Late-Braking MotoGP

An edited version of this story, complete with hi-rez images, will appear on Motorcycle.com on Thursday.  Until then, please enjoy the raw copy.

The pressure is on Dani Pedrosa in Texas. 

For the first time ever, MotoGP invades The Lone Star State for Round 2 of the 2013 season.  The last time the best riders on Earth attacked a new track—Silverstone in 2010—the results were pretty random.  With Team Yamaha having drawn first blood over the Repsol Hondas in Qatar, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez need to punch back right now.  The COTA circuit, which, from the air, resembles a cross between a fire axe and a can opener, looks like a good place to get it going. 

Running counterclockwise, also the custom at Laguna Seca and Indianapolis, riders start the race with an uphill (!) run into a sharp lefthander, which then gives way to a fast section leading to Turns 6 and 7, where things slow down.  Turn 11 is a 1^st gear lefthander as severe as any corner anywhere.  The section between Turns 12 and 18 is tight and slow, appearing very Honda-friendly.  From 18, two easy lefts bring the riders back to the main straight.  There’s a difference of 133 feet from the low point to the top of Turn 1.  Bridgestone is bringing asymmetric rears, owing to the number of fast right-handers.  At 3.4 miles, COTA is one of the longer tracks we see, meaning the riders won’t get too many chances to lap during hectic this year’s 15 minute qualifying sessions.

Yamaha aces Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, along with Marquez, Pedrosa and LCR pilot Stefan Bradl, are the only riders who have spent any real time at COTA, with Marquez and Pedrosa having enjoyed a considerable advantage over their bluish rivals.  Yamaha brass claims to have made significant adjustments to the M-1’s since the testing back in March, but, regardless, the many slow turns will favor the Hondas.  As mentioned previously, the top five finishers at Silverstone in 2010 were Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner.  The prospect of seeing two Americans in the top four on Sunday is remote at best.

Alien Under Pressure

The rider most likely to be feeling the hoary fingers of fate on his windpipe this weekend is Repsol #1 Dani Pedrosa.  After a sensational off-season, and a remarkable six-wins-in-eight-outings finish in 2012, Pedrosa suffered major grip problems at Losail, and has spotted Jorge Lorenzo 12 points coming out of the gate.  And while it is unreasonable to expect Lorenzo to run away and hide from the field again this weekend, it’s NOT unreasonable to expect that he will be smooth, efficient and mistake-free on Sunday.  If Pedrosa gets his grip problems sorted out—he says he already has—then COTA should be an opportunity to gain back some ground.  But another off-podium finish this week could spell disaster for the diminutive Spaniard with the big cojones.

One man unlikely to feel much pressure at all this weekend is the rejuvenated Valentino Rossi.  Rossi was feeling it big time at Losail, especially after an uninspired qualifying practice and a poor start to the race.  Lo and behold, The Doctor is still The Doctor, as his second place finish in the desert proves.  I’m not sure Rossi gives a rip about the circuit, the competition, the weather, or the brolly girls.  He knows now, for sure, that he can again compete for another world championship.  On a weekly basis, he will need to figure out a way past Lorenzo, as Rule #1 in MotoGP is to beat your teammate.  Taking care of Pedrosa and Marquez will probably depend on the location—fairly easy at, say, Aragon, not so easy at Motegi.  Although I’ve never been a huge Rossi fan—back in the day, it was like rooting for Exxon-Mobil—it’s good to see him with the bit in his teeth and his swagger back in place.  MotoGP needs at least four Aliens.

Old News

Both Honda and Yamaha recently announced plans to lease equipment to CRT teams beginning next season.  Honda made the decision to lease complete bikes, while Yamaha is limiting their offer to engines.  The price tags are breathtaking–€1.5 million for a complete Honda RC213V, satellite quality, no in-season development included, and €1 million for an M-1 engine, same terms.  It will be fascinating to see how many teams belly up to the bar for a slim chance to run with the prototypes.

Personally, I don’t get the whole leasing thing.  The way these machines get worked each time they roll onto the track, it’s not likely the lessees will have much more than a bucket of bolts and some paint chips to turn in at the end of the season.  I suppose the rationale is that Honda and Yamaha don’t want lease customers stealing design ideas during the offseason.  Someone is going to patiently explain to me that leasing is far more economical than buying the equipment outright.  Sure.  Thanks.

To me, the program makes as much sense as leasing chewing gum, or M-80’s.  Just sayin’.

Quick Hitters from Qatar

During practice for Round 1, LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl complained of problems with the front end of his bike, some tire-related, some not.  After qualifying fifth, he met with the press and announced that the various issues had been sorted out to his satisfaction.  He then went out and folded the front on Lap 8…Bradley Smith, having crashed out on Lap 5, tells us he is “mentally scarred” from the accident, that he had been trying really hard not to crash.  Who knew?…My favorite post-race headline:  “Ducati Team riders accept ‘the reality’”…Dovizioso, at least, has the chops to be able to turn a fast lap during qualifying and put himself in a decent spot on the grid.  After that, “reality” sets in.  (For a far more coherent explanation of what Ducati Corse is up against, see my friend David Emmett’s article.)  Before you know it, Ben Spies will be saying stuff like, “That was the best tenth-place finish of my life!”  Oh, wait.  He actually said that.

Your Weekend Forecast, Deep in the Heart

The forecast for the weekend is, in a word, perfect.  Sunny all three days, warming up into the 80’s on Sunday.  Regardless of the weather, the heat will be on Dani Pedrosa.

Tune into SpeedTV Sunday at 2:30 EDT for live race coverage in HD.  We’ll have the full story right here Sunday evening.

Round 12 Lifts Off at a “Yamaha” Track

One of the themes of the 2012 MotoGP season has been the bifurcation (great word) of the calendar into Honda- and Yamaha-friendly circuits.  (No circuits are very Ducati-friendly these days.)  The Repsol Honda team of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa has recently made hay at the American circuits, both of which are inarguably Honda tracks.  Such is not the case with Brno, in the Czech Republic, hosting Round 12 this weekend.

Prior to Casey Stoner’s win here last year, the most recent Honda victory at Brno occurred in 2004, when Sete Gibernau drove his 990cc Honda RC211V to the top of the podium.  Ducati had two years in a row—2006 and 2007—when first Loris Capirossi, then Casey Stoner won here.  Otherwise, since 2000, it’s been Yamahas 24/7/365.  Max Biaggi, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have all stood atop the rostrum at Brno.  With its flowing, fast turns, it may be Jorge Lorenzo’s time this week, for the first time since Mugello, another Yamaha track.

Our crack research department has been busily analyzing the remaining venues and their characteristics to determine, with seven rounds left, which of the Aliens has the advantage where.  Of the seven, Yamaha dominates at three—Brno, Misano and Sepang.  Honda has been awarded but one—Valencia.  Two tracks—Aragon and Phillip Island—have been awarded exclusively to Casey Stoner, whose recent record at both has been unblemished, regardless of what he’s been riding.  And Motegi, though it should belong to Honda, is a toss-up, with Honda, Yamaha and Ducati having enjoyed fairly even success there over the past decade.

Recent History at Brno

In August of 2009, Valentino Rossi was on his way to his last (thus far) world championship when the Czech Grand Prix rolled around.  With an assist from Dani Pedrosa, Rossi outdueled teammate Jorge Lorenzo to win comfortably that day.  Lorenzo was still in the reckless stage of his premier class career, crashing out or failing to finish eight races in 2008-09.  That would change the following year.

The 2010 race was a parade led in orderly fashion by Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner.  Ben Spies had a nice day, finishing fourth, and Andrea Dovizioso survived untouched a crash in which he ended up standing on the track with bikes coming at him, playing a uniquely Italian form of Dodge-‘em.  At the end of the day Lorenzo led Pedrosa by almost 80 points and the season was over except for the shouting.

Last year, Casey Stoner essentially clinched the 2011 title at Brno as teammate Dani Pedrosa crashed out of the lead on Lap 4, handing the race to the Australian.  Lorenzo, who chose the wrong tires that day, finished fourth behind Stoner, Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli.  With three Hondas on the podium, you’re perhaps wondering how I can call Brno a Yamaha track.  I’ll just say that Honda’s dominance in the last year of the 800cc bikes was complete, and that 2012 is a different story.

The Big Picture

As the season begins its home stretch, Lorenzo leads Pedrosa by 18 points and Stoner by 39, with two friendly tracks coming up at Brno and Misano.  Of the two Repsol Honda teammates, I figured Stoner to be more dangerous than Pedrosa until his crash at Indianapolis, the first real injury to an Alien this year.  Over the next two rounds Jorge Lorenzo could and should put Casey Stoner out of title contention.

As for Pedrosa, he continues to hold up despite being the smallest driver on the grid.  One thinks that this profession probably saps his strength over time and over the course of each season.  Pedrosa can’t afford to give up any ground to Lorenzo at the next three nicely-spaced rounds.  The problem for Pedrosa is the three-rounds-in-three-weeks Pacific swing in October.  In a tight, stressful race, will he have the stamina to hang in those turns trading paint with Lorenzo and Stoner in the heat at Sepang?

Dovi Gets His Deal

Andrea Dovizioso finally becomes the #1 rider on a factory team as his deal with Ducati became public on Wednesday.  Five podiums in 11 rounds on a satellite Yamaha and Italian to boot.  Left out in the cold in all this is poor Cal Crutchlow, who is saying very negative things about the Ducati brass.  Not a good response to adversity in a very small league.  We hope Andrea knows what he’s doing.  For Ducati, it’s a win for now. As to Cal, there is no telling from our vantage point.

For Valentino Rossi, energized at the prospect of being competitive again next year, the rest of the season likely resembles 40 miles of bad road, something one simply would prefer not to have to deal with.  Teammate Nicky Hayden, the eternal optimist, is probably looking forward to the changes to come in 2013, as there’s not much else to do these days.

For the rest of the riders, both prototype and CRT, much remains at stake over the last seven rounds.  Opportunities on satellite teams, CRT, WSB and Moto2 abound.  Riders will be moving up, down and sideways.  In the motorcycle racing food chain, moving up is good, moving sideways can be made to sound good, but moving down is just moving down.  Once upon a time everyone wanted to be Toni Elias.  Now no one wants to be Toni Elias, not even Toni.

Medical Report

Factory Ducati rider Nicky Hayden has been declared “doubtful” for the Czech Grand Prix.  As of Tuesday, it appears Casey Stoner will compete, but at less than 100%.  Ben Spies will tough out his injuries until the usual mechanical issue ruins his day on Sunday.

Scanning the wire, there is a report on RoadRacingWorld.com advising us Elias will be riding the Pramac Ducati again in Brno.  Right next to it is a second story, this one on SuperSport.com, stating that Hector Barbera will be back this week to fight for 12^th place at one of his favorite circuits, which he apparently enjoys with or without three broken vertebrae and a barely-healed double break of his leg.  I’ll let the editors sort this out at presstime.

The Weekend Weather Forecast for Lower Slobbovia

The weather forecast for Brno is for hot and dry Friday, cool and wet Saturday and Sunday.  Chance of rain on the weekend currently sits at 70%.  As we’ve seen elsewhere, a dry track favors the Aliens.  A wet one could favor some of the darker horses, especially the Italian ones, Dovizioso and Rossi.

And, finally, apropos of nothing, the Austin Business Journal reports that a third American round, at the Circuit of the Americas, will be announced soon.  With Indianapolis under contract for 2013 and 2014, and Laguna Seca etched in stone, this will provide at least a two year bump in MotoGP Americano.  Looks like an opportunity for a three-race American summer swing similar to the Pacific swing the league takes each fall.  For the teams, the economics seem compelling.  For most of the riders, it would mean another month away from home.  Life in the fast lane.

An edited version of this story, complete with hi-rez photos, will appear on Motorcycle.com on Monday.

You never know when it might rain in Indianapolis.

Pedrosa Wins Again in Indy, Cuts Lorenzo’s Lead

At the start of Sunday’s Indianapolis Grand Prix, smart money was piling up on Repsol Honda mighty mite Dani Pedrosa and factory Yamaha’s struggling stud Ben Spies.  Both had been fast all weekend, Spies having shaken off a big crash in his qualifying run to be fastest in the morning warmup.  Lorenzo found a setting he liked late in qualifying and joined Pedrosa and Tech 3 Yamaha tough guy Andrea Dovizioso on the front row.  By the end of the day, Pedrosa had taken another chunk out of Lorenzo, Spies had another DNF, and Stoner had shown some stones.

Indianapolis has proven itself a formidable place to race motorcycles, with the long fast straight and the slow, twisty infield section, serving different asphalt on different sections of the track to keep it from becoming boring.  The IMS track is slick and abrasive, reminding one of European bathroom tissue.  Bridgestone brings in a bunch of tire choices, asymmetric rears, etc., and everyone has either not enough grip or too much.  No blaming it on the weather, which was perfect this year.

On Friday, Hectic Hector Barbera, not four weeks past a seriously broken leg, climbs on his Pramac Ducati and immediately goes over the top, fracturing three small vertebrae and landing him back in a Spanish hospital.  Enter Toni Elias, who would have a better day than he did in Monterey.   Cal Crutchlow parted company twice with his Tech 3 Yamaha, once in FP1 and somewhat more forcefully in FP3.  At various points during the weekend, Alvaro Bautista looked good, a carefree Ben Spies was flying, and even Nicky Hayden, armed with his new one year deal with Ducati, managed to finish 3^rdin FP1.

Motorcycles on Meridian on Saturday night.

Saturday’s QP featured three big high side crashes that affected the outcome of Sunday’s race.  The first to go was Stoner, who was unable to leave the track under his own power and seemed to have issues (chipped bones and torn tendons, as it turned out) with his right ankle.  Practice was briefly red-flagged to remove debris.  Shortly after the re-start Spies went over the top of his Yamaha, one of those crashes that look worse than they actually are.  Ben would return to practice on his #2 bike and put it into the second row for Sunday.

The third QP crash put Kentucky native Nicky Hayden out of the race with some cracked bones in his hand.  Oh, and a concussion, which doesn’t bother him as much as his hand.  The QP is red-flagged for a second time in order to help remove Hayden, who was briefly knocked out by the impact and seemed to have swallowed his Red Man plug, too.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The weather Sunday in Indianapolis was, for late August, pretty much perfect.  Sunny, breezy, scattered clouds, temps in the 70’s.  The bad news was that most of us had no idea whether Casey Stoner would be racing.  Stoner realized that not racing today would essentially hand the 2012 title, or at least any chance he had of repeating, to Lorenzo.  Although failure WAS an option, not starting was not, and Stoner looked remarkably quick during the warmup.  The ugly question was whether he could fight through the pain for 45 minutes.

By lap four, Spies and Pedrosa had put some distance between themselves and a large second group comprised of Lorenzo, Dovizioso, LCR Honda rookie Stefan Bradl, the largely forgotten Alvaro Bautista on the San Carlo Honda, and Stoner, who was showing signs of life.  Those of us who have watched Spies deal with bad luck all year long were unsurprised when, at the start of lap six, he blew his engine.  At the moment it let go, Pedrosa and Lorenzo were able to avoid the thick white smoke.  Not so for the rest of the group, all of whom lost time trying to avoid smoke, oil and each other.  When the smoke cleared (!) Lorenzo was out in front chasing Pedrosa, and everyone else was fighting over the last spot on the podium.  There was, however, no new Pope.

For the fifth time this season, undoubtedly some kind of modern record, Andrea Dovizioso would drive his satellite Yamaha to claim that spot, holding off the wounded, snarling Stoner.  Posterity would also observe that Pedrosa turned the single fastest lap ever here AND became the first two-time winner at Indianapolis, while Stoner would retire having won only three of his last four races on American soil.  That Stoner would attempt the fourth on one leg would not go unnoticed.

Waiting at the start for Casey Stoner.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Bautista drove his RC213V to a positive fifth place finish, his second-best result of the year after a fourth at Silverstone.  This, along with Hayden’s DNS allowed the two to trade positions for the year, with Bautista, now seventh, leading  eighth-place Rossi and Hayden in ninth.  Stefan Bradl continued to perform well on the LCR Honda in sixth place, 27 seconds ahead of Rossi, whose name wasn’t called once all day.  That Karel Abraham was able to capture eighth, in front of Yonny Hernandez and Aleix Espargaro on today’s two top CRT bikes, was due more to attrition than skill; only 16 bikes finished the race, one of which was the erstwhile Elias in 11^th.

The feel-good story of the day, however, was Steve Rapp, collecting a World Championship point by guiding his Attack Performance privateer to 15^th place after failing to qualify last time out in Monterey.  The announcers were going on about some obscure record Steve now owns, something about the oldest guy to score his first world championship point yada yada yada.  Steve is feeling pretty good about things right now, as he should, Guinness Book of Records or not.

I spoke briefly today with Geoff Maloney, the owner/operator of the GPTech team whose Aaron Yates finished the race, although out of the points.  I asked Geoff why he would take eight months out of his life for one MotoGP weekend that most of us will forget before November.  “I can’t explain it in terms you would understand,” he said, shaking his head and smiling.  I expect he’s right about that.  I also expect that guys like Fausto Gresini, Herve Poncharal and Paul Byrd would understand perfectly.

Next Week in Brno

It’s back to the Czech Republic next week, where 140,000 crazed fans will come out on Sunday to root for Karel Abraham, and where the circuit really needs to buy a vowel or two.  Lorenzo and Pedrosa are threatening to make 2012 into a two-man race, while Stoner faces some difficult, irrevocable decisions.  And while Rossi has found his home for the next two seasons, the same cannot yet be said for Dovi, Crutchlow, Spies or a number of others.  Rossi’s story came out this week.  I expect Dovizioso will be signed at Ducati in time for Brno.

An edited version of this article, complete with high resolution photos, is available on Motorcycle.com.

It’s Tight at the Top Heading to Italy

The first half of the 2012 MotoGP season draws to a close this Sunday at Mugello, one of the most tradition-soaked circuits on the global tour.  After last week’s stunning finish at the Sachsenring, the Aliens—Repsol Honda pilots Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, and factory Yamaha heartthrob Jorge Lorenzo—sit clumped together at the top of the standings, breathing down each other’s necks.  All three are relatively healthy, for a change.  All three have enjoyed success at the Italian Grand Prix.  And all three are hungry for another win before heading to the United States.

Nestled at the foot of the Apennine Mountains, on the only piece of relatively flat ground between Genoa and Naples, Mugello has hosted the Gran Premio d’Italia since 1994.  (Between 1991 and 1993 the race alternated between Mugello and Misano, helping to make my point that Misano is, regardless of what the locals say, in Italy.)  The circuit is long and fast, with one of the great main straights in all of racing.  It has seen several long winning streaks—Mick Doohan won five in a row between 1994 and 1998, while Valentino Rossi enjoyed seven consecutive wins here between 2002 and 2008.  Were I prone to hyperbole, I might assert that The Doctor earned his medical degree at Mugello.

Recent History

The 2009 race was unique in several ways.  Casey Stoner, riding the factory Ducati just down the road from The Factory, won the flag-to-flag event that started out wet, finished dry and was hotly contested throughout.  Lorenzo, who almost lost his #$@& on the sighting lap that day, rode his #2 bike to second place, edging Rossi by one second.  Rossi, in turn, snaked Andrea Dovizioso in the last turn to snag the last podium spot by an eyelash.  Loris Capirossi, in one of the last competitive outings of his career, drove his Rizla Suzuki to fifth place, but trailed Stoner by just three seconds.  Mugello 2009 was a red letter day for Italian race fans, with a Ducati on top and three paisans in the top five.

In 2010, Dani Pedrosa had one of those days where he took off from pole position like a scalded cat and never looked back, defeating Lorenzo by four seconds.  Dovizioso enjoyed a productive third place finish, while Stoner finished fourth, 25 seconds behind Pedrosa.  Rossi, injured in practice, would yield the world championship to his studly Spanish teammate that fall, and it marked the passing of a figurative baton.  Rossi’s absence from Mugello that year prefigured his devolution from 2009 champion to 2010 contender to 2011 pretender.

Last year, it was Lorenzo’s turn to stand atop the rostrum, flanked by Repsol Honda pilots Dovizioso and Stoner.  Stoner, on his way to the title, got worked by Dovizioso on the last lap, yielding second place by 15/1000ths of a second.  Pedrosa, in his first race since having been Simoncellied in France, managed a gutty eighth place finish.  For Dovizioso, Mugello marked his fourth podium in five races, but he would lose his factory seat anyway, as Honda decided that a three man factory team was unwieldy, spelled “I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-Y  E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E.”  American fans took comfort in watching Ben Spies punk Simoncelli in the last turn of the race for a well-earned fifth place.

Great Expectations

So, the 2012 season leaders return to Italy having each won here in the last three years.  During the last two weeks, Pedrosa has gained ground at the expense of his two rivals, having avoided the bad luck that dogged Lorenzo in Assen and the bad karma that befell Stoner in Germany.  After Silverstone, Pedrosa lagged Lorenzo by 39 points and Stoner by 14.  Today, he trails Lorenzo by 16 and leads the defending champion by six.  (Casey, in his post-race blamefest interview at the Sachsenring, pointed his finger at the circuit—too short and slow for him to open the throttle—and essentially gave the finger to “those German marshals,” whom he claimed refused to help him get his bike righted in order to finish the race and scarf up a few points.  Click here for a marginally tasteful spoof of that conversation in the gravel.)

Though all three have reason to be optimistic about their chances this weekend, I like Lorenzo, as the 1000cc YZR-M1 has it over the Hondas on long fast circuits.  The weather forecast calls for hot, dry conditions, which will make tire management important, and Lorenzo’s Yamaha is a gentle as a baby’s breath on rear tires.  This forecast, too, is bad news for the Ducati contingent, as their sole hope in 2012 is torrential daylong downpours.  If any of the three Aliens falter, one expects Dovizioso to be ready to pounce on the third podium spot, as he has been nails at his home track since 2009.

“Silly” is a Crummy Term for the Season

The racing press needs to come up with an alternate descriptor for the high stakes game of musical chairs that envelops MotoGP around this time each year.  “Silly”, for me, is a highly feminine word, like “cute” or “pretty”, that seems more appropriate in HGTV clothing design shows than a macho sport like MotoGP.  But, as a former boss used to tell me, “I’ll alert the industry.”  Just sayin’.

If I had to bet on next year’s six factory riders, I’d be comfortable betting your house on Pedrosa and Marquez on the Repsol Honda team, Lorenzo on the Yamaha, and the doomed Cal Crutchlow wearing Ducati colors.  It’s the last two seats that have everyone talking.

If Rossi decides that discretion is the better part of valor, I don’t know why he wouldn’t hook up with Fausto Gresini and ride a “factory” Honda for San Carlo, which is dying for an Italian rider.  Bautista’s contract is in play for next season, and Honda is now limited by the rules to four bikes in 2013.  LCR must be delighted with Herr Bradl, despite the historical enmity between France and Germany, feeling he has a bright immediate future.  If Rossi stays with Ducati—stranger things have happened, I just can’t think of any off the top of my head—then it looks to be curtains for Nicky Hayden.  The 2006 world champion hasn’t actually won a race since, well, 2006, and could easily find himself in World SuperBikes, where Ducati is highly competitive, and where he could be a star again.

Right now, it appears to me that Andrea Dovizioso will join Lorenzo on the factory Yamaha.  The Italian is getting great results in his first year on the M1, and would immediately be a strong contender on the 1000cc factory bike.  This is the third season in a row that Ben Spies has gotten off to a slow start, and even if he were to podium three or four times in the second half, I can’t believe he can save himself.  I suppose he could swallow his pride and return to Tech 3 alongside Bradley Smith, but can’t recall any young factory rider who went back down to Triple A ball after a two year stay in the bigs.  WSB would be a bigger fall, and the CRTs are out of the question.

Ben Spies’ world is so upside-down at this point that a win at Mugello, as unlikely as that sounds, might actually provide some relief from the spotlight for a few weeks. For teammate Jorge Lorenzo, a second consecutive victory in Italy would provide relief of a different sort, by getting those two Repsol guys out of his face until Laguna Seca rolls around.

When Repsol Honda pilot Casey Stoner slid off the track at the next-to-final turn in the German Grand Prix, he was unhurt, and his bike, though partially buried in the gravel in the run-off area, was undamaged and still running.  During an interview after the race, Stoner complained that the German race marshals refused to help him right his machine, thus preventing his re-entering the race, possibly costing him valuable points.  Our hidden microphones captured the exchange between Casey and the Wettkampfrichter (race marshals), Hans and Franz:

Stoner:  “Hurry, guys, help me here!”

Hans:  “Nicht so schnell, Engländer.  Ihre Papiere, bitte.“  (Not so fast, Englishman.  Your papers, please.)

Stoner: “Hey, I’m not &%#$@ English, I’m Australian, and I need to get back in this #$%@& race, right now.  Verstehen Sie? (Understand?)

Franz:  “Ihr Name, Engländer?”  (Your name, Englishman?)

Stoner:  “My name is Stoner, Casey &%$#@ Stoner.  I’m the world champion, and I’m in this $#@% race.  Now move your fat arses and help me with this bike!”

Hans:  “Haben Sie schon von dem großen Stefan Bradl gehört?“  (Have you heard of the great Stefan Bradl?)

Stoner:  “The great Stefan Bradl is a rookie punk who couldn’t carry my golf clubs!  Now pick up this #$^@ bike!”

Hans (to Franz)  “Dieses Kind hat schlechte Manieren, tut er nicht?  (This child has bad manners, don’t you think?)

Franz:  “Herr Stoner, Sie sind auf der Flucht vor etwas?“  (Mr. Stoner, are you running away from something?)

Stoner: “&%$@#”

Hans:  “Wir müssen einen Ausweis sehen und natürlich zu unseren Vorgesetzten zu sprechen.“  (We will have to see your papers and of course speak with our superiors.)

Stoner:  “%$@#&   %&#@  #$@&%   %^$@#, and $#%@# yourselves!”

Franz:  “Traurigerweise scheint das Rennen vorbei zu sein. Viel Glück mit Ihrem Motorrad, Engländer.  (Sadly, the race now appears to be over.  Good luck with your motorbike, Englishman.)

Hans:  “Bis zum nächsten Mal, Herr Stoner.” (Until next time…)

Stoner:  “You haven’t heard the last of this, you BASTARDS.”

Franz (to Hans)  “Herr Stoner sollte vorsichtiger sein in Zukunft, aber sicher!  Har!“  (He should be more careful in the future, don’t you think?  Har!)