MOTOGP » Ducati could call up Bayliss, Biaggi.

I think Ducati just need some new input and between Bayliss, who is one of the best riders of the last 15 years, and Max, also, they should get it. But my guess is that Bayliss may not want to risk his season riding a MotoGP bike. This is his last year and I am sure he does not want to spoil it doing a favor for Livio Suppo, the guy who fired him for no reason other than to flex his muscles. I remember how angry Federico Minoli was, and that is when I realized that Suppo is a Marlboro guy more than a Ducati guy. Now Max will want to have a ride on this bike because he intendes racing a few more years and wants to be on Ducati´s good list. He is also very good at setting up bikes...for Max.

WSBK » Team boss defends Checa victory lunge.

I refer above to "Doohan corner" in OZ in race two of round two last month, not "Doohan Corner" in Valencia, which is turn two, the one where Rossi crashed out to lose the title to Hayden in 2006.

WSBK » Team boss defends Checa victory lunge.

Carlos was so strong in Valencia and he had made similar moves on Lanzi and Bayliss...and Max Neukirchner lost so much time on the last three laps that Carlos, in front of the home crowd, was unable to resist the temptation...he was coming from too deep to make it and knew it at the end. He told me, "I was in too hot and I thought Max would pick up and then come back under me, but he couldn´t know I guess how hard I was coming and how committed. Sure I am very sorry, for him, for me and for the fans, but we are racing out there and we all want to win." For me it was like Biaggi in Australia. He wanted to win and felt he could. Biaggi almost took out Fonsi at Doohan.

MOTOGP » Chaz wins Daytona 200!

Chaz is irst European winner since Patrick Pons in 1980. This is production-based racing and the rules have to be very strictly-emforced. In the old days, like before the Daytona Group bought the rights (announced on Saturday) you would imagine the ruling being overturned in favor of Honda, but not now. Another indication of a new dawn. An AMA official incorrectly told Duhamel´s team they could change bikes, but that was an incorrect interpretation of the rules. Duhamel raced for nothing and was then called in. Tha AMA apologized. In the old days they would have made the same mistake and then either stood by the mistake (becaue it was a factory team), said team should have known rules.

MOTOGP » Rossi, Pedrosa explain Qatar collision.

Guilty as charged,gd and chu chu. And, back to Dani...when you get on the power on that 215 HP rocket you are assuming that the guy in front, because he is in front, will be on the power first. Rossi either didn´t or couldn´t acelerate. He lapped in 1´59.594 on the lap he was hit by Dani after lapping in 1´56.588 on the previous lap and 1´57.235 on the lap`after. More revelant...in the critical section time: 32.077 on the lap before, 33.554 on the incident lap and back to 32.306 next lap. Rossi was slow through the first two segments on the incident lap, but was back on it through section 3 when Dani was up his pipes, so there was nothing to indicate that Valentino would dog it.

MOTOGP » Rossi, Pedrosa explain Qatar collision.

Forgive us for getting off topic, but this is serious Snetteron talk...Hey, Al...there was no crash that day(76) Dave was leading and I was chasing on the last lap and a heli-coil (probably one too many in that Commando head) blew out when Dave got on it. It looked to me like Dave suddenly backed up! But the impact was perfect, front wheel of the Ducati against the center of the back tire of the Commando...I punted Dave into the gravel and picked up a Bemsee win! Looking at the way Dani just leaps off the corner and Rossi just sits there, it must have looked to Dani as if Rossi backed up into him. I haven´t heard about a mower accident...will ask.

MOTOGP » Rossi, Pedrosa explain Qatar collision.

Stumpy's theory about electronics being involved is interesting. The segment times from the lap of the incident indicate that Rossi was on a "normal" pace, slowish but normal in a free practice when riders are trying different tires and settings. Whether he is especially slow in the final section because he got rammed on the exit of the left-hander or whether he got rammed BECAUSE he was especially slow on the exit of that corner is someting for computer forensics. You would like to think that both riders were called in afterwards to discuss this with the race director.

MOTOGP » Rossi, Pedrosa explain Qatar collision.

...but on the lap of the incident he lapped in 1´59.5. Next lap after the incident he lapped in 1´57.1 and was .8 faster in the final section. In the section just before the incident Rossi was only .2 of a second slower than on his previous lap when he was doing 56.5...so it looks like he rolled through the corner as usual but just did not accelerate. Old war story: I remember coming out of the Bomb Hole at Snetterton many years ago behind Dave Cartright when he blew a plug out of his Commando and I ran right into the back of him because I expected him to be gone. Don´t know what Rossi didn´t gas it, but Danny´s story makes sense from data and from logic. We´d need to see the data recording

MOTOGP » Rossi, Pedrosa explain Qatar collision.

It appears that Rossi was cruising as he tried to get the feeling of some new settings. He had done the previous lap at the same pace with the same corner speed. Rossi also said after the last tests that he found it hard under the lights to judge just how fast he was coming up on other riders. Dani has been against riding at night from the beginning, from the first time it was mentioned last year. Kind of like Melendri was so convinced that Laguna Seca was dangerous that he went out on day one two years ago and high-sided out of the Corkscrew. Some people are even saying that Rossi brake-checked on purpose. Rossi did 1´56.5 the lap before and was a half second faster through that section...

MOTOGP » Ducati: Stoner 'better than ever'.

There won´t be anymore overhead shots now that Dorna has opted for using a huge cherry-picker type tower to take the on-bike TV signal rather than the chopper which used to provide those overhead shots. Last year in Qatar Rossi seemed so much better in the brakes because he was braking from 15 to 17 km/h less than Casey. I doubt if the races will be closer this year in MotoGP and I think we have seen more overtaking in the first two rounds (four races) of SBK than we are likely to see over the first half of the MotoGP season. There are lots of reasons for this, but from a general TV audience perspective, it takes a lot of "charisma" and intrigue to compensate for a lack of overtaking.