2006 MotoGP of Australia (Melandri wins) Your Thoughts?

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:39 pm

Phillip Island is steeped in motor racing history, with the first car races being held there on public roads in the 1920's, and the first motorcycle races took place in 1931......The permanent track was built in 1956.

The circuit fell into disrepair in the late 70's & early 80's, before being bought in 1985 and given a AUS $5m facelift.

The circuit is blessed with breathtaking scenery and beautiful ocean views, and is one of the fastest, most fluid tracks on the calendar, and continues to provide some of the most spectacular racing in the MotoGP season.

Location: Phillip Island
Circuit: Phillip Island
Length: 4448m
Left Turns: 7
Right Turns: 5
Longest Straight: 900m
Width: 13m

Previous winner: Valentino Rossi

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:45 pm

I am a touch late with this weekends race, so here is the schedule from tomorrow.

Saturday, 15 July:

09:00 - 09:45 ~ 125cc Free Practice 2
10:00 - 11:00 ~ MotoGP Free Practice 3
11:15 - 02:15 ~ 250cc Free Practice 2
13:15 - 13:45 ~ 125cc Qualifying 2
14:00 - 15:00 ~ MotoGP Qualifying
15:15 - 16:00 ~ 250cc Qualifying 2

Sunday, 16 July:

08:45 - 09:05 ~ 125cc Warm Up
09:15 - 09:35 ~ 250cc Warm Up
09:45 - 10:05 ~ MotoGP Warm Up
12:00 ~ 125cc Race
13:15 ~ 250cc Race
15:00 ~ MotoGP Race

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:51 pm

MotoGP free practice times (1 and 2 combined) from the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

1 - Randy de Puniet ~ 1'29.745
2 - Loris Capirossi ~ 1'30.310
3 - Nicky Hayden ~ 1'30.471
4 - Sete Gibernau ~ 1'30.693*
5 - Shinya Nakano ~ 1'30.716
6 - Casey Stoner ~ 1'30.768*
7 - Marco Melandri ~ 1'30.863*
8 - Valentino Rossi ~ 1'31.045
9 - Kenny Roberts Jr~ 1'31.077*
10 - Carlos Checa ~ 1'31.137
11 - Makoto Tamada ~ 1'31.346
12 - John Hopkins ~ 1'31.496*
13 - Colin Edwards ~ 1'31.514*
14 - Chris Vermeulen ~ 1'31.846
15 - Alex Hofmann ~ 1'31.978
16 - Toni Elias ~ 1'32.034*
17 - Dani Pedrosa ~ 1'32.304
18 - Jose Luis Cardoso ~ 1'32.419
19 - James Ellison ~ 1'32.778

* time set in FP1

jacfan · Post by **jacfan** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:26 pm

Should be a great race. Will be glued to the couch most of the weekend.

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:30 pm

<T-K> wrote:MotoGP free practice times (1 and 2 combined) from the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

17 - Dani Pedrosa ~ 1'32.304

Is Dani suffering from his accident in Malaysia?

jacfan · Post by **jacfan** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 5:10 pm

Qualifying Results

1. Nicky Hayden ~ 1'29.020
2. Shinya Nakano ~ 1'29.258
3. Valentino Rossi ~ 1'29.271
4. Kenny Roberts Jr ~ 1'29.662
5. Colin Edwards ~ 1'29.680
6. Carlos Checa ~ 1'29.865
7. Marcos Melandri ~ 1'29.949
8. Casey Stoner ~ 1'29.969
9. Randy de Puniet ~ 1'30.037
10. Dani Pedrosa ~ 1'30.081
11. Makoto Tamada ~ 1'30.132
12. Sete Gibernau ~ 1'30.327
13. Loris Capirossi ~ 1'30.393
14. Toni Elias ~ 1'30.498
15. John Hopkins ~ 1'31.143
16. Chris Vermeulen ~ 1'31.288
17. Alex Hofmann ~ 1'31.676
18. James Ellison ~ 1'31.998
19. Jose Luis Cardosa ~ 1'32.870

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 6:11 pm

Snowy wrote:
<T-K> wrote:MotoGP free practice times (1 and 2 combined) from the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

17 - Dani Pedrosa ~ 1'32.304

Is Dani suffering from his accident in Malaysia?

Dani has a hole in his knee and a busted toe on the same leg, he can barely walk

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 6:16 pm

having seen qaul. for the first time this year, imho, it means zip. They should chuck those Q tyres out of the game. I expect that Nicky will go backwards unless the team can find him some race pace overnight, the Ducatis and Kwackas will come on gangbusters, and Rossi and Stoner will be a real threat, and Checka could take out the front four on lap 5

jacfan · Post by **jacfan** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 6:36 pm

Hopefully qualifying will at least have given Nicky a bit of a confidence boost. Much as I love Rossi, and always have, I would like to see Nicky win the championship this year. He seems to be a really nice, genuine guy and I don't know that Honda are treating him very well at all.
Either way it will be a good race and I will be sitting and watching it whatever happens.

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 7:42 pm

I will be lying in bed watching it

I trust Dani will get the kind of adrenalin rush he had in Malyasia, overcome the pain and discomfort and charge to the front. A three way fight down to the wire would be great.

I don't understand Honda and their treatment of Nicky, they really don't deserve to win the championship

It was easy for them to get rid of Max Biaggi because they could claim he was difficult but lets face it the factory team have shown their true colours often enough now for us to recognise that they are technically sound but strategically thick as s**t.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:42 pm

Snowy wrote:I will be lying in bed watching it I trust Dani will get the kind of adrenalin rush he had in Malyasia, overcome the pain and discomfort and charge to the front. A three way fight down to the wire would be great.

I don't understand Honda and their treatment of Nicky, they really don't deserve to win the championship It was easy for them to get rid of Max Biaggi because they could claim he was difficult but lets face it the factory team have shown their true colours often enough now for us to recognise that they are technically sound but strategically thick as s**t.

yup, ever since Mick stopped telling them what to do, and how to do it

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:50 pm

Snowy, I trust you are well ??????
"lying in bed watching it......"

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:57 pm

Julian Mayo wrote:Snowy, I trust you are well ??????
"lying in bed watching it......"

I'll be in my element!

Although I'll be wide asleep

...or should that be

How are you? Fully fit again I hope.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 9:42 pm

Snowy wrote:
Julian Mayo wrote:Snowy, I trust you are well ??????
"lying in bed watching it......"
I'll be in my element!

Although I'll be wide asleep ...or should that be

How are you? Fully fit again I hope.

Tonight I have had 2 Wild Turkeys

Most of last week is a blur.
Question....when your bodily defences are at an all time low, why do they want to stick you into a disease riddled building?

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:33 am

Snowy wrote: Is Dani suffering from his accident in Malaysia?

I dont think so, his injuries didn't seem to hold him back too much in the last race, although he was pretty knocked up on painkillers

.....Although Julian will know more than I do as I never got to watch the qualifying, but I think it may be more of a setup problem...was anything mentioned by the commentators? I have no idea...

Julian Mayo wrote:Dani has a hole in his knee and a busted toe on the same leg, he can barely walk

Morphine should do the trick

JacFan wrote:Qualifying Results

1. Nicky Hayden ~ 1'29.020
2. Shinya Nakano ~ 1'29.258
3. Valentino Rossi ~ 1'29.271
4. Kenny Roberts Jr ~ 1'29.662
5. Colin Edwards ~ 1'29.680
6. Carlos Checa ~ 1'29.865
7. Marcos Melandri ~ 1'29.949
8. Casey Stoner ~ 1'29.969
9. Randy de Puniet ~ 1'30.037
10. Dani Pedrosa ~ 1'30.081
11. Makoto Tamada ~ 1'30.132
12. Sete Gibernau ~ 1'30.327
13. Loris Capirossi ~ 1'30.393
14. Toni Elias ~ 1'30.498
15. John Hopkins ~ 1'31.143
16. Chris Vermeulen ~ 1'31.288
17. Alex Hofmann ~ 1'31.676
18. James Ellison ~ 1'31.998
19. Jose Luis Cardosa ~ 1'32.870

Thanks for getting the qualifying results out JacFan (Webbofan

)
I have been out in the middle of nowhere for most of the day, so I didnt have access to a computer....

Julian Mayo wrote:They should chuck those Q tyres out of the game

Never been a fan of having quali tyres and race tyres.....it puts things comletely out of perspective because then quali results are down to which team has a better qualifying tyre, and not necessarily who is the fastest rider.......