MOTM - Misano

[lebowski]

MOTM - Marc Marquez - great rides by both he and Bradl but this boy is on a roll.
Honourable mentions- Jorge, proving the fight is still in him and the Yam is a nice bit of kit. Race time was about 11 seconds faster than Dani last year.
Also - Rossi - improvement and good to see he still fights in the race when he looked to have given up in practice/qual. The gap is still big though and it really just highlights what a fickle beast the Duc is. Stoner's crew are legends for getting the best out of it as consistently as they did.

DOTM-hate to say it but .... Spies ... he needs to sort out the early part of his races if he is ever going to qualify as an "alien". Afraid it doesn't look like happening any time soon. To me, he is simply overly cautious in the early laps, no doubt worried about the rubber.
Also - ZARCO - enough said
Dishonourable mention - portions of the crowd that booed the podium/Lorenzo

[Richo]

MOTM - Hard to find one in MotoGP as there were no real standouts, although Lorenzo did ride a great race, but we expected that. So I'm giving it to Terol. It looked like he had lost it on the last corner but he managed to steal a win there.

DOTM - Exact opposite of my MOTM. Zarco left his brain in the garage before this race. His antics during the race were quite bizarre and the lunacy of his behaviour going over the finish line just didn't make sense. It seemed like he was almost trying to stop Terol passing him by putting his hand out to stop him. If he had just stayed tucked in and raced he probably would have won it. Mental.

[Oscar]

MOTM - Redding; nobody in the motoGp race (though Lorenzo rode very, very well).

HMs: Singlecelli for keeping the brain and the speed both engaged for a whole race, Rossi for riding with far more of the old flair, the first four in the moto2 race.

DOTM: Zarco....

[Desmo44]

MOTM- Simoncelli. After all the dud rides lately, I don't think anyone would have guessed that he would pass and beat Rossi, Spies and Dovi.

DOTM- Once again: MotoGP Race Video director. Abandon the only contest in the race to show the first three stroll across the line. Fortunately I don't think we missed anything. I know the top riders have their due, but at least give us a split screen or pict-in-pict when there's a real fight going on.

[Cam D]

MOTM - Jorge for stringing twenty laps together within about a half a second of each other ... when he really needed to. Must have been a lot of pressure on him.
HM - Terol and Redding

DOTM - Zarco... he's dangerous.
HM - Spies or is team... not quite sure what is going on there.

[Cam D]

MOTM- Simoncelli. I don't think anyone would have guessed that he would pass and beat Rossi, Spies and Dovi.

Nice little battle that one. Good to see Dovi try and fight back. Thought there may have been tears when Spies joined in at the end...

[Faster1]

MOTM-
I rarely give an alien a nod for doing whats expected ,,, i.e.,,, a podium,,, but<<< !
Lorenzo - I'm was convinced a long time ago, as now,,, that the Honda is thEE bike to beat,, best power,, etc,,, so on paper, if anything other than a Honda podium occurs, then special recognition must be acknowledged.. ONE Jorge Lorenzo!!!!<<< takes a chronically underpowered Yamaha, and pisses on expectations!!! Boooo Yeah!!! my kind of win!!! It's really special to me when SKILL overwhelms technical advantage. Just like when Rossi dominated on a Yamaka I gave full marks to him and not the bike.. Inspiring speed by Lorenzo.. Not to mention the class on the podium with Rainey , Pedrossa and Stoner,,, in the face of some classless fans in Italy booing him on the podium,,, trashy!

Honorable mention -
Rossi - For beating that POS into submission and finishing respectable.
Simoncelli - He can't manage tire wear for beans,, and he still wouldn't yield to Dovi...

DOTM-
Spies - I want to think that he is the next coming ,,,, but,, bad ride,,, Jorge made the Yami soar, whats his excuse
Dovi - Pedrosa and Stoner are much faster than you, and Marco has more heart/balls,,, try to accept it at contract time..

Dishonorable mention -
Bautista - Your bike is better than a Ducati,, so it's on you that you finished behind one..

[Japhrodisiac]

This Zarco character is something else. Rewatch the Catalunya gp this year and watch him try to kill Terol on the run up to the checkered flag, then watch the end of the Misano race. DOTY maybe, with Simo a runner up.

Ben, get on with it!

Top marks to :

Lorenzo for showing us that mental toughness and smooth, consistent laps can beat the Hondas
Stoner for fighting through to 3rd with no sleep
Simo for beating Dovi and Spies in a fair fight
Marquez for putting together a great string of wins
Terol for rubbing it in Zarcos face
Rossi - 7th is the new 1st!

[RatsMC]

Okay, this is an odd one. I'm going to give it to the Simoncelli/Dovi.Spies trio but not to any one of them. They provided us with the closest we have seen to a 500cc era scrap in a long time. It was great watching racing where you couldn't accurately predict who would be able to make a pass stick based simply on their proximity to "the line".

If Spies had pulled off that pass on the last lap, he would have been the clear MotM. I couldn't give it to Lorenzo this time because he knew on Friday he was going to win. All he needed was that first corner.

DoTM: Hayden. But it's hard to call it a disappointment given his record at this track.

[Oscar]

takes a chronically underpowered Yamaha

Didn't look all that chronically underpowered... are you sure you're not trying to create a chronically overblown urban myth out of the '11 season? Lorenzo himself said that power wasn't a major issue for Misano.. That said, he rode superbly, and I'm glad to see people refraining from the 'just beat a wounded (insert name of wounded rider of choice)' type of comment that so often appears.

[RatsMC]

I just realized that I need to give Pedrosa an HM for that pass. Though not quit the same as Stoner's pass at Laguna, it was still impressive. And scary.

I'm really glad we can put all the old conventional wisdom about Pedrosa to bed. I've never considered myself a fan but he's always been maligned for and associated with the wrong things.

[Gustav O]

Rossi - 7th is the new 1st!

That was funny, and strangely enough you kind of get happy for him that he can dice for fifth for a while and then get seventh.

[Tourn46]

MotM - Simo... holding off those 2 guys, I believe that this is an example of how he's grown up as the year has progressed. Also I'm glad that he took Rossi in the manner he did to dispell those ludicrous claims that he wouldn't pass Rossi.

HM's - Lorenzo for doing what he had to do. Rossi for keeping his chin up after another poor weekend to bring it home in a respectable 7th and his bravery through the first few corners was awesome to watch, considering he's not confident with the front of the bike and the spots of rain.

DotM - Hayden... showed good pace in the morning but threw it up the road. I really want Nicky to do well, but this was just silly.

[Zaphod]

Redding.

Bradl did well too.....I felt he had something left toward the end,until Ianone happened. The way Ianone's bike was moving around, all he was ever going to do was slow down who ever he got in front of at that point.

Nothing to see in MotoGP.........Simo, Spies and Dovi did for two laps what the other classes gave all race long. Big deal.

Living in hope that the 1000's will add to the racing as has been promised.

There is a real difference between someone being accused of being dangerous for one pass,........and the complete nut-job that Zarco is.

Running Terol off the circuit was down right dangerous.......no opinions needed.

And last night just confirmed he is unhinged.....the most bizzare behavior on a bike I have ever seen anyway.

[The Scribe]

I just realized that I need to give Pedrosa an HM for that pass. Though not quit the same as Stoner's pass at Laguna, it was still impressive. And scary.

Very scary. I was hoping he would make a safe and easy pass, not a 270 kph one. Actually, I think it was a wrong choice, I'm glad it worked. I was fearing an Estoril '06 repetition that fortunately didn't happen.

[TwoStroke Institute]

The clear winner was Wayne Rainey, and mention to the 3 poduim riders who all looked a bit star struck(as would any of the current riders) when talking to the great man.

[The Scribe]

The clear winner was Wayne Rainey, and mention to the 3 poduim riders who all looked a bit star struck(as would any of the current riders) when talking to the great man.

I love it when the name of these guys (Rainey et al.) appears on the screen labeled "MotoGP Legend". Anything less wouldn´t make them justice.

Edit: spelling mistake corrected

[WayneG]

I love it when the name of these guys (Rainey et al.) appears on the screen labbed "MotoGP Legend". Anything less wouldn´t make them justice.

I agree entirely which is why I object to the GOAT tag. There are many GP Legends and they should all be admired and respected for their achievments.

[Tourn46]

I agree entirely which is why I object to the GOAT tag. There are many GP Legends and they should all be admired and respected for their achievments.

I suggest you take that one up with Colin Edwards

[WayneG]

I agree entirely which is why I object to the GOAT tag. There are many GP Legends and they should all be admired and respected for their achievments.

I suggest you take that one up with Colin Edwards

Best not go there .............................. again.

[RatsMC]

The clear winner was Wayne Rainey, and mention to the 3 poduim riders who all looked a bit star struck(as would any of the current riders) when talking to the great man.

+1

[Gustav O]

The clear winner was Wayne Rainey, and mention to the 3 poduim riders who all looked a bit star struck(as would any of the current riders) when talking to the great man.

He still is my absolute favourite rider. Seems like a top bloke as well and I understand that the kids on the podium were in awe.

[motomania]

The clear winner was Wayne Rainey, and mention to the 3 poduim riders who all looked a bit star struck(as would any of the current riders) when talking to the great man.

He still is my absolute favourite rider. Seems like a top bloke as well and I understand that the kids on the podium were in awe.

He is a top bloke. I first met Wayne over 20 years ago, just before he started stringing championships together. I was lucky enough to get to know who the man that also raced. To be quite honest, if it wasn't for Wayne's influence on my life, I'm not sure I'd be here today and would have made the decisions I did in the last few years.