MOTM Mugello 2011 * Spoilers*

[Faster1]

MOTM the place where you can acknowledge the suprises, efforts, and unexpected results of “over and above performances, as well recognize the “worse than expected” underachievers, brought to you by the mind of phil


my picks
MOTM
Dovi – for staying with it and passing Stoner at the end, and choosing to “impress” for next year’s seat, over helping a team-mate in the championship. 5 pionts less for Stoner,, will it matter?

Honorable mention:
Jorge – not just for the win (because Aliens are expected to win) ,, but not settling when every one who was watching would have bet their house, on the result being decided by lap 10. ,,and for winning with only the 9th fastest top speed on this fast, fast track.
Spies – for doing battle with Marco when the best strategy would have been to stay far away.

DOTM
Elias – even with a 7th place start, a hot day, and in Playboy garb,, yikes

Dishonorable Mention
Bautista - I have no idea how he maintained 6th for so long,,, then ended up 13th?

[Oscar]

MOTM - Dovi, for all the reasons F1 said. HM to Lorenzo both for the ride AND especially for giving up on the cringe-making celebration routine.

VHM Marquez, for a very elegant ride, was delightful to watch.

DOTM: the bloody DORNA TV Director, just when it looked as though they were getting the idea of actually broadcasting the action, back to the random button-pushing exercise - right at the moment Dovi was setting up Stoner we had the third? - or fourth? - frigging replay of the start..

[Domino]

MOTM: Jorge, from fifth on the grid, to biding his time after Casey's jackrabbit start and then ratcheting up the pressure at the very end of the race. It wasn't just the riding, it was a very INTELLIGENT ride that didn't give Casey any shot of responding at the end and allowed Dovi to also pick up a spot and give more championship points to Lorenzo.

DOTM: Cal Crutchlow seems to me that someone is putting soft tires on the front of his bike so he has some early race form only to retire early. He looks good in the early laps, but then retires to the pits.

[TwoStroke Institute]

DOTM
Elias – even with a 7th place start, a hot day, and in Playboy garb,, yikes

Elias got caught up in Hayden's off , maybe a self DOTM nomination there

MOTM. Yamaha Race Team headed by Ramon Forcada, they have wrung a little more out of the M1 and debunked the 'Lorenzo will be lost without Rossi' theory.

DOTM. Ducati.

[jihem]

MOTM:
Lorenzo, as he never gave up.

DOTM:
Ducati. This is now becoming more than embarrassing.

[Faster1]

DOTM
Elias – even with a 7th place start, a hot day, and in Playboy garb,, yikes

Elias got caught up in Hayden's off , maybe a self DOTM nomination there

I accept TSI, with a bit of crow ,, just maybe,,,,,, maybe I was being a little rough, and maybe I missed something,, or,, Elias went wide, but not off the track ?? , either way he was waaaaay off and Hayden managed 10th

[Gustav O]

MOTM: To me it has to be Lorenzo for a great determined race. Great to see a battle for the lead fter the half way mark of the race.
HM: Dovi for sticking in there and overtaking Stoner and showing how smart he is as a rider. Spies for schooling Simoncelli in the last corner. Barbera for a good ride, maybe the heat did him good.

DOTM: Ducati. Borderline embarrassing now.
HM: Elias - come on!

[Albert]

MOTM Mugello 2008 F1??

Oh well - here goes --

Alex De Angelis for a fine 4th place following the "Aliens" home!
Honourable mention - James Toseland for another 6th place!

DOTM - Marco Melandri. That Ducati will end his MotoGP career if he's not careful!
Dis-honourable mention - Hopper and Jorgé DNFing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mugello 2011 --

MOTM - Dovi - great ride - although I was left wondering if he could have caught Jorgé if he'd gone past Casey with 6 or 7 laps to go!
Honourable mention to Jorge for making this into the best race so far this season and also Ben Spies - dogged determination and a great pass to claim 4th!

DOTM - sadly for me, it's Ducati in general!
They need to use the eye on Vale's helmet to see if it will help them to spot the direction to go!

[Faster1]

MOTM Mugello 2008 F1??

Oh well - here goes --


Mugello 2011 --

MOTM - Dovi - great ride - although I was left wondering if he could have caught Jorgé if he'd gone past Casey with 6 or 7 laps to go!
Honourable mention to Jorge for making this into the best race so far this season and also Ben Spies - dogged determination and a great pass to claim 4th!

DOTM - sadly for me, it's Ducati in general!
They need to use the eye on Vale's helmet to see if it will help them to spot the direction to go!

No way that you remembered without looking it up

It was a hybrid title,, couldn't decide between round 8 or the year,, ,,very efficient on my part if I may,,,

,,I get a small pass because I have to wake up at @ 4 am to catch these races live,, a few of my faculties don't quite catch up for a few hours

[Squidpuppet]

MOTM: A hot, sunny, overtake filled race.

HM to Jorge the robot, Dovi the determined, and Ben the scrapper/teacher. (23 laps duking with Sic THATS balls)

HM to Simoncelli for taking the fisrt turn very conservatively and finally, finally, having an incident free race. I HOPE this is a turning point for him. More please.

DOTM: Cal's tire problems, AGAIN!

[JanBros]

DOTM
Elias – even with a 7th place start, a hot day, and in Playboy garb,, yikes

Elias got caught up in Hayden's off , maybe a self DOTM nomination there

no he (=Elias) didn't

look at his lap-times analyses on MotoGP.com : Haydens second lap was as slow as he's first : 1.56.4 vs 1.56.5
Elias' second lap was 1.52.4, which was about he's lap-average for the entire race (all he's laps -appart from one 1.53 dead were in the 1.51's and 1.52's. No one else had normal laptimes in the 1.52's. Elias was as bad as usual

MOTM : Barbera, for being only 2 seconds slower to Rossi over racedistance, with a bike that's pumping at the back vs a back that's not

DOTM : Bridgestone : for Cal's tire and Casey's tire-presure

[ipso]

MOTM: The Ducati ‘Red Shoes’ [travel team, including riders - vs. corporate] – for suffering gracefully every indignant and demanding Tom Dick and Harry with a keyboard (and journalists), who have manufactured drama that Mugello-mediocrity would be the end of the world as we know it, and pushing forward with the future of the Crimson Cowl.

And specifically to JB and his wife, for enduring and battling far worse things on top of it all. We all wish her strength, and a quick recovery!

DOTM: I’m with Oscar ^ – the broadcast producer, for a terrible performance of his or her rather important job.

_________________

DOTM : Bridgestone : for Cal's tire and Casey's tire-presure

If Bridgestone doesn’t do it this way, they should: and that is to provide suggestive feedback standardized for all teams so that individual teams’ and riders’ setup/pressure decisions are clearly and unequivocally known to be the fault of the team.

People attribute tire problems to Bridgestone, when the same exact spec tire was used by all teams. I’m ..tired of ..rolling over on this one.

[TheSecondStain]

MOTM: Pretty much Lorenzo for seeing the target in front of him and not giving up. Mature riding. Honourable mention to Bradley again, because his bike hasn't been that good in the dry, so far and although he's on a modified frame, he's still making a difference. Former 125cc WC Mike De Meglio is his teammate and he was 24th, although I'm not sure if he was on the same newer chassis.

DOTM: Hard one. Nobody really stood out starkly. Ducati ought to be doing better on their home track. Either they will come good or not. Hayden recovered well from his off, so I can't nominate him. Elias actually did extremely well from the start and fell back, when his same old problem of not being able to get heat into his front tyre pushed him back further and further. Bautista did well until the same old, same old, happened to the Suzuki, where they are supposed to like the conditions hot, but they still don't do a full race distance at a good pace. I suppose I'll have to say Ducati, because of the high expectation levels, but with a dishonourable mention to Suzuki for trying to imitate Kawasaki. They really ought to sort their bike out, because they are actually quite embarrassing, never mind Ducati. How about that for controversy..?

[Albert]

No way that you remembered without looking it up

It was a hybrid title,, couldn't decide between round 8 or the year,, ,,very efficient on my part if I may,,,

,,I get a small pass because I have to wake up at @ 4 am to catch these races live,, a few of my faculties don't quite catch up for a few hours

I am blessed/cursed with a good memory for details when it comes to Mugello! Honestly!

I'm not letting you off with the "up early" excuse cos I was drinking coffee @ 4-30am before trotting off to do an honest days toil for the second day in a row!

( --- only 7 more to go then I get a lie in!)

[RatsMC]

I considered giving this one to the race as well. Good to see a lead change in the second half.

However, I am going to give it to Lorenzo since he actually did the work. I really thought a 2+ second lead meant the race was over.

HM to Dovi for a well run race.

DotM for is Hayden. He had the pace to take 6th ahead of Rossi and yet he blew it.

[Cam D]

MOTM - Dovi for a brilliant fighting ride, a close second for Marc. I was also very impressed with Jorge setting the fastest lap while fighting for the win.
DOTM - Cal for parking his ass on the bench and not trying to even get back out there - I don't think Herve was impressed This is the second time in successive races that he has stopped and in Assen we could clearly see there was a problem. But his tyre choice was the same as Colin, so I would have expected him to stay out considering where he was in the race. And he needs experience of the bike and this track, so we'll put today behind us and hope to see him showing his true potential in Germany.

[TwoStroke Institute]

DOTM
Elias – even with a 7th place start, a hot day, and in Playboy garb,, yikes

Elias got caught up in Hayden's off , maybe a self DOTM nomination there

no he (=Elias) didn't

look at his lap-times analyses on MotoGP.com : Haydens second lap was as slow as he's first : 1.56.4 vs 1.56.5
Elias' second lap was 1.52.4, which was about he's lap-average for the entire race (all he's laps -appart from one 1.53 dead were in the 1.51's and 1.52's. No one else had normal laptimes in the 1.52's. Elias was as bad as usual

Have to give myself an upper cut as Elias just fell away

http://www.lcr.mc/

[chakraist]

That heading is bloody hilarious 'Manages to Finish 15th'

[Richo]

MOTM for me was Lorenzo. Never gave up and is keeping the championship alive.

HM to Dovi, fine ride.

DOTM - Casey's Bridgestone tyre tech

[Oscar]

That heading is bloody hilarious 'Manages to Finish 15th'

Er - maybe there was a punctuation error and it should have read: 'Manages to Finish - (15th)". I really thought that was a pretty damn direct blast at Elias, it looks as if relations are barely even cordial over there. With LCR hanging for sponsorship, this must be a deeply worrying time for Cecchinello.

[TwoStroke Institute]

..................off topic.................................off topic alert....................

Just wondering how water tight RdP's Pramac contract is? If LCR offered a Honda ride for X amount of races this year and next season would he jump ship? He doesn't look the slightest bit happy at Pramac.

........................resume....................................................

[ipso]

..................off topic.................................off topic alert....................

Just wondering how water tight RdP's Pramac contract is? If LCR offered a Honda ride for X amount of races this year and next season would he jump ship? He doesn't look the slightest bit happy at Pramac.

........................resume....................................................

Knock yourself out over in the Mugello off-track thread.

No caveats needed.

Talk about how the movie Solaris (2002) is so important – so overwhelmingly important - that everyone should just know how it relates directly to racing. Clearly, also, The Brown Bunny (2004).

And how obviously the movie Stone (1974) must be Stoner’s favorite movie, as probably no doubt with all Aussies.

___________________

With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

[CLX]

MOTM - Lorenzo, hands down.
DOTM - Ducati. And Carmo must be worried for the rest of 2011...

I haven't watched the 125cc and Moto2 races. I'll get to them tonight and return to this thread.