Pierre

That's the one. From the article: With that comes the design for a retro sports version of the popular 1960s and 70s Commando model that the Americans had spent $9million developing. I'd love to see that bike get built. I ws on the waiting list for Dreer' s production version.

It's a little flat, Tom. Wouldn't say "no" ... just not the "classic" rear end I've come to expect from my rides.

Good for Ducati! Good for Nicky!

Warm up. Still dry. Big shuffle this morning. You get beyond Rossi and Stoner, it seems a toss up. Wonder how Pedrosa is enjoying those Bridgestones. Indianapolis MotoGP Warm Up Classification 16 1 1 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team DUCATI 1'41.553 8 12 313.2 2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'42.161 12 13 0.608 0.608 307.3 3 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team DUCATI 1'42.301 11 12 0.748 0.140 313.5 4 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'42.369 13 13 0.816 0.068 306.3 5 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'42.419 7 13 0.866 0.050 310.2 6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA 1'42.454 13 13 0.901 0.035 303.5 7 48 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'42.531 11 13 0.978 0.077 302.5 8 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'42.555 11 12 1.002 0.024 300.1 9 11 Ben SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'42.641 10 13 1.088 0.086 305.0 10 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'42.657 9 12 1.104 0.016 299.1 11 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team DUCATI 1'42.668 12 13 1.115 0.011 315.2 12 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 1'42.704 13 13 1.151 0.036 300.4 13 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'42.709 13 13 1.156 0.005 315.5 14 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 1'42.955 12 12 1.402 0.246 301.9 15 21 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'43.133 9 12 1.580 0.178 301.9 16 2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'43.166 8 13 1.613 0.033 310.9 17 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'43.294 10 13 1.741 0.128 301.9 18 52 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 1'43.763 11 11 2.210 0.469 303.8 19 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'45.101 8 11 3.548 1.338 303.8 Fastest Lap: Lap: 8 Casey STONER 1'41.553 149.454 Km/h Circuit Record Lap: Circuit Best Lap: New circuit 2008 Valentino ROSSI 1'40.776 150.607 Km/h Dry Air: 26° Ground: 27° Humidity: 57%

Noon Pacific time ... on NBC. Yes, you read it right - NBC.

Dry qualifying - cream rises. Wow, Spies qualifies 5th! Front row of Rossi, Stoner,Lorenzo - isn't that where we started before injuries took Lorenzo off his game? Hope it stays dry for tomorrow's race. 1 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'40.776 25 26 304.4 2 1 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team DUCATI 1'40.860 22 22 0.084 0.084 312.2 3 48 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'41.177 27 27 0.401 0.317 301.9 4 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'41.271 23 27 0.495 0.094 309.5 5 11 Ben SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'41.464 24 25 0.688 0.193 306.6 6 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 1'41.492 26 26 0.716 0.028 301.3 7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA 1'41.744 22 22 0.968 0.252 304.7 8 2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'41.754 25 25 0.978 0.010 304.7 9 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team DUCATI 1'41.886 21 21 1.110 0.132 308.6 10 52 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 1'41.897 19 23 1.121 0.011 305.0 11 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 1'41.934 22 22 1.158 0.037 306.0 12 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'41.969 26 26 1.193 0.035 304.1 13 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'42.305 19 25 1.529 0.336 304.4 14 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team DUCATI 1'42.405 23 23 1.629 0.100 308.6 15 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'42.551 18 25 1.775 0.146 302.2 16 21 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'42.673 22 24 1.897 0.122 301.6 17 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'42.732 23 24 1.956 0.059 301.6 18 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'43.807 18 22 3.031 1.075 312.8 19 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'43.931 20 24 3.155 0.124 301.0 Fastest Lap: Lap: 25 Valentino ROSSI 1'40.776 150.607 Km/h Circuit Record Lap: Circuit Best Lap: New circuit 2008 Valentino ROSSI 1'40.776 150.607 Km/h Dry Air: 34° Ground: 40° Humidity: 44%

Dunno ... there's been a lot of politicking going on. Here's an interesting take from president of infineon raceway: Page: Well, I will be very frank with you. There’s nothing to react to. There’s nothing there. It was a press release with no information. There’s no schedule, there’s no tracks, there’s no manufacturers, there’s no riders. This has been a charade that is getting very tiresome. http://tinyurl.com/4ckfsz IMHO it's never good when a limited interest sport begins to fragment. IRL / CART comes to mind. Hope it's just more posturing by the factories ... and the DMG series gets at least a year under its belt ... and free from direct AMA dysfunctional interference. If it's still not working, then move on.

From another list ... a guy who has the live feed for practice sessions. Does not look good right now ... Wowza, just watched the end of FP2 live. Indy has some serious standing water problems, but it could have been coming down so hard no amount of drainage would have helped? The end of FP2 looked like a bunch of C-group guys out on their first trackday (in the dry) and no I'm not exaggerating! Rossi was using around 15 degrees of lean angle going through turn 1 and people were running off the track in what looked like 45 mph sections of the infield. They showed Nicky going down a straight side by side with Hopper and they were both hydroplaning and shimmying side to side going 1/2 speed. Nicky looked over at Hopper and made a "enough" gesture with his hand. In FP1 Stoner crashed in either turn 1 or 6 (a left hander coming off the banking). I saw some of the 125's crashing there too. That's going to be a bad turn if they race in the rian on Sunday because you highside and then you and your bike slide right through the racing line at full speed because of the slick track surface.

Great interview. He's seems pretty happy to be leaving, but a classy guy ... no rips at Honda. However, last few sentences contain a nice summary that pretty much confirms the speculation ... Honda wsa never a big fan of Nicky Haden. http://tinyurl.com/3vw5dd

There's a fine line (to my mind) between brave and crazy. John seems to be walking that line this weekend. Coming back after major surgery, 3 missed races ... and two get-offs on Friday's practice - he qualifies the Kaw on the first row. Awesome! I don't know if John has the skills to be a contender for the # 1 plate (I do wish he'd get a bike where we could finally find out) but he certainly has shown the heart of a champion. Nice to see Ant West in the top ten (2nd row) - so it looks like the Kaw is a better bike than it was before the break. You just know Hopkins and Vermuelen (2nd row) will go at it hammer and tong. Speaking of Aussies - it's hard not to with 3 of 'em on the first two rows. That's impressive. Could be another Rossi / Stoner classic. Really lookin' forward to tomorrow's race.

Hear it right from the mouths of the protagonists: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport...kes/7516510.stm Lex, I share your hope. We need this kind of racing to continue for the rest of the season. And Grider, I agree with you ... Casey appears to be made of sterner stuff. Just as Ali needed Frazier and Foreman to reveal his greatness, so too I think Rossi needs this kind of pressure from Stoner and ...? to do the same. You know Rossi is up for the challenge. I hope Stoner ... and maybe Pedrosa if he gets healthy quickly enough ... give Rossi all he can handle. Could be the best grand prix racing ever. I can't wait.

Rossi: "Great race." Stoner: "No, you can't race this way." Rossi: "That's racing, Casey." Stoner: "That's racing? Ok, we'll see." I believe the "doctor" performed surgery on Casey's brain yesterday ... with a hammer! Anyone remember that pass Rossi made a couple of years back - moto-x style ... to win race in last corner? Casey better get his head together. Rossi's finally got a competitive ride ... and he's a "bare knuckle" brawler. All the great ones are.

Not a spoiler. Don't miss this one if you didn't get it live. Maybe best Moto GP race in several years. What a track ... what a show! Now a spoiler thread.

SPOILER!!!! How does Dani throw it away with a 6 second lead?! Nobody faster from the front ... but pit board should have told him he could cruise a little. BTW - rookie mistake on the slide - watch his lead (left, I think) hand as he transitions from track to rough - takes a big hit. They tell ya' (well, at least our club instructors used to tell us) to keep extremities wrapped until all sliding stops. Easier said than done I know, but I think he took a hit to that hand that was avoidable. Hope he's back in the saddle next round. It's quite a points race right now. I'm missing my first Laguna Seca since Moto GP came back there ... but I'll be at Indy for the inaugural. Fun stuff. They did indeed earn their money today. Elias may want to avoid Rossi's motr home for a spell.

Maybe not over the top. Very scary get off (230 kph) that will put Hopper out for at least 4 weeks, maybe more. Front end just went away. So did Ant West's during the race. That's a bad bike right now. IMHO Kaw needs to do some house cleaning, both at engineering level and at crew level. That, or get out of the game if they aren't willing to recruit and pay for bike development / set-up / maintenance talent. FWIW, thought Rossi's charge from dead last was most interesting part of the race, followed in no particular order by commentators' blaming DePuniet for Rossi's crash, Nicky's bike quitting on the home stretch, Colin's comments regarding Nicky's bike quitting, and the mid pack dice for 4th for better part of the race. Nice they showed some of that instead of what they usually do, endlessly follow the lonely leader around the track no matter how far ahead he is. Least interesting part of the whole telecast ... watching Pedrosa exude zero emotion at post race interview after having finished second and inheriting points lead. Oh yea - keep a lid on it Danny. LOL!

Just chuckling over your "I apologise for California" thread.

Yea, I didn't think John quit on his own. I re-read my last post. The "green piece of two wheeled garbage" (admittedly over the top- sorry) was directed at the bike - the bike has thrown Hopper any number of times and torn him up pretty good. When its not throwing him, it quits on him. And you have to ask how in this day and age a bike at that level can throw a chain. Gotta' look past the bike to the crew on that one. Not pretty over there right now.

Did he stop, or did the bike stop? This year that green piece of 2 wheeled garbage has torn his groin, broken his back - and shed it's chain mid race. Now it appears to have up and quit on him. Hopper may have found the only Japanese team with no sense of "face." Huge mistake for Hopper to have gone with Kaw - but he's always "followed the money." May be a mentality driven by his modest circumstance growing up and the extremely difficult time he had getting rides as a youngster with no connections and no funds. Here's his thoughts on Kaw end of May: Hopkins: ‘Enough is Enough’ http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/mot...ough-is-enough/ I think John could have been a contender. I fear now his moment may have passed. More's the pity. Good kid, and awesome rider. No one rails corners like John.

No THAT'S funny. speaking of Pedrosa - Q 3rd row - behind Spies AND ANT WEST! Nice to see West start getting that Kaw sorted. I'm thinkin' Hopper is wishing he'd never left Suzuki. Stoner and Vermeulen on front row - couple of very accomplished mudders so no surprise there. Rossi front row as well, of course - just because he's Rossi. Nickey on second row - guess he likes the pneumatic ... but then what red blooded American boy doesn't like 'em pneumatic! Is Donnington supposed to be wet tomorrow? Or is that a "does a bear shit in the woods" kind of question?

Dude ... don't get yer' kilt all in knots. Put a cork in that bagpipe. Please! Don't know that I ever mentioned what world I thought I lived in. I do try to keep my little corner of it as non-judgmental as I can. Except for bagpipes. I've just never been able to warm up to the sound of bagpipes.

Interesting you should mention that. European intolerance was what drove the first colonists to the new world. Nice to see that historic repression lives on. That said, many of the first arrivals were as fanatical as those who drove them from Europe. Your inquisition ... our witch trials. Thanks jihem for posting the trailer. v50man, I hope you get that distribution deal. I'll be looking forward to the movie. Having survived the excess of the 60's, I think this look at the under belly of the contemporary bible belt will be fascinating and instructive. Take sex, booze, drugs, rock and roll - then overlay it with a fundamentalism as radical as anything found this side of mullah land, and I'm not surprised to find "Rebel Scum" trying to make sense of it all, and going up in flames in the process.

Awesome! More pics please.

Well, I suppose if you put your foot down ... then yes ... you can lean it over doing donuts. But anyone who needs to put his foot down to do donuts deserves to havehis engine blow. Might just as well put it in neutral, lean it over 'til the head guard rests on the ground, and rev it vigorously in neutral. When i do donuts ... seated upon the handle bar with my feet on the front axle, I find the bike remains vertical during the entire maneuver. Does your experience differ? You see what happens when we pass beyond the sublime ... it's almost impossible to claw our way back from the absurd. I'm done. On a far more somber note ... learned late last night that John-Mark Arechiga is dead. Died Saturday in a warm up for the WERA race being held last weekend at Buttonwillow. He was known hereabouts as "DK" or "drknow." I posted details on the SoCal list. He was a friend to many and I was honored to have him call me friend. http://tinyurl.com/3vpq5e