Late-Braking MotoGP

© Bruce Allen     Originally posted March, 2009  Re-posted November 2020.

What follows is the first article I wrote for Motorcycle.com in 2009, having given them a few articles in 2008. This was back when my knowledge of MotoGP was less than zero. Strictly faking it, a little superficial research, kind of like graduate school.

Welcome to MotoGP 2009

If you fantasize about hitting 200 miles per hour on two wheels, you’re in luck, because it’s time for the 2009 edition of MotoGP.  Motorcycle.com is covering the entire season, “spanning the globe” from the charge into the first turn under the lights in Qatar this Sunday night to the checkered flag at Valencia in November.

We have again retained last year’s MotoGP correspondent, Bruce Allen, to give you an up-close-and-personal look at the most dangerous sport on earth.

Bruce will provide a full season of amped-up MotoGP coverage (without even leaving his living room, other than the occasional foray to White Castle and the package store).  He has bootlegged a high-rez video feed from the MotoGP site, and has the best seat in the house.

No stranger to controversy, he is rarely confused by the facts.  He invites reader comments (as he is unable to escape them anyway, given that most of his observations are frivolous and half-baked).

Bruce has promised us a Friday pre-race analysis on each race weekend, as well as a recap of the action on Mondays.  At last year’s Indianapolis Gran Prix, he promised a portfolio of action photographs, and all we got was about fifty pictures of the Kawasaki girls.  We’re not really sure what to expect.

Therefore, with more than a little concern about our reputation, we   proudly    are pleased to    are sweating bullets    will try for a few weeks  present MotoGP 2009.

A Look Back at the 2008 Season 

The 2008 MotoGP season was highly competitive, in the way the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983 was highly competitive.  Valentino Rossi, riding the #46 Fiat Yamaha, got off to a less-than-dominating start to the season, found his groove a third of the way through, and ruled the championship the rest of the way.  The final standings for the top ten riders:

Place      Rider               Country           Team                Points               Podiums

Casey Stoner, the defending 2007 world’s champion, chased Rossi most of the season, but had enough trouble controlling the big red Ducati that he was unable to catch The Doctor.  Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo, the exciting young Spaniards, had a few too many crashes, fractures and abrasions to make a serious run at the title, but gave the fans something to cheer about in every race they were medically cleared to run.  As in high sides in which they could be photographed flying through the air, like trapeze artists.

Andrea Dovizioso, Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden each had a number of Top 5 finishes in 2008, putting them in the second tier by themselves.  Nobody else was in serious contention.  Which points out one of the factors that keep MotoGP from being even more popular than it is–the concentration of power at the top, and the limited number of teams and riders capable of being seriously competitive.  Kind of like F-1 on two wheels.  BTW, isn’t Andrea a girl’s name?

The good news is that the few teams that are competitive are UNBELIEVABLE, and the speed, the noise and the overall atmosphere at these races is unlike anything else on earth.

MotoGP makes NASCAR look like they’re running step vans.

During the Offseason… 

The major change that took place over the winter involved Michelin being given the boot by MotoGP in favor of Bridgestone tires, upon which all the teams will be riding this year.  This is likely to improve the prospects of the Michelin riders from last year, including Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Hayden, Dovizioso, Edwards and James Toseland, once they get the new rubber figured out.  Circuit-wide, there were a number of arcane rule changes concerning practice days and times, electronic suspension defibrillators, and other stuff I don’t pay much attention to.  (If you do, feel free to visit motogp.com and bone up.)

A number of riders changed teams, and Kawasaki dumped their sponsorship program altogether, another loathsome effect of the GEC (global economic crisis, about which we are SO tired of speaking and writing).  The biggest news in this area, at least for American fans, was the defection of Kentucky native Nicky Hayden from Repsol Honda to the Marlboro Ducati team, joining Casey Stoner.  Marco Melandri got summarily booted from the Ducati team to the factory Kawasaki team, which then folded, leaving him scrambling for a ride with Hayate Racing.  He has, like, one bike for the season, which suggests he will be riding cautiously, if at all.

In the ensuing game of musical chairs, Dovizioso left JIR Team Scot Honda in favor of the Repsol factory Honda team.  Tony Elias, who had two podiums last season, left the Alice Team Ducati for Team Gresini Honda.  And Ben Spies couldn’t catch a ride at all, which is a shame.

Prospects for the 2009 Season 

Here are your major contending teams and riders heading into the 2009 season.

Fiat Yamaha              Valentino Rossi                        Jorge Lorenzo

Ducati Marlboro      Casey Stoner                            Nicky Hayden

Repsol Honda           Dani Pedrosa                            Andrea Dovizioso

Rizla Suzuki               Chris Vermeulen                       Loris Capirossi

Monster Yamaha Tech 3     Colin Edwards                James Toseland

Stoner and Pedrosa are starting the season less than 100% healthy, with Stoner still recovering from offseason surgery on his wrist and Pedrosa having had surgery after a high side–go figure–while testing at Qatar on March 2.  The Suzuki riders finished the pre-season testing session at Jerez in 3rd and 5th places, suggesting they may be more competitive at the start of this season.  Dovizioso figures to benefit from the switch to the factory Honda team, and Nicky Hayden, at least in my opinion, will be running with the big dogs before the season is over on his shiny new Ducati.

One of the amusing aspects to these big high-powered two-rider teams is the fact that the “teammates” don’t always get along so well.  Apparently Rossi and Lorenzo don’t see eye to eye on everything.  Such also seems to be the case with Edwards and Toseland.  How, you’re wondering, do we know this?  BECAUSE THE CREWS HAVE TO BUILD WALLS IN THE GARAGES TO KEEP THEM FROM ATTACKING ONE ANOTHER.  Despite the fact that these riders have testicles the size of hubcaps, they’ve got “little man” complexes and the aggressiveness of rat terriers.  Walls—jeesh.

Rossi is the odds-on favorite to repeat this season, edging out Stoner on the surprising number of online betting sites devoted to MotoGP.  It’s difficult to bet against him, as he is smooth as silk and rarely makes even the smallest mistake.  Stoner is going to have to have a perfect season to beat him out.  Similar to last season, it figures to be Ducati owning the straightaways, and Yamaha ruling the turns.

Last year at Qatar, the top five finishers were Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa on the podium, followed by Dovizioso and Rossi.  Look for Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo up there this year, with Vermeulen, Dovizioso and Edwards trailing.  Pedrosa is apparently going to start, but whether he can finish remains to be seen.

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I think the new stuff is better. Back when Sean and Kevin were over-paying me I really worked at it, trying to keep up with my readers. Today, I can pretty much keep up. But in 2009 I was scrambling to sound coherent. Cheers.

Tags: casey stoner, Ducati, grand prix, Losail, motogp 2009, valentino rossi

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