Mandatory bike swap for MotoGP @ Philip Island

[TTD]

Kumpy... you should edit your post to take out the spoiler

[tsorfas]

These bike swaps seem so dangerous, *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ** black flagged!

Im sorry but all that to me is exciting

[backinthesaddle]

Insane.

[Slowpoke387]

Why all the bitching?? This was asolutely the most fun MotoGP race I've seen in many moons, possibly ever. Bring on the crappy Bridgestones and the pitstops that come with them. Look what ensued. I think every race should have pitstops, are you kidding? That was awesome! Who the hell wants to watch the usual snoozfest - "Lorentho" jumping out to a lead only to have Marquez eventually pass and win. zzz... I am hereby formally requesting pitstops for all MotoGP races. As Rossi put it afterwards, "It was good fun".

[backinthesaddle]

Anyone see monster energy cup last night. Each Moto you had to do one lap thru a different lane. 2 of 3 races a lead rider forgot to do it and changed the outcome. I guess in the heat of battle they forgot what they had to do.

[kumpy]

They've been warned!

Kumpy... you should edit your post to take out the spoiler

[scottieducati]

Loved the race but it was a shame how confusing it was. Clearly if they had mandatory stops regularly those issues would be ironed out. Good fun though, and even with the stops you mostly had the fast guys where they belong.

[ctbandit]

As fun as that was to watch, it seems super unsafe for the riders. I think they got lucky the contact wasn't worse

[shortbus]

As fun as that was to watch, it seems super unsafe for the riders. I think they got lucky the contact wasn't worse

They need to drop the speed limit a lot sooner in the pit...

I made some friends who don't follow motogp at all watch this race and I'm pretty sure they are excited about Japan now, great race to get people into the sport.

[MaRce1o]

It was an interesting race for sure

[MaRce1o]

Another shot

[Eddie]

ANOTHER SPOILER

I hate to see Marquez get disqualified because Honda made a mistake in presuming the were able to finish 10 laps before switching bikes. What a fricking mass.

[GingahNinjah]

anyone else think Marquez should get another point on his license for that pit out?! that is day 1 race school stuff right there and couldve ended badly

[Kurlon]

anyone else think Marquez should get another point on his license for that pit out?! that is day 1 race school stuff right there and couldve ended badly

I blame Dorna for that. Making them wait until the absolute last second before being able to open the throttle means you can't blend safely, even staying to the left of the blend line as Marquez did.

As far as the DQ, Honda was going to loose a rider to a black flag one way or the other, it was either going to be Pedrosa for pitting too early, or Marquez for pitting too late. DQ'ing Marquez keeps the championship hunt alive longer...

[GingahNinjah]

Pedrosa didnt pit too early.. there is no such thing the rule stated that you just couldnt run more than 10 laps on a set of tires. Pedrosa had to give up a position for speeding in pit lane when he came in and missed the speed limit line.

[Kurlon]

19 lap race, can't do more than 10 laps, that means you're doing one of the following:

10 laps, then 9
9 laps, then 10

That meant there was a 2 lap pit window for all riders, riders pitted in a 3 lap window, Pedrosa starting, Marquez ending. Honda's argument against the DQ for Marquez is that he ran 10 complete laps on the rear, pitting before the end of lap 11 as per the rules when he pitted in. If that is correct, that means that Pedrosa pitted too soon, running too many laps on the second leg. Had Dorna come out and said you must pit on lap 9 or 10, no ambiguity, no issue, they just said 10 complete laps max which is how Marquez's team decided to pit when they did. At least one other team got bit by reading the rules the same way.

[SVRACER01]

Wirelessly posted (GS3)

A riders meeting would've prevented any confusion.

[SVRACER01]

Wirelessly posted (GS3)

A riders meeting would've prevented any confusion.

[GingahNinjah]

I am sure there were multiple riders meetings about this topic and if all the other teams got it right then it couldnt have been that hard to understand. apparently noone in either Honda garage was really paying attention

[Pittenger5]

Colin Edwards said there was no meetings. Just a paper list of rules passed around.

[GingahNinjah]

isnt it possible for riders/teams to request a riders meeting for stuff like this if they do have questions? if the wording was vague maybe Honda shouldve said something before hand

[Tricky Mike]

I am sure there were multiple riders meetings about this topic and if all the other teams got it right then it couldnt have been that hard to understand.

While I agree, Staring (backmarker) also got DQ'ed for going over.

I thought the whole thing was pretty ridiculous. Asking these guys to add something so different from the norm at the 11th hour was nuts. I thought there was going to be some carnage and they came pretty damn close when Marquez and Jorge came together. That could have been much worse.

[jerseygirl]

Definitely sounded like there was confusion all around. I heard them say during the race that one rider gave himself a ride through penalty when all he needed to do was give up a place. And then Pedrosa had to give up a place for pit lane speeding, which was given before Marquez came out which would have put him behind Rossi, but then Marquez rejoined so that was ok to let him go around?

[brady]

there's a good summary article here http://motomatters.com/analysis/2013...ay_round_.html that answers most of these questions

[Paul_E_D]

Speaking of teams making stupid mistakes... did anyone else catch the practice session where Dani's motor mount bolt wasn't torqued and came out far enough to drag on the ground in left handers???

One day at a TTD I caught a bike in tech that had a motor mount sticking out an inch. And I don't get paid the big bucks!