Round 6: Catalunya

[DooberRoni]

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/CatalPost.png

PREDICTIONS CONTEST VOTING THREAD FOR CATALUNYA (http://www.dooberville.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7934#post7934)



A little history
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/CatalHistory.png

Don't forget! Get your predictions in for Catalunya!
Pick for Pole votes close at the start of qualifying.
Predictions for the race and fastest lap close immediately prior to race time.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/contestPostLink.png (http://www.dooberville.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7580#post7580)

Current Standings:
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/pointsPostMugello.png

[ÜberDoober]

Not that it is relevant but I didn't know until I looked it up. So, I'm thinking Jerez, Valencia and Catalunya - how does Spain get three grand prix? It is kind of weird, but Catalonia and Valencia are autonomous communities in the Kingdom of Spain. The "capital" of Catalunya is Barcelona.

Being the typical American idiot, I thought Spain was just one big country, which it really is but had no idea how their geopolitical boundaries were defined.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 declares that Spain is an indissoluble nation that recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the nationalities and regions that constitute it.[13]

Catalonia, alongside Basque Country and Galicia was set apart from the rest of Spain as a Historical nationality and given the ability to accede to autonomy automatically, which resulted in the 1979 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. The rest of Spain, in a process spearheaded by Andalusia and completed by 1985, carved itself into 14 additional Autonomous Communities by drafting their own Statutes of Autonomy.

After 2003 there has been a round of amendments to the various Statutes of Autonomy (notably, alongside Catalonia's, those of Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands)For more, look it up on wikipedia.org. It seems pretty complicated.

So, we know Suzuki has a new motor but they may not use it until Monday's testing, Bridgestone is using a dual compound tire for the first time this year, Dani Pederosa has been cleared to race and Nicky Hayden is coping with things by maintaining a positive attitude.

Think the Spaniards will make a good show this week? Let's hope so. :winky:

[ÜberDoober]

Up at 5:00 for FP1! Interesting session - Hayden with his best session of the year, I think, and debut of Galbor Talmacsi. Didn't see that one coming. Stoner took a tumble, Rossi and Lorenzo are quick and Pedrosa can barely walk.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/CatFP1.png

They showed Nicky walk to his chair in the pits and as he sat down, took his helmet off and looked up at the timing charts, a huge happy smile smile took over his face. Go Nicky!

[ÜberDoober]

Hitting the headlines back home at dooberville.com (http://www.dooberville.com/forums/www.dooberville.com), I saw two stories about Nicky Hayden's turnaround performance and how happy he was.

The first one from MotoGP.com gave me hope that they captured a photo of that big beaming smile Nicky had when he saw his times but they didn't.
Big changes brings big smile to Hayden in Barcelona (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/Hayden+Friday+Barcelona+breakthrough)

The other was at autosport.com and was essentially the exact story posted at MotoGP.com
Hayden delighted with breakthrough (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76098)


http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/NickyCatal.png
© autosport.com

It seems the Nickster has some new electronics and chassis geometry that is the Casey Stoner brand. It certainly has helped and indeed if this is a turning point and he now "gets" the red bike, one can only hope that future developments will get our boy back in the mix at the front. I think they're testing on Monday and Tuesday?

Moving on, even the motogp crew is using the word fragile to describe little Dani boy. He was nowhere in practice and when they showed him getting off the bike, he was hobbling badly.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/DaniCatal.png
© autosport.com

A few Pedrosa links:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76101
http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/Pedrosa+hoping+for+improvement+on+Saturday

Juice your little robot up and send him out. Mad Dr. Costa will cure your ills. :)

[ÜberDoober]

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Rossi and Lorenzo enjoy brilliant opening day in Barcelona


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Valentino Rossi Position: 1 Time: 1'43.038
"We made some changes to our base setting here and already it feels much better to ride. This practice went very well for us, we were strong from start to finish and to be in first position feels good. We have found out some very interesting things, especially about my feeling with the bike, but we need to keep on working because there are still some parts that we want to make better for tomorrow. I am really happy to be able to ride the bike how I want to finally but there is still plenty more work to continue with to make sure we're in the best possible shape for tomorrow afternoon and Sunday."

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Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2 Time: 1'43.340
"I always have a few doubts coming to each new track but today everything felt really good, my bike and my Bridgestone tyres. I feel very comfortable and we can see that we have the potential to put on a really good performance here. We have a few things which we can improve so we will try to do that tomorrow but this is another good start for us. It's very early to be making any conclusions about who will be fighting on Sunday though and for now we just have to stay focused. It feels great to be out in front of all my home fans here and I am really happy to have the FC Barcelona stickers on my bike!"

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Okay, so if they qualify 1 - 2 tomorrow, then Yamaha has something to crow about. :winky:

[ÜberDoober]

Results!

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/CatQual.png

Disappointing position for Hayden but it looks like we will have a fight tomorrow. Pedrosa crashed hard. Edwards fell too but was up and away.

[ÜberDoober]

And now for the 250 grid. Should be good and I'll probably get up at 3:00 to watch. :ack2:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Cat250Qual.png

[ÜberDoober]

Poop! Overslept and didn't get up until 3:45 so only got to see the last handful of laps of the 250's. Surprised to not see Simoncelli battling it out but gather from the highlights he crashed out.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/cat250Final.png

At 4:30 while typing (and watching the 24 hours of Le Mans too), the hi-res video just kicked in. That seems earlier than usual but I'm not complaining! :)

[ÜberDoober]

Oh holy Jeebus! What a race between Rossi and Lorenzo! Hayden gets his best finish of the year too.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/CatFinal.png

My race notes:
+ Stoner pushing Rossi hard
+ Rossi through on Lorenzo
+ Dovi starting to push Pedrosa
+ Still no timing
+ Capirossi around De Puniet
+ Dovizioso gets Pedrosa and sets after Capirossi
+ 19 laps to go - top 3 still tight - timing just loaded up
+ Stoner starting to drop back - Rossi & Lorenzo still at it
+ Elias goes down - Capirossi misses a corner and loses ground on Pedro
+ 14 to go - Lorenzo stalking Rossi - otherwise uneventful
+ Lorenzo inside Rossi to the lead - made it look easy
+ Capirex through on Pedrosa to 5th
+ Next lap, Pedro gets Loris back
+ 7 to go - Rossi still in striking distance
+ Dovizoso at Stoner's rear wheel
+ Nicky running 10th - best of the season
+ 3 to go - Rossi to the lead!!
+ Insane battle Rossi & Lorenzo
+ Final lap Lorenzo to the front
+ Rossi and Lorenzo swap positions again
+ Rossi to the lead in the final corner
+ ROSSI WINS
+ I have goosebumps - What a fabulous finish!!!
+ Rossi, Lorenzo Stoner, Dovi, Capirossi
+ Top 3 in the championship all tied with 106 points - wow!

Rossi's last corner pass on Lorenzo
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/WinningPass.png

In parc ferme, Stoner looks way spent and is now receiving medical attention. Rossi and Lorenzo are hamming it up and goofing around. They may never get to the podium?

In the interview, Rossi dedicates the race to Jeremy Burgess who's mother passed away yesterday. Class. Stoner looks like he is ready to collapse and is now saying he is ill and nowhere near 100%. At any rate, that was the best last lap in the last few years.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/RossiSprays.png

[HeadDoober]

Contest results are up if anybody cares.

[Gary]

Just got back from Costa Rica last night - what a surprise to say, 'Wow, what a great race!'. That was fantastic.