MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

The riders that moved teams and changed machinery had it all to do today.
Lorenzo on top,Spies excellent progress.That was expected. De Puniet, Stoner, Rossi and Crutchlow were naturally the ones in the hot seat. Along with debutant Abraham and promotee Elias. They are the ones anyone should focus on.
Stoner again justifies what Tardozzi said about him over a year back. Quickest Honda out the box.HRC must be very pleased with their investment,Ducati,less so.Of course JB and Co. will fix it in 80 seconds or so.Early days,but not much testing left before March.This ain't 2004 fairytale scenario.

Of course all riders want to top every session of every practice, qualifying, race or test. Maybe more so for the young guns. No surprises at all with the top three.

With Rossi evaluating three different types of engine configuration today there is little to be read into his times. He may have pushed in a few corners to evaluate the front end but today was all about data gathering and analysis.

The pleasant surprise for me is Abraham turning the same time as Elias. I think even at this early stage this (and the weekend!) proves he's not going to embarrass himself on the MotoGP machine. Glad to have him on the grid.

Toni & Karel were out there mixing it up like they were Sunday on their Moto2 bikes ?? (LOL)...

cannot come soon enough!

Lorenzo has the Yamaha pretty much locked in ready to go for next year...

Can Rossi get the Ducati up to par quick enough to challenge Lorenzo from the first race?

Is Casey on the Honda a match made in heaven?

Spies....Spies.......Spies.....not much else to say...

Looking forward to seeing more than the usual 4 aliens...

Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner, Spies, Simoncelli, Dani, Dovi.....with maybe Nicky tucked in there if he ever gets some luck....

The anticipation!

I figured Stoner would have no trouble with the Honda, I think he needs to have the fastest (top speed) bike on the grid, suits his style.
Nothing to worry about with Rossi, developing bikes is his hobby.
Abraham put a big dent in his times, hopefully he can make some progress and not be the last rider every race.
De Puniet looks on pace.
Elias, what to say, I just really want him to do well.
I expect HUGE things from Super Sic this year, I think he could be the best non factory rider this year easily.

..the showdown I have been hoping for since 2006. When Casey beats Dani and Puig throws a hissy and gets ousted from HRC for good. I anticipate those factory dynamics having a very big and negative impact on the team.

Elias is where he is expected to be for the whole season - that is until contract time.
Stoner fast out of the box - impressive.

It doesn't look good for the rest of the field if Ben is this fast on day one. He usually starts slow and builds to a crescendo at the finale. I hope this isn't just wishful thinking on my part.

This test really doesn't mean much regarding next year's performances - but it sure is fun to dream.

2011 - are we there yet?

So....ummmmm what's Repsols take if Stoner wins a championship on a Honda? I know the Oil giant has been dying to see a Spaniard win in the Repsol colors....

just wondering....

...mean little, unless you know what is being tested.

As has already been stated, Ducati brought a lot of variety to test, not least of which being different engine configurations.

That Honda and Yamaha are further developed is not a surprise, especially since 3 of the 5 "official" factory riders are returning to their established equipment, and 1 of the other 2 is simply stepping up to newer equipment.

The real questions are:

• Did Honda bring anything new to test?  Who is testing what?  Especially in the case of Stoner, what bike is he riding?  A new 2010 bike, or a new 2011 bike?  (It sure looks good, though!)
• Is Lorenzo testing anything new for 2011, or just churning through the miles to wear out an engine or two?
• Is Spies simply riding Rossi's 2010 equipment, or is he getting 2011 parts to test?
• What kind of hand grenade is Bautista riding?  Or have Suzuki really brought out a motor they hope will work in 2011?
• Are any of these engines running under the new fuel pressure rules?
• Has anyone seen Elias on RdP's bike?  Did they get everything miniaturized for him yet?
• Were any of these fast laps in line with a sustainable pace (other than Lorenzo)?

What to watch:  for riders who haven't change bikes since Sunday, compare best test laps to QP from last Saturday.

Still good to see the whole field has best times only a few seconds apart. There were some really good improvements on the 2pm onwards times. Bautisita is impressing on the Suzuki but is that sustainable on the race days? (please say yes ... we need Suzuki to be there and competitive)

Love the paint job on Stoners Honda! When will Spies get his official MotoGP Alien badge? He will definitely be the one to watch next year.

Second time JLo testing '11 M1 so not surprised and Ben on updated M1, business as usual. Stoner only has to get settings right on RCV as not much to evaluate, so i'm not surprised by his progress.

Rossi's evaluating engine and chassis specs for GP11 plus he's not gonna push it on the bike to injure himself. Hayden likes '11 big bang so that says a lot. The real test will b in Sepang when Rossi is better and can compare times on track he likes vs his M1.

Good drive off corners and if chassis is properly devoped will make GP11 in Rossi's hands formidable. Yamaha will miss The Doctor, they have had 7yrs of a bike deveoped that anybody could ride fast out of box, just ask JLo in '08.

I'm waiting patiently to see if that kind of all round usability continues in '12 with 1000s. Rossi will be hard to beat in '11 with that extra power and a good chassis, GO DOC.

Anyone looking at those times (yes, only testing times, not that significant...) has to acknowledge the fact that Stoner set the second time on a totally new bike, specifically one of Pedrosa 2010 bikes. He's faster than he was during the race on his Ducati, faster than any other Honda rider, AFTER 3 HOURS!
It proves than he is really good to adapt to new bikes. His performances on a bike than never got successful with any other rider (1 victory and 8 podiums total for all the other Ducati riders in 4 years) got somewhat underrated by many people. Hopefully this year will open some reluctant eyes.
And sure, his Honda looks sweet!

The second important finding, seeing Rossi's first outing, is that obviously the Ducati has never been an easy bike to ride...

The last rider to switch to a Ducati 800cc bike and place mid pack with mid 1'33"s on day 1 of the Valencia post season test ended up being World Champion the next year.

Let's not forget Rossi was 10th with his own Yamaha M1 at this track just the other day.

Its only day one of testing and all looks good, I think most attention will be on Rossi and Stoner (stoner is impressive), but as ducati said they not worried about laptimes yet, lets wait until sepang to make conclusions about 2011