MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Exciting is not the word. Great race by Rossi but unfortunately nothing much happened. Seems to be the case at Jerez every time, unless something happens at the last corner the race is usually decided after the first lap.

The championship has tightened up though.

A great performance by Rossi, and Lorenzo is taking the result badly. If I understand him, he is claiming a defective rear tire on his bike? And without that, he would have won by a large margin? Ha. He should concede that today just wasn't his day. 

Good to see Rossi won this race. It's rare to see a non-Spaniard winning a Spanish race since Stoner retired. Aside of that, the race is goddamn boring.

That was also audible in the traction control: where the older Ducatis were using a lot of ignition cuts, the Yamahas were just cutting one or two cylinders. The result: a much smoother power delivery. John pointed to Valentino Rossi through that section. "Rossi is really looking after his tire there, where others are spinning the rear." Would that help in the race? "It's got to be a factor. That's experience for you."

as title

....defective rear tyre both in qualifying and the race.

I call these "races with suspense but no excitement". OK, it got interesting when Lorenzo started to gain on Rossi for a brief period and there was always the worry that one of the top three riders might make a (very rare) mistake or suffer a (very rare) mechanical issue. But once the race was over one could immediately file it in the "probably not going to watch that one ever again" department. Impressive ride from Rossi, though.

Jerez has always been a bogey circuit for them.

However, one would have expected something better this time around irrespective of rider. Iannone lucked out and Dovi bombed out again, yet again, through no fault of his. 

The strakes are so bloody ugly on all the bikes, I hope they are banned with immediate effect if only for aesthetic reasons. They are so girly(No offence to feminists mind you). According to commentary on BT Sport they are to be shelved for 2017.

No fan of Rossi, but kudo's to him, it was a sublime performance on his part. Lorenzo and Marquez were totally outgunned. Ducati may have to revisit 14.2 merits without aero given Barbera and Laverty performances.

Finally, a shout out to Aprilia. That out fit is making more strides as a fledgeling than Ducati are as an established powerhouse within the gang of three sans Suzuki who are doing a great job. 

Vinales hype? 

I look forward to the comments and roundup.

Racing is back in Europe.

I think any tires I was riding on whilst my 37 year old team-mate ran away with the race I would call defective too!

That was indeed boring and exciting at the same time, but mainly exciting as far as I'm concerned! What a race by Rossi, as if we've gone back in time almost a decade... He looked very much in control of this one, and hungry for that matter. Even in the celebration lap he seemed like his younger self again. A wonderful sight.

And brilliant of course that he pulls a 'Lorenzo' in Spain of all places, taking the lead at the start and then pulling away... (OK, after a - very short lasting - overtake by Lorenzo.) I am curious to see if this is his true form; he was optimistic in the previous race as well, even after crashing out, so I don't think it's a fluke. This may become a very exciting season again! 

he could only manage to get to within two seconds of Rossi before he claimed his tyre lost grip, there was a visible line in the centre, and spun the rear under power on straights.

Vr had the same problems today even more then in fp.

Nice and dominant win today credit's for the old fox

Both Lorenzo and Rossi mentioned the rear spinning while going down the straight .

could this be the result of too much downforce on the front tire due to winglets? Would the cure be winglets on the rear ??

Interesting times ahead..

When Michelin desided that they were bringing in a stiffer construction rear tyre Rossi was vocal about putting the blame on Ducati. He said that Ducati must fix their bikes ( and make the riders lighter lol ). After they got the tires and Rossi found out that they might be playing into his hands ( like some of the Bridgestones played into Lorensos hands last year ) he now say that its ok with the new construction on a safety matter....  yeah....  I would also say that :):)

started making excuses? - "Going through the gears the bike didn‘t stop spinning and I couldn‘t fully open the throttle".

From what 93 & 46 said in the press conference, they all had the same thing. 46 dealt with it better or made the tyre last longer.

In Q2 he came into the pits pointing at his visor, (again), and changed helmets. Then said he had problems with the rear tyre so he couldnt make pole.

Not to take anything away from Rossi, but he did seem to have some good luck. I'm a huge VR46 fan and very happy he won, but even with his qualifying speed, the reality is that the race could have gone a number of ways. Dovi, on the other hand ... what did he do to deserve this? And though it's still early, the Ducati threat seems to be fading. If JL99 turns it around next year, there will be happy fans around the world, and also happy execs in Wolfsburg and Bologna, plus wherever Philip Morris is headquartered. 

Yes, too much Vinales hype. He does not seem that 'special' to these eyes the last two races.

My persoal opinion is.......that Dovizioso is the one that is staying with Ducati, not Iannone and Iannone knows it already, hence his performance lately. Just a guess and nothing more.

Best race and rider of the weekend...... Moto3 and Brad Binder of course. Outstanding ride and race craft. A race to remember.

And Sam Lowes ani't no slouch in Moto2.

Huge but consistent gaps in the finishing times between every team mate & also each manufacturer reinforce the view that the Michelins & the heat proved the divisive & decisive factors. Several riders muttered darkly about variable tyre quality in qualifying & Dovi who was most prescient on Saturday ironically suffered the most with his retirement. But Rossi & his crew proved you can counter the tyre lottery with clever set up. They were clearly on the best speed vs wear compromise trajectory & Lorenzo & Marquez could only suck it up. The wily old fox will surely use his superior experience of Michelins & racecraft to pull another advantage again this season. The next wet race for instance will be very interesting.

I read that Dovi had a water leak from his water pump. 

Whenever I see people complain of a boring race I think about my view of people who think that Formula 1 is boring now. F1 has almost always been how it is now with very, very rare exceptions. Those people just aren't fans of F1 because they have a fundamental misunderstanding of what that sport actually is on a regular basis. 

Was today's race a classic, great or even good? Not particularly from an actual racing perspective but that happens sometimes. Truly great races are uncommon and really good races are quite frequent in MotoGP. More so than any other racing series. Sometimes the races are straight forward but as a fan most of us understand this completely well. 

As as a huge fan of MotoGP the sport, even at its worst, is never boring. 

It seems like Dovi had a water pump fail on him.

Spies might have been out of the championship for what seems a long time, but it seems his luck is still afoot, as this is very reminiscent of his 2012 championship.

I'm a bit puzzled by the top speed of JL vs VR:

http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/2016/SPA/MotoGP/RAC/Analysis.pdf?v1_e9a89e45

JL was almost always faster at the speed trap (only in lap 20 VR is faster). It's clear that most of the riders had spinning problems at the rear when on the straight, but maybe the central band of the rear wasn't the only issue with the majorcan?

Before they covered the tyres it seemed to me JL's rear was quite worn on the sides as well, but I couldn't see VR rear. Anyone had the chance to make a quick comparison?

The comments pre and post race from riders have to be filtered and separated into "truthful", "nearly truthful.. with the intent of misleading or misinformation" and... How shall we say...... "BS intended to create niggle" the last usually aimed at your Italian / Spanish team mate. 

I think we got to see all of those from 46 and 99. LOL it truly is soap opera for grown men and women. You could title it "Days of our knives" for all the cutting comments. 

Can't wait for Le Man's

Brad Binder......... Legendary ride!!!!!!!! 

of fans, observers and indeed even insiders have been calling for increased tyre degradation and less electronic interference to aid with this during the race for many years now, placing the onus back on the rider to manage the race and hopefully adding some excitement. I for one am very happy to hear that the riders are struggling with the tyres-this for me adds a key skill set to the race result and dare I say it really gives us a good indication of the true pecking order-and not surprising so far this is very similar.

Unfortunately we didn't get the full on excitement here, but what we are seeing is serious tyre wear and potentially very little in the way of adaptive electronics to sort any of those issues. Despite this the times at the top were quite consistent and the top four were all on the same rubber combination. Of note to me also is the increase in fuel limit and how this is possibly affecting things now we are back in Europe-particularly with Marquez running out of fuel on the cool down lap which is odd, too much spinning of the rear maybe?

Rossi was the best today, simple. Lorenzo didn't have an answer, and certainly made himself look more than a little silly post-race with the now very customary excuse(s) when Rossi beats him to the win (circa 2015), I'm sure all riders believe they can win everytime if they only had this or that. Maybe Jorge is now a little more nervous about the bike jump next season, Ducati showing here that they are still as far off the pace as they were when Rossi rode the Desmo-oh well there is plenty of comfort in that Paycheck! 

Suzuki impressive, as was Aleix.

I started riding motorcycles over 35 years ago, and I have never once wished for my tires to wear out faster, nor have I ever heard any rider wishing that they could buy tires that fall apart faster.

We don't mind trading some wear for better grip, but it's because we want more grip, not because we want less tire life.  Racing is supposed to improved the breed.  We need tire manufacturers to improve grip and improve tread life.