Welp, preseason testing has already gotten underway and it'll be pretty much be the only thing we can talk about until March. Tomorrow is the first day of the Jerez test and almost all of the big players are going to be there.

I'm particularly interested because this will be the first time we'll see the RC212V on Bridgestones, and the Ducati GP7 will be out testing too so we can compare head to head where the bikes are at. I'm guessing the Ducatis will be faster for now since they've got much more intimate knowledge of the 'Stones.

Nicky Hayden won't be at the test since he's getting surgery to repair the shoulder injury Pedrobot (or Torpedobot as it were) gave him at Estoril.

Maybe someone will be kind enough to post some of the Motogp.com videos to youtube...


Modified by JMU R1 at 4:26 PM 12/5/2006

 

I'm interested to see if Stonehenge can rack up more crashes in testing than in all of last season combined.

 

Jerez Day 1 Test Times

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Camel Yamaha Team 1min 41.745 secs
2. John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1min 42.161 secs
3. Colin Edwards USA Camel Yamaha Team 1min 42.293 secs
4. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 1min 44.030 secs
5. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 44.307 secs
6. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1min 44.394 secs
7. Marco Melandri ITA Gresini Honda 1min 44.876 secs
8. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 45.574 secs
9. Shinya Nakano JPN Konica Minolta Honda 1min 46.200 secs
10. Jeremy McWilliams GBR Ilmor SRT 1min 47.216 secs
11. Andrew Pitt AUS Ilmor SRT 1min 48.518 secs
12. Vittoriano Guareschi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 50.386 secs
13. Alex Barros BRA Pramac d'Antin MotoGP 1min 59.078 secs

 

Nice to see Colin up there. Almost a 2 second gap between the Yamaha's and the closest Honda...must be the learning curve with the tires you mentioned above.....

Is McCoy coming back for `07 or was his job to exclusively test for `06?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JMU R1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe someone will be kind enough to post some of the Motogp.com videos to youtube...</TD></TR></TABLE>

x2

 

I guess Nicky is out until Jan/Feb. Too bad he won't be able to do a repeat next year. What a shame.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SHORTBUS. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nice to see Colin up there. Almost a 2 second gap between the Yamaha's and the closest Honda...must be the learning curve with the tires you mentioned above.....</TD></TR></TABLE>
Nope, Dani and Nakano are both on Michelins like the Yamahas. They just weren't there(on pace) today. At the Valencia test Rossi was the fastest on day 1 and I think day 2 but Pedrosa ended up being fastest of the whole 3 days on the final day so maybe we'll see that again.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is McCoy coming back for `07 or was his job to exclusively test for `06?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Not sure. Ilmor hasn't confirmed their lineup but reports were pointing to McWilliams and Pitt. However they're giving Chaz Davies a test on Wednesday so who knows, maybe they'll go with him instead. It would be cool to see Chaz get a shot but at the same time I wanna see him in AMA next year mixing it up in Supersport and FX. The Ilmor doesn't look too shabby right now though, maybe Chaz can surprise some people with it.

 

so I've been scratching my head about this the last few days. How do the bike manufactures work with testing the bike among all the different teams. Like are the tests really run by like Honda for all the rc212v's? Or does each specific team work on it? Cause the bike is still brand new and getting feedback from all the teams seems to make sense rather then somehow each team trying to go over hurdles on their own.... hopefully that makes sense so maybe someone can answer my question...

 

Honda supplies the bikes to the Satellite teams and is interested in their feedback but they won't get dibs on upgrades nor the royal treatment the factory team does. Initial development was obviously the sole privledge of the factory riders.

 

it's nice to see Suzuki up there. Hopkins and Vermeulen were the top two on the last test and now they are 2 and 6th this test. I hope they can continue this and put it to good use in the real season.

I'm sick of watching rossi, hayden and capirossi win every race.

 

Hopkins typically qualified well last year. I believe he was 2nd or 3rd as best overall qualifier all year. It's later in the race that he falls back and can't keep up that pace...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EngineNoO9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hopkins typically qualified well last year. I believe he was 2nd or 3rd as best overall qualifier all year. It's later in the race that he falls back and can't keep up that pace...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea.. hopper is def fast on dem qualy rubbers.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JMU R1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Pedrobot (or Torpedobot as it were) gave him at Estoril.</TD></TR></TABLE>

His name is Blue Falcon.

Hayden had to have a plate removed from his shoulder that was left over from an old Superbike injury. Blue Falcon bent the plate when he went AWOL.

Suzuki always looks good in testing. See how they fair in the first race.

 

what was the reason for Honda to switch to the new tires? I was under the impression that michelin was holding up pretty well for their bikes.

Im also curious about McCoy. Is he out of the game for good? Back to superbike?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AdeJong 03 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what was the reason for Honda to switch to the new tires? I was under the impression that michelin was holding up pretty well for their bikes.

Im also curious about McCoy. Is he out of the game for good? Back to superbike?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Repsol isn't switching from michelin. I believe a few of the satellite teams run bridgestone though so this is the first test of the rc212v on them

 

Jerez Day 2 Test Times

Jerez MotoGP Test - Day 2
1. Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing - 1'40.688 (82 laps)
2. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda - 1'40.799 (61 laps)
3. Cohn Edwards, Yamaha Factory Racing - 1'41.186 (48 laps)
4. John Hopkins, Rizla Suzuki - 1'41.205 (60 laps)
5. Chris Vermeulen, Rizla Suzuki - 1'41.619 (56 laps)
6. Casey Stoner, Ducati Marlboro - 1'41.702 (43 laps)
7. Loris Capirossi, Ducati Marlboro - 1'42.244 (27 laps)
8. Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda - 1'42.469 (45 laps)
9. Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda - 1'42.528 (63 laps)
10. Alex Barros, Pramac d’Antin - 1'43.182 (63 laps)
11. Tady Okada, HRC - 1'43.316 (59 laps)
12. Vittoriano Guareschi, Ducati Test Team - 1'44.449 (49
laps)
13. Jeremy McWilliams, Ilmor SRT - 1'45.265 (27 laps)
14. Andrew Pitt, Ilmor SRT - 1'47.110 (35 laps)

I was curious about Day 2, so I thought I'd post it up for others too.

 

Word thanks for posting the times

Yeah Gresini Honda is going to be the only Honda team on Bridgestones. I halfway wish Nakano were allowed to keep his Bridgestones, hopefully he'll be able to make the switch succesfully.

 

Maybe I missed this post, but Okada is only testing for Honda, right? He's not racing in 07?

 

Tady is one of Honda's best testers. He retired after the 01 WSB season. He was one of the guys that did alot of work on the RC211V before Rossi got it and he has been working the RC212V with the results of the tests that Hayden was runing on the 211V last season.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BDiddy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Tady is one of Honda's best testers. He retired after the 01 WSB season. He was one of the guys that did alot of work on the RC211V before Rossi got it and he has been working the RC212V with the results of the tests that Hayden was runing on the 211V last season.</TD></TR></TABLE>
That's right. He's the a-hole who beat me out of the Race-Bike-Testing job at Honda. Something about him being 150lbs lighter than me... Love his replica helmet though.

 

actually I think its something about him having mad crazy skillz that you dont have. But thats just my opinion.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BDiddy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">actually I think its something about him having mad crazy skillz that you dont have. But thats just my opinion.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Them fight'n words!

 

Dani Pedrosa is the best rider out there. He will for sure win this year, I went into the future and checked.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SlowB16si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Dani Pedrosa is the best rider out there. He will for sure win this year, I went into the future and checked. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I hate to admit it but he's fooking good. Nicky is consistant but I think Dani like to gamble and he's got skills to back it up.

 

I'm pleasently suprised at the speed of the Suzuki right off the bat. And the Honda isn't as far ahead as I figured they would be considering Nicky was testing an 800 chassis/swing arm all year.

I think Nakano could be a darkhorse next year if he can get the Honda dialed in and if Suzuki can get their motor to make decent power, I bet Hopkins will be fast.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sparkles &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm pleasently suprised at the speed of the Suzuki right off the bat. And the Honda isn't as far ahead as I figured they would be considering Nicky was testing an 800 chassis/swing arm all year.</TD></TR></TABLE>
No he was not. His bike featured concepts that are in the 800 cc bike. None of the actual parts are the same (said Tsutomu Ishii). Should they be further ahead? Probably, but then again they don't have Burgess in their garage this time around.