MotoGP 2014

[mikeerfol]

https://twitter.com/motomatters/status/ ... 7380211712

[SectorOne]

Great news in my opinion. He obviously feels he still got it and he´s doing pretty well so far in 2014.

[Andres125sx]

I´m actually wondering if Rossi is performing better this seasson, or if Lorenzo is doing it so bad Rossi is looking better....

Lorenzo is strugling to accept Marquez is beating him fair and square race after race, and that may be destroying his self-confidence and affecting his pace

Lorenzo has never been one of those who accept this sort of things easily

[JimClarkFan]

I´m actually wondering if Rossi is performing better this seasson, or if Lorenzo is doing it so bad Rossi is looking better....

Lorenzo is strugling to accept Marquez is beating him fair and square race after race, and that may be destroying his self-confidence and affecting his pace

Lorenzo has never been one of those who accept this sort of things easily

I think it is neither.

Jorge likes to take a smooth high speed arc through the corner, his speed has been affected this year by the tyres reduced edge grip which directly interferes with his style of riding. MM on the otherhand rides looser and can turn the bike on the rear, so he has been less bothered by the reduced edge grip. Rossi supposedly changed his riding style, personally I don't have the eye to notice, but others say it is real and noticeable if you have been watching Rossi for years.

So imo it is more of a refusal, or inability to adapt regarding Jorge.

[Andres125sx]

Good point, spanish tv made a comparison and that´s true, Rossi has adapted his style. Now his style is more similar to MM one (hanging a lot more from the bike), while it had always been more similar to Jorge

[Juzh]

I´m actually wondering if Rossi is performing better this seasson, or if Lorenzo is doing it so bad Rossi is looking better....

Lorenzo is strugling to accept Marquez is beating him fair and square race after race, and that may be destroying his self-confidence and affecting his pace

Lorenzo has never been one of those who accept this sort of things easily

I think it is neither.

Jorge likes to take a smooth high speed arc through the corner, his speed has been affected this year by the tyres reduced edge grip which directly interferes with his style of riding. MM on the otherhand rides looser and can turn the bike on the rear, so he has been less bothered by the reduced edge grip. Rossi supposedly changed his riding style, personally I don't have the eye to notice, but others say it is real and noticeable if you have been watching Rossi for years.

So imo it is more of a refusal, or inability to adapt regarding Jorge.

Some spanish publication wrote MM apparently likes stiffer 2104 spec tire more because they have much less squirm compared to 2013, thus highly benefiting his ultra aggressive riding style. This ultimately provides less feel of what the tire is actually doing which in turn is hurting Lorenzo who refuses to adapt.

[turbof1]

I´m actually wondering if Rossi is performing better this seasson, or if Lorenzo is doing it so bad Rossi is looking better....

Lorenzo is strugling to accept Marquez is beating him fair and square race after race, and that may be destroying his self-confidence and affecting his pace

Lorenzo has never been one of those who accept this sort of things easily

I think it is neither.

Jorge likes to take a smooth high speed arc through the corner, his speed has been affected this year by the tyres reduced edge grip which directly interferes with his style of riding. MM on the otherhand rides looser and can turn the bike on the rear, so he has been less bothered by the reduced edge grip. Rossi supposedly changed his riding style, personally I don't have the eye to notice, but others say it is real and noticeable if you have been watching Rossi for years.

So imo it is more of a refusal, or inability to adapt regarding Jorge.

I think it's both, but it gets down to the same reasons.

Jorge doesn't seem to have the convidence this year. I dunno, maybe something broke mentally when he got that injury last year and perhaps he's demoralized by how Marquez came in. Rossi has a lot more confidence this year. Perhaps he needed a year to get settled again in the team.

Though I still see Rossi struggling for stability in the big braking zones.

[SectorOne]

I´m with the tire thing, i think that´s the only reason he´s having major issues getting on top of things this season.
I think it´s less pressure watching what MM does on a let´s face it, superior bike then going toe to toe with Rossi for the championship with all the crazy battles they had.

It´s going to be very interesting to see what MM does when the bricks start to fall down, ultimately that´s where he will show what he really can do. I hope he enjoys his success because the years after the titles is going to be the interesting part.
(not unlike a certain F1 driver)

[mikeerfol]

Well the Hondas had a big problem with the tyres back in 2012, they managed to solve it.

[Cam]

Jorge doesn't seem to have the convidence this year. I dunno, maybe something broke mentally when he got that injury last year and perhaps he's demoralized by how Marquez came in. Rossi has a lot more confidence this year. Perhaps he needed a year to get settled again in the team.

I recall the last race MM did in Moto2. Last to first on a wet track. Was an awesome display. Knowing your biggest competitor laughs at a wet track, when you're fearing it, can't be good.

Jorge has always been an amazing rider, uber confident. I can't help but think his admission in the last race that he's rattled, isn't something more. MM has just bucket loads of confidence. He's doing more than Jorge has ever done, in terms of race wins early in his top tier career. Last year, every time MM hits him on track, Jorge hits him back. Well, he used too. That has stopped. Rossi (the old man) is even out pacing him. It's noticeable.

Not sure Rossi can beat MM over a year. Pedrosa can't. Jorge can. Could. Whether it's the bike, tyres or something else, Jorge needs to get on top of it, or no one else really will touch MM.

That takes nothing away from MM. Immaculate skills. A pleasure to watch.

[SectorOne]

Pedrosa signs new deal, until 2016.
And that probably secured another two titles for Marc.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114885

[JimClarkFan]

Pedrosa signs new deal, until 2016.
And that probably secured another two titles for Marc.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114885

In terms of having the best rider line up, that is a mistake, it is obvious Pedrosa isn't aggressive enough to oust MM.

In terms of potentially making life easier for Honda, with one rider taking the main prize maybe it is a smart move.

As a somewhat neutral fan, I am disappointed that either Lorenzo isn't moving to Honda, or that one of the young bucks has not been promoted - redding or one of the Espargio brothers for example.

[Cam]

That was the right move for Honda. Continuity. It's a powerful asset.

[JimClarkFan]

That was the right move for Honda. Continuity. It's a powerful asset.

I can understand why they have done it, as a racing fan though, it is the worst possible outcome lol - unless Pedrosa steps up and there are signs (to be fair) that he is.

[Cam]

If we have to just rely on Pedrosa stepping up to challenge MM, we're in trouble. That's letting the others off the hook way too easily. Pedrosa, IMO, is never going to challenge MM and I think that's a good thing.... hear me out.

If you're Honda, the last thing you want is a inter-team blow up. They have a great bike and outstanding rider, all they have to do is protect that - for the moment.

Yamaha, Ducati and soon to be Suzuki, all have to up their game. I'm so tired of sports making excuses for teams that can't compete at the top level. Really, I'm tired of it. Just about every sporting competition is being held back and restricted, for the sake of what, competition? Is it really competition when you know, I know, we all know, you're only running up the front because the leader has been hobbled? No, it's not. It's a farce. It's on par with match fixing.

Do we really want to see different tyres introduced that hamper MM while promoting Pedrosa and Lorenzo? That's not sport, it's a fix. Granted, Lorenzo could say the same about the current tyres and his performance going backwards, which I agree to an extent.

With MM and Honda, we're seeing a brutal display of two wheeled mastery. It's awesome. I don't care if he wins every race, the way he's doing it is show enough for me to keep watching. I'll be telling me kids about it for years to come.

To know the others are not good enough, simply means they're not good enough. I wish they were good enough to take it to him and I think that will happen, slowly. But for now, Honda has it sussed and they're consolidating - it's smart, I respect that.