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Getting to the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix was half the fun

April 25, 2017

© Bruce Allen May 2010

For a couple of gringos, the road to MotoGP Jerez is a blast

Last January, four of us decided to take a family vacation to southern Spain in early May. I worked out a deal with my editor at Motorcycle.com to pay me handsomely to cover the Gran Premio bwin de Espana, subject to my securing press credentials, providing some extra copy and photos, and giving them way more than my usual vapid kitchen table rant. In mid-April, after reserving and paying for airfare, hotels, rental cars, etc., it became fully clear that Dorna, the Spanish company that owns the rights to MotoGP, was not going to sully their pressroom by credentialing the likes of me. What had started out as a slam dunk junket had become a longshot.

Four of us left for Spain from O’Hare on Friday afternoon. I/we were lacking several of the necessities for most respectable journalists: press credentials, tickets for the race, journalistic skills, and/or a clear idea of where the track was actually located. When I say “we”, I’m including my intrepid son-in-law and budding photojournalist, Ryan Collins, who had the good sense several years ago to marry my youngest daughter Cate. Ryan, who knows even less about motorcycle racing than I do, told me he was pretty much up for anything, up to and including trying to find the track, trying to get into the facility, and trying to provide some semblance of “covering” the race, as opposed to just missing a day on the beach, and instead sitting around with 130,000 drunk Spanish racing fans under a hot sun for eight hours.

Ryan and I set out from Cadiz, a jewel of a town that sits on the southern coast of Spain where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic, on Sunday morning. [By this time we had missed Friday practice and Saturday’s qualifications. We had also survived a monstrous case of jetlag and the drive from Madrid to Cadiz in which I came uncomfortably close to getting us included in Spanish highway fatality statistics not once, but twice. And although we missed the action at the track on Saturday, we caught the action on the strip in Cadiz on Saturday night, eating tapas amongst a bunch of riders and listening to the music of big bikes turning high RPMs on the seaside street in front of the restaurant all evening.]

Cadiz sits about 25 miles south of Jerez, and we had passed several Jerez exits on the drive down from Madrid on Saturday. Once we cleared Cadiz on Sunday, the task of actually finding the track became pretty simple: stay with the hundreds of bikes on their way to the race that morning. Which sounds easier than it actually is, in that these bikes were mostly traveling in excess of 100 mph while the Guardia Civil politely turned a blind eye. Finally, we were one of a handful of cars in a veritable sea of motorcycles, and getting to the parking lot was a breeze. The way getting from point A to point B in a mosh pit is a breeze: make no sudden movements, don’t resist, and go with the flow.

Problem #1 solved.

Problems #2 and #3—no press credentials, few journalistic skills—weren’t going to get solved this day. This left Problem #4—no tickets to a sold out race. On the walk from the parking lot to the track itself, I kept an eye out for ticket “vendors” on the street, and was finding none. Plenty of guys and ladies selling a lot of other junk—Spanish flags, food, water, trinkets, belts (?), etc., from little improvised roadside stands. No guys holding tickets in the air yelling “Got Four!” in Spanish and looking furtively over their shoulders for the aforementioned blackshirts who, one suspects, take a less generous view of ticket scalpers than they do speeders they’re unable to catch anyway. A mile in and it was looking bleak, when we noticed a trailer set off on a little side “street” with a big sign on it reading “Taquillas”. Ryan, my interpreter, said he had no idea what a taquilla is. I, by this time, was hoping it was Spanish for “tequilas”, as I was ready to give in and spend the day drinking shots and eating limes. It occurred to me that “tequila” is already a Spanish word, and one very rarely used in the plural, but I shook off this notion.

We approached the trailer, and people were, indeed, stepping up to a window and purchasing SOMETHING, but we couldn’t really tell what. Apparently, by this time Ryan and I were looking fairly furtive ourselves, for it was at this moment that a guy in a Lakers shirt approached me and asked, in pretty good English, if we needed tickets. He, it turned out, was getting comped by Repsol (a friend of a friend of a friend…) and was going to stand with the great unwashed in the Pelousse, the fans’ and riders’ favorite section of the Jerez track, between Turns 10 and 11, where the crowd gets right on top of the riders. We negotiated a mutually satisfactory price for his tickets and, suddenly, Problem #4 was solved.

We still don’t know what folks were buying at that trailer; I’ll try to report back on that later tonight. (Later, it turned out they were “tickets.” but who knew?) We do know that we sat high in the stands between Turns 12 and 13 with a great view of the race. We spent plenty of time wandering around the facility mingling and taking pictures of a few of the gorgeous women you find in quantity at these events. We watched one helluva Moto2 tilt and a premier class event that was a procession for the first 22 laps and a heart-stopping thriller for the last three. We made it back to the parking lot and thence our hotel in one piece without dying of dehydration or getting T-boned by any of the nutjobs they issue drivers licenses to in Spain. And we captured the story; a beautiful day spent 4500 miles from home in a second language, with a manual transmission, on the road to Jerez.

Tags:2010, Dani Pedrosa, Grand Prix motorcycle racing, jerez, Jorge Lorenzo, motogp, valentino rossi
Posted in Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Jerez, Moto, MotoGP, MotoGP Jerez, Motorcycle Racing | 4 Comments »

MotoGP COTA Results

April 23, 2017

Marquez, Rossi Accept Gift from Vinales

The run-up to the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas set the stage for a much-anticipated cage match between Yamaha phenom Maverick Vinales and Honda triple world champion Marc Marquez. All day long, the British announcing crew was breathlessly prancing about the broadcast booth, pondering the sheer wonder of it all, going absolutely hyperbolic. Showing no sense of the moment, Vinales crashed out of fourth place on Lap 2, letting the air out of the balloon and ceding, at least for the moment, the lead in the world championship to teammate Valentino Rossi, with Marquez suddenly back in the game.

Practice, Practice, Practice

FP1: Vinales was in charge, not having received the memo about Marquez’ ownership position at COTA. FP2 was led by Marquez, snatched from Zarco; Vinales right behind, trimming his cuticles. FP3 was Vinales, Pedrosa, Crutchlow and Marquez.

Something had to be done about the weirdness in the standings. Early in the season, MotoGP seemed to have fallen through the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. Yamaha is just taking it to Honda—the 2016 M1 is competitive with the 2017 RC213V. All four Yamahas sit in the top 11 for the season, including the two rookies. Cal Crutchlow, the highest-ranked Honda, sits tied with rookie Jonas Folger. Co-rookie Johann Zarco is on the move, a mere five points behind Folger and Crutchlow. Three Ducs rest in the top ten led by, of all people, Scott Redding in fourth.

It was time to come up from the rabbit hole. Time to return to Europe. Just one more foreign outing in Texas to endure before things could return back to normal.

Establishing Positions

Q2 saw a few things put right, beyond the fact that Vinales and Marquez stand head and shoulders above the rest of the field, a bunch of Aliens and wannabees slugging it out for supporting spots in the top ten. Vinales delivered the first sub-2:04 lap of the day with maybe 30 seconds left in the session. 20 seconds later, Marquez flogged his Honda to a fifth straight pole in Texas, from which he had won the previous four races. Rossi snuck onto the front row late in the session, creating a second row of Dani Pedrosa, the impudent Zarco on the satellite Yamaha, and one Jorge Lorenzo, clad in white and red. Oh, and perhaps the save of the season, by Loris Baz late in the session.

Lorenzo and Jack Miller had made it through Q1, with Lorenzo putting the Ducati as high as fourth position before settling for sixth. Zarco had been up near the top of the timesheets again all weekend, putting pressure on a lot of factory rides. Miller crashed out of Q2 and appeared to be trotting back to the garage “gingerly,” his inevitable early-season injury having possibly arrived. Dani Pedrosa was hanging around in fourth, back to starting up front with the big dogs.

In support of my blog, Rossi and Vinales had their first set-to on Saturday during qualifying, with Vinales seemingly cheesed off about Rossi cruising on the racing line. Race Direction was later said to be considering sending a strongly-worded letter to Lin Jarvis asking him for “best efforts to prevail” upon The Franchise not to seriously injure The New Kid in Town.

The Race Itself

The 2017 American Grand Prix was more parade than firefight. The factory Hondas and Yamahas emerged from the early chaos to form up the leading group, with Dani Pedrosa front and center. Cal Crutchlow got clear of The Great Unwashed, and there was even a Jorge Lorenzo sighting around fifth place on the first lap. The usual suspects quickly found themselves strung out along the bumps and potholes littering the Circuit of the Americas, which stands in need of a paving crew.

Although it took 21 laps and 45 minutes to confirm it, the race basically came down to four moves. 1) Vinales crashed late on Lap 2, leaving Pedrosa, Marquez, Rossi and Johann Zarco in the lead group. 2) Marquez took the lead from Pedrosa on Lap 9. 3) Rossi and Zarco came together a few minutes later, the Frenchman pushing Rossi wide to the right where he could cut back and increase his lead, incurring a hypothetical .3 second penalty that amounted to nothing but had the announcers, fully recovered from Vinales’ crash, happy to find something new to go mental over. 4) Rossi went through on Pedrosa on Lap 19.

Game. Set. Match

At Ducati Corse, Life Goes On

Andrea Dovizioso being interviewed elsewhere about his place in the Ducatisphere:

Q: So why can’t the problems (with the GP17) be solved?

A: “There’s a big difference between understanding the problems and solving them.”

Quoted elsewhere, it seems Andrea “The Maniac” Iannone has finally accepted as fact something the rest of the planet observed late last season. This, allegedly, is News You Need: ‘Andrea Iannone says he is resigned to having to race with a top speed deficit with Suzuki throughout the 2017 MotoGP season.’ Please refer to the above quote from Dovi with regard to this revelation.

Rubbing salt in the wound, I’m pretty sure that Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Iannone stole Jorge Lorenzo’s lunch money over the last few laps of the race. We could be charitable and suppose JLo’s tires gave up on him. Or we could be hateful and small and speculate that he got out-cojoñed by the two Italians.

The Big Picture

With Vinales’ feet replanted in terra firma after an otherworldly start to his Yamaha career, we can now have a straightforward, adult conversation about the state of the MotoGP championship after three rounds. The factory Yamahas and Hondas appear significantly ahead of everyone else early in the season. Rossi and Vinales are frightening, Vinales for his sheer speed, Rossi for his strategic brilliance.

Marquez has atoned for his crash in Argentina and will push The Boys in Blue for the entire season. The factory Ducati program is in deep yogurt, Dovizioso hanging onto fourth place by his fingernails while grasping bad luck with both hands. LCR Honda stud Cal Crutchlow continues to nose around the top of the standings, his crash at Losail all that stands between him and a top three ranking.

So, order has been restored at the top of the MotoGP food chain just in time to return to racing in Europe. Aliens occupy the top three spots in the standings. Near-Aliens (semi-Aliens?) sit fourth and fifth, while the Alien Emeritus stands sixth. The apparently brilliant Johann Zarco has seventh place all to himself, while teammate Jonas Folger is tied for eighth place with Pramac Ducati pilot Scot Redding and Jack Miller. My boy Alex Rins, previously nursing a bad ankle, suffered a compound fracture of his wrist during practice this weekend and is out until further notice.

And Jorge Lorenzo, who sold his Alien Card for filthy lucre, sits counting his money in 13^th place, with 12 points to show for his first three acts with Ducati.

A Look Ahead

Two weeks from now MotoGP blasts into the Spanish Riviera. The racing will be at Jerez, while the action in the evening will be on The Strip in Cadiz. Maverick Vinales, despite the good vibes associated with a return to home soil, probably will not be in the gift-giving mood in which he found himself today.

Excuse me while I butcher the old Smith Barney one-liner. If they want spots on the podium next time out, Rossi and Marquez will probably have to do it the old-fashioned way.

They’ll have to earn it.

Tags:Aprilia, Cal Crutchlow, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, KTM, Marc Marquez, maverick vinales, suzuki, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2017 MotoGP, 2017 MotoGP championship, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Grand Prix of the Americas, Moto, MotoGP, MotoGP COTA, Racing News | Leave a Comment »

MotoGP COTA Preview

April 17, 2017

Captain America needs a win

As the checkered flag fell in Argentina, the shape of the entire 2017 season changed. Suddenly, Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales and partner Valentino Rossi, the Boys in Blue, sit on top of the world looking down. Those looking up, WAY up, include defending champion Marc Marquez and the factory Ducati team, currently residing on the other side of the proverbial tracks. Marquez has never lost, deep in the heart, which makes Sunday’s contest what my wife (eyebrows raised) refers to as “critical?”

Even though it’s so early in the season—Round 3—the Yamaha contingent appears to be in danger of getting away. Vinales with two wins, Rossi with two podia. Things in general going quite well thank you. Lorenzo and his new employers at Ducati Corse–not so well, a 10^th and last week’s early DNF to show for his efforts thus far. Marquez and Pedrosa slammed to the tarmac instantly at the same exact location—different laps, with Jack Miller narrowly avoiding a third crash there—in a mechanical Venus Flytrap for factory Hondas at Turn 2 last time around. Having left for Argentina in a bit of a hole, the Repsol Honda team imploded, their 2017 machine appearing difficult to ride and hard on tires. Perhaps, as LCR loudmouth Cal Crutchlow intimated, gas consumption, too.

Marquez has never lost in the first four seasons at the pretentiously-named Circuit of the Americas (as if Laguna Seca and Indianapolis don’t exist). The purpose-built facility has been a Honda favorite since its inception in 2013. In this wacky season, it would not surprise to see Marquez, Vinales and The Black Knight, Jack Miller, fighting for podium spots in a reprise of 2014, when Miller won the Moto3 race, Vinales the Moto2 and Marquez the MotoGP.

As strange as it sounds, the 2017 season could devolve into an uneven two man, intra-team race between Vinales and Rossi, similar to the F-1 whippings administered by the 2002 factory Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello, who took turns winning 15 of 17 races that year. After last season, with nine different winners, we thought we were past all that. This weekend could shed some serious light on that thinking.

Recent History at COTA

Marc Marquez, whom I refer to as Captain America while the rest of the world calls him as Marc Marquez, has never experienced defeat in Austin. He won easily as a rookie in 2013. He overwhelmed teammate Dani Pedrosa in 2014 by over four seconds, with Dovizioso a further 17 seconds in arrears on the factory Ducati. In 2015, Dovi finished second and Rossi third in a generally uneventful procession.

Last year, while Marquez was sunnily getting away, Pedrosa lost his grits, his bike taking Dovizioso down from behind; the Italian never knew, as it were, what hit him. Besides #93, the last men standing on the podium were Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, and a “cautious” Andrea Iannone on his Ducati GP16, paying penance for his takedown of teammate and podium threat Dovizioso the previous round. Vinales edged out teammate Aleix Espargaro for 4^th place that day.

Disorder in the Standings

Due to the logarithmic scoring system and early season shakedown cruises—curiously, Lorenzo’s complaint after his first lap fall in Argentina being he missed out on 25 laps of data—the championship standings after two rounds are currently out of equilibrium. I looked back at the standings a year ago, and they were generally orderly, what you might expect, Aliens Marquez, Lorenzo, Rossi and Pedrosa occupying the top four spots.

This year, things are startlingly different. Undefeated Vinales and the experienced Rossi stand well clear of Dovi in 3^rd, 16 points behind Rossi. Pramac Ducati Brit Scott Redding sits 4^th. Read that last sentence twice, because you’ll probably never see it again in your lifetime. Squabbling over 5^th place are Crutchlow, surprising German rookie and Tech 3 Yamaha upstart Jonas Folger, and Jack Miller, still ambulatory this early in the season.

Marc Marquez sits in a fantastic 8^th place, 37 points down to Vinales, under a degree of pressure he has not previously felt in the premier class, on a bike he does not like. Jorge Lorenzo, humbled triple world champion, is a bit of a steaming pile in 18^th, consorting with the likes of Tito Rabat and the debut KTM team of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, the Laverne & Shirley* of MotoGP. (*You know, ‘always together.’)

Rule #1: Beat Your Teammate

Riders know that if you do this one thing on race day, you can consider your outing to have been a success. Just beat your teammate. Here’s where the teams stand after two rounds, up close and personal:

Factory Teams

Repsol Honda: Marquez 13 Pedrosa 11

Movistar Yamaha: Vinales 50 Rossi 36

Factory Ducati: Dovizioso 20 Lorenzo 5

Factory Suzuki: Rins 7 Iannone 0

Factory Aprilia: A Espargaro 10 Lowes 0

Factory KTM: Pol Espargaro 2 Smith 1

Satellite Teams

Pramac Ducati: Redding 17 Petrucci 9

Aspar Ducati: Bautista 13 Abraham 8

Tech 3 Yamaha: Folger 16 Zarco 11

Marc VDS Honda: Miller 15 Rabat 5

Reale Avintia Ducati: Baz 9 Barbera 6

As you can see, the Boys in Blue have secured almost a third of the points on offer in the first two rounds, a trend which seems unsustainable. And, ignoring the Yamahas, the satellite teams are taking it right to the factory boys all across the board. Over time, large series of numbers typically regress to the mean. Essentially, I’m suggesting that the 2017 season is nowhere near over, that there is plenty of meaningful racing yet to come, and that the Movistar Yamaha team cannot afford to become slack or over-confident. Both Marc Marquez and Andrea Iannone have now assured us that neither will crash out of a race again this season. Taking neither offer, I would be more inclined to put my money on the Catalan than the erratic Italian.

Notice too how on the three satellite Ducati teams, the GP15 rider leads the GP16 rider two to one. Had Hector Barbera not started the season injured, it could easily be three for three, with the factory bikes no better. Would it be heresy to suggest that Gigi Dall’Igna’s magic peaked in 2015 and has been quietly trending downward since then? Or is it the different riders changing things around? All these anomalies make predicting podium celebrants, a fool’s errand in the best of times, an overt waste of time. One can hope, for the sake of the season, that Marquez makes up some ground with the Yamahas this weekend. He had been mostly bulletproof in Argentina until last round. Anything other than an outright win on Sunday must be considered a painful loss.

Your Weekend Forecast

Looking ahead four or five days, the weekend’s offerings weather-wise appear to have something for every taste and budget. Friday—hot and cloudy. Saturday—cool with rain. Sunday—cool and dry. The race goes off at 3 pm Eastern time in the U.S., and we will have results and analysis right here as soon as possible.

Tags:Andrea Dovizioso, andrea iannone, Aprilia, Cal Crutchlow, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Honda, KTM, Marc Marquez, maverick vinales, suzuki, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2017 MotoGP, 2017 MotoGP championship, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Grand Prix of the Americas, Moto, Moto2, MotoGP, Motorcycle Racing, Racing News | 1 Comment »

MotoGP 2017 Rio Hondo Results

April 9, 2017

Viñales conquers Argentina; Marquez chokes out

In a perfect world, Maverick Viñales and Marc Marquez, the two brightest young stars in the MotoGP firmament, would have squared off for a thrilling fight to the flag here at the Middle of Nowhere Grand Prix. Marquez, starting from pole, took the holeshot and led the field by almost two seconds when he carelessly lost the front in Turn 2 of Lap 4. Viñales, running second at the time, assumed the lead, laid down 21 1:40 or better laps, and won easily, hardly breaking a sweat.

In winning his first two races on the factory Yamaha, Viñales tied two records dating back to the 1990’s. Kenny Roberts, Jr. won his first two races on a new team in 1999 after having abandoned the Modenas KR3 team for Suzuki. And Wayne Rainey (not Rossi, not Lorenzo) was the last Yamaha pilot to start the season with two wins back in 1990, well before Viñales was born. Had Marquez not lost his grits today, both records might still be standing. We’ll never know.

Practice and Qualifying Weirdness

Practice was dry on Friday. Viñales topped FP1 and FP2, with lots of big names way down the order. Some unfamiliar names popped up in the top five—Danilo Petrucci, rookies Johann Zarco and Jonas Folger, and Karel Abraham, of all people, in FP1; both Abraham and Petrucci appeared in the top five again in FP2. Saturday was a wet day, the first ever for Viñales on the Yamaha. Accordingly, in FP3 he slipped all the way down to second place, behind LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, with Marquez in fifth.

Thus was the die cast for the first qualifying sessions of the season—Qatar canceled theirs due to some Biblical rain–and the separating of the goats into Q1 and the lambs into Q2, but in a Bizarro kind of configuration. The lambs cinched into Q2 included, and I’m not kidding, Danilo Petrucci, Loris Baz, Jonas Folger, Alvaro Bautista, and Karel Abraham. The goats, relegated to the ignominy of Q1, and again I’m not kidding, included BOTH factory Ducatis, Dani Pedrosa, everyone’s new fave Johann Zarco, and Valentino Freaking Rossi. Rossi and Pedrosa snuck into Q2 on their last laps of the session. They aren’t called Aliens (or Alien Emeritus) for nothing.

Qualifying itself was more or less routine, with the notable exception of the Ducati Desmosedici GP15 sitting in the middle of the front row beneath Karel Abraham. Marquez started from pole, going four-for-four in Argentina, with Crutchlow sitting third, Pedrosa 5^th and Rossi 7^th. Figuratively speaking, the wheels fell off for the factory Ducati team on Saturday, with Dovizioso slotted 13^th and Jorge Lorenzo occupying his customary wet weather position of 16^th on the grid.

Trouble at the Start

Lorenzo, the Great Spanish Hope of the factory Ducati team, saw his day end in the congested first turn as he tagged Andrea Iannone’s back wheel and quickly ended up in the gravel, the dream of one-upping Rossi in his own Yamaha-to-Ducati defection having morphed into a nightmare. After two rounds, he trails series leader Viñales by 45 points. (Although Marquez trails by 37, his deficit seems much smaller than JLo’s, since Marquez looks fully capable of winning races, while Lorenzo looks fully capable of nothing right now.)

Trouble in the Middle

Marquez’s gaffe on Lap 4 left a top five of Viñales, Crutchlow, Rossi, Pramac Ducati ex-cop Danilo Petrucci and Repsol’s Dani Pedrosa. Petrucci, who would finish seventh, and Pedrosa spent the middle third of the race carving one another up until Pedrosa submitted a carbon copy of Marquez’ fall at Turn 2 on Lap 14. Moments later, on Lap 15, Aleix Espargaro, who has been overachieving on the Gresini Aprilia, lost the front at Turn 1 and collected factory Ducati #1 Andrea Dovizioso on his way to the runoff area. Dovi, accustomed to getting creamed by Andrea Iannone and Dani Pedrosa, seemed nonplussed at having been clipped by the likable Spaniard. Ducati team boss Gigi Dall’Igna, shown briefly in his garage at that moment, appeared to be throwing up in his mouth.

After the podium party, to which neither was invited, Pedrosa and Marquez could be seen in their garage, drunk, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders, singing Citizen King’s “I’ve Seen Better Days” in some very ragged Spanish.

Ridiculous Results

Crutchlow, looking strong, managed to hold off Rossi until Lap 19. He chased the Italian around for a few laps before calculating that 16 points were better than none, settling for third and a place on the rostrum. No surprise there. But who would have guessed that Alvaro Bautista, flogging the Aspar team Ducati, would cross the line fourth, followed by two rookies? Johann Zarco, who is starting to make a believer out of me, came from 14^th at the start to finish fifth, while Tech 3 Yamaha teammate Jonas Folger worked his way from 11^th at the start to a legit sixth place finish and 10 points. Tech 3 team boss Hervé Poncharal, smiling like the cat who swallowed the canary, allegedly texted his counterpart with the Repsol Honda team, Livio Suppo, after the race, asking Livio if he was interested in a few tips about racing in South America.

Scott Redding on the Pramac GP16, Jack Miller on the Marc VDS Honda and the aforementioned Karel Abraham completed today’s top ten. Right. That makes eight satellite bikes in the top ten, which last occurred during the 1952 Tour de France.

It would be remiss of me not to mention that both KTM riders, Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, finished in the points, putting KTM in the MotoGP books for the first time ever. This is not ridiculous, either. But KTM bosses issuing press releases declaring their intent to title in MotoGP within three years—ridiculous.

The Big Picture

After two rounds, the big picture looks like a Jackson Pollock canvas. Sure, the Movistar Yamaha team rules the world early in the season; I get that. But Scott “The Whiner” Redding sits in fourth place, as if he belongs there. Rookie Jonas Folger sits sixth. Jackass Miller sits seventh, with Marc Marquez tied for eighth with Alvaro Bautista. WTF? But the most acid-flashback-ish sight on the board is that of triple world champion Jorge Lorenzo tied for 18^th place with the helpless Tito Rabat. I did a fast double-check—the walls of my hotel room do not appear to be melting, nor does the flesh seem to be falling off my face in great gross chunks. I’m not having a flashback. Jorge Lorenzo, uninjured, has earned five (5) points thus far in 2017. The bosses in Bologna need to lower their expectations. Right now would be fine.

What does it all mean? Other than Maverick Viñales having seized the 2017 season by the throat, not much. There are 16 races left to go, and the precocious Spaniard is unlikely to win them all. He will face some adversity along the way, allowing the rest of the Alien contingent—Marquez, Rossi and Dovizioso—back into the picture.

Viñales admitted to feeling some pressure this weekend, especially in the wet on Saturday. After today’s race, the pressure has fallen squarely on defending champion Marc Marquez, who let one get away from him this afternoon. Whether today’s crash has ruined his season is unclear. What is clear, however, is that #93 needs a win in Austin, where he is undefeated, in two weeks in order to avoid joining Jorge Lorenzo in the very bad place where he now resides.

Tags:Andrea Dovizioso, andrea iannone, Aprilia, Cal Crutchlow, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Honda, KTM, Marc Marquez, maverick vinales, motorcycle, Scott Redding, suzuki, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2017 MotoGP championship, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Grand Prix of Argentina, Moto, MotoGP, Motorcycle Racing | Leave a Comment »

MotoGP 2017 Season Preview

March 11, 2017

With the start of the 2017 MotoGP season only weeks away, we take a look ahead at what will be on offer for racing fans this year. [With clenched teeth, it is hereby affirmed that the opinions contained herein do not necessarily reflect those of the editors, publishers, and/or owners of Motorcycle.com]

MotoGP is the fastest-growing motorsports flavor on earth. That it has virtually no presence or accessibility in the US is a poor joke. It appears the safety-conscious American parents of today are (understandably) reluctant to let their kids, most of them, anyway, learn to ride ATVs and motorbikes when they’re young. Series organizer Dorna has recognized that a country wishing to develop world-class riders needs to have a formal development program, one of which was implemented in Great Britain just this year. (Probably because of Cal Crutchlow, The Great English-As-A-First-Language Hope.) Such leagues have existed in Spain and Italy for decades.

The fact is that the US, for its size, with expensive national marketing costs, doesn’t sell a lot of imported motorcycles, and it’s doubtful that showing more MotoGP races would change that. So most of us Americans miss out. Meanwhile the Aussies and Kiwis are all over this stuff, along with Europe and much of Asia. No more giving up calendar dates in favor of F-1; MotoGP has MoMentum. No more five weeks off in the middle of the summer, either.

Countries from Thailand and Indonesia to Hungary and Finland are clamoring to host races; pressure on the calendar, with four rounds still in Spain (quietly drumming my fingertips on the tabletop), is intense. Even money says the calendar goes to 20 dates within five years. And get rid of Aragon. Or Argentina.

Overall, 2017 has the look of a great season. The Big Three factory teams of Yamaha, Honda and Ducati will dominate much of the action, as they are home to the Aliens, those riders whose balance and instincts are a step above the rest of the field—Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and new Alien on the block Maverick Vinales.

Keeping them honest will be the likes of Lorenzo’s teammate and wingman Andrea Dovizioso, Cal Crutchlow on the LCR Honda, and Andrea Iannone on the factory Suzuki. Alex Rins, on the second factory Suzuki, and Johann Zarco on a Tech 3 satellite Yamaha are the Moto2 grads most likely to podium this year, with Rins looking, to me anyway, like the rookie of the year for 2017. Another Alien in the making.

Due to last year’s amazing series of races which culminated in nine different riders standing on the top step of the podium, hope springs eternal for the riders and teams in the lower tranches. Pramac, Aspar and Reale Esponsorama get new old hardware, which could improve prospects for Hectic Hector Barbera and Alvaro Bautista. It would take another Assen-type miracle for either of the Marc VDS riders, Jack Miller and Tito Rabat, to win this year. (There are also rumblings that the team is planning to fold up its tent in the next year or two, possibly freeing up slots for a satellite Suzuki team.)

Let’s just look at this thing team by team, in alphabetical order. We will wait until after the season opener to assign tranches to the various riders.

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Sam Lowes

Aleix Espargaro

Sam and Aleix need to be prepared for a long season. Hard luck Espargaro, having lost out to Iannone and Rins at Suzuki, takes a step down joining the Aprilia factory effort, on the upswing but still learning their way around. The Aprilia and KTM projects are likely to be relatively underfunded for the foreseeable future, slowing their development, and reducing their prospects to those of satellite teams. For Lowes, somehow promoted from Moto2 despite world-class inconsistency, there will be a lot of badly scuffed leathers. Espargaro seems to be getting the hang of things more quickly.

For Fausto Gresini, for whom the allure of the premier class is almost irresistible, 2017 will be like shooting 108 on the golf course—enough good shots to keep you coming back, but a vast majority of poor to terrible swings. Two unfamiliar riders. A not-quite-competitive bike. Bring a book.

Ducati Factory Team

Jorge Lorenzo

Andrea Dovizioso

Going into 2017, the factory Ducati team is the most interesting group on the lot. The Italians expect plenty, and soon, from their brand new triple world champion. Jorge Lorenzo, in turn, suggested that the first real day of testing at Sepang was a bit terrifying, but with the help of Stoner and Michele Pirro is adapting to the GP17. No more getting blitzed in the straights, but he needs to re-learn cornering if he is to avoid “pulling a Rossi,” which seems unlikely, unless he finds himself unable to keep the bike upright. A win in Qatar would do a lot to build his confidence, although the same could be said for every rider on the grid. Nice writing.

Consistent Andrea Dovizioso has been flying under the radar during the offseason, allowing the cameras to focus on Lorenzo while he plots his strategy to win the title himself. The latest iteration of the Desmosedici will probably be a great bike, and Dovi has four years in with the factory. Personally, I would love to see him fighting for a title with Vinales and Marquez. It could happen. I think the odds favor him to finish ahead of Lorenzo this season.

The Bologna bunch has recently received a patent for a new jet exhaust valve; don’t know what that’s for unless they’re interested in watching Lorenzo leaving Earth’s orbit. It has also installed what is said to be an anti-chatter box behind the rider and bent the exhaust pipes and stuff around it. They are keeping their 2017 fairing secret, but I expect it to resemble the new Yamaha innovation, with the interior wings in a laughable “bulge,” which is expressly forbidden under the rules, yet permitted by some guy named Danny. “Y’see, it’s not so much of a “bulge” as it is a continuation of the radius…An’ that’s why they’ve blokes like me, to keep things strite, y’know. Yeah.”

For me, the most interesting question is whether the big red bikes are to be housed in Lorenzo’s Land or Gigi’s Garage.

LCR Honda

Cal Crutchlow

My personal favorite rider. To disparage, mock, call out and, ultimately, have to eat crow over. Crashlow won his first two premier class races in 2016, after years of making excuses and broadcasting blame for not having won earlier. He has burned bridges with Yamaha and Ducati, although he seems to be a fair-haired child for Honda as of late. Complaining a month ago that “Honda are on it’s back foot,” or some other foolish British verb conjugation, it seems the litany has resumed. With Vinales added to the mix at the top, I don’t expect Cal to win two races again this season.

Marc VDS Racing Team NFL (Not For Long)

Jack Miller

Tito Rabat

The struggling #3 Honda team, at the end of the Sepang test in January, had neither rider fit to ride. Tito Rabat was a great rider in Moto2 but is proving to be a bust in MotoGP. Miller, tagged by HRC for greatness at a young age, is proving to be unable to keep the RC213V upright, piling up more serious injuries than The Black Night in the Monty Python classic, not to mention creating acres of shredded, brightly painted fiberglass.

This team could be out of existence in a year or two, providing an opportunity for the moon, the sun and the stars to align in such a way that, as Dani Pedrosa’s contract on the factory Honda team expires, young Miller is standing at the door, kindly showing him the way out. A national day of celebration will follow in Australia, one in which Livio Suppo, team boss at Repsol Honda, having been out-voted by marketing folks seeking an Australian Alien, may not be participating.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Johann Zarco

Jonas Folger

Hmmm. Two freshmen on the satellite Yamaha team. Herve Poncharal, team boss, has a thing for Folger; perhaps he likes the cut of his jib, but I haven’t seen much in the way of dominating performances in Moto2 to justify a promotion. Zarco arrived on the strength of having become the only rider in Moto2 to title twice, consecutively, and is probably disappointed at not having a factory bike of some kind at his disposal.

Both riders will be on steep learning curves this year, although Zarco faired surprisingly well at the Malaysia test. He and Alex Rins figure to battle it out for rookie of the year honors.

MoviStar Yamaha Factory Team

Valentino Rossi

Maverick Vinales

Lin Jarvis’ factory Yamaha team enters the season with GOAT candidate Valentino Rossi and the heir apparent, the aptly-named Maverick Vinales, recently graduated from a two-year riding academy with the factory Suzuki team. During those two years, he figured out how to win (Silverstone 2016) on a relatively slow bike. Now that he has earned arguably the fastest complete bike on the grid, great expectations abound.

His “win” at the Sepang test in January affirms those who expect him to title in his first Yamaha season. Marc Marquez, reigning and triple world champion, has been encouraging this thinking, talking publicly about how concerned he is with Vinales. Intentionally adding to the pressure, getting inside Vinales’ head. Rossi-like.

Rossi maintains his Alien status, but it will be tested again this year. (Dani Pedrosa is now an Alien Emeritus.) He still has the passion and the conditioning and the experience. But does he have the reflexes and balance he did when he was 28? I think not. I think he is also less of a risk taker now than he was a decade ago. He will undoubtedly win some races this year, but may lose the season contest with his teammate, effectively ending their friendship for all time. The intra-team competition could tighten significantly, however, if Vinales finds himself cartwheeling through a lot of gravel traps this spring.

Octo Pramac Yakhnich Ducati

Danilo Petrucci (GP17)

Cheesed Off Scott Redding (GP16)

The #2 Ducati team. Danilo Petrucci, the burly ex-cop, may find himself in the mix once in a while (probably in the rain) this season onboard the GP17 he won fair and square in the intra-team competition with Scott Redding last year. Redding, sadly, will not be in the mix on his GP16, as he seems unable to get over the hump in the premier class after a glittering (?) run in Moto2. With three name sponsors, it seems likely the team will have plenty of frames and fairings to replace for Redding as he goes bumping around the tracks of the world, muttering about how it just isn’t fair.

Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati

Alvaro Bautista (GP16)

Karel Abraham (GP15)

A satellite Ducati team with upset potential. Alvaro Bautista, like Barbera, has been a consistent underachiever in the premier class. His own high water mark occurred in 2008, when he finished second in the 250cc class behind a guy named Simoncelli. In 2012 and 2013 he flogged Fausto Gresini’s close-to-factory spec Honda to 5^th and 6^th place finishes, respectively. Meanwhile, enter Karel Abraham, previously employed by his dad before serving a one year sentence in WSB last year. He’s back, for whatever reason, this time on a GP15.

Bautista has, over the years, shown moments of great skill and moments of sheer stupidity. This year, again mimicking Barbera, he has a chance to peek at a podium or two after two grinding years with Aprilia. This may also be the best bike HE has ever ridden, although the Honda back in 2012-2013 was badass.

We will stick our necks out here and predict zero podiums for the Aspar team in 2017.

Reale Esponsorama Racing (formerly Avintia)

Hector Barbera (GP16)

Too Tall Baz (GP15)

Another second-string Ducati team that could surprise, 2017 features Barbera on a GP16 and Baz on a GP15. Hectic Hector’s career saw its high-water mark in the 250cc class in 2009 when he finished second to Hiro Aoyama. Once he arrived in MotoGP, never having been the beneficiary of first class equipment, his career has leveled off. He has battled slow bikes, injury, and a low racing IQ to a series of undistinguished finishes. Last year he showed some improvement which, if it continues this year, could actually make him a consistent top ten finisher.

Meanwhile, young Frenchman Loris Baz, who is, like, 6’3” tall, had an up and down second MotoGP season. Three distinct episodes of “start slowly, improve, then crash” marked his year, including a fourth-place finish at Brno and a fifth at Sepang. Riding a Ducati at 6’3” suggest you’re going to prefer the long flowing circuits over the tight squinchy ones. He will need to learn to keep the bike upright if he is to continue in MotoGP.

Oh, and I checked—the French name Loris translates in English as “Loris.” The only other Loris I ever knew was a girl.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Bradley Smith

Pol Espargaro

Teammates on the Tech 3 Yamaha for the past two seasons, these two get factory rides with the rookie KTM factory team. The Austrians have enjoyed decades of success elsewhere and feel it is but a matter of time before they start winning in MotoGP. Years, perhaps many, in my opinion, but what do I know?

Of the two riders, I prefer Espargaro, a year younger, with a title under his belt in Moto2. Smith seems like a nice guy, but appears snake bit. It’s always something with Bradley–an injury, a mechanical issue, a head cold. Whatever. I will gladly back Espargaro this year in the intra-team rivalry, the only competition that will mean much of anything to this group.

The factory rollout of the KTM entries in all three classes included words from the Chief Cheddar at KTM Itself, Stefan Pierer, announcing his intention to fight with Honda for a MotoGP world championship in the not-too-distant future.

Patience, grasshopper.

Repsol Honda Team

Dani Pedrosa

Marc Marquez

Along with the factory Yamaha and Ducati teams, HRC is royalty in the world of grand prix motorcycle racing. Repsol Hondas have been ridden by world champions Mick Doohan, Àlex Crivillé, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner and Marc Marquez. Its prospects are decidedly mixed heading into 2017.

With several new engines to figure out, the Sepang test was a bit of a struggle, with Marquez working hard to finish second behind Vinales, but able to deliver several impressive 20-lap race simulations. Appears to be another year in which Marquez will have to manage an inferior bike to battle for the title with the other Aliens. He did it last year. I believe Vinales will collect a number of wins and an equal number of DNFs, allowing a mature Marquez to slug it out with Jorge, Dovi and Vale again this year. With two new riders, Suzuki Ecstar will not threaten. Iannone? Dovizioso? I think not.

As for Dani Pedrosa, I look for him to finish seventh or eighth this season, as he has clearly lost a step since his prime in 2012. Whether he’s interested in serving as Marquez’ wingman in 2017 is problematic. If he slips out of the top ten Honda may buy out his last year and bring Miller or, more likely, Crutchlow onto the factory team in 2018. Miller may blossom this year. Probably not.

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR

Andrea Iannone

Alex Rins

The second most interesting team on the grid, a rapidly improving Suzuki will have two new riders in 2017. Andrea Iannone worked himself out of a job on the factory Ducati last season and landed with Suzuki, which may be a piece of good luck for both parties. Thus far in his premier class career, Iannone has been unable to harness his impossible speed, his temperament and aggressiveness often getting the better of him. It would be loads of fun to see him battle with the front group this season, and it could happen. Unless The Maniac is still, well, a maniac.

Alex Rins has had Alien written all over him since he was about 15. Although he never titled in the lower MotoGP classes, he recorded two seconds and two thirds in three Moto3 and two Moto2 seasons. The Rins and Marquez families do not exchange Christmas cards, setting up a new rivalry for the next few years while Rins earns his whiskers. He figures to become a problem for both Marquez and Vinales in that time. Definite Alien potential here.

I see a couple of podiums in store for Suzuki in 2017, perhaps a handful. Unless the bike is greatly improved they may not compete for a win, but the Suzuki program seems to be progressing nicely. Perhaps 2018 will be their year.

Phillip Island Test

Three productive days of testing at Phillip Island in early February taught us little we did not already know. Marquez and Vinales seem to be running in a league of their own. Dani Pedrosa still has some juice left in the tank. And rookie Jonas Folger can coax at least one fast lap per day out of his Tech 3 Yamaha.

Cal Crutchlow and rookie Alex Rins ran almost identical fast laps on Friday. Dovizioso and Lorenzo were running neck and neck for seventh and eighth places, respectively. Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaro and Alvaro Bautista finished ahead of Valentino Rossi, something you don’t get to report every day. And lots of disappointed Ducati riders (six of the bottom nine) muttering to themselves farther back in the dust. Not a great three days for Ducati Corse.

Vinales is making it hard not to envision him clutching a world championship trophy in his first premier class season. If he can stay within himself and not get overly excited it could happen this year. Then, when Rins joins the fray in 2019…

* * *

There you have it. Due to incessant demand, and for those of you interested in going into debt with your bookies, here’s my prediction for the Top Ten finishers, in order, for the 2017 season. Bookmark this article so you can rub it in my face in November. Expect a 404 Error Page Not Found at that time, especially if I’m way off:

Marc Marquez
Maverick Vinales
Valentino Rossi
Andrea Dovizioso
Cal Crutchlow
Jorge Lorenzo
Dani Pedrosa
Alex Rins
Andrea Iannone
Alvaro Bautista

Tags:Alex Marquez, Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Dovizioso, Aprilia, Cal Crutchlow, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, KTM, Marc Marquez, maverick vinales, suzuki, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2017 MotoGP, 2017 MotoGP championship, Moto, MotoGP, Motorcycle Racing, Racing News | Leave a Comment »

2016 MotoGP Top Tenner

December 29, 2016

©Bruce Allen. Exclusive to Motorcycle.com, who, in accordance with their editorial calendar, have elected to hold it until January 6, 2017.

Here are the top ten “things” that defined the 2016 season, in rough order. Not all of them are actual events.

Danilo Petrucci earns promotion over Redding to a full factory ride at Pramac for 2017. The moment? Valencia. Started 14 races, finished in the top ten eight times. Flirted with a front row start at The Sachsenring, tied Rossi, in fact, but fell to fourth over some obscure tie-breaker. At 26 and relatively burly he’s not Alien material, but he can handle the Desmosedici as well as any of the satellite riders and is a baller in the rain. On a full factory bike Mr. Petrucci could easily challenge for a podium or three in 2017.
Iannone collects Dovizioso in Argentina

Andrea Iannone gets his first premier class win in Austria while working himself out of a job—slide-off at Losail; collects Dovi at Rio Hondo; crashed out of second place at Le Mans; crashes at Catalunya, Silverstone and Sepang. By mid-season the fearless Italian was being encouraged by Gigi to consider a change of teams for next season, with Suzuki eventually drawing the winning number.

The decline of Dani Pedrosa. The moment? When the lights went out at Losail. More DNFs in 2016 than wins. Another Motegi collarbone, this time in FP2. But a brand new contract nonetheless. Dani peaked in 2012 (seven wins, finished second to Lorenzo by 18 points), and is definitely on the back nine of his career. An entire career spent with one manufacturer is impressive in itself. Pedrosa, although well-liked in the paddock, has always struck me as a kind of brooding guy, when he wasn’t displaying his “little man” complex and beating hell out of the field at joints like Laguna Seca. To embark upon another two years of non-Alien level competition may prove to be a mistake. The next Colin Edwards.

The Silly Season. Jonas Folger, Johann Zarco, Sam Lowes and Alex Rins earn promotions from Moto2. The return of the prodigal lawyer, Karel Abraham, to Aspar Ducati, his pockets bulging with sponsor money. Out the door are Eugene Laverty to WSB in a very raw deal (I thought he earned another MotoGP season), Stefan Bradl, taking his declining game to WSB as well, and the unfortunate Yonny Hernandez, who had a great 2015, a lousy 2016 and not enough backers to keep his ride. A healthy number of current riders changed scenery, as usual, but a 23- bike grid with six manufacturers offers a number of alternatives for those journeymen seeking the elusive factory ride. Paging Bradley Smith.

Cal Crutchlow rises from the dead after a difficult start to the season (five points in the first four rounds) with wins at Brno and Phillip Island. The moment: Brno, Lap 16, on a drying track. Crutchlow goes through on Iannone and quickly gets away, having made the correct tire choice in one of the 2016 rounds that started wet and ended dry. First win by a British rider since the earth cooled. At Phillip Island he went out and thumped the field (Marquez having already secured the title), establishing himself as a credible podium threat in 2017, when he will have even more microphones shoved in his face, to which we look forward with great enthusiasm.

Marquez titles after a difficult 2015. Uncharacteristically settles for third in Jerez behind Rossi and Lorenzo, showing a maturity that wasn’t there in previous years. The moment? Motegi, when both Rossi and Lorenzo crashed out. His win on Honda’s home field suddenly made him world champion for the third time. Some people will say his save in practice at Assen was the moment, but he has made a career out of impossible saves. Winning titles is what makes him go.

marquez-season-graph-jpeg

The Next Great Rider == Maverick Vinales

Maverick Vinales gets first podium at Le Mans, wins at Silverstone on his way to the factory Yamaha team. The Next Great Rider secured Suzuki’s first podium since 2009 at Le Mans, then broke their 10-year non-winning streak with a scintillating win at Silverstone. Nature, and Yamaha executives, abhorring a vacuum, he was the only real choice when Lorenzo announced his impending departure. Vinales’ Alien Card is stamped and waiting. The best part? See him in civilian clothes and he looks like a cabana boy at the Ritz.

Nine race winners. Moment—when Dovizioso crossed the finish line at Sepang to become #9. I expect some of you to quibble about whether an entire season can be somehow characterized as a “moment.” If this really bothers you, I encourage you to read Nietzsche, and to remember that, when considered across the eons of time in the frigid vacuum of space and an expanding galaxy, the entire 2016 MotoGP season is the blink of an eye. So go quibble somewhere else.

lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo to Ducati announcement on April 19. One of the worst-kept secrets entering the season was that triple world champion Lorenzo would defect from the factory Yamaha team to Ducati in 2017. It was confirmed prior to the Jerez round, with Big Blue having already signed teammate and rival Rossi through 2018. The forthcoming changes amongst the Alien contingent in 2017 produced undertones that seemed to color the entire season. A number of factors conspired to limit Lorenzo to a disappointing third place finish in 2016, but he seems certain the grass is greener on the other side of the hill. We shall see.

Rossi blows an engine at Mugello. The turning point of the season. Despite a careless slide-off in Austin, Rossi entered Italy with the scoreboard reading Lorenzo 90, Marquez 85, Rossi 78. A three-man race. He left Italy bereft, with Lorenzo 115, Marquez 105, Rossi 78. He had completed Lap 8 checking out Lorenzo’s back wheel when, at the bottom of the main straight, his engine went up, just as Lorenzo’s had without consequence during practice. Control of his 2016 future went up with it, in the thick white smoke pouring from his bike. The bad luck he needed caught up with Lorenzo in the Teutonic territories of Holland, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, but Marquez sailed through the season unscathed.

valentino-rossi-mugello

2016 was a season Rossi could have won. Coulda? Woulda? Shoulda? Didn’t. Dude will be fired up for next year. That makes two of us.

Tags:Aprilia, Dani Pedrosa, Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, maverick vinales, motorcycle racing, Stefan Bradl, suzuki, Tuscany, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2016 MotoGP championship, Andrea Dovizioso, Andrea Iannone, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Honda, Jerez, Jorge Lorenzo, KTM, Le Mans, Losail, Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, MotoGP, MotoGP Phillip Island, Motorcycle Racing, Red Bull Ring Austria, Valentino Rossi, World Super Bike | Leave a Comment »

MotoGP 2016 Valencia Preview

November 7, 2016

© Bruce Allen. Exclusive to Motorcycle.com

The curtain closes on a fine season

What will people reading this remember about the 2016 MotoGP season? A Marquez year, his third of many, for sure. The year Crutchlow won his first two races? The year Jack Miller, Andrea Iannone and Maverick Vinales each won his first? The year Suzuki and Ducati and Australia broke their droughts? The year Yamaha started one of their own? My fave is the year nine different riders stood on the top step of the podium, some for the first time and some, perhaps, for the last.

Dorna big cheese Carmelo Ezpeleta’s Great Leavening proceeds apace. The field has become more level, the notion of a win more plausible for the riders who aren’t Top Four or Five material; Jack Miller, currently residing in 17^th place for the season, won in Assen. Though one goal going in had been to make MotoGP more affordable, a laughable proposition, it did serve its twin purpose of delivering more competitive racing front to back on the grid. It enticed Aprilia and KTM (wildcarding this weekend with Mika Kallio onboard) back into the fold. It got Ducati back into big boy pants.

Lap times haven’t changed much. It’s not as sexy as the custom ECU setup was, but I, for one, like it. More rider, (slightly) less technology. And next year, no wingies. You readers are making me into some kind of old school purist.

Previous History at Valencia

Lorenzo’s 2013 finale win was a hollow victory; having needed the win, he was unable to keep Marquez out of the top five, which he also needed to do, resulting in the remarkable rookie’s first premier class title. Lorenzo’s problem that day wasn’t Marquez but Dani Pedrosa, who kept pressure on the Mallorcan sufficient to prevent him from coming back to the field in an effort to hinder Marquez, who ultimately finished third. Rossi, at the end of his first year back with Yamaha, was unable to lend his teammate a hand while finishing fourth; this was back when they were getting along.

The 2014 race was wet-ish, though the title had been decided weeks earlier. Lorenzo slid out of the race with six laps left. Marquez took the win, blowing kisses to his fans during his victory lap, and was joined on the podium by Rossi and Pedrosa. The day’s procession culminated in the coronation of Marquez for the second time in two years, and the MotoGP world appeared to be his oyster. Little did we know then the trials 2015 held in store for him.

No one who reads this stuff is likely to forget the 2015 season finale, at which Jorge Lorenzo won from pole while championship rival and “teammate” Valentino Rossi, having been penalized for his antics with Marquez in Sepang the previous week, was forced to start from the back of the grid and could only (only) make his way back to fourth place at the finish. There was additional controversy as to why the Repsol Honda team appeared to ride as wingmen for Lorenzo, never seriously challenging him over the last few laps. El Gato’s fans were delirious, but the rest of the world seemed ticked off.

Of the four riders formally-known-as-Aliens, Pedrosa has the best record here, with three wins and three podia in ten starts. Rossi has two wins and six podia to show for 16 starts since 2000, but the most recent of those was in 2004, when Marc Marquez was 11 years old. Jorge Lorenzo, in seven premier class starts, has three wins and a third-place finish in 2009 to go along with several violent DNFs. Marquez can boast of a win, a place and a show in three MotoGP tries, barely breaking a sweat; I’d like to see him race here when the pressure’s on. For those of you who insist, Cal Crutchlow DNF’d the 2013 race, got beat at the flag by Dovizioso in 2014 on his way to 5^th place, and found himself in 9^th position last year, 36 seconds off the pace. There.

Sidebars

Most of the intrigue this weekend will emanate from the middle of the grid. The civil war at Pramac Ducati is almost over; Petrucci has Redding by 16 heading into Valencia in the contest for factory GP17 next year. Ducati pilots Hector Barbera and Andrea Iannone are fighting furiously for 9^th place for the season, with Barbera holding a one point advantage coming into the weekend. Meanwhile, Eugene Laverty, in his MotoGP swan song. will try to hold on to his single point lead over Aprilia’s Alvaro Bautista in the fight for 12^th place.

Random Thought

I have a thought that needs airing out. It may not be new, but it goes like this: Marquez, since clinching in Motegi, still wants to win and has attacked the last two races hard, but has crashed out of each. He had podium written all over him until he went down. This illustrates the subconscious effect mindset (between fighting for a title and playing out the string) has on one’s focus, judgment and even balance. Had he been in the midst of a title fight, I have no doubt he would have kept the bikes up.

While I’m at it, I’ve had a second thought for a while. About how much fun it would be to listen to a digital recording from the inside of Valentino Rossi’s helmet during a race. 45 minutes of yelling, cursing, grunting, praying, and more cursing, all at high speed and pitch and, best of all, in Italian, so all you would understand is the names of the riders toward whom the invective is directed. Not sure what the F*word is in Italian (cazzo, actually), but I bet you would hear it in the recording once or twice. Possibly directed at Lorenzo’s mother.

What the heck. Dani Pedrosa, should he fulfill his final two-year contract with Honda, would become the Spanish Loris Capirossi. Long, distinguished careers without a single MotoGP championship. All that meat and no potatoes. And is it possible he might actually forego his final contract and call it a career, clearing the way for a Crutchlow vs. Miller tussle for the second Repsol seat? The fact that he will be in Valencia this weekend makes that notion doubtful.

Your Season Ending Weekend Forecast

The weather forecast for greater Valencia this weekend calls for mostly clear skies and temps in the low 70’s. The 2016 war being over, there is one last battle to be fought on Sunday. With so few of the riders having any skin left in the game, this one will be for bragging rights only. With the exception of Marquez, Rossi, Vinales and Pol Espargaro, many of the top ten are vulnerable to a drop in the standings, while some still have an opportunity to profit. For instance, if Pedrosa is unable to post for the start, Cal Crutchlow is likely to nab sixth place for the season. Great.

As to the results to come, I like Rossi this weekend. Guy still has a chip on his shoulder and is still fast. Marquez will compete for the win just for fun. Lorenzo says he wants a finish to his Yamaha tenure he can be proud of. Pedrosa will be in no shape to win but will still show up. The rest of the fast movers—the Dueling Andreas, Crutchlow, Vinales—are always up for a podium chase. My picks for the weekend? Rossi, Vinales and Lorenzo. Yamaha ends it’s losing streak, Vinales primps for his big boy debut next season, the podium celebration is as awkward as possible, and Lorenzo leaves team Yamaha with his head held high.

Next year starts on Tuesday.

This Just In

I am traveling most of Sunday. The Valencia race results will post on Monday morning. Thanks for your patience, real or imagined. Ciao.

Tags:Aprilia, Cal Crutchlow, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, KTM, Marc Marquez, maverick vinales, motogp, motorcycle racing, suzuki, Valencia, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2016 MotoGP championship, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, MotoGP, MotoGP Valencia, Motorcycle Racing, Racing News, Scott Reddiing, Suzuki, The grand prix of Valencia, Valencia, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha | Leave a Comment »

MotoGP 2016 Motegi Preview

October 4, 2016

The Yamaha non-win streak is a thing

Round 15 of the 2016 MotoGP championship is the first leg of the annual Pacific flyaway, three races in three weeks during which the title will be decided. Unlike 2013 and last year, this year’s finale at Valencia will not be the dramatic season-decider they love hosting in Spain in November. A question gaining traction in the paddock raises the issue of whether it’s the Honda winning the title or the Yamahas losing it. Big Blue hasn’t had a win this year since Rossi’s win over Marquez at Catalunya back in early June.

After going four-for-four between Jerez and Catalunya, things have gone badly for the factory Yamaha team, their current winless streak their longest since, um, a long time ago. Factory officials deny any problem, giving us the “it’s just one of those things that happen some years…” explanation. Rossi continues to fight hard, the end of his career somewhere on the horizon. Lorenzo, since Mugello, has amassed 67 points out of a possible 200. Do people agree it’s a fair statement that most of the wins collected by the six non-Movistar winners have come at the expense of the Yamaha factory team, specifically Jorge? Is it possible he has, subconsciously, checked out? Seeing red, as it were?

The 2016-2017 workout conducted by the Repsol Honda team at Aragon on 9/28, their fifth day of the five allotted to them this season, was characterized as fruitful.

All of which puts a little extra pressure on young Vinales heading into 2017.

Recent history at Motegi

The 2013 race, preceded by two typhoons and an earthquake, was won by, of all people, Jorge Lorenzo. Marquez and Pedrosa followed, the only riders to finish within five seconds of the Mallorcan. A good idea of how Rossi’s day went is the fact that he ended up in sixth place behind Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl.

In 2014 it was All Aliens, All the Time as Lorenzo led a pack of highly-paid pursuers to the finish line, with Marquez, Rossi and Pedrosa all following on their factory machines, the time between 1st and 4th a scant 3.1 seconds. Though Dovizioso took pole, the four Aliens were grouped 2 to 5. Marquez, leading the series, conceded first place to Lorenzo and, in the process, clinched the title. The race featured contact between Lorenzo and Marquez on Lap 5 which might have cost the Catalan the race, had it mattered. The second-world-title Samurai ceremony afterwards was cool if somewhat overdone, testament to the belief of many that anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

Last year, Dani Pedrosa chose Motegi to make his annual stand, leading Rossi and Lorenzo to the line in a wet-ish affair. Marquez struggled into fourth place ahead of Dovizioso on the Ducati.

Pedrosa would go on to win at Sepang. He recorded seven wins in 2012 to two in 2015; he is well along the back nine of his distinguished career.

Rossi’s lead over Lorenzo stood at 18 points with three rounds to go. The title was his to lose.

Elevated Frustration Coefficients

Aside from Marquez, every rider on the grid is suffering from Elevated Frustration Coefficients (EFC) due to the circumstances of his 2016 season, the number raised by every piece of bad equipment, bad riding, bad luck and low rent under the sun. Here are a few—

Valentino Rossi: a slide-off in Texas, an engine in Italy, a careless fall at Assen stand between him and a title chase. He loathes his teammate. And he’s been caught on camera recently being somewhat crude. Hurts t-shirt sales. EFC unusually high.
Jorge Lorenzo: crashed in Argentina and Catalunya; made a hash of the middle of the season. Appears unable to compete on wet tracks. Starting to look like a short-timer at Movistar Yamaha. Trailing Rossi elevates his EFC.
Dani Pedrosa: disaster of a season somewhat revived by his stirring win at Misano. Continues to have grip problems on a bike being built to Marquez specifications. Giving feedback on new equipment while #93 stays on his 2014 frame. EFC somewhat dulled, along with expectations.
Maverick Vinales: on the cusp of greatness. Already being called an Alien—he’s not. But he soon will be on the factory Yamaha. With Rossi there to guide him until they become rivals—figure six rounds next season—he will have a steep learning curve, nothing he can’t handle. Less stressed than most.
Cal Crutchlow: in a perfect world he would be leading the championship series. Just ask him. As it is, he’s a midfielder with more quotes than podiums. He won his race this season. Will there be more? EFC gets raised by waking up in the morning.

And so on and so on. The lead that Marquez has built, one brick at a time, along with the drought at Movistar Yamaha, along with the startling EFC data, suggest he will have to be suckered into losing the 2016 title. The only thing that can hurt him now is crashing out of a round or two. People praying for a close premier class finish must necessarily pray for rain, otherwise it appears to be smooth sailing for Marquez and his third title in four seasons.

Here’s what 2017 looks like in Tranches 1-4:

Same Equip New Equip

Marquez (1) Lorenzo (2)
Rossi (2) Vinales (2)
Pedrosa (3) Iannone (3)
Crutchlow (2) P Espargaro (3)
Dovizioso (3) Rins (3)
Barbera (4) A Espargaro (3)
Redding (4)
Bautista (4)
Petrucci (3)

The changes at the top of the food chain—Lorenzo to Ducati, Vinales to Yamaha, Iannone and Rins to Suzuki—appear to weaken Marquez’s 2017 competition, as all of these guys will be on new equipment. Rossi remains the exception, and will continue to press the detested Spaniard. The 2017 Yamaha M1 is being advertised as a quantum evolution of the bike; one assumes Honda engineers have something going on to give the RC213V more grunt coming out of turns. Can Yamaha improve their bike by more than enough to compensate for the growing realization that, mano á mano, Marquez, today, probably beats Valentino on identical equipment? Can Lorenzo and Vinales crack the top five consistently on new rides? What if it rains? Is Crutchlow actually in Tranche 2?

Here We Go Again

The MotoGP season is beginning to resemble a Red state/Blue state map of the racing world. Both Honda and Yamaha (joined by Ducati) have tracks where they are expected to win, due to layout, design, average speed, average corner speed, etc. Austin for the Hondas, Mugello for the Yamahas, etc. Red and blue states if you will, where holding serve is imperative. This, then, leaves the “battleground states,” the tracks where neither manufacturer enjoys a distinct advantage. Teams fight desperately for wins in those battleground states, as they typically decide the title when things go according to form. They also present opportunities for upsets—see Assen over the years.

Marquez, with four wins and ten podiums, has scored points in blue and red states. Starting to smell a landslide.

Riders Returning

Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Yamaha), Andrea Iannone (Factory Ducati), and probably Jack Miller (Marc VDS Honda) will return to the track off of injuries, following Loris Baz, who came back for Avintia Racing at Aragon. All the regulars should be out for practice on Friday. Thank you very much to Alex Lowes, Michele Pirro and Nicky Hayden for helping to fill up the grid of late.

We’ll have results and analysis right here around noon on Sunday.

Tags:Dani Pedrosa, Grand Prix of Japan, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, maverick vinales, Motegi, motogp, motorcycle, motorcycling, Motorsports, suzuki, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2016 MotoGP championship, Andrea Dovizioso, Andrea Iannone, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Motegi, MotoGP, MotoGP Motegi, Racing News, Suzuki, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha | Leave a Comment »

MotoGP 2016 Aragon Results

September 25, 2016

Marquez dominates Aragon, adds to series lead

Repsol Honda’s suddenly cerebral Marc Marquez took a big step toward seizing the 2016 MotoGP title with a formidable win on the Spanish plain. By thumping the factory Yamaha Bruise Brothers, he increased his margin from 43 to 52 points with four rounds left. A mistake on Lap 3 took him from first to fifth, but he remained patient, kept his powder dry, and went through, all stealthy-like, on Dovizioso, Vinales, Lorenzo and, finally, Rossi on the way to his first win on Spanish soil since 2014.

Q2 was a fright for all riders not named Marquez as the young Honda stud put down at least three laps capable of securing pole. He was joined on the front row by Maverick Vinales on the Suzuki and, with all zeroes showing on the clock, Jorge Lorenzo, who, needing a front row start, came through with the chips down to steal the third spot on the grid with an impressive last lap. Row 2 materialized with Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Ducati, Cal Crutchlow on the LCR Honda, and Rossi in sixth.

The domination I had expected from Lorenzo heading into the weekend was nowhere in sight, as he appeared to be riding constantly on the limit and just barely managed a front row start after four nondescript practice sessions. A big crash during Sunday’s WUP convinced him to go with hard tires front and rear and contributed to his best finish since his win at Mugello back in May.

Disorder at the Start

As the red lights went out, a front four—Vinales, Lorenzo, Marquez and Rossi—took shape (Marquez collecting several friendly paint samples from his front-running buds), followed by a second group composed of Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaro on the #2 Suzuki, and Dani Pedrosa, who wasn’t feeling the Misano magic today. Marquez had taken the lead by Lap 3 before falling to fifth place when he made a meal of Turn 7. From there, he went like this:

Passed Dovizioso on Lap 5

Passed Lorenzo on Lap 7

Passed Vinales on Lap 10

Passed Rossi on Lap 12

It is interesting, to me anyway, to note that three of today’s top four finishers made significant mistakes on the track—Marquez on Lap 3, Vinales on Lap 10, and Rossi on Lap 22 (giving up four points to Lorenzo and Marquez in the process). Yet Lorenzo, happy to finish second, appeared to run a mostly flawless race but was unable to secure the win in what is becoming yet another Year of Marquez. One hopes the Catalan’s detractors will give him props for pushing for the win today, rather than “playing it safe” at 200 mph.

Off the Podium

Cal Crutchlow, on the LCR Honda, started fifth and finished fifth today in what announcer Nick Harris described as a “phenomenal” performance. Maverick Vinales, Alien-in-waiting, hung with the leaders for the difficult first half of the race before running too hot into Turn 12 trying to pass Lorenzo on Lap 10. Eventually finishing fourth, the 21-year old Spaniard is enrolled in the advanced class of Winning in the Premier Class of MotoGP and will be a heller next year on the factory Yamaha.

In a tip of the hat to our American fans, both of you, replacement rider Nicky Hayden scored a point on the Marc VDS Honda subbing for Jack Miller, which is more than contract rider Tito Rabat could say. Nicky was involved in a three bike wreck on Saturday that could have ended badly, lucky to have avoided injury. Today, in his first go with the common ECU and Michelin tires, and he outpaced Yonny Hernandez and Loris Baz, not to mention two recalcitrant Pramac Ducati rivals. Bravo Nicky!

Side Bet at Octo Pramac Ducati

The incident in Turn 1 of Lap 1 today involving Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci could be seen coming from a mile away. Pramac Ducati riders Petrucci and Redding have agreed to a last-half-of-the-year showdown—Brno to Valencia—the winner earning a shiny new factory GP17 to destroy next season. They will drop the lowest score of the eight, per my recent suggestion.

In the tricky first turn today, the two got tangled up, with Redding dropping his bike on the floor temporarily and Petrucci, half a race later, being asked to take a ride-through penalty by Race Direction thank you very much. Before today’s scrap, the raw score was Petrux 21 Redding 2. (One dropped score would change it to 16-2.) Even though both riders finished outside the points today, the team may sanction Petrucci for his alleged infraction, which was not shown on the broadcast of the race.

Redding, meanwhile, needs to eat his Wheaties for the rest of the season. No more whining. He has demanded a factory bike for 2017, and now has the opportunity to earn one. He needs to resolve not to allow himself to be bullied by the hulking Petrucci, who loves a good scrap in the turns. As of today, Redding holds 55 points, Petrucci 50. May the better man win. But please, no more takedowns.

In the Junior Circuits

Brad Binder placed second in a riveting Moto3 race today to secure the 2016 championship with four rounds left…to blow kisses to his fans. (To me, Jorge Navarro looks more like a future Alien than does Binder. The Alien rules require applicants to have won something while in their teens. I’ve asked our crack research department to look at the stats to see which current Moto3 and Moto2 riders meet this requirement.) BTW, when I tuned into the race there were a dozen bikes in the lead group. At the end, it felt like a beatdown, but the top 11 finishers were separated by four seconds. Give the people what they want—close racing. Screw the displacement.

In the recent past it was always Moto3 or the 125s whose championship came down to Valencia. This year Binder has been operating, like Marquez, on a different plane. To clinch in September is amazing, and today’s race was no cakewalk; Binder had to risk all on the last lap to secure second place and the title. Very impressive performance.

Meanwhile, in Moto2, a dehydrated Alex Rins managed sixth today, two spots in front of fading defending champ Johann Zarco. By doing so, on the heels of a broken collarbone and, this week, gastroenteritis, he cuts Zarco’s lead in the chase to one point. Sam Lowes won the race going away to put himself back in the championship conversation taking place in his head. Zarco has been in a slump lately, without the look of a defending champion, while Rins, another Alien-in-Waiting, has kept it together through a rough patch to sit tied with four rounds to go.

The Big Picture Heading to the Pacific

All things being equal, Marquez should clinch sometime on the Pacific swing. The rest of the contenders break down nicely. Lorenzo vs. Rossi for second. Vinales vs. Pedrosa for fourth. Crutchlow vs. Dovizioso for sixth. Iannone vs. Pol Espargaro for eighth. And Hector Barbera vs. Eugene Laverty for 10^th. People should have plenty to cheer and argue about through Valencia.

Marquez’s magic numbers: 76 heading into Phillip Island; 51 heading into Sepang; 26 heading into Valencia. He’s at 52 today. The math is easy.

Now comes the most brutal part of the season for the teams and riders. No rest for the wicked. Lots of hours in the air, lots of jet lag, lots of cold and hot weather, lots of loading and unloading. Lots of stress for everyone, but especially the factory Yamaha riders chasing the chimera.

MO will keep you on top of all you need to know, starting a week from Wednesday.

Tags:Andrea Dovizioso, andrea iannone, Aragon, Cal Crutchlow, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, motogp, motorcycle, motorcycle racing, motorcycling, Motorsports, Nicky Hayden, suzuki, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2016 MotoGP championship, Andrea Dovizioso, Dani Pedrosa, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Grand Prix of Aragon, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Motegi, MotoGP, MotoGP Aragon, nicky hayden, Racing News, Scott Reddiing, Suzuki, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha | Leave a Comment »

MotoGP 2016 Aragon Preview

September 19, 2016

Yamahas look to regain lost ground in Spain

If Motorland Aragon were located roughly 50 miles west of its current location, it would sit in the exact middle of nowhere. In 2010, the dusty outlier was to be a temporary emergency replacement for the ill-fated Hungarian GP track at Balatonring, which never got finished. It has since become a fixture on the calendar, dreaded by journalists, a fourth Spanish round seeming to be exactly what the sport, with its international ambitions, doesn’t need, what with so many countries and venues banging on the door to get in. Nonetheless, here we, or they, actually, are.

It’s getting crowded up front.

For Repsol Honda mandarin Marc Marquez the sudden arrival of parity in the paddock makes the task of defending his 43-point margin over grizzled Valentino Rossi somewhat more manageable. Dating back to 2009, the only non-Alien to win a race since Andrea Dovizioso’s triumph in the rain at Donington Park that year was Ben Spies’ miracle at Assen in 2011. When Jack Miller pulled a rabbit out of his own hat at Assen this year, the Alien win streak was broken, suddenly putting six or eight contenders on the board for each round and making it more difficult for the Rossis and Lorenzos of the world to gain ground even when Marquez is not challenging for the win.

Aragon is one of Jorge Lorenzo’s favorite tracks. His team sponsor is the name sponsor for the race. The forecast is for dry and warm conditions. He has everything going for him and should win the race. As long as Marquez stays in the top five and Rossi doesn’t take the win, the young Catalan doesn’t have too much at risk.

Recent History at Aragon

In 2013, rookie Marquez, unaware that Aragon was a Yamaha-friendly layout, calmly went out, secured the pole, took Jorge Lorenzo’s best shot during the race and beat him by 1.3 seconds. Valentino Rossi, in his first year back on the factory Yamaha after the painful two-year exile with Ducati, took a rather hollow third, some 13 seconds behind Marquez. Marquez’ 39 point lead over Lorenzo at the end of the day would prove insurmountable. Notwithstanding the gratuitous DQ he absorbed at Phillip Island three weeks later, Marquez would go on to clinch his first premier class title with a smart, strong second place finish at Valencia in the season finale.

The 2014 Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon provided fans with 44+ minutes of two-wheeled slapstick, a memorable flag-to-flag affair that left the day’s results scrambled. Exhibit A: The factory Hondas of Marquez and Pedrosa crossed the finish line in 13^th and 14^th places, respectively. Factory Yamaha icon Valentino Rossi finished the day in the medical center, claiming to be Batman, having run off the track on Lap 4 into an AstroTurf bog which grabbed his front wheel and held it fast, ejaculating him into the tire wall.

While Lorenzo somehow won in the rain—I know–the big story was Aleix Espargaro, who flogged his Forward Racing Yamaha from a tenth place start to a thrilling second place finish over Cal Crutchlow, pipped once again on his factory Ducati. (In retrospect, this may have been the all-time high water mark of the entire Forward Racing MotoGP project, now extinct, as it was trying to finish the 2014 racing season in one piece. By the 2015 campaign, its owner was under indictment, nobody was getting paid, and Alex de Angelis was renting the #2 seat behind poor Too Tall Baz.)

Last year, Lorenzo, in a race he absolutely had to win, did so convincingly, leading wire to wire on the dusty plains. Thanks to Repsol Honda #2 Dani Pedrosa, he reduced his deficit to teammate Valentino Rossi from 23 points to 14, as Pedrosa held off repeated assaults from Rossi over the last five laps to capture second place. Fans around the world expected Rossi, who hadn’t won a race on Spanish soil since 2009, to steal Pedrosa’s lunch money late in the day. But the diminutive Spaniard spitefully held on, denying Rossi four points he badly wanted, and tying his best result of a heretofore winless year. Pedrosa would go on to win at Motegi and Sepang, settling for fourth place for the year once again.

At 5’2” and 120 lbs. in this sport of small men, Dani Pedrosa likely has a “little man’s complex.” This is not meant as criticism. It might explain why Hondo so willingly signed him for another two years. If you cut a guy like Pedrosa after a decade of loyal service, he would probably try to get even. And, as Lyndon Johnson said of one of his innumerable sleazebag cronies, on the verge of handing him a major patronage job, “We’re better off with him inside the tent pissing out than the other way around.”

Stats Snafu from San Marino Article

Here are the actual stats for the second half of the season, Rounds 10-13:

Rossi 69

Crutchlow 54

Marquez 53

Vinales 53

Pedrosa 49

Lorenzo 40

Dovizioso 40

Iannone 33

My original idea for the Misano race summary—a spirited defense of Cal Crutchlow—which, bolstered by my math errors, was going to assert that he could indeed contend for a title, got stood on its ear by the actual numbers. (The contested eighth place finish last time out didn’t help. Nor did the outburst that followed.) The numbers I sent to MO last time were gibberish. My apologies. I was silly to try to defend my alleged antipathy when #35 is eager to feed the flames of his own marginalization.

As for Rossi, the world is correct. An engine at Mugello and a brainfade at Assen are all that stand between him and his steadily diminishing chance for a title shootout with Marquez in Valencia. (“If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts we’d all have a lovely Christmas.”)

It’s the same reason I don’t play golf anymore. You can have sixteen strong holes and two bad ones at the end and you suck.

Throw out the high and low scores for each rider. Then count points. A blown engine or fall wouldn’t ruin your season. It would tighten things up in the top ten.

Rider Updates

Alex Lowes continues for Bradley Smith at Tech 3 Yamaha—his efforts came to naught in San Marino after having been eerily strong in practice. Javier Fores stays on for Loris Baz at Avintia Racing, after having been down and out in Misano, trying to come to grips with the gentle Desmosedici. Jack Miller, incurable optimist, had hoped to return from hand problems–just a flesh wound—but is being replaced on the Marc VDS Honda by Old Lonesome, Nicky Hayden, as the latter finds something fun to do to fill a break in his WSBK schedule. And Andrea Iannone is hoping to return from back and judgment problems, the former supposedly requiring 25 days off. The latter, unfortunately, appears likely to be with him always.

Your Weekend Forecast

Hot, dry and dusty this weekend. It’s a Yamaha/Ducati circuit but the conditions could favor the Hondas. Easy to envision Lorenzo, Rossi and Marquez on the podium, just like the old days. Pretenders to the weekend’s throne should include Pedrosa, Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Vinales and Andrea Dovizioso. Andrea Iannone, Dovizioso’s Ducati teammate, could figure in the action but looks, as of this writing, like a DNS. I’m dropping Crutchlow’s LCR Honda back to Tranche 3 in the hope it will motivate him to run with the front group.

The race goes off early Sunday morning EDT. We’ll have results and analysis right here around noon.

Tags:Andrea Dovizioso, andrea iannone, Ben Spies, Cal Crutchlow, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Misano, motogp, motorcycle, motorcycling, Motorsports, Nicky Hayden, suzuki, valentino rossi, Yamaha
Posted in 2016 MotoGP championship, Dani Pedrosa, Ducati, Grand Prix of Aragon, Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, MotoGP, MotoGP Aragon, nicky hayden, Racing News, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha | Leave a Comment »

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Posts Tagged ‘Dani Pedrosa’

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