Ride With Tank

My prediction ended up being almost as wrong as a prediction can be!

The race started out as a battle between Pedrosa, Rossi, and Lorenzo. It was obvious early in the race that one of these three would be the winner because they just walked away from the rest of the field.

The first wrinkle came when Pedrosa crashed early in the race. That meant it would be a Rossi/Lorenzo battle and I settled in to watch.

The second wrinkle came soon after Pedrosas crash when Rossi crashed! It was a crazy crash. As he was entering a turn on the brakes his front wheel locked and he want down instantly and hard with the bike making a Fourth of July worthy shower of sparks.

From that point on it was Lorenzo 10 to 12 seconds ahead of the rest. There was nobody else that even had a chance of catching him. The most entertaining part of the race was watching Pedrosa starting in last place 28 seconds behind the next rider move up to 11th place.

It would have been great to see the three battle it out, and even better if Stoner had been there, but nobody else could even think about challenging Lorenzo so the race was pretty much a 25 lap Lorenzo exhibition ride.

On to todays pictures!

Hayden had some new plastics for the race.

Kevin Schwantz did a few laps on his 93 500.

Here are a few shots from the victory lap.

De Angeles fastest in warm up!, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Pretty much everybody is shocked that De Angeles posted the fastest time in warm up! He has been doing real well this weekend but I did not think he could keep it up. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain the pace during the actual race.

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Great weather for qualifying today! The best news is the weather tomorrow will be even better!

This race is going to be tough to call. Lots of guys are going to push hard because they want to make a good showing so they have a job next year.

Rossi is sitting on a 50 point lead, so I can’t imagine that he would push hard and risk a crash.

Hayden needs to make a good showing, but I just don’t think he has it in him. I would love to see him win this thing, but I just cannot imagine that it is possible. I think even a podium finish is highly unlikely. I hope I am wrong because I would love to see him do well.

Pedrosa is on fire. He looked good in the rain, and he looked real good on the dry track today.

Edwards was also looking really good today. He is probably our best hope to see an American on the podium. Edwards is one of my favorite riders and I would love to see him on the podium.

Lorenzo is also looking pretty good.

I think we are going to see a battle between Pedrosa and Lorenzo. As of today, Pedrosa seems to have the better setup, but I think Lorenzo is the better rider. I don’t think Rossi is going to be willing to push as hard as guys who really have nothing to loose, so here is my official prediction:

1. Lorenzo
2. Pedrosa
3. Rossi
4. Edwards

Saturday qualifying pictures:

Pedrosa gets pole position, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Pedrosa got the pole position and set a new track record in qualifying.

Second place went to Lorenzo and Rossi got third.

Pedrosa has been looking good all weekend. Edwards also looks like he may have some potential tomorrow.

The bad news is that Hayden is not looking great. He put in a few respectable times but it looked like he was working really hard to do it.

Pedrosa sets new tack record in second practice., originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

1. Pedrosa
2. Loenzo
3. De Angeles
4. Rossi
5. Edwards