http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0iszcvOYaw

Big crash for a warmup lap...

LOL, smart Casey, very smart.

I believe it was established that the team took credit for the blame. Not rider error.

There is actually some contention about that, italiapower. According to some reporters (such as a GPone reporter who was on site), the team took the blame publicly, but it was really Casey's fault.

Aside from his normal dicking around at the start of the warm-up lap (like a lot of the 125 kids do), which didn't help... Ducati have a specific procedure for pre-race preparation.

So, according to GPone, it goes something like this. The riders do an out lap on their #2 bike, but with the race tires they intend to use. They do this lap at speed, to "break in" (term from the article) tires, and they then return to the pits. At this point they then do a second out lap on their #1 bike, but with a different set of tires that wont be used for the race. This lap is done very slowly to conserve fuel in the #1 bike, and so those tires don't get much heat in them at all.

At the end of this lap, the rider is to take the bike directly to the grid. Once there, the team take the race tires from the #2 bike (heated and "broken in" from the fast lap, and kept warm in the tire warmers) and put them on the #1 bike. And apparently Ducati aren't the only ones who do this... all in the name of saving fuel. Nicky did it on Sunday and was fine.

So, according to this journalist, Stoner did just one lap and went straight to the grid. They didn't say why he did it. And they didn't say if he had planned on doing it before hand, nor which bike it was on. The only implication was that because Stoner did his own thing, and not what the team advised, his tires were colder than usual to start (they had the warmers on them, but the warmers were put on basically cold tire, as opposed to tires that were already hot). And the rest is there for everyone to see.

So yeah, the team took the blame in the press release, but according to people there it was a case of Casey doing whatever Casey wants (as usual). Although obviously it is hard to tell if he purposely went against procedure, or just spaced out and forgot it.

The team took the blame to allow Stoner to save face, in my opinion. He blew it.

That is what the reports seem to indicate Gary. In any case, not really the behavior indicative of a guy you want to pin your factories championship hopes on.

robertorolfo - 17 November 2009 09:17 AM

That is what the reports seem to indicate Gary. In any case, not really the behavior indicative of a guy you want to pin your factories championship hopes on.

He already won a championship.

Chaos - 17 November 2009 09:41 AM

robertorolfo - 17 November 2009 09:17 AM

That is what the reports seem to indicate Gary. In any case, not really the behavior indicative of a guy you want to pin your factories championship hopes on.

He already won a championship.

And what good does that do them next year? And the year after that? Phillip Morris doesn't shell out for the past.

(And obviously 'factories' should have been 'factory's')

It is not a first - other riders have crashed on the warm-up lap. It's a stupid mistake but just that.

Didn't Lorenzo crash on a warm-up lap last year?

Lorenzo crashed on the sighting lap this year, in mixed wet/dry condition at Mugello (I think it was). But he was able to get back to the pits and use the other bike... and the team even fixed the bike he crashed so he could do the bike change. Not quite the same.

And crashing on the warm up lap is a stupid mistake that can happen to anyone... but if the mistake is the result of the rider ignoring team procedures (either purposely or not), then it make things way worse.

Combine that with Casey insisting on wet tires for Donnington... not a pretty picture.

If you have an agenda, Stoner crashing on the warm up lap is the sign of the apocalypse.

If you do not, then it is just a silly mistake.