MotoGP Testing and Some Fun Stuff :)

Ha! Welcome back Kristen!! Why thank you, it's good to be here :)

I know, I know, I have once again been remiss in my postings. I have no excuse (at least not anything good) so I will just leave well enough alone with my weak, satirical, self-welcoming opening.

Testing is in full swing, and the MotoGP boys are adjusting well to new "tyres" (dammit that cracks me up!!), rockets, set-ups, teams, etc.

Casey and new teammate Nick have been putting the new GP9's through their paces. There are varying opinions as to how well Nicky will adapt to the Ducati. Apparently the best approach with the Ducs is getting them "to full throttle as soon as possible and letting the electronics do the rest". It was reported though, that after his first ride on the new rocket he dismounted and said "Whatever they pay Casey (Stoner), it´s not enough." Ha!



SETE!!!! How happy am I about this???? I am standing here beside myself! The Gibbers has come out of retirement. We all remember how sad I was to see him go, so we can all imagine how ecstatic I am that he has returned. And coming back with style as (yet another) member of the Ducati paddock. His timing couldn't have been better. With Ducati's myriad of bikes on the track for the 09 season, a brand new design and a bevvy of fresh tenderlings to jockey them around, Sete's knowledge and experience will be well received when it comes to dialing them in.



Will he be rusty? Afterall, he's been in retirement for what... 2 years now? He's no spring chicken either. BAH! His test times were a mere half second off of Casey who ran at the top of the boards. So watch out "freshies" :)

Of course, there's still the little issue of the Rossi Curse that was thrust upon him at the close of the 04 season. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out for him. I yearn (yes, yearn) to see a few more of those epic shoot-outs of yore. I hope you're up for it Sete.... I'm holding my breath.

Okay, now for a few fun things. If you are reading this, you are obviously a fan of sportbikes and/or MotoGP racing, OR you are being forced to read it against your will by someone who is a fan that you clearly love enough to subject yourself to the torture. Either way, with Christmas approaching faster than Rossi from mid-pack, you are looking for some sort of gift for said loved one, or yourself. I personally like to wrap everything I give me, tag it with "to: me, from:me" and rip through it Christmas morning with all the vigor and excitement of a 4 year old looking for the-one-with-Elmo-in-it. Right... cue the crickets.

During my daily cruises through the online haven of bike-related goodies, I chose a few to highlight here for that hard-to-shop-for bike freak on your list.

First up is a perfect gift for the GP fan. A little pricey, but would certainly be much appreciated. It's Tissot's official limited edition MotoGP watch


You can get it here. With free shipping.... like that's really gonna make or break the deal when you're dropping that much cash :) But hey! Incentive is incentive. It is really quite spectacular.

I also checked out the MiniChamps die cast models. They are much more budget friendly.... unless you are looking for Rossi's 2004 Jerez test bike... in which case GOOD LUCK. That particular model trickles through eBay from time to time, but most store inventory is sold out internationally. I did find ONE from an online store in Europe that listed for $1295.00. I digress, the little replica helmets are fantastic and will only run you $20(ish). The model bikes, are a little steeper, but not bad at all, $30-$50 in most cases.
Minichamps on eBay


They even have.... and I LOVE this... the little Rossi figurines. Most of them are of him standing, sitting sideways on a rocket, blasting a champagne bottle on the podium, etc. The two that caught my eye were his signature crouch pose and him kneeling in front of his Yamaha to kiss it after winning his first race for the factory in South Africa. PERFECT!!



Above is the actual picture of the touching moment, and now you and your loved ones can commemorate it with this lovely MiniChamps figurine (bike sold separately). Hahaha... if you think this isn't on my mantle you're nuts.....

Click on the image to purchase one at Grand Prix Legends.

Oh, and the crouching Rossi.... I couldn't find a suitable actual photo of him doing it, but we've all seen it... pre-race, in the paddock. The first few times I saw him do it, I thought he was stretching out his leathers. Not the case, after all, this is Vale... that would be too simple and down-to-Earth. He is actually having a little conversation with himself and his bullet about what is about to happen and what he expects of it (and himself). I love me some Rossi :)

Click on the image to purchase one at Grand Prix Legends.

Okay miniChamps, you've captured him doing everything else, when do we get the one of him standing on the pegs to dislodge his wedgie right after he gets on??? He's certainly not shy about it, and the rear bike cam always airs it, so I say we cast that precious moment in resin so I can put it on my mantle too :)

Until next time ....

Rubb'er Down :)

2009 MotoGP teams... and other stuff!

Okay, I'll get right to the meat of the post..... The "other stuff" will follow (dessert, if you will).

Here's what we know of the 2009 MotoGP teams and the riders they have signed

Fiat Yamaha:
Valentino Rossi (contract through 2010)
Jorge Lorenzo (contract through 2009)

Tech 3 Yamaha:
Colin Edwards (Contract through 2009)
James Toseland (Took option through 2009)

Repsol Honda:
Dani Pedrosa (Contract through 2009)
Andrea Dovizioso (Contract through 2009)

Ducati:
Casey Stoner (Contract through 2010)
Nicky Hayden (Contract through 2009)

Kawasaki:
John Hopkins (Contract through 2009)
Marco Melandri (Contract through 2010)

Suzuki:
Loris Capirossi (Contract through 2009)
Chris Vermeulen (Contract through 2009)

Gresini Honda:
Toni Elias (Contract through 2009)
Alex de Angelis (Contract through 2009)

Alice Ducati:
Mika Kallio (Contract through 2009)
Niccolo Canepa (Contract through 2009)

Team LCR (Honda):
Randy de Puniet (Contract through 2009)

Scot Honda:
Yuki Takahashi (Contract through 2009)

Onde 2000 Ducati:
Sete Gibernau (Contract through 2009)

Team JiR and Aspar Kawasaki have both dropped out of MotoGP, which unseats Alex Debon and Shinya Nakano. Team JiR was Ben Spies' great white hope for joining MotoGP. Since the dissolution, he has opted to ride for Yamaha in World Superbike, but is forecast to join MotoGP in 2010, riding for Tech 3 Yamaha. At least he is out of AMA....

AMA.... AMA..... AMA.... has reportedly been purchased by NASCRAP. Sweet Jesus. Where does it/will it/ can it end??? I will agree with the fact that NASCRAP can promote the hell out of an event. The advertising money is there, the television contracts abound, and they have a lot of pull in the sports world...... with the bottom feeders.. I mean... bottom quarter of the east coast. There is already a sour taste in the mouths of the sportbike community, but most are willing to give it a wait-and-see approach. Maybe NASCRAP can drum up a tiny bit of class and pull it off. Enough of my opinion... I would now like to cut and paste a few reactions from riders across the country that entertained me.... enjoy!!

"You mean the NASCAR show? Racing where you constantly change the rules to prevent anyone from dominating is not racing. Also go download a NASCAR rule book... oh wait you can't! It may get exposure and increase revenue for the riders/teams (not bad things) but I doubt it will improve 'racing' "

"Well more exposure will be good...hopefully they can even get the redne...I mean the NASCAR lovers to watch."

"Shit. Now I am gonna have to grow a mullet."

My personal favorite so far.....

"I wonder if NASCRAP will charge admission by the number of teeth you still have in your head?"

And last, but certainly not least... one fantastic rant, courtesy of Sean....

" Great, now we can drive our NASCAR Monte Carlos to the speedway, wearing our NASCAR clothing that was washed in NASCAR Tide, while we blissfully sip our NASCAR Coca-Cola Racing Family beverage, from our twin-can hat-mounted beverage dispenser. When we get there, we can watch em turn-left real_fast_like! Hopefully we won't be overwhelmed at the amount of talent being displayed or the fact that aside from paint and decals, several of them moter-sic-els are actually not identical to the others. What's your favorite "Calvin Pissing-On...... " sticker? Quick, somebody pass me a beer and a quaalude! "

At least I know I am not alone :)

One last little personal note.... this afternoon, my brother, Spaz, who will be hereby known as "Double O Spaz" was certified to carry a concealed weapon. As if that is not scary enough (buy stock in Kevlar, and don't forget to get your own vest), he emails me this.....

"I wasn't paying attention, but my concealed weapon permit photo clearly shows my "I make stuff up" shirt.... Is that bad ?!?!?!?"

And to top it off, he was joined in his certification by my father (Oh God!!) who, after the "Double O Third celebratory beer" was subsequently dubbed "Double O Wrinkle" ......

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

Dear Santa....

I promise, if you park this under my tree this year, that I will be a good girl until AT LEAST.... next Tuesday :)

Come on now, we know me, and even that's pushin' it!!!







Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

A fond farewell to the 2008 season

This afternoon's race at Valencia marked the end of the 2008 MotoGP season, and yet another World Championship title for Valentino Rossi. Casey Stoner ran away with the event today, with Dani Pedrosa, a not-so-close second, and Vale closing out the trio de podium.

There were no Hail Mary laps, no spectacular shoot-outs, no heroes and no tragedies. Everyone seemed to be on their best behavior. Nick and Dovisioso mixed it up a few times, and The Doctor did not lack awesome as he rocketed to third after a tenth place start. Oh yea, as if I have to even mention it, Randy crashed..... on the first lap..... and didn't even get any camera time for it. You know you are a habitual offender when your bins don't even warrant a replay.

Casey is going to be testing the new Duc over the next couple of days. There is much excitement over the new design and carbon fiber frame. After testing, he will be shipped off to hospital for his surgery. He is getting a bone graft (from his hip) to repair a crack in his wrist that is not healing properly.

The gloriously short winter that I boasted about in my last post will not be so short after all. Qatar, the 2009 season opener, has been pushed back to April. I will dig up the schedule for next year and post it.... and maybe even update my rider profiles, which I think are a whopping 2 years old.

Okay, it's time to thin the herd of brown bottles in the fridge and slip off into my coma :)

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

Sepang!!!!

Okay, I kept myself away from my computer all day today so as not to give into temptation and read the spoiler to another spectacular showing by the MotoGP boys.

Dani winning pole came as a bit of a surprise, but Good Onya "Pud" :) Not only did he win pole, but he ran one hell of a race to hang on to it. Although he could only hold Rossi off for about half the race, he piloted his bullet with nothing but heart. The will to win was there, but (yes, I'm gonna go ahead and give him a good excuse) the tires weren't. By the end I think he had dropped back by 7 seconds...... a formidable gap..... if you will.

Tangent...... apparently next year (and subsequently 2 years after that) the playing field will be leveled as far as tires are concerned. If you are breathing and have a flicker of interest in MotoGP, you have heard that BridgeStone signed a deal to be the only "tyre" (take that Mikey!!) provider for the World Championship for the next three years. So now, everyone will be riding on BS - I just made me laugh.

Back to the race, the shootout for the 3rd podium spot (we have already learned that Rossi and Pedrosa tied up the first two spots, and yes, you will be quizzed on that later) was no less than breathtaking. Hayden and Dovizioso hammered it out like mad-men. Solid entertainment..... thanks boys! In the end, Nick couldn't pull off a permanent overtaking and ended up 4th. Congratulations D... that was a righteous win indeed.

Only one more race left for the season. I will leave you now to look forward to Valencia, and know in my heart that it will be a gloriously short winter. The test season is right around the corner, and from there we move into 09.... come on March!!!!

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

Indianapolis results and NICKY.... WTF????

Okay, we all knew this would bring me out of the woodwork....

First of all, I had no immediate commentary on the Misano race. Good race, yes.... but once again, there was the "Casey-surfing-asphalt" factor that accompanied the win by Rossi. I love me some Vale, but I was yearning (yes, yearning) to see the righteous win that I know he is capable of. As far as the podium line-up for Misano.... Rossi, Lorenzo, Elias, respectively.... that was not at all what I would have expected. We'll call it a pleasant surprise and look forward to Indianapolis. I have to mention that I was watching the race with a fellow sportbike enthusiast who is relatively new to the MotoGP experience. As the track was heating up, and the bikes were getting a little squirrely, he said "someone's going down".... I laughed, and replied... "no, if anyone is going down, it would be Ra....." and there went DeP skittering off the track. Randy, dammit..... I'm still a huge fan :)

Ohhhh, Indianapolis. A race that I would have given my left ________ (insert name of pertinent appendage, digit, or "other" part, here) to go and see in person. No worries, it's a race in the states, much like Laguna, only better, as it was the premier race for this particular track. The coverage should be no less than phenomenal. As I cruised through the SpeedTV line-up first thing Sunday morning to get the exact time of the airing of the festivities (you know, to be sure the beer was at the perfect temperature for MotoGP viewing) I was stunned, no, taken aback, NO, furious to see that the only race to be shown was the 250 class.... shades of Brno and the finger of shame. The disappointment was palpable.

I went on about my business, stopping every once in a while to open the fridge and give a short, but poignant, pep-talk to my faithful beers that were perfectly chilled and ready to give their all for the good of the regime. A few hours later, I happened to be scrolling through the menu on the up-until-this-moment-worthless TV and caught a glimpse of "MotoGP rac....". What????? It was on the local NBC channel. JOY!!

The beers fulfilled their destiny, and I mine, all within the hour between 2 and 3 PM on that glorious Sunday afternoon.

It was a good race. I was a little disappointed that it was run in wet conditions, but I was fully prepared to take what I could get... and so I did. Rossi pulled off a magnificent win, 7 laps short, but nonetheless magnificent. Nicky.... congratulations to you for your first podium spot of 2008. The wet and windy conditions added some excitement. And I have to mention that Randy.... yes Randy... Randy DePuniet... yea, that guy... stayed up on two during the entire event!! Sure Randy, perfect track conditions and you duff.... send a hurricane through and you make it through just fine. Maybe the man feeds on pressure and adversity?

So, on to the reason I am actually posting right now (i.e. crawling out of the woodwork).... I just caught wind that Nicky has signed with Ducati for 2009. I did NOT see that one coming. There was nothing but polite praise and best wishes from all. Honda asserted that Nicky could not get a handle on the new 800cc machine and would surely benefit from the larger, more liter-like Ducati. So it will be Nick and Casey next year, jockeying the big, red bullets around the fastest tracks in the world. Marco Milandri will be stepping out of the Ducati camp to make room for Nick... I wonder who, if anyone, he will sign with??

I am not going to post the results of Indianapolis here this time around, but I will update the schedule and post them where they should rightfully be, in the near future. I will tell you it went Rossi, Hayden, Lorenzo on the podium, and I will also throw in my opinion on the announcers. Schwantz.. I love ya! You are definitely qualified to be out there calling the shots, but seriously, can we import the Brits for the next US race?? They are a lot more knowledgeable of the MotoGP circuit and 10 times more entertaining to listen to....

That will be all :)

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

MotoGP results for Brno

Once again, I wag my finger of shame at SpeedTV. It appears that they are not airing the Brno race.... at least not for the premier class. Nay, the 250cc riders will get some air time at 2 this afternoon.... but what of the kings?

Race reports, still shots and podium results revealed an interesting race. Rossi pulled out the win.... however it was once again attributed to Casey Stoner's misfortune. Stoner, who started from the pole position, crashed on the 6th lap. He was enjoying a comfortable 1.5 second lead over Rossi and the rest of the bullet herd when he lost his front end in a corner and low-sided.... unrecoverable (thank you Captain Obvious). Rossi maintained his lead after the crash and crossed the line first, extending his overall point lead to 50.

A surprising finish for Toni Elias riding for Ducati who landed a podium finish. After starting THIRTEENTH, he walked away with the silver. Very nice.

Completing the trio of excellence was Loris Capirossi, riding for Rizla Suzuki. This was the maiden voyage for Capirex and his fresh, newly-updated GSV-R. Apparently the updated version worked well for him. With his new chassis and completely different weight distribution, he began his journey to the podium from the end of the third row after an unspectacular qualifying round. Welcome back to the podium Loris.... we missed you! By the way, this was Loris's 276th MotoGP event.... sweet Jesus old man!!! You've still got it :)

Shinya Nakano landed in fourth..... the top finisher for the Honda paddock. Dani struggled to pull out a 15th place finish, and Nicky wasn't even on the roster for this race due to a foot injury sustained at the X Games Supermoto event on August 2nd.

Okay, feast your eyes on the results from the GP at Brno.... it's time for me to run along and see what kind of debauchery I can drum up :)

Position	Rider	Manufacturer
1	Rossi	Yamaha
2	Elias	Ducati
3	Capirossi	Suzuki
4	Nakano	Honda
5	West	Kawasaki
6	Vermeulen	Suzuki
7	Melandri	Ducati
8	de Angelis	Honda
9	Dovizioso	Honda
10	Lorenzo	Yamaha
11	Hopkins	Kawasaki
12	Guintoli	Ducati
13	Toseland	Yamaha
14	Edwards	Yamaha
15	Pedrosa	Honda
16	de Puniet	Kawasaki

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)