MotoGP || Mugello, Italy || July 15, 2012

From the camera angle I couldn't tell if Stoner made contact, but yeah he intentionally moved in. To be fair, twice this season Lorenzo has intentionally rubbed another rider with his front tire.

 

I hope Nicky can stay in 3rd...

 

The Ducatis seem to be doing well, except VR's...

 

Hopefully, but his next fastest lap was a second slower:
http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/2012/ITA/MotoGP/FP2/Analysis.pdf?v1_4a840cd2

 

It's only two practices, but so far it appears to be a giant FU from Nicky to Ducati.
Seeing him up there really makes me happy. But even if he stays there in practice and qualifying, I doubt that pile he's on will make it all race up front like that.

 

Unfortunately..... ^ This.

 

He's always up there in the beginning, and usually can put in a fast lap or two to get to the upper portion of the sheets but it's the lack of consistency that proves his downfall in the race.

How many times has he been 3rd or 4th 5 laps into the race only to end up battling for 9th by the end?

 

doesn't that kind of prove that he can ride with the best of them? I see that as he is a fast rider that just doesn't have the equipment to keep him running up front... or perhaps the physical fitness, but knowing his work ethic, I can't imagine he's lacking in physical fitness.

 

I don't know what the issue is. I just know that the races are 20-30 laps, not 5 and it's where you finish that matters.

 

To me, it looked like Casey purposely brushed Petrucci right before the entry to the left hander, but IMO, it was no where near as dangerous as what Keenan did. Stoner kept his upper body leaned to the right, instead of setting up for the turn in the normal way, so that their actual bikes didn't make contact, only their bodies touched. Im against riders making contact with each other on purpose at any time, and for any reason, but the way Stoner did that was pretty damn precise and skillful if you ask me, and I am by no means a Stoner fan.

 

Oh I certainly agree. It just sucks watching the guy start the race... and get all excited because he's running in the front pack, and then a few laps later see him drop 2,3 or 5 spots.

 

In his interview after FP2, Nicky said that he is able to run a fast lap here and there, but doesn't have the consistent pace he needs to challenge on sunday. Hopefully they can change something on sunday.

 

Can anyone confirm what soup said: "Up to this point Rossi's team had been holding out pitboard signs with a tricycle on them when Hector Barbera was behind Rossi. Probably not any more. Rossi was the slowest Ducati in this session."

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jul/120713b.htm

I saw Lorenzo's team with the tricycle pit board last week, not Rossi's. Has Rossi's team been using the tricycle too, or is this just more of soups bs?

Either way, they forgot to mention that Rossi was the only Duc rider out on a hard tire for the whole session.

 

Not sure if Rossi's team had the tricycle as well, but Barbera has been following anyone he can recently, and I think Rossi and his team may not have the best memories of that from 2010. (Crash caused by a cold tire after Rossi slowed to force Barbera to stop following him.)

 

Hadben, you got some good TV time in FP2

 

This. Rossi didnt run the soft tyre today.

 

Here are the top speed so far that I can put together.

MotoGP:
Fastest: Hector Barbera (Ducati) 346.7km/h (215.4mph)
Slowest: Danilo Petrucci (Ioda CRT) 302.6km/h (188.0mph)

Moto2:
Fastest: Pol Espargaro (Pons Kalex) 289.9km/h (180.1mph)
Slowest: Elena Rosell (Moriwaki) 271.7km/h (168.8mph)

Moto3:
Fastest: Arthur Sissis (KTM) 233.9km/h (145.3mph)
Slowest: Danny Webb (Mahindra) 218.8km/h (136.0mph)

 

Wow, Im surprised they can get a CBR 600 motor to do 180 and still conservatively last three race weekends. To me that's almost more impressive than the prototype top speeds. Its especially impressive considering Esparago as only down 8 mph on Petruci's 1000, which theoretically only has to last 1.5 weekends. They must be getting more power out of moto 2 engines now, than when the class was first introduced.

 

You can find more speed with aerodynamic gains than with marginal horsepower increases.

 

As far as top speed is concerned, I agree. Im still impressed that they are able to get 180 mph out of a 600 cc motor that has to be pretty much as close to infallible as you can get for three race weekends.