MOTOGP » Phillip Island - Free practice times (2)

It was good to see Guintoli near the top for so long. Great work by Dovi to lead for nearly all the session - on a circuit he doesn''t like!! The Michelin wets are obviously a good thing: Hayden, Dovi and Lorenzo all in the mix. Any idea why Vermuelen missed the first 15 minutes of the session??

what has happened to toseland of late ?

from quatar to this ................!!

If Toseland ever had a chance to shine it should have been in the wet at PI, a track he knows well and he's on Michelin wets.

He seemed to drop his bundle lately and it's a shame, I dont know why WSBK riders dont seem to do consistently well in MotoGP ?

Cheers.

Just to add - it was good to see Marco improved his time by 0.5 secs on his last lap -to consolidate 18th position - and bring himself within 6 seconds of the fastest. Marco is an embarresment to himself, Ducati and Italy. Given how monocular the Italians are I'm surprised that they are not burning "33" flags in the street!! It will be a very quiet break between seasons for old Marco I think.

Give the guy a break belly everyone has a personal slump
in their riding career and Marco has admitted him and the bike don't make a great couple so leave him alone at least he has the talent to be able to ride a GP bike

@Jim - IMO the best thing Marco could have done was to leave when he the chance mid season. He has been a vastly overpaid abject failure on that bike. He was given an opportunity to be in the number 1 team from 2007, on the number 1 WC bike from 2007, and has done zip with it. IMO Marco is a cat - he decided in pre season testing that the bike needed bigger ******** than he has to ride it, and has not even put in a decent effort all year. If you think Stoner makes excuses they pale into insignificance compared to Melandri's efforts. This is not a form slump - this is the result of being an absolute wimp and not even having a go. Nearly 6 seconds behind says it all.

Cannot agree Jim I'm hugely disapointed with Melandri,Toseland and Edwards.
Its racing and if they can't hack it bring someone else in.
I was not a fan of Hayden but this season i am a convert due to the visible effort he has put in whilst under the chop from HRC

Belly. from what I have heard,(kevin Magee on Foxsports)Marco was going to be released from Ducati just after the last USA GP, but Ducati found out that he secretly tested the Kawasaki during the summer break and they were not real happy and are now making him wait till the end of the season to release him.

Jim, Im sure Marco can ride a GP bike faster than me, but he is being paid a lot of money to ride the Ducati as fast as it can go, not sulk at the back of the pack.

@ Lucifer - he is being paid Millions to ride that bike. Good on Suppo if that is the case, making him work out his tenure. Ducati wouldn't send him out for pizzas though. He would probably stop in the shade under a tree and eat the lot: then ring in sick!! If not that they would be cold when he got them back!! I don't have any time for bludgers, and Marco is one.

I've always liked Marco BUT I have to agree with belly - I don't see that he's tried at all to come to grips with the Duc. The only person who hasn't commented about it being a hard brassturd to ride fast - (and guys, this is NOT an invitation to flame out again, can we discuss things sensibly, PLEASE) - Stoner. Shades of Ettoire Bugatti's comments about the blower Bently's - 'the fastest trucks in Europe'. Marco can hardly have contributed much to the factory team effort in terms of set-up etc. info. I'm hoping that Hayden will really grab it by the throat next year - it could - should - be quite a happy pit box with Hayden and Stoner together.