Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix July 18 - 20 2008

[#space]

Nicky mer nöjd med fansen än med helgens uppsättning Michelin..

"We’ll keep working hard and use all the time we’ve got. The support I’ve got here is unbelievable, man. I just can’t believe how these fans treat me. We’ll keep working hard and try and give the fans something so they’re not headed to the gate with five laps to go!”

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/mcn/2008/july/14-20/jul1908-hayden-frustrated-by-grip/?R=EPI-101839

 

[selin]

Tider Fp3.

Melandri överraskar.

 

[Gustav O]

FP3 tider.
Stoner sänkte direkt när Rossi kom när närmare - imponerande.
Nakano -
Melandri back on pace?

 

[gthyni]

West är lite cool ändå, crashar sönder airfenset och går tillbaka till depån. Aussies är gjorda av granit.

 

[Gustav O]

West är lite cool ändå, crashar sönder airfenset och går tillbaka till depån. Aussies är gjorda av granit.

Kanske därför det går så långsamt för honom då - mycket vikt att släpa på.

Michelin verkar ha tabbat sig rejält. Saxat från www.superbikeplpanet.com

Judging by the body language between the riders and crew of certain MotoGP teams here at Laguna Seca and their Michelin technicians, right now the Michelin men might want to actually consider suiting up in Bib the Michelin Man costumes just so the possible beating they are seemingly in danger of receiving won't hurt so much.
Nick Hayden shot his Michelin technician a look this morning in the garage the likes of which you probably would not get from him unless you pushed him out of the way so you could pinch his sister's buttocks.


Long story short: Michelin brought a set of tires here for their teams that would work splendidly if we had the same flesh-scorching temps witnessed at Laguna Seca in 2006. Sadly, the temps here this weekend are such that both Jim Allen and I are wearing fleece jackets.


The Michelin tire situation here is so dire that several Michelin MotoGP team went out this morning's session on what appeared to be cut slicks. On. A. Dry. Track.

 

[gthyni]

har sagt det förr: tråkigt med däcklotteri i kungaklassen.

 

[xyx]

Hayden på skurna slicks under FP3.

 

[Gustav O]

Oerhört imponerande av Stoner som dominerade hela passet. Endast Rossi som har något som kan liknas vid en ok race pace av resten. Michelinfolket räddas av ett grymt kvaldäck men de kommer få det tufft imorgon helt klart.

 

[xyx]

Stoner tar pole med 1.20.700

 

[Neutral]

Med Stoner i den formen och utan Pedrosa så är både racet och mästerskapet ointressant. Rossi har helt plötsligt blivit Biaggi. Det enda som kan rädda spänningen är om Stoner DNF:ar minst en gång inom de närmsta racen.

 

[Gustav O]

Säga vad man vill om Rossi men han har distans till det han gör. På frågan direkt efter kvalet vad han skulle göra för att slå Stoner så svarar han: -Starta 30 sekunder före!

 

[Ducati Girl]

Rossi sade till en reporter att Stoner är "supernatural". Diggar Rossis uttalanden! Vad ska man säga om Stoner...fortsätter han så här, blir han nog världsmästare andra året i rad.

 

[andjim]

Flera Rossi kommentarer inför söndagen:
`To stop Stoner, you´d have to shoot him´

Det är väl det enda rätta tyvärr......

 

[Gustav O]

Michelin verkar ha tabbat sig ordentligt när det gäller däcken...

Julian Ryder på superbikeplanet.com

Ryder Notes: More Tire Troubles
Saturday, July 19, 2008
I got it wrong yesterday, in fact I got it 180-degrees wrong. Looking at the single fast laps Michelin riders managed I assumed they were running soft tyres. Then I looked at the lap charts. In fact they got their single fast laps in at the end of long runs. The truth is the Michelins don't get any heat in them for nearly ten laps. Nicky had to do seven laps yesterday before he got his knee down. Nicky, Dovi' and Edwards' single fast times on Friday came at the end of runs of up to fifteen laps.

This morning we were treated to the unprecedented sight of Nicky going out for the morning session on an intermediate rear tyre. Not a cut slick, a full-on intermediate - and he was 'struggling' to get heat into that.

James Toseland (and, I assume, others) will have to use an intermediate for warm-up tomorrow morning because he only had two tyres in his allocation that stand even a chance of making him competitive on race day. One got used at the end of this morning's session and again at the start of this afternoon's qualifying. The other goes in for the race tomorrow. Nicky Hayden is in a similar situation. Jorge Lorenzo says he would need 'a miracle' to finish fourth or fifth.

Neither Nicky nor anyone else I have talked to can remember inters' being used on a dry track at a Grand Prix. To make matters worse, Nicky had seen data from the AMA tyre test here three weeks ago. They showed the track wasn't producing good times and was not using up tyres. He knew they'd need soft rubber.

Michelin's woes overshadowed yet another stunning performance by Casey Stoner, who, when asked if he had any doubts about his race, gave a one-word answer: 'None.' The two men who look like they could give him a race are Valentino Rossi and Chris Vermeulen, although the Aussie gave himself a tough job (again) by qualifying on the third row -- he set his best lap on race tyres. He's got the race pace but Laguna is a difficult place to pass.

 

[#space]

Nu mer en oglamorös trend att hålla sig med från Michelin!

Nicky om situationen..
Nicky Hayden, who rode 1.2 seconds faster than his 2007 qualifying time, said: “It was difficult, there were a lot of guys crashing. Qualifying is so important here because it’s so hard to pass, so some guys are willing to pay a big price for a good grid position. Our race pace isn’t exactly blazing but it’s really nice to be on the front row in front of the home crowd, the support is awesome. I know tomorrow’s going to be really tough, Casey’s on fire right now and we’re having a few little issues, but the team’s done a good job and I feel like we deserve a good result. Hoping won’t get it though, so we’ll come in here tomorrow, ride hard and see if we can’t pull something out.”

 

[nIKOLa]

Vad är det som har hänt med Pedrosa egentligen? Verkar som att jag har missat något.

 

[selin]

[YOUTUBE-ID]Ac1hejmFE68[/YOUTUBE-ID]

 

[oFFkeFF]

Stoner kör ju numer som Schwantz gjorde, på tandköttet fast på en bättre cykel schwantz hade.
Rossi har inte behövt ta i så mycket innan för att vinna race, bara att minnas hans uppkörningar genom fältet.
Jag tror dock rossi skulle kunna börja köra på tandköttet också, hoppas han gör det helt enkelt, det vill säga kör på vinst eller förlust.
Riskerna ökar ju, men det är ju klart mer spännande, risken finns ju där för stoner också..

 

[AGE]

Nu kanske Spies inser att det krävs mer än att vara duktig i AMA för att lyckas i MotoGP, kanske tom. fattar att han aldrig kommer bli mer känd än simon.
1. Stoner
2. Hayden
3. Rossi

 

[oops164]

Vad är det som har hänt med Pedrosa egentligen? Verkar som att jag har missat något.

Bröt lite saker på Sachsenring när han vurpade och valde att inte starta ihelgen.