Submitted by David Emmett on
The Marlboro Ducatis found some speed during the morning warmup for the MotoGP class. Casey Stoner ended the session fastest, with teammate Nicky Hayden in 3rd, and Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo sandwiched between them in 2nd. The cool temperatures combined with the bumpy track to cause a couple of crashes. Dani Pedrosa lost the front on the way in to Club Corner, and slid off, walking away unhurt. Hiroshi Aoyama was less fortunate, being flicked off in a big highside. His injury status is unknown at this time.
UPDATE: Hiroshi Aoyama landed on his back and bruised it heavily. He was in severe pain, and has been taken to hospital for further examination. He will not be racing.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
| 1 | 27 | Casey STONER | DUCATI | 2'04.711 | ||
| 2 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | YAMAHA | 2'04.820 | 0.109 | 0.109 |
| 3 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | DUCATI | 2'05.019 | 0.308 | 0.199 |
| 4 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | HONDA | 2'05.267 | 0.556 | 0.248 |
| 5 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | HONDA | 2'05.682 | 0.971 | 0.415 |
| 6 | 11 | Ben SPIES | YAMAHA | 2'05.772 | 1.061 | 0.090 |
| 7 | 33 | Marco MELANDRI | HONDA | 2'05.817 | 1.106 | 0.045 |
| 8 | 58 | Marco SIMONCELLI | HONDA | 2'05.873 | 1.162 | 0.056 |
| 9 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | YAMAHA | 2'06.493 | 1.782 | 0.620 |
| 10 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | DUCATI | 2'06.686 | 1.975 | 0.193 |
| 11 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | DUCATI | 2'06.815 | 2.104 | 0.129 |
| 12 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | HONDA | 2'07.457 | 2.746 | 0.642 |
| 13 | 40 | Hector BARBERA | DUCATI | 2'07.801 | 3.090 | 0.344 |
| 14 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SUZUKI | 2'08.336 | 3.625 | 0.535 |
| 15 | 65 | Loris CAPIROSSI | SUZUKI | 2'09.565 | 4.854 | 1.229 |
| 16 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | HONDA | 2'14.475 | 9.764 | 4.910 |
Round Number:
5
2010
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Comments
Interesting
Interesting to note the amount of fairly brutal highsides recently - Rossi, Spies, Aoyama, Bautista and more. Earlier on in the 4 stroke era it was quite rare to see one, this year seems to be the year that highsides are back in. Looks like TC is getting cut back to the point where it has little effect in some cases at least.
I don't think that TC is the
I don't think that TC is the issue here. These are the type of highsiders that TC never have saved, or can save. The TC:s main purpose is helping you find the limit and making it more safe and efficient to get on the gas mid-corner and out of it.
The highsiders we see nowadays is more the result of a combination of the extreme grip levels of the modern Bridgestone tyres which give incredible corner speed, the characteristics of them having a very narrow span between grip and no grip, and the demand on tyre temperature to not drastically lower the grip levels.
When a little bit to cold tyre looses its grip at full lean angle, and throw in some gas to go with that, it probably doesn't help at all that a TC system pulls back on the power - the damage is already done.
One thing that I find
One thing that I find interesting is this year on board tire temperature sensors have been banned and it seams the top riders have been having difficulty with tires.