MOTM - Sachsenring *Spoilers*

[lebowski]

MOTM - Dani

Honorable mentions - Jorge and Bautista + Suzuki

DOTM - the coverage! Why for the second race running did we have 4 or so replays of the start whilst they are mixing it up at the front? Someone should get sacked.


(Luckiest) LOTM - Bradley Smith - nearly had his head taken off after that crash.

[chc-pr]

Agreed -
MOTM: Bautista race was a great performance - very gutsy.

Now Albert, take a seat!
Hon Mention: One V. Rossi Quite what provoked the change I don't know, but that was a big turn around. Also Hon Mentions for Hayden for sticking it to Rossi when he tried to come through - that was great racing; and Dani Pedrosa for a fantastic ride. The past year is forcing me to reassess my view on him. Very impressed.

DoTM:
Sit down again Albert!
Stoner: What was he thinking in those last few corners? He had Lorenzo beat then seemed to slow right up? That was a poor bit of riding at the end. Something is going on with Stoner at the minute because he has lost something somewhere.

[TwoStroke Institute]

One tough decision.

Marquez a strong candidate, Faubel/Zarco real strong also, Lorenzo a great last lap pass, Bautisa a superb effort...............Pedrosa a win after a bad injury real close, but I'll have to give it to Simoncelli, who looks as though he's turned the corner with his riding style, last corner he could hammered Dovi but got out of it cost him a place and will learn from that race.

DOTM. Nick and Gav to many "plunged down the hill" in all three classes but only 1 " no love lost between them"

[Rossifumi]

MotM - I'll go with Bautista. He has to get a competitive ride for next season.

DotM - Simoncelli. This is supposed to be the circuit with the least fuel issues - he should've been nearer the front.
Also, for the fact that he took out Dani at Le Mans! if he hadn't we'd potentially be looking at a pretty good 3-way fight for the title

[Oscar]

MOTM - I go with Bautista also - though it is a hard call over Pedrosa given what he's still carrying, but he's a fully seasoned motoGp veteran and Bautista is still only in his second season.

VHM - the 125 race - a real cracker.

DOTM - the bloody TV director - for the second race in a row. Even Gavin and Nick were getting totally jacked off and they are paid to talk the thing!

Personal favourite rides: Marquez, such an elegant and effortless style, it's a pleasure to watch. Bautista and Pedrosa.

'Nice one' moments: Lorenzo on Stoner at the end, and the Rossi/Hayden pas de deux.

[Cam D]

MOTM - Dani .... and the Sausage ring for putting on three awesome races.

DOTM - Ducati.

[corinthian]

The real MOTM? Me. And you. and every other race fan who just got to see exactly the sort of racing we've been praying for.

But seriously...

MOTM - I'm going to give this one to Bautista as well. When Spanish TV interviewed him after the race he was just so genuinely happy that it made my day. He looked like he'd just taken his helmet off after a drunk karting session with his best mates and was joking with the interviewer who reminded him that he had planned to have a poster made up of his first overtake on Rossi in MotoGP, and now he'd got a few to choose from! Depending on your interpretation of MOTM, Dani and Jorge were equally deserving of the prize as well.

DOTM - No doubt about this one for me, Julián Simón. Not disappointed by him but for him. I could just as well have picked Stoner though, watching the rear of his Honda on corner entry after about 10 laps was just depressing after the problems he had at the last race. I don't remember a rider chewing out his mechanics WHILE STILL IN PARC FERMÉ like that, he was getting called to interviews and he was saying 'in a minute'... not a happy camper.

Just a note on TV coverage: to be fair I don't think the director did such a bad job, as at least for once we were made aware that there were multiple battles going on and showed them at key moments. I don't know how many races I've seen where the vast majority of the overtaking was only shown on replay as coverage focused on the leaders. We're seeing more gyroscopic cams and interesting angles than ever, usually shown at timely moments (like forward-facing cam shots from riders that have just been overtaken) and better post-race and garage footage than ever. Off-camera events are being replayed sooner and sooner and in general I'll forgive them their mistakes. The big one today for me has already been alluded to: umpteen repetitions of the MotoGP start, and hardly any repetitions of the Moto2 start which actually had a number of things going on that required multiple viewings. But I can live with that.

[CLX]

MOTM - Bridgestone. Their tyres provided and allowed hard, clean and close racing without any excessive and artificial degradation. Thumbs up for them! And also Bautista and Pedrosa.

[corinthian]

MOTM - Bridgestone. Their tyres provided and allowed hard, clean and close racing without any excessive and artificial degradation. Thumbs up for them! And also Bautista and Pedrosa.

Get over to Germany quickly! BS are going to want you in their corner tonight as nobody else seems to be singing their praises! You're right though, their tyres did perform well on the day.

Wasn't it great to see a race without a single crash? How much of that was due to the tyre and how much due to everybody dialling it back a bit on the right handers, we'll never know. Stoner for one said that he slowed down to conserve tyres while at the front, and he had trouble with edge grip (both sides) which combined with too much engine breaking on corner entry was giving him a few scares. I reckon BS got off lightly given how Friday and Saturday went, were lucky with the weather and can be pretty pleased going into the battle to come.

[Rusty Bucket USA]

DOTM - the bloody TV director - for the second race in a row. Even Gavin and Nick were getting totally jacked off and they are paid to talk the thing!

(Apparently "jacked off" means something different here than it does Down Undah...?)
It was interesting to hear how exasperated Gavin Emmett was for that last damned replay. You could hear that he had gone to timing-&-scoring to try to keep calling the actual race, during the 2nd replay, and he just kept getting more frustrated with each additional one. You had to feel for the guy; not only does he have to work with Nick Harris every week (especially while Rossi is serving time in Purgatory), but now the director is taking away from a real race at the front!

[coyote]

MOTM: Bautista. I was sure that with the softer rear he was sure to fall into the clutches of the Ducatis and Edwards so to manage to win Group B was astonishing.

HM: Dani, not surprising to me that he was able to do it, I just thought this was a bit too soon for him. Extreme dedication, determination and inch-perfect every single corner.

DOTM: Stoner, may I ask what happened? Supposedly the best rider on the the best bike on pole, and I'm getting told he somehow broke in qualifying Lorenzo and will dominate from now on. Looked extremely ragged when Dani came up behind halfway through the race, way too many mistakes at that point, crowned by the big misjudgment of defending the penultimate corner so hard.

Hon Mention: One V. Rossi Quite what provoked the change I don't know, but that was a big turn around.

Um, no. Rossi's pace had been the low-mid 23's throughout the weekend, this time the difference to all the other Q 10-13th to rise to 5-7th was that he didn't find anything with the softer tyre. It is obvious nowasayd that that is where Rossi will pretty much always be, significantly behind PedLorStoDovSimSpi, either clear ahead of the other guys or fighting for the lead in that, and usually 20-30 seconds from the winner.

[ipso]

MotM = Bautista/Rizla

MotM-O (off-track) = Big Ben Bostrom!

DotM – ~~Pedrosa - for wrecking all my bets. That was a real disappointment.~~ I didn’t figure properly how hard braking tracks are his Achilles, and where he drops off physically over race distance when injured – but not so on flowy tracks like Sachsenring. I knew he had won there a bunch, but didn’t consider perhaps why. I had Spies penciled in for DotM all the way till the end – on an “equally competitive” bike and letting Dovi and Sic prance off like that – but then he came due (if only because of Simoncelli’s mistake - again.)

DotM-O

DOTM. Nick and Gav to many "plunged down the hill" in all three classes but only 1 " no love lost between them"

Agreed. However, mine is isolated to babbling-interruptus extraordinaire Nick “desperate.desperate” Harris. Gavin’s FP3 performance was outstanding – lots of information – good recon and content – only occasionally getting into editorial but generally keeping a good healthy journalistic balance.

And I agree with Corinthian that the feed production editing was just fine - really good actually. The various onboard angles of the start are essential viewing IMO, and “nothing happened” during that break (where else could it have gone?) so “no foul” from me.

[Tormo4ever]

Motm Dani, and the track, i love the sachsenring!


Dotm - Ducati. Their factory boys beaten by Álvaro on a dog!

[Albert]

Dotm - Ducati. Their factory boys beaten by Álvaro on a dog!

That dog seems to have grown lately!
It's gone from a Poodle to a Weimaraner!
Next step, German Shepherd and then Rottweiler!!!!

MOTM - Dani! What a great comeback from injury!
Honourable mention - Álvaro Bautista!

DOTM - Elias! Sorry guys - despite his obvious success in Moto2 he's doing next to nothing to justify being here!
Next stop WSS!
Dishonourable mention - Ducati GP11.1 -- it's just not working is it?
Rossi on the M1 on one of his worst days could have easily despatched Nicky and Alvaro!

[9fingers]

MOTM: Pedros, for proving once again that this was his year. Even injured beating both his team mate and the Yamaha rival, on max form. Hope he gathers more wins then everyone this season.
Also for lifting me in top 16 for motogp.com fantasy. Damn it, even getting this podium right doesn't get you to first
Yeah, i'm just bragging.

Bautista was also amazing. I just hope he can keep it up, Suzuki disappointed us so many times...

DOTM: Ducati's latest development path.

[Gustav O]

DOTM. Nick and Gav to many "plunged down the hill" in all three classes but only 1 " no love lost between them"

:lol
I think of you every time they say " plunge". My no1 most hated word in English.

[Squidpuppet]

[And I agree with Corinthian that the feed production editing was just fine - really good actually. The various onboard angles of the start are essential viewing IMO, and “nothing happened” during that break (where else could it have gone?) so “no foul” from me.

During the cool down lap, or any of the other TEN FRIGGIN minutes between the checkered flag and the trophy distribution. They was a dicin' hard when we were forced to watch FOUR replays of an UNEVENTFULL start.

[/rant]

[TwoStroke Institute]

DOTM. Nick and Gav to many "plunged down the hill" in all three classes but only 1 " no love lost between them"

:lol
I think of you every time they say " plunge". My no1 most hated word in English.

Well at Laguna expect lots of 08 references, few "starts the long climb up to the Corkscrew" and a manatory " plunge down out of the Corkscrew" every second lap, mercifly it will only be 1 class

[Oscar]

DOTM - the bloody TV director - for the second race in a row. Even Gavin and Nick were getting totally jacked off and they are paid to talk the thing!

(Apparently "jacked off" means something different here than it does Down Undah...?)
It was interesting to hear how exasperated Gavin Emmett was for that last damned replay. You could hear that he had gone to timing-&-scoring to try to keep calling the actual race, during the 2nd replay, and he just kept getting more frustrated with each additional one. You had to feel for the guy; not only does he have to work with Nick Harris every week (especially while Rossi is serving time in Purgatory), but now the director is taking away from a real race at the front!

Ah, yes - in Aus. the expression you are thinking of is 'jerked off' - 'jacked off' here means totally annoyed and frustrated. I'm with SP on the start replays - anytime but NOT when there is results-changing dicing going on!

Was interested to see from Dr.K's report that Stoner's rear was going off badly - there was a shot (briefly) of it about 10 laps from the end and the edge (rh) looked way more ragged than it should and the bike was getting way loose. Takes nothing away from Lorenzo's last-lap performance, that was a sweet recovery and dive up the inside from him that was absolutely (and that's one word, not the three that Harris uses!) lovely racing, but perhaps Stoner deserves a wee bit more credit than I initially gave him for nearly holding out for the 2nd place.

[Gustav O]

Aaaaahhh! I didn't think about Laguna coming up....

[OZintheDesert]

MoTM - Bautista for the Group B factory win..
HM's to the MotoGP Podium for the whole race. I think they all did a great job.

I was especially enjoying the chasing through turn 11 when Lorenzo closed the door and he looked seriously ragged. I actually had a bit of a moment watching that. it was a great shot.

DoTM - Bradley Smith, Overcooking the turn 1 at the start of the race, only to be on the climb again and then stack. He would not have had that problem if his initial ambition...
DHM's - Sic for his last lap mistake. Cal Crutchlow for his lack of effort. (Is Crutchlow having a Toseland moment?). The directors for 4 wasted moments replaying the start when there was actually action on the track. The awarding of the win in 125's (there had to be a better way than that, most laps ahead or something).

But best racing of the year one has to say..

[motor]

MOTM - Dani, Dani, Bautista

DOTM - Stoner, Ducati, Rossi

[coyote]

perhaps Stoner deserves a wee bit more credit than I initially gave him for nearly holding out for the 2nd place.

Or perhaps he needs to change his riding style that (one way or another) seems to be causing him to get beaten by other riders.

[ian606]

MOTM: Bautista
DOTM: Ducati

[rick]

[snip]
Takes nothing away from Lorenzo's last-lap performance, that was a sweet recovery and dive up the inside from him that was absolutely (and that's one word, not the three that Harris uses!) lovely racing, but perhaps Stoner deserves a wee bit more credit than I initially gave him for nearly holding out for the 2nd place.

Yep, great racecraft from Lorenzo, but i really do think Casey will be kicking himself when he sees the replay from overhead and the amount of speed he dropped by riding so defensively.
He dropped so much speed when he rode the tight line into turn 11 that it killed his speed all the way to twelve and Lorenzo wasn't even there after his moment the corner before, but that's racing.