2008 Qatar FP3 Day 2 - Rossi Finds Some Pace

By Kropotkin | Sat, 08/03/2008 - 17:39

Once again it was Casey Stoner who was fastest during the early session of Free Practice, ahead of this evening's official qualifying session. And once again, it was Jorge Lorenzo who was second fastest, just as the Spaniard was last night. But behind Lorenzo was his team mate and seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi, who took nearly 8/10ths off his previous fastest lap time.

2008 Qatar FP2 Times Day 1 - The Rookies Make A Dent

By Kropotkin | Fri, 07/03/2008 - 21:19

If the first session of free practice at Losail was a typical case of the Stoner Show, the young world champion stamping his authority on the field right from the get go, and with the most dictatorial jackboot he had to hand, the second session was a slightly different affair, in several interesting ways. Of course, the outcome was still the same, with Stoner topping the timesheets once again, but how he got there was a completely different story. In FP1, Stoner took fastest time just 8 minutes into the session, and held it for the rest of the hour.

2008 Qatar FP1 Times Day 1 - Stoner Carries On As Usual

By Kropotkin | Fri, 07/03/2008 - 17:43

Normal service was resumed, Friday evening, with Casey Stoner taking the top spot on his second lap, and never properly relinquishing it again. The slightly cooler conditions of early evening have added to the speed, as both Stoner and Lorenzo are inside the existing lap record.

The big surprise is Jorge Lorenzo, who is already very fast on his Fiat Yamaha. Lorenzo's arch nemesis Andrea Dovizioso is in third, ahead of Lorenzo's team mate Valentino Rossi. The first of the factory Hondas is Dani Pedrosa in 5th.

2008 Qatar MotoGP Preview - Star Of The Desert

By Kropotkin | Thu, 06/03/2008 - 23:52

At last. The long winter break is over, and a new day dawns on MotoGP with the season opener at the Losail circuit in Qatar. Although it's not so much a new day as a new night, as MotoGP, in its continuing  struggle to win fans over from other forms of motorsport, has scooped Formula 1 to stage the very first night race in motorsports. The fact that racing has been running under the lights for years in the US is being conveniently overlooked, as most Europeans remain blissfully unaware of NASCAR and other forms of stock car racing, and so to Dorna, it's the very first night race.

Hayden And Pedrosa To Use 2007 RC212V At Losail?

By Kropotkin | Thu, 06/03/2008 - 13:00

After Honda got their predictions of how to build a title-winning 800cc MotoGP bike so utterly wrong in 2007, expectations were raised that they would not make the same mistake again in 2008. If there was ever a year that you might expect HRC to come out with an unbeatable factory bike, surely this would be it.

Rusty Writes: Musco, Lighting Up The World of Sports

By Kropotkin | Wed, 05/03/2008 - 13:25

For those of you who did not recently watch the Daytona 500 here in The States, you missed your best opportunity to see the handiwork of Musco Lighting prior to the GP of Qatar. Musco has been the premier outdoor lighting specialists in The States for 32 years. I first heard of them 23 (or more) years ago while I was marching in drum & bugles corps on American and Canadian football fields. For three years in the mid '80s, the annual Finals competitions were held in Madison, WI. Musco is from nearby (relatively speaking) Iowa, and there was quite a discussion about their amazing ability to use temporary lighting stands to illuminate the somewhat large Camp Randall Stadium that played host for the Finals. At the time, that stadium did not have permanent lighting. Musco was beginning to be known for showing up at a football stadium with their large trucks and providing enough light for a live television broadcast where such a thing had not been previously possible at night.

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