Round 2 – Jerez
Thanks to some rain, and a soft wet weather tire from Bridgestone, the weekends race was great entertainment, on and off the track.
Well done to Scott S from the UK for scoring 19 points for what turned out to be a difficult race to predict!
http://www.fmgp.co.uk/round/?r=186
We now wait until Estoril, as Motegi has been postponed due to the disaster in Japan.
MotoGP 2011 off to a great start
Great race, good battles up and down the field.
Congratulations to Kelly N for getting the top result after the first race.
Site relaunch on hold
Quick update: due to family/life commitments I won’t be able to update the site and create the mobile version in time for the first race.
The only update will be the scoring system.
Name change and mobile
FMGP
Fantasy MotoGP will now be known as FMGP. The reason for this change is due to the fact that MotoGP is a trademark owned by Dorna – and I would like to avoid any issues in future. The URL of the new site will be www.fmgp.co.uk (www.fantasymotogp.co.uk will continue to work, but will redirect to the new short version).
iPhone/iPod application and mobile web
Users are increasingly accessing the web from their mobile and especially using small applications, so it makes sense to put FMGP on some mobile platforms. I’ll develop an iPhone/iPod application that will allow you to do the following things:
- Make predictions
- View previous results
- Check the leaderboard
I’ll also work on a mobile version of the site that should work across the various platforms (Nokia, Android, iPhone…)
Website
The website will also be overhauled. The current site works well, but after looking at the analytics I can see what pages are most accessed and what pages are not, so the site will change to reflect the way it is being accessed.
All the above should be complete before the first race in 2011.
Valencia 2010 results
The final race is done. Exciting start to the race, with Lorenzo riding into Simoncelli, lucky to hold on. The top positions stayed close until Rossi could not hang on to Lorenzo any longer. Lorenzo went on to win his 9th MotoGP race this season, passing Stoner who could not repeat the pace of his practice sessions.
Fantasy MotoGP
This was the first full season for Fantasy MotoGP, many players took part in every single race, and a few who hadn’t did very well to reach the MotoGP class. I’ll be working on the website over the winter to improve a few things. The automatic results worked well for the last race. This does mean the results are delayed slightly, but should mean there is no room for human-error.
Thanks to all those who took part this year, hope you’ve enjoyed it, do join in again in 2011.
Estoril – Portuguese GP 2010
Qualifying cancelled
Due to rain and windy conditions the qualifying was cancelled and grid positions were taken from combined free practice sessions.
4 Practice sessions
There are now 3 free practice sessions and 1 qualifying session all 45 minutes long. For this race the practice sessions were extended to 1hr due to the conditions.
Race results
Lorenzo beat Rossi fair and square today. Simoncelli had a great battle with the factory riders to finish 4th, close to getting 3rd position.
Roll on Valencia, the last race of 2010…
Fantasy MotoGP
Congratulations to Vikki J from the UK, getting the top predictions for what turned out to be a tricky race to predict!
Preview: Estoril – Portuguese GP 2010
Rider changes
Mika Kallio has left Pramac Ducati and will be replaced by Carlos Checa.
The 38 year old Spaniard last rode in MotoGP in 2007 for LCR Honda, finishing 14th in that years championship with 65 points, his best results were two 6th position finishes.
Kallio leaves MotoGP with 43 points, has struggled with a shoulder injury since the 3rd round at Le Mans.
Pedrosa back
Dani Pedrosa is due back after he decided not to take part in Phillip Island due to injury.
Who goes where in 2011
Factory Yamaha
- Jorge Lorenzo, 23
- Ben Spies, 26
Factory Ducati
- Valentino Rossi, 31
- Nicky Hayden, 29
Factory Honda
- Dani Pedrosa, 25
- Casey Stoner, 25
- Andrea Dovizioso, 24
Factory Suzuki
- Álvaro Bautista, 25
Tech 3 Yamaha
- Cal Crutchlow, 24
- Colin Edwards, 36
Cardion AB Ducati
- Karel Abrahám, 20
Gresini Honda
- Marco Simoncelli, 23
- Hiroshi Aoyama, 28
Aspar Ducati
- Héctor Barberá, 23
Pramac Ducati
- Randy de Puniet, 29
- Loris Capirossi, 37
LCR Honda
- Toni Elías, 27
The above is compiled from www.motomatters.com
New points system for 2011
This is the first full season for Fantasy MotoGP, and as the 2010 MotoGP season nears its end I’ve decided to change the points system for 2011.
Old Points in 2010
The points system used currently is simple. 3 points for any podium prediction, 1 points otherwise.
This worked well enough, but meant that many players are very close in terms of total score with others. It would be better to give people more incentive to really get the top 3 correct, so here is the change…
New Points in 2011
- 1st place: 10 points
- 2nd place: 5 points
- 3rd place: 3 points
- 4th to 10th place: 1 point
This will reward people who get the racer winner correct. A total of 25 points are possible for anyone who manages to predict every position correctly (to date, no one has managed this).
What happens if you predict a rider to come 3rd but he finishes first? You’ll get 3 points, and if you predict 4th and the rider ends on the podium, you’ll get 1 point, and so on.
Please use the comments section below if you have any feedback.
Phillip Island – Australian GP 2010
New site update
This is the first race that uses automated results. This is a big step forward, finally it means if I’m not around for the race, the results will still be published.
Highlights of the race
Rossi/Hayden battle for 3rd. Rossi qualified in 8th position, but had the race-pace to reach a battle for third. Hayden was not happy finishing forth, but there were no complaints about the passes Rossi made on him.
Stoner was untouchable, Lorenzo just didn’t have a chance to catch him. This was probably the last time we see him slide the Ducati around the corners at Phillip Island.
Predictions
Looking at the last race results, many people had predicted the top three correctly. Congratulations to Tracie Davies for winning the race on predictions, many scored 14 points, but Tracie did it with the highest positions and before anyone else with the same predictions.
In other news
Valentino Rossi has been given the go-ahead by Yamaha to test the Ducati in Valencia. He’ll try two types of engines, a screamer and a big-bang.
