August 19, 2006 - Part II - Brno Qualifying results and RUMORS!!

WOW!! So much to talk about!! If you are here for the meat and potatoes of qualifying, I will go easy on you and get to that first. But if you are a die-hard fan, and want to stick around for the rumors I heard this morning, they will be under the qualifying results table.

Let us visit the awesomeness that was the Brno Qualifying Session.....

Loris Capirossi came out strong yet again. I don't think he spent much time at all out of the top three. About half way through, John Hopkins swiped the lead from Loris and at the same time shattered the track's pole position record... hooray Hopper!! Around the same time, Randy de Puniet saw 3rd! He wasn't there for long, but he did spend quite a bit of time hovering in the top 5.... a definite improvement for him. But, he ended up in 10th (the "norm") so we'll move on to the circus that was the fight for the top three spots.

Capirossi rallied against Hopper and his record breaking pole position and turned a 1'56".441.... at this point I thought the announcer was going to choke on his tongue... there was much excitement in the booth. Loris' teammate, the absent Sete Gibernau, had set that record last year, and he trounced it by a little over one second. Capirossi's time held... but for how long?

Valentino scooted into 2nd place with about 10 minutes left in the session, and was subsequently booted by Nicky down to third.

Into the box they went.... shiny, new qualifiers mounted... a little bit of "pretty talk" for their bikes, and out they came for the last 2 explosive minutes of the fight for the pole.

Remember that track record that was broken by Hopper? Then trounced by Capirossi? Yea, that one..... Valentino Rossi chewed it up and spit it out!!! He put down an absurd time of 1'56".191!!! The talk amongst the announcers at the beginning of the session was whether or not any of the riders would break into the 1'57"s. Hence the choking, spitting and stuttering associated with Rossi crossing the line at the bottom of a minute 56.

Loris held onto the second spot, but Nicky got tossed at the last second by Roberts, Jr. who turned a flawless lap that put him on the front row for tomorrow's race.

Here are the final results from this morning's qualifying session:

Position

Rider

Manufacturer

1

Rossi f Yamaha

2

Capirossi f Ducati

3

Roberts, Jr f KR211V

4

Hayden f Honda

5

Nakano f Kawasaki

6

Elias f Honda

7

Hopkins f Suzuki

8

Edwards f Yamaha

9

Pedrosa f Honda

10

de Puniet f Kawasaki

11

Melandri f Honda

12

Stoner f Honda

13

Vermeulen f Suzuki

14

Hofmann f Ducati

15

Tamada f Honda

16

Ellison f Yamaha

17

Checa f Yamaha

18

Cardoso f Ducati

19

Silva f Ducati
The race will be tomorrow morning at 8, live, or 11 on Speed TV.

Now onto the news and rumors....

There was a lot of chatter in the announcers booth this morning... some rumors and speculations, and some news about the upcoming 2007 season. The FIM has already announced the schedule for next year (it's been posted on MotoGP.com for a few days now) and they have added one race to the line up... yay! The BIG change for next year will be the bikes. They are taking them back down to the 800cc's. I don't know why, but that's the plan. Ducati will be testing next year's bikes Monday and Tuesday. I can't wait to hear the report (or see some clips..... psssst... MotoGP.com). No doubt the teams will be uber busy prepping the newbies and getting them set up so there should be lots of interesting news on that front throughout the rest of the year.

Casey Stoner was the subject of a couple of rumors this morning. The word around the circuit is that Ducati Marlboro is prepared to offer him $3 million to jockey a Duc next year... replacing my beloved Sete Gibernau. That would be tragic.... in my book. Casey, although a fantastic rider, seems to be a little bit of a loose canon. He's proven himself a "crasher" this year thus far. He was a bit more careful this weekend, and rightfully so, his team manager was getting a little ticked with his antics. But it showed in his times. In my opinion (for what it's worth) he needs to slow down to go faster.. learn the bike, feel the track, set a pace.... not just run out on track with his ass on fire and hope he doesn't crash. He's riding the "best bike in the paddock" this year, and I personally don't think it would be in his best interest to put him on a bigger more aggressive machine until he learns a little more about finesse and power. I know, I know, when I am out there doing it, I can run my trap. It's easy to coach from the sidelines :)

Moving on..... there is a possibility that Colin Edwards will return to Superbikes in 2007, which would leave a gap in the Camel Yamaha team.... an opportune spot as well for young Stoner. As far as I know Yamaha has not stepped up to the plate with any sort of offer.... but there have been whispers in the corner. Time will tell.

Konica Minolta is considering replacing Makoto Tamada in 2007. No word as to who would take his place if it in fact happens. All I hear is that it will most likely be another Japanese rider.... thank you captain obvious :)

A lot of this morning's bickering was attributed to tires and set up. First of all, Bridgestone has been tossed under the bus all season. It seems they put out a tremenduos qualifying tire, but they can't seem to hold up on race day. Supposedly this weekend they are introducing a third gen. race tire that has overcome the past issues.... let's see some results Bridgestone!! Michelin has stood the test of time and seems to be favored over BS and Dunlop on race day. As far as bike set-up is concerned, there was much-ado in the booth about the amount of time and effort the teams were spending on qualifying set up as opposed to taking advantage of the track time during qualifying to perfect their race set ups. Too many riders are smacking down outstanding qualifying times, starting from the front of the grid, and getting swallowed up during the race. Granted, a few of the pole winners have started out front and stayed out front, Pedrosa is one of them, but it would make more sense to assure the bike is going to run it's finest on race day than to exhaust the team during qualifying and then run a mediocre race. I think Repsol has learned this process, and should be a model for the other teams. They don't always come out on top in qualifying.... but who's standing on the podium on race day? STOP! I did consider Camel Yamaha before I made that statement, but they can be considered less "the standard" and more "blessed" by The Doctor. The man's a freak of nature!! So I stick to my original assertion and suggest that the other teams make a "template" out of Repsol Honda and follow their lead.

*** Sete Gibernau will be back in three weeks for the Malaysian GP **** FRICKIN' YIPPEE!!!!

Okay, I think I have rambled on quite enough for today. If you made it this far into my thoughts, you deserve something special... above and beyond a cookie, or a medal. Hell, I think it calls for a beer!!

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

Kristen