220 MPH Ducatis

I was supposed to be celebrating my honeymoon with my wife at this race. We had to postpone our trip. It's bittersweet, because that was a wild wild wild weekend of racing.


The Rossi fans were out in full force and I dont know if we will see an atmosphere like that at a Italian GP ever again. Rossi was definitely going to win that race. I was grinning ear to ear as I watched it, only to feel like I was gutted once Rossi pulled off.

Yamaha has a REAL problem on their hands. This engine issue isnt going to go away and they have only 4 engines left each that need to last the final 12 races. Honda, arguably with the worst of the 4 major factory bikes on the grid, is probably going to win the championship just on a combination of sheer reliability and having probably the most talented rider on their bike. What drama.


Iannone shouldve won this race. Vinales had the pace for a win as well. Such a crazy sport that the margins for victory are so small that 2 VERY fast riders in AI & MV are still no match for the consistency of Rossi, MM, and JLo.

I really hope Suzuki continues their development arch and gives AI a bike capable of winning next year.

If Ducati wants to win a race, Stoner needs to nut up and do a few wild card races. He'd dominate Philip Island. I think he's going to start getting frustrated at the lack of results and eventually suit up to show everyone how it's done. I dont think it's crazy to think that Stoner wouldve won the championship had he raced this year. Part of him has to be kicking himself.



Here is the theory Ive heard thru the grapevine....

In 2006, the Yamaha's were down on power pretty big to the Hondas. They ran low gearing to help Rossi get out of the corners fast and then equipped his bike with a "over-rev button" to help him get top speed on the straights. The over use of that button cost them 3 DNF's that year.

It's being asked if Yamaha is using that same technique again this year in order to keep up with the horsepower of the Ducati's. And Honda, while reliable so far, are seriously struggling with getting their power to the ground due to their struggles with the electronics.

Man that sucks. Would have loved to see Rossi take down Lorenzo again.

I did Mugello in 2012. Economy in Italy was in the dumps so the crowd was much less than this weekend, and Rossi was still on Ducati so the enthusiasm wasnt what it was today. The Italians have been waiting for this moment since the Rossi vs Spain shenanigans started last year. Some awful luck that fate dealt us all because had Rossi won the party would be still going.


New theory on the engine blow ups...

The bikes are reaching speeds never seen before and that hump about 3/4 down the front straight away some of the bikes were actually getting both wheels off the ground and catching air. Ive seen a few pics posted online.

And due to the down force of the front wings (especially on the Yamahas) the nose would come down very quickly and the rear would stay up too long. All this while the rider was at FULL THROTTLE 6th gear causing the bike to way over rev and putting insane stress on the motor.

Honda removed their wings for the race as did some other mfg's. Only Yamaha ran them ALL WEEKEND in every practice so their engines took the most abuse.

So this might just be an isolated incident.


I still cant figure out why Yamaha didnt pull Rossi's motor after JLo's blew up. They shouldve been able to figure out something was wrong and not take the chance. But both motors were relatively "new" at this stage in the year and were supposed to easily have about 3 races left in them. Maybe they thought JLo's was an isolated incident.

Neither bike was leaking oil after the blow up. The issue had to have happened in the top end somewhere right?

Yea that was a good dice to the end felt so bad for Rossi, what a bummer.

Moto3 was off the hook those guys were banging and all the way to the Finish!!