More disappointment for Melandri.

Jerez is not the best track for Ducati so if you can set up the bike in a proper way it gives a lot of data for other circuits. It's a pity for Marco that the weather was not ideal. However Qatar should be more Ducati minded, if Marco fails out there then I am getting worried...

I think Marco is going to have to trust more in the Ducatis electronics to control the power it is putting out, otherwise he is only going to go well at fast flowing tracks.

Kees....You are right if he does not go well at Qatar then he is in trouble and the Ducati bites another person

Funny how everyone assumes ducatis electronics can tame its power.

I'm sure in his many outings hes tried to just plant it, infact I reacon this racers would do that in the first couple of outings.

I for one think the problem is that it doesn't tame the power well.

Melandri is running out of "next tests" to improve. He should be in the ball park by now (look at all the rookies way ahead of his world championship winning bike). I like the guy and I (amongst others) thoughthe would show Stoner the way this year. That Duke ain't no pussy cat and Casey seems to be the only one to tame it.

Im not worried about Marco, I never considered him a tittle hope to begin with.
I expect him to at best to challenge for the minor or lesser placings in the WC.
They dont call him the Random Number Selector for nothing. I think a lot of peaple were hoping he would best Casey considering the Ducati's performance, any rational person can see the Ducati is far from the best bike there, power isnt everthing.

Casey's T.C runs on Linux and is optimized/compiled to make Casey
win whatever he does,he doesn't even have to brake or change gears
While Marco and the rest of the MotoGP dudes are running on
Windows Vista debug mode with Anti Virus,Firewall,Limewire,3D Studio Max, MSN and at least one DivX movie running in the background,no wonder the CPU on these TC
cant manage wheel spin etc. in real time!!
Or.... maybe it is just Casey?

mmm. marco has in him to win. no doubt. sort the beast out marco, we need a great battle!

The problem for Marco seems to be trusting the electronics in the same manner as Stoner the crybaby. Marco comes from a Honda satellite team with probably not the best electronics package therefore he had to ride more based on skill and talent. If Marco can develop a similar understanding and trust compared to Stoner for the bike and its electronics then he'll be competitive if he doesn't it will be a long year for him. I hope he figures it out to make things interesting up front.

Marco is on his way back to Honda next year! Nicky will replace him at Ducati.

i am getting worried already :(

Somebody said that Ducati would better with someone from outside motogp namely 250s and I have to agree, seems if you can ride a proper bike you can't ride the PS/2(easy mode)ducati.

ps does anyone know if casey uses a PS/2 controller or is the setup similar to a motorcycle?

at least RNG is getting more consistent

Remember Marco in 2005/6. The guy is awesome. Since 800cc he sucks I admit. Since Ducati, he sucks more. But a Ducati aint a Honda is it?

Ban TC for 2009 and Marco still sucks? Then you guys have a point. I predict with no TC, Marco is amazing.

seems to be a lot of anti-Stoner sentiment out there, is it because of sour grapes? I mean the guy blitzed everyone in 2007, admittedly earliy on in the season he had a top speed advantage, but if the Duke was so superior why did only he,( out of the 4 Dukescompeting) manage to win the majority of races? Why the animosity?

Well said "terrazzo"!!
Blaming TC for Stoner wining is getting old!! & inncorect!
Remember Edwards saying if the TC is on full you are safe but slow,
Hence Schumaker riding safely but 5 secs slower,
Colin said you need to turn the TC down to go faster!!!

There seems to be no point in trying to argue with the Stoner baggers. They have no commonsense and no ability to recognise anybody else but Rossi's achievements.

It is obvious commonsence that the more traction is controlled the slower you go but this simple observation does not serve their arguement so they choose to ignore it. It wouldn't matter how many riders came out and declared that to go fast you need to decrease TC because Rossi got beat and there must be a reason for it as no one could beat Rossi fair and square.

My suggestion is chuckle and thing to your self - ignorant ****** It has worked for me lately!

THe reason that Casey faired better than the other guys at Ducati in 2007 is because he was fresher from 250's than the other veterans. I read an article with Alex Barros who also echoed my sentiments. I reckon if any of the rookies had Marcos place, they would be able to handle it a lot better.

There is absolutely no doubt that Casey is an excellent rider, and if he wins a few more WC's he will go down as one of the best, but this year I really think that there could be a dark horse in Randy De Puniet, Nicky, or (hopefully) Vale for the title !

Thank you Parker,..agree!!,
We all have our favourites, but,..
some respect for the other riders would be nice!!

terrazz, no sour grapes from Casey's side!! The Australian fine Shiraz red is something one can almost not live without... :-)
All this T.C talk is totally crap,I can agree that a less experience rider can "tame" the MotoGP or a WSBK bike better with T.C. but a good rider could/should ride the crap out of the bike with or without T.C. Even when Rossi and Biaggi came to MotoGP there was lots of talks about that "well the 500cc now are MUCH easier to ride than a few years ago"... so also Rossi had his share of "luck" getting a somewhat "tame" two stroke 500cc Honda!

I am also amazed how much TC is mentioned in these forums. It is legal and if one manufacturer has come up with a better mouse trap than the others well it is up to them to catch up. I suspect some of the Japanese factories have been asleep at the wheel in the introduction of the 800cc class and in it's inaugural year.
These machines are now an integrated package and removal of TC(if things got that far) would put significant cost onto the competing teams. Reconfigured or even new engines may be needed and I would ask if the factories would be prepared to pay the price for a regression OR would it be cheaper for them to move forward with the current regulations...Cont>>