Where's Rossi's mojo gone?

[goz1960]

Crutchlow stormed to his maiden front row in Qatar and he looked on course to repeat that fantastic achievement today in a qualifying session that took place on a dry track, as constantly changing conditions continue to dominate the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

After a rain-lashed third and final practice this morning, damp patches remained scattered around the track but Crutchlow started qualifying on slick tyres and the 26-year-old expertly assessed grip levels to settle into a fast pace.

He topped the timesheets for the opening 20 minutes but Crutchlow slipped outside of the top three as the pace intensified with riders anxious to post a competitive time on slick Bridgestone tyres, with rain threatening to further disrupt preparations for tomorrow's 27-lap race.

Conditions remained dry and lap times continued to fall and a brilliant lap of 1.41.646 put Crutchlow back on top of the timesheets before he crashed at Turn One with only 18 minutes remaining. The spill didn't knock Crutchlow out of his fast and consistent rhythm and he moved back into third spot with a brilliant lap of 1.40.570, only to be denied a thoroughly deserved front row by 0.007s.

Italian Andrea Dovizioso will start the first European round of the new 1000cc MotoGP World Championship heading the third row of the grid.

Dovizioso successfully negotiated the damp patches in the early stages to challenge inside the top three but he will start from seventh position having not been able to find a set-up that permitted him to show his true potential. He ended with a best time of 1.41.180 to finish just 0.090s outside the top six.


Top man

[redken1]

Fantastic ride by Cal Crutchlow pushed Pedrosa all the way for a podium finish. Excited about the future rounds. 8-)

[Wes]

Well done to Cal a resounding performance, reckon hes looking at a factory ride in 2013 if spies doesn't start to get in a few decent results.
As for Vale, everyone, myself included expected him to turn the duke around last season, top 5 finishes minimum, but it just isn't happening the way it did at Honda and then Yamaha. Given all the investment that's gone into the bike, it seems unbelievable that he is still dueling with the likes of Hector Barbera on the satellite Ducati.
I think Casey made the Ducati look good, and they must be kicking themselves for letting him go, but hey, hindsight and all that.
Rumors of a new satellite Yamaha squad are surfacing as the factory's don't want to make waves in their own settled camps, maybe if Cal goes to partner Lorenzo, and they drop Dovi, there may be an opportunity in the Tec 3 side with Bradley Smith.....but only time will tell.

[Morticia]

It is quite ****. I reckon Simoncelli's death has messed him up. No matter how many times he tells himself there's nothing he could have done to avoid it, there will always be the nagging what ifs. MotoGP sucks without them both anyway. :'(

[Geordie Stu]

Perhaps is just he's getting older & younger faster generation as coming through. Our a combination of last years events injury & the loss of sic. I'm no expert but don't think it's all down to the bike.

[Col]

Very hard to believe the bike is so far off Honda/Yams and that Rossi is unable to get anywhere near the others --- very strange, and he doesn't seem to want to be interviewed either and even before Sic he wasn't anything like 100%. Injuries ? doubt it. Last year I thought this would be his last season--maybe right :-?

[Roxy]

Would Roxy care to comment on her idol's lack of form?

He's admitted that he just can't ride the bike the way he wants to and is use to. Hayden and Stoner both ride the bike like they stole it and that's just not his style. Simple.
He is just as baffled by the lack of performance and end results of the races as everyone else is but if he wants to get further up the grid he needs to change his style of riding to suit the GP12. The bike is still very ‘young’ and needs developing and we all know that takes time…Q is has he got the time and does he want to, considering he spent most of last year at the back of the grid fighting with the bike? I am also sure he must be pretty gutted he is not up there with the other works teams and that must be awful for someone so talented and with the history of winning that he has but at the end of the day it was his choice to join Ducati and he must have thought he could get results or he would never have gone there. Whether he can achieve that or not is now the big Q on everyone’s minds but if he can’t make that bike work for him this year I can’t see him staying as it will destroy him.

He was obviously devastated at the tragic loss of one of his closest friends but I am also sure that he won't let it affect his mindset when it comes to the races, he will want Marco's spirit to live on and the best way he can do that is to ride!

Italian press have already started speculating about next year. I’ve read all sorts of rumours from them including a Yamaha satellite team sponsored by Cocacola but who knows. If the Ducati/Rossi marriage heads for divorce and he wants to remain competitive in Moto GP until 2014, which is what he has indicated, then I think he will head elsewhere next year.

http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/20...la-strada.html

This year will be the deciding factor on whether he/Burgess can make the Ducati work again but it’s no reflection on his ability as a rider who has 9 World Championships under his belt and is still is one of the greatest riders we will ever see. People are very quick to forget that.

As for this Rossi fan, I will remain true to Team 46 regardless of who he rides for, I am a fan because of the person, his abilities, his track record, his riding style and I believe in him not because he’s the ‘popular’ or ‘trendy/winning’ rider. I’ll support him regardless of if he is winning races or not. Of course I want to see him do well and be competitive and give the likes of Stoner, Lorenzo & Pedrosa a run for their money but sadly at the moment it’s just not on the cards.

I will still be shouting for him at Le Mans and Silverstone this year, frantically waving my #46 & #58 flags and when the time comes that he decides enough is enough I will follow him into his other love of Rally cars!

Roxy x

[Scotty]

I think the enormity of what he was taking on began to dawn on him the first time he rode the Ducati at Valencia in November 2010 with the immediate quote after getting off it: "Whatever you were paying Stoner to ride this, it wasn't enough!"

The one thing that the rest of us mortals would do if considering changing to a new bike would be to get a test ride before deciding, but we're not tied to multi-million € contracts that forbid us to ride anything else.
He'll never admit it now whilst under contract, but I wonder if at some stage in the future he'll 'fess up to wishing he'd had a test ride before signing the dotted line... :-?

[Last Train]

No real surprise I guess....

[Geordie Stu]

I think the enormity of what he was taking on began to dawn on him the first time he rode the Ducati at Valencia in November 2010 with the immediate quote after getting off it: "Whatever you were paying Stoner to ride this, it wasn't enough!"

The one thing that the rest of us mortals would do if considering changing to a new bike would be to get a test ride before deciding, but we're not tied to multi-million € contracts that forbid us to ride anything else.
He'll never admit it now whilst under contract, but I wonder if at some stage in the future he'll 'fess up to wishing he'd had a test ride before signing the dotted line... :-?

Interesting.... :