MotoGP of France(Melandri Wins) Your Thoughts?

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Wed May 17, 2006 7:41 am

The Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix Race Circuit was built in 1965, around the existing 24 hour circuit.
The Venue did not hold any GP races between 1995 and 2000, as stringent safety modifications were made to the circuit following a serious accident involving Spanish rider, Alberto Puig in 1995.

The track involves lots of slow corners, with very few fast corners. Rear end Grip is the Key to a good setup.

Circuit - Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix Race Circuit
Location - Le Mans
Pole Position - Left
Length - 4180m
Left Turns - 4
Right Turns - 9
Longest Straight - 450m
Width - 13m

Previous Winner - Valentino Rossi

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Wed May 17, 2006 7:44 pm

Times For the MotoGP of France: (Local Time)

Friday 19 May:

09:00 - 09:45 ~ 125cc Free Practice 1
10:00 - 11:00 ~ MotoGP Free Practice 1
11:15 - 12:15 ~ 250cc Free Practice 1
13:15 - 13:45 ~ 125cc Qualifying 1
14:00 - 15:00 ~ MotoGP Free Practice
15:15 - 16:00 ~ 250cc Qualifying 1

Saturday 20 May:

09:00 - 09:45 ~ 125cc Free Practice 2
10:00 - 11:00 ~ MotoGP Free Practice 3
11:15 - 12:15 ~ 250cc Free Practice 2
13:15 - 13:45 ~ 125cc Qualifying 2
14:00 - 15:00 ~ MotoGP Qualifing
15:15 - 16:00 ~ 250cc Qualifying 2

Sunday 21 May:

08:45 - 09:05 ~ 125cc Warm Up
09:15 - 09:35 ~ 250cc Warm Up
09:45 - 10:05 ~ MotoGP Warm Up
11:00 ~ 125cc Race
12:15 ~ 250cc Race
14:00 ~ MotoGP Race

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Wed May 17, 2006 7:47 pm

Good race on its way...I can sense it.....

1 - Hayden
2 - Stoner
3 - Rossi
4 - Melandri
5 - Pedrosa

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Thu May 18, 2006 8:34 am

1-Hayden
2-Edwards
3-Hopkins
4-Pedrosa
5-Rossi

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Thu May 18, 2006 5:16 pm

mlittle wrote:1-Hayden

<T-K> wrote:1 - Hayden

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Sat May 20, 2006 1:25 am

Rossi Started the weekend in France with a bang, Going quickest overall in the first free practice session, and outdoing teammate Colin Edwards an Ducati rider Loris Capirossi

Times FP1

1 - Valentino Rossi ~ 1'35.288
2 - Colin Edwards ~ 1'35.806
3 - Loris Capirossi ~ 1'35.950
4 - John Hopkins ~ 1'36.244
5 - Casey Stoner ~ 1'36.264
6 - Shinya Nakano ~ 1'36.340
7 - Sete Gibernau ~ 1'36.429
8 - Makoto Tamada ~ 1'36.628
9 - Nicky Hayden ~ 1'36.678
10 - Dani Pedrosa ~ 1'36.734

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Sat May 20, 2006 1:32 am

Free Practice 2 Saw the roles reverse, with Colin Edwards managing to scrape ahead of Valentino Rossi by just over a tenth of a second on a damp Le Mans circuit.

All the riders were definately a lot closer to each other, with only 8 tenths seperating 1st from 10th..

Toni Elias suffered a light crash, buty walked away relatively unscathed.

Times FP2

1 - Colin Edwards ~ 1'35.170
2 - Valentino Rossi ~ 1'35.282
3 - Shinya Nakano ~ 1'35.447
4 - John Hopkins ~ 1'35.461
5 - Casey Stoner ~ 1'35.546
6 - Makoto Tamada ~ 1'35.625
7 - Sete Gibernau ~ 1'35.628
8 - Loris Capirossi ~ 1'35.662
9 - Dani Pedrosa ~ 1'35.796
10 - Marco Melandri ~ 1'35.935

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Sat May 20, 2006 2:55 am

Rossi is actually racing on a rnew chassis....

He has suffered from a chattering problem in the first four rounds of the championship, so their solution.....Design a chassis which replicates the handling characteristics of the 2005 bike.....

They went into the weekend sayong that this was a "Huge Risk", and hoped it would work out for them......Seems like it payed off for them though....

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Sun May 21, 2006 12:58 am

Times FP3

1. Casey Stoner ~ 1'43.024
2. Kenny Roberts ~ 1'43.615
3. Shinya Nakano ~ 1'44.294
4. Valentino Rossi ~ 1'45.197
5. Toni Elias ~ 1'45.298
6. Marco Melandri ~ 1'45.714
7. Loris Capirossi ~ 1'46.227
8. John Hopkins ~ 1'46.276
9. Nicky Hayden ~ 1'46.839
10. Chris Vermulen ~ 1'46.913 [/b]

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Sun May 21, 2006 1:07 am

What a qualifying session.....Pedrosa managed to take his second pole position of the season, robbing pole from Shinya Nakano in a last minute attempt.

Times...Qualifying:

1. Dani Pedrosa ~ 1'33.990
2. Shinya Nakano ~ 1'34.201
3. John Hopkins ~ 1'34.636
4. Randy de Puniet ~ 1'34.780
5. Marco Melandri ~ 1'34.795
6. Loris Capirossi ~ 1'34.802
7. Valentino Rossi ~ 1'34.840
8. Sete Gibernau ~ 1'34.870
9. Colin Edwards ~ 1'34.970
10. Nicky Hayden ~ 1'34.988
11. Casey Stoner ~ 1'35.430
12. Chris Vermulen ~ 1'35.705
13. Makoto Tamada ~ 1'36.058
14. Carlos Checa ~ 1'36.260
15. Kenny Roberts ~ 1'36.501
16. Toni Elias ~ 1'36.582
17. James Ellison ~ 1'37.019
18. Alex Hofmann ~ 1'37.267
19. Jose Luis Cardoso ~ 1'37.812

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Sun May 21, 2006 8:17 am

Where did Dani find that!?

He and the other Honda riders were nowhere in free practice!!

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Mon May 22, 2006 12:18 am

Melandri is now the only rider this season to have won 2 races....

Rossi retired out of quite a comfy lead.....

Oh, Pedrosa on the podium.,..

Final Results

1. Marco Melandri ~ 44'57.369
2. Loris Capirossi ~ 44'59.298
3. Dani Pedrosa ~ 44'59.638
4. Casey Stoner ~ 45'2.863
5. Nicky Hayden ~ 45'3.078
6. Colin Edwards ~ 45'8.888
7. Makoto Tamada ~ 45'14.061
8. Sete Gibernau ~ 45'15.511
9. Toni Elias ~ 45'21.014
10. Chris Vermulen ~ 45'36.731
11. Carlos Checa ~ 45'45.099
12. Shinya Nakano ~ 45'45.151
13. Alex Hofmann ~ 46'6.461
14. James Ellison ~ 46'13.541
15. John Hopkins ~ 45'17.059

DNF:
Jose Luis Cardoso ~ 37'25.234
Valentino Rossi ~ 32'2.389
Randy de Puniet ~ Lap 1
Kenny Roberts ~ Lap 1

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Tue May 23, 2006 1:53 am

Yipes!

Rossi nerfs everyone into the kitty litter
Yipes!

Rossi leads by a country mile
Yipes!

Rossi DNF
Yipes!

Vermulen gets back on the Suzuki and finishes 10th
Yipes!

Dani picks wrong tyre
Yipes!

Edwards dominates practice, doesn't figure in race
Yipes!

The Suzuki goes like a train for Hopkins; only it's a British train so it's derailed
Yipes!

Gibernau doesn't figure in race again
Marco comes through and makes an ordinary weekend into a glorious occassion

Capirossi snatch's Ducati another podium

which is good