Sunday, April 8, 2012

Moto Gp Race 1 in Qatar

For those that don't follow Moto Gp, the start of the season was today April 8, 2012.  Big things were in store for this year and for those that havn't been following my blog the biggest difference was the change from 800cc engines to 1000cc engines.  Thats a 200cc (cubic centimeter) difference in engine size, allowing for more power to weight ratio.

I assumed my favorite rider (Ben Spies) was going to do extremely well but he crashed his bike twice during practice and ended up in 11th place for the final standing in the race.  He knew something was wrong with his bike and continued to try and earn some points anyway.

Ben Spies (Rider #11)--->



Jorge Lorenzo #99---->

1st- #99 Jorge Lorenzo (Ben Spies teammate) took 1st place on the same bike provided by the Yamaha Factory Racing Team.  (Above is a picture of Lorenzo winning the first race.)

2nd- #26 Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda)


3rd- #1 Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda)-Casey was the former world champion and currently carries the #1 on his motorcycle.(The #1 is reserved for the champion of the previous season)  Casey complained of a lot of chattering and not having the bike work to his specifics.  This was apparent through the race when he almost slid out a few times but managed to hold on to his bike and position.

Casey Stoner (#1) ---->



Below is a short interview that both the 2nd and 3rd place riders took place in after the race.


Dani Pedrosa:
"I'm very happy with this result because we have been able to turn around all the problems we had during the weekend. After a good pre-season we got here and everything went wrong: I had flu and a fever, I crashed on Friday, then the qualifying practice was a disaster… So, it's very good to leave here with this podium, even if I feel little bit sad because I thought I could win this race, I had it in my hands for a while. The team did a fantastic job and we saw things very differently after warm up; then I managed a perfect start which was a key moment in the race, and I was able to stay with Casey and Jorge. In the end, with four laps to go I tried to take the lead, but Lorenzo was cleverer than me this time and chose a better strategy. I passed him but he overtook me immediately and also Casey, then I was behind Casey for one lap and lost contact with Jorge. Anyway, it's a good start to the season and we will try to do better in Jerez."
Casey Stoner:
"It wasn't really the way we wanted to finish the race weekend here, after FP3 and Qualifying it was always going to be a tough race for us but in the end it came in the wrong areas. The bike was working well for us, I definitely had the package and the pace to lead the field which was really positive. However, I suffered from really bad arm pump. After three or four laps I felt it but it gradually got worse, I tried to pull a little gap from Jorge and Dani and put in the minimal effort possible to retain the gap and try and win, but as the race continued it got worse and worse and eventually the muscles had nothing more to give. I couldn't hold onto the handle bars properly and it made things really difficult so it was a disappointing race for this reason, but for many other technical reasons it was very promising."

We'll see how these gentleman shape up for the next race in Jerez at the end of the month.on April 29th.  Jerez was the testing grounds for the preseason of Moto Gp and should make for an interesting race.

Till next time,
Johnny 5 out-



2 comments:

  1. awesome post. I was able to understand your blog and the people you were talking about since I am not very familiar with the motorcycle world.

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  2. Great post. It has good information on the race. I've always been a fan of racing, motorcycle and formula one, and this was perfect for a quick insight to the race.

    ReplyDelete