossi stalk people. It was interesting to watch Rossi's leg. After he settled into second place the leg wasn't dangling on corner entry. Looked like he was cruising behind PeePee until he decided to pass. I was rootin' for Nicky but I was gld to see Dovi on the podium. As for Stoner............................................ .............