The Race for the 2008 MotoGP Title: SPOILER!

[Imola Duke]

We will see, Mind games are the winning formula..lol
Funny that rossi could not get into the 21's on Saturday
but with ease on Sunday!
BTW rossi was a champ in his teens..... And acted like a true sportsman
not a spoilt little brat.
The Ball is in moaners court i feel, But Rossi has found his weakness
he can't close race or take a pass.
Bring it on

[hjworton]

Have now watched the Laguna race 3 times. Am certain that VR was doing all he could to win the race, hard but fair passes, certainly no sign of bullying.

What I don't understand is why, after the initial couple of laps and all the incident therein, Stoner did not attempt to stick a pass on VR at the same points on the track that he himself was passed ? He said he was looking to get in front and pull away, so why not try a couple of hard passes himself ? It seemed to me that Stoner was happy, mostly(the turn 2 attempt apart), to sit and try to pressure VR into a mistake rather than continuing the swapping of places. I think the best way to upset VR and his race plan would have been to do to him what he had done. In my view that was the biggest error of the race that Casey made.

Can we imagine that Casey will win every remaining race ? Will Pedrosa be a factor later in the season ? Only if either or both of the top two slip-up. Of the remaining races, I think VR can be close to Casey at Misano, Philip Island and Valencia.

May the best man win - lets just hope the racing can be as good as Laguna again.

[Imola Duke]

Great to meet up with you at long last Steve/Mr R
Big thanks to Mrs R for the excellent coffee
Catch up with you both soon for a good old chat.
hopefully next time i will have more time
Just cracked open a ice cold stella ......... nectar
and Dcikhead the springers buggin me for a chew treat...lol
Steve/ID

[Mr.R]

Hi Steve,
I see young Stoner is on pole again, I think that it's a record number of poles in a season since they went over to 4 strokes...
Well done that man and well done Ducati.
I see that Stoner has the SH*TS and couldn't string too many laps together without the cramps forcing him in, despite this he claims that they now have a perfect wet setting, then went on to say he hopes it's dry for the race.
Maybe that his ar*e he's talking about?
I can think of someone in the paddock who would check it out for him.
Looking forward to this afternoons race and keeping my fingers crossed that Soner can narrow the gap on Rossi.
The summer break flew by for me, still no carbs for the bevel I think the 41mm FCR's are too big to fit on the rear cylinder without altering the frame, which I won't do.
Shame as I found a way of getting a pair and all the hardware for around £600, a mates sponsor lives in the States and offered to bring some over in his hand luggage.
The Mikuni VM's only come in righthand versions when they get that big, which would again meen altering the frame so I'm now looking at getting Delorto's and modifying them.

Steve R

[Imola Duke]

Hi Steve

Have you looked at the possibility of fitting the TM flatslide Mikunis ?

Yes looking forward to the race it's just about to..........................................


Hi Steve,

I'll take the 7-4 lead and the 50 points

Good to see a duke on the podium with a european on board

Vale reckons burgess has now got to grips with the bridgestones

Poor poor Honda pmsl

[Mr.R]

Hi Steve ID,
Well that's pretty much *****d the rest of the season as far as Ducati retaining the Championship.
I was quite happy to watch Stoner win from start to finish, although I think that Rossi would have reeled him in and we could have seen a bit of action at the front towards the end of the race...
I'm totally gutted for the factory who've worked so hard for years against the might of Japan.
It was good for me to see the Ducati satalite team boys going so much better and a podium for Ellias was a welcome suprise.
I noticed that Stoner blamed no one but himself and was man enough to be interveiwed whilst the race was still going on.
Within moments of the race end my phone started ringing with a mate having a cruel laugh, I told Nessie to tell him to **** OFF!
She laughed and handed the phone to me, he owns a '96 Yamaha FZ750 with full Ohlins suspension which I might buy as a run to work hack for when the old MZ dies, I've offered him £500 the front forks alone must be worth that but would need a full rebuild by now.
I'll have to drive the price down when I pay out on the bet!

Steve R

[mill749]

Good job the Simoncelli/Bautista battle will go to the wire.

[Mr.R]

Originally Posted by mill749

Good job the Simoncelli/Bautista battle will go to the wire.

That may well be the case chap, but this thread is/was all about the Ducati against the rest in the Blue Riband class and todays result is probably going to cost me MONEY!
The other Steve (ID) and I have a running charity bet on the outcome.

Steve R

[Imola Duke]

Originally Posted by Mr.R

That may well be the case chap, but this thread is/was all about the Ducati against the rest in the Blue Riband class and todays result is probably going to cost me MONEY!
The other Steve (ID) and I have a running charity bet on the outcome.

Steve R

Must be a lucky day for me Steve... The villa won 4-2

[Imola Duke]

Hi Steve
Hasbeen did well today forcing young Casey into pushing harder than the Duke/Tyres
could take.
The 3 offs in a row reminds me when he was onboard the Honda!

WTF........Pedders/Repsol are now running Bridgestones.

[Mr.R]

Hi Steve ID,
I could give a one word post today.......BOL*OX!
Stoner's not handling the pressure is he?
Once he went down the rest of the race was fairly boring, but it was good to see the 2nd string Duke making the podium again.
Rossi and Stoner are a class above everybody else out there at the moment.
But after the last 3 rounds Rossi's got it in the bag now.
Oh well I just hope next seasons better for Ducati.
On the upside for me I've bought a new pair of rubber mounted 40mm Dellortto's.
I spent yesterday stripping them, drilling them to take Mk1 Amal extended ticklers, removing the chokes, accelerator pumps, blanking the orifices with alloy plates and the drillings with Devcon.
I'll hopefully use them next weekend to attend the DOC GB Southern Rally at Charmouth.
In the winter I'll get them machined to fit the large short alloy bellmouths, which I've removed from the old 41mm Race Dellortto's and maybe get them bored to either 41 or 42.5mm.
Once this's done they'll be the same as the race carbs fitted to the 70's NCR Bevel racers, apart from the Amal ticklers Dellortto ticklers aren't available seperately.
The day after I bought them a mate came up with a pair of 2nd hand 39mm FCR's, ain't that just the way?

Steve R

[andyrh]

Steve

You are so bloody clever

I am as always in awe of your technical know how.


BTW what should I pay for a set of clutch plates and the cage to put the into??

Andy

[Mr.R]

Hi Andy,
Years of practice make jobs like this easy, although the last time I modified a set of carbs like this was almost 25 years ago, so I had to dig deep into my memory before boldly attacking them with the drill after all they cost me £345 + £13 for the Ticklers and could be very easily bugg*red!
I recommened Barnett clutch plates you can get them from LT at Desmotimes for £88 a set + the postage, even if you get caught for import duty + VAT they'd should still be cheaper than buying on-line/over the phone and having them posted by a UK company!
PDQ the UK importers want £139 & P+P + VAT.
My favourite clutch basket is the MPL Ti faced Alloy item but I think they now come with steel faces?
You'd have to search E-Bay for their shop, LT also sells hard anodised 'Procutting' baskets for around £150 which have a very good name.

Steve R

[andyrh]

Thanks Steve, that gives me a guide to go by

[Imola Duke]

Steve R

Now thats a bugger getting offered fcr's after..........
Sods law it always happens to me!
How's the 851 special coming along ?