Awesome race, one of the best MotoGP races I have seen, TBH, before this race I was coming to the conclusion that it was past it's best, but Catalunya has made me think otherwise.

Awesome ride from Stoner, glad he beat Rossi, but good riding from all three podium finishers.

That Ducati has some serious straightline speed, Italian bikes FTW!!!!!!!!!!111111111111

Dan,

Like i always say stoner wins only by the top speed of that ducati.

Rubbish, he held Rossi off for the whole last lap, is was no way down to the top speed of the duke, Rossi's bike can brake MUCH later than the duke ever can and it take's any top speed advantage of the Duke out of the equation.

Rossi went in the right way to setup the bike the way he feels best.. that is to be really good on the brakes and go for a stable bike. Duke has gone for the thing they are good at is top speed because they are ****ing useless at making bikes that can corner for shit.

Look at BSB they have good top speed to anyone else on the track but for some reason they can't make the bike go arounder corners so they try and get the rules change so they want more power and more top speed, just ****ing typical of the dukes.

I haven't watch Moto GP this year but this was great Don't know much about Moto GP but I'd of said that Stoner didn't just win on straight line speed alone.

Great race,Stoners straight line speed is frightning,great race from Rossi

Quote from rc10racer :

Rossi went in the right way to setup the bike the way he feels best.. that is to be really good on the brakes and go for a stable bike. Duke has gone for the thing they are good at is top speed because they are ****ing useless at making bikes that can corner for shit.

Look at BSB they have good top speed to anyone else on the track but for some reason they can't make the bike go arounder corners so they try and get the rules change so they want more power and more top speed, just ****ing typical of the dukes.

Meh, I think you are wrong , but you are entitled to your opinion.

Hell of a race though

It was a great race, today has been a good motorsports day.

That was much more than straight line speed. Stoner was holding Rossi well in the corners. As others said, Rossi's brakes into the first corner out-did Stoner's speed on the main straight. Stoner was much faster through left-hand corners and was consistently getting the power on smoother and earlier.

To say that it was purely due to Ducati being fast is nonsense, Stoner is a great racer and it's time to admit that Rossi isn't quite the god he has been.

Do you guys know of any place i can download the race from? It wasn't on TV here and I'd like to watch it

Sent you a PM with a link.

Don't know if the link you got was this, but it should be your first stop far all motorsport http://www.racing-underground.com/index.ru

That was a fantastic race, Stoner has really gone up in my books after that. I think he has proved its not all down to his bikes straight line speed. Racing against Rossi like that, wow.

It was, Moose.

Didnt know if it was ok to post it here in the public forum.

Quote from danowat :

Rubbish, he held Rossi off for the whole last lap, is was no way down to the top speed of the duke, Rossi's bike can brake MUCH later than the duke ever can and it take's any top speed advantage of the Duke out of the equation.

Hah how can you say that? Stoner leading Rossi out of final turn = meagre draft slowly closing and POSSIBLE chance for Rossi to outbrake. Rossi leading Stoner = Stoner past long before the first corner, possible chance for Rossi to outbrake. Both bikes were capable of similar laptimes, but any racer would take the one with the straightline advantage every time in that situation, there's just nothing you can do to stop someone driving past on the straights.

The best bike on the brakes looked like the Suzuki to me, Rossi made a bit up on Casey braking into T1, but made most time up in the long right hand corners where he had significantly more corner speed, but there was usually a Duc' in the way.

Quote from rc10racer :

Rossi went in the right way to setup the bike the way he feels best.. that is to be really good on the brakes and go for a stable bike. Duke has gone for the thing they are good at is top speed because they are ****ing useless at making bikes that can corner for shit.

so why,with the one exception, did rossi pass stoner on the brakes only to run wide midcorner? perhaps it was because stoner was braking at the limit which forced rossi to brake too late and run wide? stoner braked late all race and showed rossi that he wasnt prepared to lie down and die,sounds like a good bike and rider to me.
yes yamaha and honda have caught the ducatis a little in the last few races but stoner and capirossi(17th to 6th) have today, shown that they can handle corners like they can handle the straights.
Tango

Lets just stick to facts,

To say Stoner ONLY won due to the dukes top speed advantage not only does the bike a disservice, but also the rider.

MotoGP's bikes are built to the same rules and regs, if Ducati can produce an engine that gives them more power fair play to em.

As for BSB/WSB, you are very, very wrong, it is well known that a 1000cc V-twin can NEVER produce the same amount of power as an IL4 1000cc engine, so they are already fighting a losing battle on speed and power to start with, so tell me that Greg Lavilla and his bikes victories are JUST down to power and top speed.

Quote from danowat :

Lets just stick to facts,

(1)To say Stoner ONLY won due to the dukes top speed advantage not only does the bike a disservice, but also the rider.

(2)MotoGP's bikes are built to the same rules and regs, if Ducati can produce an engine that gives them more power fair play to em.

(3)As for BSB/WSB, you are very, very wrong, it is well known that a 1000cc V-twin can NEVER produce the same amount of power as an IL4 1000cc engine, so they are already fighting a losing battle on speed and power to start with, so tell me that Greg Lavilla and his bikes victories are JUST down to power and top speed.

Facts?

1- that's exactly what's being said. Stoner's a great rider and the Ducati's a good bike. That said, you'd be fooling yourself if you said Stoner's wins in China and Catalunya weren't vastly aided by the Ducati's power advantage over the other bikes. His advantage in China was unreal and

2- Nobody said Ducati couldn't do it or is wrong in doing so. Ducati's decisions have nothing to do with what's being discussed. It's simply that Stoner has quite a bit more power than the others. Nobody's faulting anybody for having more power, you simply can't say someone's better because their bike has more power.

3- Ducati's efforts in WSB and BSB have been aided by the mid-RPM-range power that the V-twins have that the inline fours don't.

The race on the whole was interesting when they weren't on the front straight. Watching someone open up a lead on the straights is frustrating to say the least. TBH, MotoGP isn't terribly interesting. It's great when there are a lot of fast guys but if I want to watch very close racing, I'll stick with the 125 class or 250 class.

Trust me, I know the advantages (and the rather large disadvantages) of V-twins compared to IL4's

Quote from danowat :

As for BSB/WSB, you are very, very wrong, it is well known that a 1000cc V-twin can NEVER produce the same amount of power as an IL4 1000cc engine, so they are already fighting a losing battle on speed and power to start with, so tell me that Greg Lavilla and his bikes victories are JUST down to power and top speed.

You're right, but surely you'll even admit that the difference in WSB/BSB between the IL4s and the Duc' is virtually unnoticeable compared with the difference between the Duc and others in MotoGP.
And of course Ducati deserve their advantage in MotoGP, I think it has added an extra element of interest to the series too.

Regardless of thier MotoGP engine, it's a HELL of an achievement for a tubular steel trellis framed machine.

P.S. any "fanboyism's" are just purely down to my love of Italian motorbikes LOL

One of the best races I've seen in any motorsport in my life. Clearly the Ducati has a significant straightline speed advantage, but it wasn't only the top speed which won the race - Stoner rode bloody well too. Incidentally, look how close Rossi came to contact with Stoner when he passed him near the end.

^^^^
Yes, that was indeed a great race....no that isn't close

Great race! The turning point for me:

One particular swooping left hander mid way through the track, where Rossi had to square it off, but Stoner could just ride it all the way round. If Stoner didn't take advantage of this, the fighting would have been much closer.

The first corner was nuts, top speed vs. stable brakes, fun stuff.

Yamaha seem to have closed the top speed gap down to Ducati, still a ways to go.

An utterly brilliant ride that! I was literally on the edge of my seat for ten laps. Casey proved he's no longer some green kid from 250-land but a solid rider who can mix it with the best in the world, keep it cool and come out on top.

Now, this thing about the Duke's top speed - I don't buy it. Not completely anyway. It is quicker in a straight line, certainly, but let's not minimise Stoner's skills. Anyone who can go toe-to-toe with Vale Rossi for a dozen laps, on any bike, is someone to respect. As for the other Ducati, with all its massive top-end speed, where did that finish? Does anyone even remember? Can anyone tell me (without checking to MotoGP website) where Loris is on the ladder at the moment? Speed isn't everything. If speed was everything then what happened at Mugello? What about Le Mans? Twisty, soaking with rain and Casey still pulled off a classy ride in crap conditions (with countryman Vermuelen going one better, schooling everyone in the art of wet riding).

During the Schumacher Ferrari era I didn't hear anyone complain too loud about the better car. Same during the Renault/Alonso domination, same during Senna's pwnage with McLaren. It's not good enough to just have a sweet ride, if you can't handle it you'll still end up nowhere. Look at last year's champ, Nicky Hayden. The Kentucky Kid's 11th, about 100 points short of Casey atm but his Honda team mate Pedrosa, on the same bike, was two or three lengths from a win at Catalunya and is 3rd on the ladder. Chris Vermuelen, on a Suzuki of all things, is 5th, two up from Loris on the second Duke. Not renowned for its massive HP but CV has stuck it up at the pointy end nonetheless. I'm sure the Repsol team aren't looking jealously at its engine - but they may well have eyes on the pilot ...

There was a time when Rossi himself had the best ride out there and was known to just play with the field until the last 7 or 8 laps, when he'd just put his head down and his Honda would leave everyone (including his team mate) in the distance saying "wtf?" I didn't hear anyone playing the "too quick in a straight line" card then. Not that Rossi needs it anyway (if you can recall his magical first ride on a Yamaha when he beat Biaggi's more powerful Honda in South Africa you'll know what I mean).

Of course, I'm not biased towards Aussies, or Ducatis, or Aussies riding Ducatis or anything

The duke is quick no doubt but Stoner took Rossi on alot of the twisty stuff ,Rossi was trying his heart out and out braking Casey but running wide in the process.

Its a tough time for me in MotoGp, i have been a staunch Rossi fan since 125's and i,m a Stoner fan too, i feel so torn

Sometimes i have to wonder if everyone was watching the same race..