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MotoGP Jerez 2013 Preview

May 1, 2013

Look for an edited version of this story on Motorcycle.com on Thursday.  Until then, enjoy the raw copy.

The Spaniards Return Home for Round Three 

When it comes to grand prix motorcycle racing, Spain and her favorite sons own the sport.  Across the three classes—MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3—eight of the nine top riders are Spanish.  (The exception, Brit Scott Redding, who leads the Moto2 contingent, should actually be struggling for Tech 3 Yamaha this year, having been curiously passed over last season in favor of countryman Bradley Smith.)  With the first of four Spanish rounds on tap this weekend, the fastest riders on Earth are hungry for some home cooking. 

Repsol Honda rookie Marc Marquez turned the moto racing world on its ear in Austin with his first premier class win, barely breaking a sweat in the process.  Defending world champion and Yamaha mogul Jorge Lorenzo sits tied with the Catalan cherub in this year’s championship battle, which must come as a bit of a downer after his dominating performance in the season opener in Qatar.  Pre-season favorite Dani Pedrosa, expected to be the alpha male in the Repsol garage this year, can’t be happy fighting with Valentino Rossi over third place.  Rossi, on the other hand, must feel pretty good about being back in the Alien club after his self-imposed two year punishment detail with Ducati.

Don’t be surprised to see the standings get shuffled this weekend in Andalusia.

Recent History at Jerez

The Big Four appear to have vastly different expectations heading back to Europe for the first time this year:

  • Since joining the premier class in 2006, Dani Pedrosa has never finished off the podium at Jerez.  He has a third, five seconds, and a win in 2008 to show for his efforts.  He was on his way to a second win in 2010 until Lorenzo ate his lunch on the last lap.  Jerez is one of Dani’s faves.
  • Jorge Lorenzo started his premier class work at Jerez in 2008 with a competitive third, trailing Rossi and Pedrosa, and crashed out late in 2009 trying to overtake Casey Stoner for third.  Since then, he’s had two wins, and lost to Stoner last year by less than a second.  Jerez is one of Jorge’s faves, too.
  • Valentino Rossi, in the four years prior to his defection from Yamaha to Ducati, had a third, a second and two wins here.  Vale used to love Jerez, and is looking to rekindle the romance this year, especially after his struggles in Austin, where he was soundly beaten by Cal Crutchlow on his satellite M-1.
  • For the wűnderkind Marquez, a visit to Jerez is about as welcome as a toothache on a Friday night.  In three 125cc seasons, he had a DNS, a DNF, and a 3rd.  He crashed out in his Moto2 debut in 2011, but narrowly missed a win last season, yielding to race winner Pol Espargaro by two tenths.  No one would be too surprised to see him struggle this weekend.  If, however, he manages a podium, he will be serving notice on the world that his time is, indeed, now.

Kevin Schwantz vs. Alberto Puig

Crash.net and Superbike Planet.com reported extensively this week on a web-based exchange between Pedrosa’s Rasputin, Alberto Puig, and former world champion Kevin Schwantz.  Schwantz, who has made a career out of his single world title in 1993 (notice we’re not saying a word here about Nicky Hayden), started it off, observing, among other things, that Pedrosa has enjoyed a Honda factory ride since 2006 without ever having won a premier class title, which is a good point.  But then the Texan wandered off into the ether, talking about Dani’s mom—don’t be talking ‘bout my momma–and taking a few swipes at Puig, Pedrosa’s Apologist-in-Chief.

Puig, himself a former racer, and not one to shy away from a tussle, came back at Schwantz with both barrels blazing.  Recall 2006, when Pedrosa took out eventual world champion Nicky Hayden at Estoril in a move criticized by pretty much everyone who saw it.  In stepped Puig, denigrating Hayden and absolving his guy of a crash blame whatsoever.  This past week, he claimed that Schwantz won his only title due to a crash suffered by Wayne Rainey at Misano that season, and that otherwise Schwantz “was always in the shade” of Rainey and Eddie Lawson.  (Kind of like Dani has been with Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo.  Just sayin’.)

The bottom line, from here:  Schwantz is a world-class hanger-on.  Pedrosa, despite what he says, needs to win a title this year or next, for any number of reasons.  Puig is deeply in bed with the good folks at Dorna, while Schwantz is exchanging subpoenas with them over the fiasco in Austin.  All of this is a tempest in a teapot.  Schwantz needs to find a job, Puig needs to shut his piehole, and Pedrosa needs to win a title.  And, as one of my old bosses used to tell me, right now would be fine.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Valentino Rossi went to the trouble of telling Crash.net he expects to be “very fast” this weekend.  I believe the Italian master is trying to get inside Marc Marquez’s head…Ben Spies is sitting out Round Three, still suffering the after-effects of his off-season shoulder surgery.  This will allow his team to endure its customary disappointment prior to the race, rather than afterwards.  Michele Pirro, former CRT slogger and current Ducati test rider, will take Spies’ place as a “wild card”, due to some typically convoluted rule from the Wizards of Odd at Dorna…To the relief of virtually no one, Karel Abraham is returning from his broken collarbone several weeks too early, despite what he refers to as “complications” from his injury.  I’d say the prospect of scoring zero points all year would qualify as a “complication” for someone in the racing business.

Colin Edwards, who as recently as 2011 finished ninth in the world, has yet to score a point this season.  Inasmuch as this trend seems likely to continue, Edwards has now joined that massive legion of athletes who clearly overstayed their welcome.  Colin should go back to Texas, scare up some sponsors, rent a handful of Yamaha engines for next season, and put a competitive CRT team together…How cool would it be to see Aleix Espargaro finish in the top nine this year?  The new softer slicks Bridgestone has prepared for the CRT entries appear to be helping.  The junior Ducati entries, Spies and Andrea Iannone, had better keep an eye on Aleix…With unemployment in Spain hovering around 28%–28%!!!–attendance is bound to be down this year.  Which is a shame, as Jerez is one of the great racing venues on the planet.  Given Spain’s now chronic employment woes, how much longer can we expect four MotoGP races on the Iberian Peninsula?

Your Weekend Forecast

The economy may suck, but the weather on the Spanish Riviera is still choice.  Weather.com is calling for sunny skies and temps in the low to mid-70’s.  Now, if we could just arrange a little plate of jamón, some young Manchega, a bottle of red and a handful of those tasty Spanish olives…

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MotoGP Circuit of the Americas 2013 Results

April 25, 2013

This article appears in its entirety at Motorcycle.com.  Photos by GEPA Pictures and respective teams.

Most MotoGP fans are likely to remember where they were during the inaugural Grand Prix of the Americas in 2013, where Repsol Honda rookie phenom Marc Marquez became the youngest rider ever to win a premier class race. Not content with being the youngest pole-sitter in MotoGP history, the charismatic Catalan stalked teammate Dani Pedrosa for 13 laps before going through effortlessly into a tie for the world title with defending champion Jorge Lorenzo. The new kid in town has arrived.

Suddenly, everyone else on the grid looks old, slow and uptight. Each time he’s interviewed, Marquez comes across as a happy, humble, regular kind of guy. Watching him come up through the 125s and Moto2, like a hot knife through butter, you got the clear impression he was going to be successful one day in the premier class.

Marc Marquez

In only his second race onboard the Honda RC213V, he has now come of age, at a track he is liable to dominate for the next decade. In so doing, he has become my favorite to win the 2013 world championship. Not to mention having eclipsed a record which had stood since 1982, when then Honda rookie Freddie Spencer won the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

For Honda, a Weekend to Remember

All weekend, the Hondas took to the COTA circuit like ducks to water. Similar to the rather clubby testing back in March, at which only five anointed riders participated, the Hondas eat up tracks like this, where riders spending roughly 25% of their lap times in first gear. (Too bad Casey Stoner isn’t here to slam it for being slow and boring.) People in the know refer to these circuits as “technical”, compared to the flowing layouts found at places like Mugello and Aragon, which are referred to as “fast.”

Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez

Marquez and Pedrosa dominated the timesheets all weekend, with Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo laboring to keep up, and his teammate Valentino Rossi having all kinds of problems, ranging from smoke and water damage to the bike (from a fire in the Tech 3 Yamaha garage on Thursday night) to braking issues. The two top non-factory riders, Stefan Bradl on the LCR Honda and Cal Crutchlow on the Tech 3 Yamaha, battled to stay in the conversation in practice knowing they would not make it to the podium on Sunday.

With Marquez, Pedrosa and Lorenzo starting on the front row, everyone made it safely through the slightly crazy Turn 1. Pedrosa and Marquez emerged in the lead, but Lorenzo, having tried to go airborne at the start, got bogged down and fell back to around fifth place. He got things squared away quickly, and went through on Bradl into third place at turn 19. Crutchlow, also starting poorly, went through on Bradl on Lap 9 into fourth place.

Jorge Lorenzo

Rossi, starting in the eight hole, would bring it back as far as sixth, in what must have been a painful flashback to last year. Meanwhile, Pedrosa and Marquez ran away from the field for their own intra-team battle. At turn seven on Lap 13, Marquez went through cleanly on Pedrosa and into the history books.

For Yamaha, a Weekend to Forget

So there was this little fire on Thursday night, which left the bikes of four teams covered in fire suppression foam and thoroughly watered down, to the detriment of everyone’s computers and electronics. (Were it not for the suppression system and quick response from Austin area firefighters, the factory Yamaha team might have lost six bikes worth $12 million; things could have been worse.)

Neither Lorenzo nor Rossi was able to do anything about the Repsol Hondas. Both were probably thinking about Jerez as they crossed the finish line, wishing to put this round behind them.

Cal Crutchlow

Cal Crutchlow had another superb weekend, after having told the press he would be happy finishing in the top six. His teammate and fellow Brit Bradley Smith announced that his goal for the weekend was to, ahem, finish the race, which would have been MY goal had they allowed fat old non-riders to compete. Smith drove his Yamaha into a barely-respectable 12th place finish, just behind the Power Electronics CRT bike piloted by Aleix Espargaro, clearly the cream of the current CRT crop.

For Ducati, Just Another Weekend

The race ended with the four Ducati entries occupying 7th (Andrea Dovizioso), 9th (Nicky Hayden), 10th (Andrea Iannone) and 12th (Ben Spies). Not quite as exhilarating as Qatar, when they finished 7-8-9-10. The Bologna factory has exactly one chance to put a rider on the podium this year, which would occur if a hurricane were to strike Mugello on race Sunday and red flag the race after, say, three laps.

Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso

Dovizioso or Hayden could conceivably parlay a fast lap in qualifying into a second row start and, if some seriously bad luck or lightning struck an alien or two, slip one of the red bikes into the money before their tires started to go. Otherwise, fuggedaboutit.

All Dressed Up, Nowhere to Go

At the start of practice on Friday, 26 bikes graced the track, including the two wildcards, Attack Performance’s Blake  Young and GPTech’s Michael Barnes, but only 24 would actually start the race. Barnes failed to break the 107% threshold necessary to qualify, while Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham sustained a broken right collarbone following a collision with Gresini’s Bryan Staring in Q1. With a titanium plate and seven screws in place, Abraham is questionable for Jerez. Young managed 21st place, which sounds a lot better than “finished last, a lap down.”

Aleix Espargaro

By the way, the best quote of the weekend came from Crutchlow, who observed, “If you mess up on Turn 2, you’ve messed up for (the next) nine corners.”

The Big Picture

While the season is still young, it looks as if young Marquez and veteran Lorenzo will be the primary combatants for the 2013 title. Rossi is again relevant, but cannot afford too many outings like today. And Dani Pedrosa must be sick to his stomach facing the possibility that he has missed his last best chance for a championship. He is in danger of becoming that most pitiable of athletes, the guy who dominated his sport but never earned a ring. Think Karl Malone, John Stockton and Charles Barkley of the NBA. Think Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson of the NFL. Or Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski of MLB. Plenty of fame and fortune, all of which they might have gladly traded for a championship.

Marc Marquez
2013 MotoGP Top Ten Standings After Two Rounds
Pos. Rider Team Points
1 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda 41
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory 41
3 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 33
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory 30
5 Cal Crutchlow Monster Tech3 Yamaha 24
6 Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 18
7 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Factory 18
8 Nicky Hayden Ducati Factory 15
9 Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 13
10 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 11

Next Up: The Road to Jerez

MotoGP next heads to Europe for the first time this season, for the first of four grands prix in Spain. Given the fact that Honda, Yamaha and even Ducati have all enjoyed recent success in southern Spain, we are reluctant to characterize Jerez as “technical” or “fast.” Let’s split the difference, and just call it “awesome.”

Yamaha Girls

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MotoGP 2013 Qatar Results

April 8, 2013

An edited version of this story appears on Motorcycle.com, complete with high-rez images.

Lorenzo rules in defense of his title; Rossi second 

Under the lights of Losail, Jorge Lorenzo led the big bikes of the MotoGP premier class on a merry chase from wire to wire, winning the season opener without breaking a sweat.  He was joined on the podium by prodigal son and teammate Valentino Rossi, whose return from two years in exile couldn’t have been much more exciting.  Standing in third position on the podium was Wonder Kid Marc Marquez, who punked Repsol Honda teammate and preseason favorite Dani Pedrosa for the first of what promises to be many podium celebrations for the young Spaniard.

Past, Present and Future Champions full final

The new qualifying format, the Q1 preliminaries and the Q2 finale, resulted in an odd starting grid.  It included satellite Yamaha Brit Cal Crutchlow in second position, ahead of Pedrosa, whose weekend was basically terrible.  Qualifying in fourth on the Ducati—surprise surprise—was Andrea Dovizioso, while the best Marquez could manage was 6th.  Rossi starting in seventh place was more disappointing than surprising.

At the start, with 24 bikes on the grid, it looked like a Moto2 race on steroids. Lorenzo held his lead in turn one, stayed clean, put 20 meters between himself and the field, and began laying down sub-1:56 laps one after another in a fashion Nick the Announcer characterized as “metronomic.”  I might have chosen “piston-like.”

Behind him, however, it was bedlam.

Midway through the first lap, surging in 4th or 5th position, Rossi traded paint with Dovizioso, stood the bike up, and ended up back in seventh place, with the difficult Stefan Bradl and his factory spec Honda obstructing his efforts.  Pedrosa and Crutchlow had settled into second and third, respectively, and the Brit was grinding his teeth to dust trying to put Pedrosa behind him, with no success.  (Crutchlow, after a highly encouraging weekend and a front row start, ended up in fifth place, but not without a fight.)

Reviewing my notes, during Lap 2 I wrote “Here comes MM.”  Marquez, after a subdued start, started knocking down opponents like tenpins.  On Lap 2 he went through on Dovizioso into 4th place.  He passed Crutchlow on Lap 4 into 3rd, where he began actively disrespecting Pedrosa, even with an angry Brit glued to his pipes.  With Lorenzo by now having disappeared, things stayed mostly like this for the next 13 laps, at which point Marquez insolently moved past Pedrosa into 2nd.  A Lorenzo-Marquez-Pedrosa podium, at that point, looked pretty good.

Not so fast.  As tomorrow’s headlines will scream, “Rossi is BACK!”

On Lap 8, Rossi weaseled his Yamaha through on Bradl into 5th place.  Shortly thereafter, Bradl crashed out, apparently stunned at the difference between Vale 2012 and Vale 2013.  Having disposed of the German, and with a podium finish dominating his thoughts, Rossi gave us a 2008 vintage comeback.  He drew a bead on Crutchlow’s back and started laying down his own string of 1:56 laps until Lap 18, when he went through on the determined Brit who, trying to keep up, went hot into the next turn and took a brief detour across the lawn and out of contention.

Now running fourth and fast, seeing red (and orange) with two Repsol Hondas in front of him, Rossi gave us five of the most enjoyable laps EVER.  The Doctor went through on Pedrosa on Lap 19 and schooled rookie Marquez on Lap 20.  Marquez, not inclined to accept such a lesson gracefully, came right back at him.  After a few position swaps, Rossi eventually prevailed.  Thus, in some seven minutes, we were graced with a riveting tire-to-tire fight between the Future and the Past of grand prix racing excellence.  Score one for the old guy.

At the end of the day, or perhaps Monday morning local time, we find ourselves gleeful over the return of Butch and Sundance in the Yamaha garage, fascinated with Marquez, and feeling a little bad for Dani Pedrosa.  Pedrosa, who had won six of the last eight races in 2012 and had been lighting up the timesheets all winter, never got it rolling in Qatar.  The good news is that he is starting the season healthy, with arguably the fastest bike on the grid under him.  The bad news is that he was mostly a non-factor all weekend.  We will write this off as one bad outing, pending his performance in Texas in two weeks.

Ten Things We Learned at Losail 

  1. Jorge Lorenzo is not going to surrender his title willingly.  Someone is going to have to step up and TAKE it from him.
  2. Valentino Rossi is a legitimate threat to do just that.
  3. Marc Marquez’s future is so bright, he needs Ben Spies’ Ray-Ban contract.
  4. Andrea Dovizioso is going to have a long two years.  The 2013 Ducati is maybe a half step faster than the Power Electronics ART bikes.
  5. Contrary to his pronouncement last week, Colin Edwards is not going to run at the top of the CRT charts.
  6. The new qualifying format is a cluster.
  7. A podium celebration without champagne is like kissing your sister through a screen door in a submarine.
  8. If I were Herve Poncharal, I’d feel a lot more comfortable with Scott Redding in my #2 seat than Bradley Smith.  Redding would have won the Moto2 race today if he hadn’t been carrying 20 more pounds than Espargaro.  Just sayin’.
  9. Having two Czech riders, Karel Abraham and Lukas Pesek, on the grid is about the same as having one.
  10.   Hector Barbera will not qualify 22nd very often this season.

The Big Picture

The Grand Prix of Qatar is so different from any other race on the calendar—sand, lights, night racing, etc.—that it doesn’t make much sense to project forward based upon what took place today.  But the Repsol Honda team is already, after one round, being forced to play catch-up to the Bruise Brothers on the factory Yamahas.  Jorge Lorenzo would have been even more comfortable sailing in front of the fray had he known that his wingman was back there harassing and eventually disposing of the big bad RC213V’s.  On the other hand, for Lorenzo, having Rossi as his “wingman” may be only a temporary convenience.  It was only three years ago that the two rivals needed a wall built between them in the garage.

Over on the CRT side of the tracks, teammates Aleix Espargaro and Randy de Puniet are once again the class of the class.  If anyone looks capable of giving them a run, it may be Avintia Blusens’ Hector Barbera or, my personal fave, Yonny Hernandez on the PBM ART.

On to Austin

Two weeks hence MotoGP will descend upon Austin, Texas for the inaugural Grand Prix of the Americas, so named because the race organizers could not come up with anything MORE pretentious.  It is always fun to watch the riders attack unfamiliar circuits, and COTA may have a leavening effect on the field, removing some of the advantage enjoyed by the veteran riders who know every crack and crevice at places like Mugello, to the benefit of the rookies

For his part, Marc Marquez doesn’t appear to need any more advantages.

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2013 MotoGP Qatar Preview

April 5, 2013

An article similar to this appears at Motorcycle.com, with some great images.  Here is the raw version.

Pedrosa, Marquez feeling it as the season begins 

When last we left our brave young men, they were engaged in a damp all-day Valenciana crashfest that saw eight riders exit the racing surface prematurely and allowed Yamaha factory test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga the feel good moment of the season with his easy second-place finish.  Starting the season under the lights of Doha, there appear to be four Aliens in 2013, as Casey Stoner has retired, for now, while rookie Marc Marquez joins returning alum Valentino Rossi in the premier class fast lane.  They, along with 2012 runner-up Dani Pedrosa, will set off under the lights on Sunday night in the hope of taking down two time champion Yamaha icon Jorge Lorenzo. 

Judging from the changes that have occurred in the field since last November, as well as the results of the off-season testing runs, it appears that the 24 bike premier class breaks fairly cleanly into several distinct gaggles:

The Aliens—Honda and Yamaha Factory studs Pedrosa, Marquez, Lorenzo and Rossi.  These four guys should account for 95% of the podium spots in 2013.  Rossi has something to prove after two years lollygagging on the Ducati.  Has he lost a step?  Probably.  Is he still good enough to compete for a podium every week on the factory Yamaha?  You betcha.  Marquez appears to be the fastest thing since Lorenzo in 2008.  We’ll look at how these aliens started their careers in a moment, in order to gauge expectations for young Marquez.

The Lurkers—Cal Crutchlown on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, Stefan Bradl on the LCR Honda and Alvaro Bautista on the GO & FUN Gresini Honda.  If one or two of the Aliens falter, one of these guys could snag a podium this season.  Crutchlow’s reluctant decision to stay on the satellite Yamaha will look much better when he finishes in the Top 6 and Dovizioso has to work to make the Top 10.  Bradl will probably have to wait for Pedrosa to retire or move on before he gets his Repsol factory ride.  And Bautista keeps on being the best rider available for Fausto Gresini, although the two don’t seem to get along all that well.

Good, but not Very Good—Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Ducatis and rookie Bradley Smith on the satellite Yamaha.  These three will have to work like crazy or pray for rain to see many Top 6 finishes.  Hayden appears to be in his last contract with Ducati, while Dovizioso has rented, if not sold, his soul for two years of all-Italian inconsequentiality.  Smith was, and remains, a rather curious choice for promotion from Moto2.  Reasonable to assume the team knows more about him than do I.

Pramacs and Aspars—The teams of rookie Andrea Iannone and veteran Ben Spies on the “junior” Ducati Desmosedicis, and top CRT teammates Aleix Espargaro and Randy de Puniet on the Aprilia-powered ART frankenbikes.  Ducati says they expect Spies and Iannone to be competitive this year.  Hope their happy competing with the top CRT guys, and not the factory entries.  It seems to me that the last few seasons, the only competition for the Ducati bikes was other Ducatis.  Just sayin’.

Group Five—Not sure what else to call Avintia Blusens teammates Hectic Hector Barbera and Hiro Aoyama on their Kawasaki-powered FTR machines.  Danillo Petrucci, the second-year senior of the two IodaRacing entries, joins Karel Abraham, working his way downhill on the new Cardion CRT entry.  These four will just have to entertain each other most weeks, as they will seriously lag Pramac-Aspar and will generally lead this last bunch.

This Last Bunch—must have located sponsors needing huge tax losses, as there is not much here.  Yonny Hernandez and Michael Laverty on the Paul Byrd Motorsports combo.    Forward Racing teammates Colin Edwards and rookie Claudio Corti, moving up from Moto2.  Finally, you have Lukas Pesek, the junior IodaRacing entry, and Bryan Staring, the junior Gresini (CRT) entry whose hopes are as faint as the dried wings of a dragonfly.  Of these six riders, I expect four to still be turning laps when Valencia rolls around.

Alien Debut Seasons

ROOKIE STATS ARTICLE 1

This chart says it all.  I’ve taken the liberty of predicting Marc Marquez’s statistics for the season.  He’ll need a year or two to learn how to stay aboard the RC213V.  Once he does, he’ll be a consistent winner for as long as he wants.  Someone needs to remind me in November to compare these numbers to his actual.    But, for the record, let me just state here and now that Marquez, no matter how brilliant his rookie season may turn out to be, will not finish at Laguna Seca.

So, the expectation here is that excitable boy Marquez will easily win Rookie of the Year, will set a few rookie records, and will crash often enough to stay out of serious contention for the title.  Pedrosa looks as if this may be his year, but Lorenzo already has two titles and Rossi seven, and they will have plenty to say about who takes it home in 2013.

Late News

As we approach deadline, one item passed across the wire that inspire hope in our hearts.  The first is that Suzuki is apparently going to try to join the 2014 grid through a partnership with Aspar, with Randy de Puniet rumored to be under contract to test for Suzuki several times this season.  Aspar could easily mimic Fausto Gresini, with an “A” prototype bike under de Puniet and a “B” CRT entry.  One article I read described the new Suzuki as mad fast.  That’s good news. 

Round One:  The Losail Circuit, Doha, Qatar 

Once upon a time, Losail was spoken of as being “Ducati-friendly.”  Stoner won here in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and crashed out of the lead in 2010.  He returned to win again in 2011, but on the Repsol Honda.  Sadly, those were the days.  Rossi won on the Yamaha back in 2010, and Lorenzo captured the flag in 2012.  At this point, it’s safe to say only that one of the Aliens will win on Sunday.

Losail is long and wide and hot and gritty and dark, a layout that has favored the Yamaha in the recent past.  So far this year, it seems that every circuit on the calendar may be Honda-friendly, with a smaller number favoring the Yamaha.  2013, it appears, is Dani Pedrosa’s last best chance to capture a title.  Perhaps the Repsol team will haze the rookie, make him lie back and tangle with the Yamahas.  Doubtful.  But I expect Marquez to avoid contact with Pedrosa and invite it with Lorenzo and Rossi, which should make for exciting racing and some epic images of Marquez sailing over his handlebars.  See Lorenzo in China in 2008.

Lorenzo airborn on Saturday, finishes 2nd on Sunday!

Chineese GP 2008–Lorenzo airborne on Saturday, finishes 2nd on Sunday!

We’ll have race results for you late Sunday or early Monday.

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MotoGP 2012 Valencia Results

November 11, 2012

An edited version of this article, complete with hi-rez photos, will appear on Motorcycle.com today or tomorrow.  Until then, enjoy the raw version here.

Dani Pedrosa wins for the seventh time to close out 2012 

The Gran Premio Generali de la Communitat Valenciana got underway today in the worst weather conditions possible for MotoGP racing—half wet and half dry.  20 minutes before the start, the 22 crews were going completely mental, trying to decide whether to send their guys out on slicks, rain tires, or perhaps one of each.  The resulting demolition derby left eight riders licking their wounds in garages and provided perhaps the strangest podium of the year. 

Valencia was the fourth race of the season in which the rostrum featured the two Repsol Honda pilots, Pedrosa and the retiring Casey Stoner, flanking a factory Yamaha rider.  In each of the previous three—Jerez, Estroril and Laguna Seca—that rider was Jorge Lorenzo, who was today gunning for his 17th podium of the season.  Having clinched the 2012 championship last time out in Australia, it was the only goal left for him today, but it was a biggie, an all-timer that might have stood for years.  Today, however, the man in second place was Katsuyuki Nakasuga, the factory test rider assigned to take the injured Ben Spies’ seat for the finale.

To understand how this came to pass, we direct your attention to the fourth sentence of our preview article of Round One in Qatar back in April:

For the first time ever, the high fliers of MotoGP will be overtaking slower CRT bikes in the turns during the second half of races.  Courting disaster, if you ask me.

On Lap 14 today, race leader Lorenzo came up on the rear of the Paul Byrd Motorsports nag beneath James Ellison who, heading into the race, held 28 points, a complete non-factor all season, having already lost his seat for 2013 to “rider unknown, just not James Ellison.”  It appeared that Ellison was unaware of the major presence behind him, as he failed to yield and held his line in the turn, forcing Lorenzo to brake hard, move off the dry line, wobble furiously, and go airborne in a violent high side that ended his day and hopes of securing a spot in MotoGP history.  With Lorenzo in the gravel, Ellison plodded on, apparently unaware of the disaster he had just been involved in, only to come this close to repeating it two laps later with the new race leader, Pedrosa, who somehow managed to save his bike and day. 

 Cluster at the Start 

If you look up “mass confusion” in the dictionary, you’ll likely find a picture of the grid of today’s race, with the caption, “Pandemonium reigns at the start of a grand prix motorcycle race.”  Most of the riders chose rain tires for the start, with the notable exceptions of factory Yamaha riders Lorenzo and Nakasuga and rookie Stefan Bradl.  Four riders—Pedrosa, Crutchlow, Nicky Hayden and Alvaro Bautista—entered pit lane after the sighting lap to change bikes, preferring to start from there on slicks rather than from the grid on wets.  To illustrate the scale of disorder, the race leaders at the end of lap one, all on wet tires, were:

  1. CRT champ Aleix Espargaro
  2. Yamaha Tech 3 refugee Andrea Dovizioso
  3. Casey Stoner
  4. Lame duck Ducati icon Valentino Rossi, and
  5. Bradl, on the LCR Honda

The riders electing slicks gambled and won; the track dried fairly quickly, and the downpour forecast for later in the afternoon held off until the race had ended.   One by one, riders entered pit lane to ditch their wets in favor of slicks, with all losing at least 25 seconds and some as much as 40 in the process.  As these issues were getting sorted out, the crashing began:

  • Ducati’s Nicky Hayden, lap 3.
  • Avintia Blusens’ Ivan Silva, lap 3.
  • CRT back bencher Roberto Rolfo, lap 7.
  • Stefan Bradl, lap 10, making it six Valencia GPs in a row that he has failed to finish.
  • Lorenzo on lap 14
  • Pramac Ducati’s Hectic Hector Barbera, lap 17.
  • Claudio Corti, slated for a full time ride in 2013 for NGM Forward Racing, lap 18; and, finally,
  • Crutchlow, who crashed out of second place, lap 23.  Seems like Cal is most likely to crash out of races when he’s in the top three spots; guy needs to learn how to handle success a little better.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Nakasuga, visibly overwhelmed at the podium celebration and post-race press conference, had qualified in 16th place, about as expected, but followed teammate Lorenzo’s example at the start by choosing slicks.  Despite instructions from the brass not to trash the bike, he found himself somehow running in the top three, and keeping up nicely, by lap five.  Once Lorenzo and Crutchlow had left the building, he had second place pretty much to himself, providing the feel-good moment of the year.

Stoner, who fell to 16th place changing bikes, got his rhythm and began overtaking the field, eventually going through on Bautista’s San Carlo Honda on lap 29 for a fitting podium finish in his last outing.  Being Stoner, he had been quoted earlier in the weekend as “not being happy with the new tarmac.”  We will all miss his racing; I, for one, will not miss his incessant whining and complaining.  At the end of the race, we saw his pit board, which read “GONE FISHING.”  If the fish aren’t biting, I fully expect to see Casey quoted in the New South Wales paper complaining about his tackle and bait.

Michele Pirro, on his way to being evicted from the #2 seat at San Carlo Gresini, enjoyed a bit of paying forward by finishing sixth today, the best ever finish for a CRT bike.  Take THAT, Fausto.  Andrea Dovizioso, on his Tech 3 Yamaha for the last time, and Karel Abraham, likewise on his satellite Ducati for the last time, were the only other riders to finish on the lead lap.

Valentino Rossi, riding as the #1 factory Ducati rider for the last time, described the Circuit Ricardo Tormo this week as a “Mickey Mouse circuit.”  After qualifying in 11th place and finishing today’s race tenth, more than a lap down, I would have to describe his as a Minnie Mouse effort.  It’s hard to conclude that Rossi didn’t quit on his team today, and it appears he has also helped Filippo Preziosi lose his job as technical director at Ducati.

And So It Goes

MotoGP underwent a great deal of change this year, with more in store going forward, in the way of rules, riders, teams, and circuits.  The Next Great Rider, teenager Marc Marquez, moves up to take Casey Stoner’s seat on the Repsol Honda team starting Tuesday.  Marquez has millions of fans and almost as many critics of his aggressive riding style.  He won today’s Moto2 race after starting from the back of the grid, thanks to a close encounter with Simone Corsi on Friday.

Marquez will inject new life into the premier class, and appears ready to challenge for Alien status sooner rather than later.  To his critics, and to bring our coverage of MotoGP to a close for another year, we offer up a bit of Rudyard Kipling, from his poem entitled “If”:

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

…Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!”

                             — Rudyard Kipling

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MotoGP 2012 Phillip Island Results

October 28, 2012

An edited, slightly less entertaining version of this article appears on Motorcycle.com.

Stoner wins!  Pedrosa crashes!  Lorenzo clinches! 

In the 41 minutes it took to run the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, a number of pressing questions were resolved.  Would Repsol Honda top gun Casey Stoner be able to make it six wins in a row at his home crib?  Could teammate Dani Pedrosa make it four in a row for 2012?  Would factory Yamaha mullah Jorge Lorenzo pick up the three points on Pedrosa he needed to clinch the 2012 championship?  And, finally, would one of the local wallabies hop through the infield prior to the race as a reminder we were on the other side of the planet?  In order, the answers were:  Yes.  No.  Yes, and Yes. 

In front of 53,000 delirious fans, Casey Stoner, as is his wont, ran away from the field for his sixth consecutive premier class win in Australia.  Being the fastest rider on the fastest bike at the fastest track on the tour, there was little question that Stoner would go out in grand style in front of his homeys.  He was at the top of every single timesheet all weekend and never seriously threatened during the race itself.  Although he didn’t enjoy a great start, he oozed past Lorenzo on a decisive second lap into the lead and ended up winning by some nine seconds.

Want a good definition of the word “dominant”?  Over the last six years at Phillip Island, Casey Stoner led 160 of 162 laps.  Does that constitute perhaps the greatest home field advantage in the history of sports?  Tough question.  But the only good news about Stoner’s impending retirement—I read he’s moving on to automobile racing starting next year—is that someone else will have a chance to stand at the top of the podium next year at Phillip Island.

Pedrosa Finally Cracks

Dani Pedrosa came into the race today needing to make up 23 championship points in two races, an almost impossible task unless Lorenzo were to make some kind of uncharacteristic gaffe.  Despite having won five of the last six races, Pedrosa was unable to gain much ground on his consistent countryman.  As Pedrosa kept winning, and the deficit to Lorenzo shrank ever so slowly, pressure continued to build on the diminutive Spaniard.  Today, it found its release.

Starting from the front row, the three Aliens had good starts, with Stoner settling into third position while his tires warmed up.  Pedrosa put the pedal to the metal (?) and went through on Lorenzo into the lead midway through the first lap.  On lap two, Stoner went through on Lorenzo, and was dogging his teammate when Dani lost the front in a slow, arcing lowside that looked eerily like Simoncelli’s crash last year at Sepang.  Although he was able to re-mount his damaged bike, he entered pit lane moments later, his day, and year, suddenly over.

On the back nine of his MotoGP career at age 27, the brooding, introspective Pedrosa appears to be on his way to becoming one of those eternal runners-up.  Entering today’s race, he, Stoner and Lorenzo each had 44 career wins, a statistical anomaly of the first order.  But Stoner and Lorenzo have now each won two world championships, while Pedrosa has a fourth, three seconds, two thirds and about a pound of titanium plates and screws to show for his efforts since 2006.  I’m reminded of Fran Tarkington and Jim Kelly, both stellar NFL quarterbacks with 0-4 records in Super Bowls.  I’m thinking of Karl Malone, who played second fiddle to Michael Jordan all those years; in terms of championship rings, it ended up Jordan 6, Malone 0.  The difference between being a great athlete and a world champion often comes down to timing, luck, and karma, none of which Pedrosa seems to enjoy to any great degree.

From the Department of Idle Speculation, we believe next season may be his last to capture a world championship.  He will have Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi to deal with on the factory Yamahas—ugh—as  well as his new teammate, Alien-in-waiting Marc Marquez, who himself clinched the Moto2 title today.  Pedrosa should be able to contain Marquez during his rookie season, but the New Kid in Town looks ready to start winning premier class titles sooner rather than later.  And Lorenzo, hard as nails and regular as a piston, is two years younger than Pedrosa, who will turn 30 during the 2014 season.

Winning a title is not going to get any easier for Dani Pedrosa.

Image2012 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo—First Spanish Double World Champion

As dominant as the Spanish riders in all three classes are these days, it’s surprising to me that Lorenzo is the first to win two premier class titles.  The secrets to his success are, in my opinion, consistency and a crystal clear understanding of what he is capable and incapable of doing on a Yamaha M1.  He has matured greatly since joining the premier class in 2008, and in mid-career is at the top of his game.  Assuming he podiums in Valencia, he will set a new MotoGP record by recording 17 podium finishes in one season.  That, folks, is consistency.

In several respects, Lorenzo’s Yamaha has some disadvantages compared to the Repsol Honda RC213V, most notably the Honda’s superior acceleration coming out of turns.  This is not to say that the factory Yamaha is a tortoise compared to the Repsol hare.  But it does back up the assertion by many knowledgeable MotoGP people that grand prix racing is 80% rider and 20% bike.

Congratulations to Jorge Lorenzo on a stellar 2012.  I’m pretty sure this will not be his last world championship celebration.

Sidebars

Cal Crutchlow, who had failed to finish four of the last six races, spent a lonely, productive day in third place for his second career premier class podium.  His post-race comments about the inadvisability of going after Lorenzo today were a hoot…Andrea Dovizioso spent his day fighting with satellite Honda pilots Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista, finally going through on both simultaneously late in the last lap for a well-earned fourth place finish…Two of the best battles of the day were intra-team affairs.   Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden played grab-ass all day long, with Rossi prevailing for another ho-hum seventh place finish.  And Power Electronics’ Aleix Espargaro essentially clinched the imaginary CRT championship by out-racing teammate Randy de Puniet for an 11-point lead heading back to Spain.  De Puniet would have to finish, like, sixth at Valencia for any chance to outpoint his teammate, and THAT’s not going to happen.

On to Valencia

And so the grid heads back to Europe for the annual Valenciana Anti-Climax, with nothing on the line, as usual.  Rather than running another meaningless season-ending parade, I think Dorna should organize Valencia as a series of three lap match race heats, with the winners facing off for a five lap finale:

  • Stoner vs. Lorenzo vs. Pedrosa
  • Crutchlow vs. Dovizioso
  • Hayden vs. Rossi
  • Bautista vs. Bradl
  • Barbera vs. Abraham
  • Espargaro vs. de Puniet

Let the winners of each heat compete for a big cash prize, and start them on the grid in the reverse order of their finishing times in the heats, handicapping the field so even Abraham or de Puniet might have a chance to win.  Something like this, it seems, would be a more interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon on the Iberian peninsula than watching 21 guys compete for a title that has already been decided.

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MotoGP 2012 Motegi Preview

October 10, 2012

The pressure on Dani Pedrosa grows at Round 15

It is with divided loyalties that MotoGP blows into The Land of the Rising Sun for the first round of its annual three-round Pacific swing.  Fans excited by the prospect of a meaningful final tilt, a Game 7, in Valencia are virtually forced to project bad karma at factory Yamaha numero uno Jorge Lorenzo.  Unless he suffers some major misfortune, it will be almost impossible for him not to clinch the 2012 championship before returning to Spain in November. 

In my half-baked Theory of MotoGP, the numbers are working so hard against Repsol Honda hope Dani Pedrosa that he will be forced to press.  In order to have a thought of knocking off Lorenzo in Valencia, Pedrosa must virtually run the table.  Win three rounds and place at Phillip Island ahead of Lorenzo in third.  Meanwhile, let’s say Lorenzo loafs his way to a second and two thirds heading to Valencia.  A fifth place finish there would close out the title.  However, as many of you continue to remind me, a lot can happen on two wheels at 160 mph.

So, not only must Dani Pedrosa approach perfection for the rest of the year, he must hope for bad luck, i.e., mechanical issues, for Lorenzo.  The resulting pressure to perform, so to speak, is so intense that most riders fold.  Unless Dani Pedrosa is simply faster than everyone out there for the remaining races, he is going to have dogfights coming at him from not only Lorenzo, but teammate Casey Stoner, who has only a handful of races left to cement his legacy, the occasional Valentino Rossi, and the Bobsey twins over at Tech 3 Yamaha, Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow.  Think Honda rookie Stefan Bradl wouldn’t like to punk Dani Pedrosa, the legendary Dani Pedrosa, in his award-winning first season?

My half-baked theory closes with the observation that Lorenzo excels at just the type of work he must do for the rest of the year.  Turn consistent, efficient laps, don’t take any extra risks, play the percentages, and take home the 2012 trophy.  Back when he first came up, he was reckless, impatient and headstrong, and spent a lot of time in hospitals.  These days, he has matured and mostly overcome his Latin excitability.  Lorenzo might not have won the title had Casey Stoner remained healthy all year.  But then, as they say, if bullfrogs could fly, they wouldn’t bump their asses so often, either.

Recent History at Motegi

2009 was the year of Fiat Yamaha domination, and it was on display at Motegi that April. Lorenzo edged Rossi by a second ahead of Pedrosa, Stoner and Dovizioso.  The race that year was early in the season, too early to provide any sense of direction as to how it might proceed from there.  How it proceeded was with Rossi easily winning his 9th overall title and 7th in the premier class.

In 2010, Pedrosa crashed hard in practice when his throttle stuck open, fracturing his collarbone and basically handing the 2010 title to Jorge Lorenzo.  Casey Stoner drove his Ducati to the win, followed by Dovizioso, Rossi and Lorenzo.

In 2011, Rossi crashed out early on his Ducati, leaving the way open for Pedrosa to cruise to an easy win.  He was followed to the flag by Lorenzo and Stoner, who completed the podium.  In the best run of the day, Marco Simoncelli piloted his Gresini Honda to fourth place, sneaking past Dovizioso and his factory Honda by 14/100ths of a second at the flag.

Home for Honda

Motegi is without question home to Honda Racing Corporation; the oval ring was built by the Honda car people in order to figure out how to run on Indy Car ovals.  The road layout, a series of hairpin turns connecting a handful of mini-straights, puts a premium on corner exit speed, at which the RC213V excels.  Not a place where you spend a lot of time at top speed, if you ever hit it at all.  In short, a place where Honda should dominate.

But they don’t.  Over the past six years each of the big three manufacturers has won twice here.  Given the standings, I think Pedrosa and Stoner may manage to get away from Lorenzo and the Yamahas on Sunday.  Lorenzo will want to finish on the podium, but not in any particular position.  Just showing up in the top three every week will make Pedrosa’s job virtually impossible. Finally, I can’t wait to hear Casey Stoner complaining about stuff again.  To think I actually missed a month of his rants.  What will next year be like?

Musical Chairs in CRT Land

Rider news at the lower reaches of the MotoGP food chain.  Ivan Silva, rudely dismissed by Avintia Blusens earlier in the year, was warmly welcomed back after the team had watched his replacement, David Salom, pedal around Aragon and Misano, with only a DNF and a 15th to show for his trouble…Aleix Espargaro and Randy de Puniet re-upped with their successful Power Electronics Aspar team for another season, after trouncing their CRT competitors and occasionally putting it to the likes of Karel Abraham and Hector Barbera in 2012.

SpeedTV.com reported former Moto2 rider Roberto Rolfo will replace Mattia Pasini on the Speed Master ART machine…Team Yamaha announced it is bringing back factory test rider and fan fave Katsuyuki Nakasuga for another weekend of racing.  The KatMan has amassed 11 championship points during the past two MotoGP campaigns doing hometown cameos and emergency fill-ins.

News from Deep In the Heart

Circuit of the Americas (COTA) announced recently that they will be filling one of the two April holes on the provisional 2013 calendar with the inaugural…what?  Texas Grand Prix?  Another U.S. Grand Prix, This One in Texas?  Anyway, the event, the first of a ten year deal, kicks off the weekend of April 21.  It will be interesting to see how the art of racetrack design has improved over the last generation.

The other hole in the provisional calendar occurs the preceding weekend, in what is expected to become Round Two.  If you believe what you read, that event will end up being held in Argentina, India or Portugal. Any such an arrangement would produce another hellish week of travel.  If nothing gets worked out, there will be a bit of an early season holiday, after Round One in Qatar.

MotoGP needs fewer press conferences announcing new locations, and more new locations.  Argentina and India would be sensational markets for this sport, which is heavily Euro-centric at a time when European economies are struggling.  A third U.S. round is great, as the U.S. is fertile turf for grand prix racing.  A new country, and a venue that could hold 150,000 fans on Sunday, would be exactly what this sport needs.

Let’s Not Even Bother with the Weather

Am I the only one who misses having the Rizla Suzuki team in the house?

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MotoGP 2012 Brno Results

August 26, 2012

An edited version of this article can be found at Motorcycle.com.

Pedrosa Captures Last Lap Thriller; Race Tightens Again

Last week we suggested that Brno is one of the Yamaha-friendly tracks on the MotoGP circuit, and that factory stud Jorge Lorenzo might well add to his lead in the 2012 championship this weekend.  The top of the practice sheets during the run-up to the race reminded me of a bad 60’s rock-and-roll band—Dani and the Yamahas.  In the end, Repsol Honda mighty mite Pedrosa held off Lorenzo in a stirring last lap to venture within 13 points of the lead for the 2012 title.

With teammate Casey Stoner missing in action due to the ankle injury he suffered at Indianapolis, Pedrosa carried the hopes and expectations of the entire Honda nation into the Czech Republic.  In FP1, he recorded the fastest time, with the next four going to Yamahas.  In FP2, it was pretty much the same story, with Ben Spies falling to eighth.  FP3 virtually duplicated FP1.  During qualifying, Pedrosa crashed early, and had to resort to his #2 bike to finish the session.  Although he struggled somewhat, he eventually captured the last spot on the front row, wedged in between Yamaha stalwarts Lorenzo, Cal Crutchlow, Spies, and Andrea Dovizioso.

In 2010 and 2011 we watched week after week as Jorge Lorenzo would get double-teamed by Hondas—Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli all taking turns making life difficult for the Mallorcan.  Though Lorenzo prevailed in 2010, the numbers last year were too much to overcome, as Stoner rode his RC213V to the title.  As today’s race began, I was thinking it wasn’t going to be Pedrosa’s day, going one-on-four with Yamaha M1s well-suited to the flowing layout of Brno.

Brno 2012:  One for the Pedrosa Family Scrapbook

The race started predictably enough, with Pedrosa sandwiched in between Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow’s Tech 3 Yamaha.  Once everyone’s tires were warm, Lorenzo and Pedrosa went off alone to do their business, with Crutchlow and his teammate Dovizioso falling back to 3rd and 4th.  Valentino Rossi, who had started from the six hole, his best start of a miserable year, materialized in fifth place, although his GP12 was smoking like a ’62 Rambler.  Satellite Honda dudes Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl trailed Rossi, but not by much and not for long.

For the first half of the race, the only real action was the battle for 5th, as rookie Bradl, looking exceptionally Aryan, went through Bautista on Lap 5 and Rossi on Lap 9.  Pedrosa, who had spent 12 laps admiring his reflection in Lorenzo’s chrome, passed him cleanly on Lap 13 but was unable to get away, the hunter having become the hunted.  Things would remain this way until the last lap of the race.

On Lap 22, Lorenzo, who had been hoping to pressure Pedrosa into a mistake for nine laps, took matters into his own hands and went through on Pedrosa with half a lap left in the race.  Pedrosa, who in past years might have surrendered at this point, stiffened and, in an impressive display of mental strength, bike and balls, seized the lead back from Lorenzo in the last few turns to win by 2/10ths of a second, leaving the fans and the announcers gasping for air.

When Dani Pedrosa’s racing career is over, he will undoubtedly look back at this race as one of his finest hours.  Severely outnumbered, on a track favoring his opponents, and with no room to fall farther back from the championship lead, he held his ground, ran an exceptionally smart race, and snatched victory from the proverbial jaws of defeat.  He has now won three of the last five races after going oh-for-7 at the beginning of the season.  And if he ends up winning the 2012 title, a prospect I find dubious, history may decide that he took the first, or perhaps second, step at Brno.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Cal Crutchlow, newly re-signed on a one year deal with Herve Poncharal’s Tech 3 Yamaha team, spent the day by himself in 3rd place, capturing the first podium for a British rider since one Jeremy McWilliams at Donington in 2000.  Crutchlow’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso, who, during the week, finally signed his two year contract with Ducati, celebrated by finishing off the podium for only the second time in the last six rounds.  Riding for Ducati for the next two years, there’s no point in getting too used to the champagne celebrations, I guess.

Rookie of the Year Stefan Bradl finished the day in 5th place, another superb result for the young German, trailed by underachiever Alvaro Bautista on the San Carlo Gresini Honda.  There is a lot of chatter these days regarding the prototype seat on Fausto Gresini’s team for next season, with Ben Spies among those riders rumored to be taking Bautista’s job.  Were it not for Marc Marquez, Bradl might have been a contender to join Pedrosa on the Repsol factory team next season.  As it is, he will have to wait another two years, at least.

Spots seven through ten were captured, in order, by Rossi, Randy de Puniet, Karel Abraham and Aleix Espargaro.  Teammates RDP and Espargaro would, in a perfect world, be candidates for prototype bikes next year, as they are clearly the cream of the CRT crop.  Alas, the Yamahas and Hondas are all pretty well allocated for 2013, with the possible exception of the San Carlo Honda.  If given the choice between staying with their current team or saddling up a satellite Ducati next season, I’m not sure how they would go.  Their ART bikes seem to give them an equal chance of finishing in the top ten, with far less chance of getting launched into a low Earth orbit by the demonic Desmosedici.

Three Final Thoughts

Without wishing to take anything away from Dani Pedrosa’s glittering 2012 season, we should not lose sight of the fact that, were it not for Alvaro Bautista’s boneheaded move at Assen, which removed Jorge Lorenzo from the proceedings, Pedrosa could easily trail Lorenzo by 33 points today, rather than 13.  Yeah, I know, luck figures heavily in this sport, you gotta take the good with the bad, etc., etc.  But Pedrosa has been pretty fortunate this year, perhaps a cosmic payback for some of the bad luck he’s had during his career, in the form of brake failures, Marco Simoncelli and more.

The six engine rule may play a part in the final third of the season.  Lorenzo was racing his fifth engine today, while Pedrosa was still working his fourth.  With a third of the season yet to come, and Lorenzo having blown one in the collision with Bautista in Holland, things could get a little tight for Lorenzo at the end of the season.  It’s hard to imagine the governing body of any major motorsport agreeing to a completely arbitrary rule that could have a material outcome on one of their championships.  Yet that’s exactly what we might have in store for in 2012.

Finally, the super slo-mo cameras that MotoGP is using this year, at 2500 frames per second, give a completely different view of this sport than that seen by fans at the track.  Through these cameras, you can watch the frames of the bikes flexing, and see the rear tires turning faster than the front, constantly spinning.  You also get the clear impression that the rider and the machine are bonded into a single unit, a completely different aspect from any form of auto racing.  It’s a shame that motorcycle racing in the United States is a fringe sport, while auto racing is a big deal.  At 2500 frames per second, there is no comparison.

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MotoGP 2012 Indianapolis Preview

August 14, 2012

An edited version of this article, and some  fab high-rez images, will appear on Motorcycle.com on Wednesday or Thursday.  In the meantime, enjoy this in its original state.

Aliens Take Aim at the IMS Infield Track

At Laguna Seca, Repsol Honda’s receding star, Casey Stoner, laid down a statement:  Those of you who thought the 2012 championship was over should perhaps revisit this idea.  His solid win over factory Yamaha primo Jorge Lorenzo, with teammate Dani Pedrosa finishing third, brought the Australian to within 32 points of Lorenzo, heading into Round 11.  The diminutive Pedrosa, in the midst of an outstanding season, is also in the midst of his two rivals, trailing Lorenzo by 23.  All three need to eat their Wheaties this weekend.

The history of MotoGP at Indianapolis is starting to become etched in my mind, more than other circuits since I get better seats here in my home town.  The 2008 inaugural race was held during Hurricane Ike, and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, who became Yamaha’s  prodigal son this past week, tracked down Repsol Honda homeboy Nicky Hayden in a remarkably “wet race” called after 18 laps.  In 2009 Rossi, who could have slammed the door on teammate Lorenzo, instead crashed out as Lorenzo won going away, being joined on the podium by Alex de Angelis (?) and Nicky Hayden, the Kentucky Kid’s sole visit to the rostrum that season.  Back home again in Indiana.

Two years ago, Lorenzo led the series comfortably in the scorching heat at Indy.  Pedrosa unexpectedly dominated the race, and Lorenzo managed a satisfactory third, but the day belonged to Ben Spies. The American, in the middle of his Rookie of the Year season on the Tech 3 Yamaha, took the pole late in the QP, ran with the big dogs all day, and held on to second place, the first podium for a satellite Yamaha since Colin Edwards’ at Sepang in 2008.  Stoner wrestled with his Ducati all weekend, qualifying sixth and crashing out on lap eight.

Last year, Repsol Honda owned the world and the IMS, running away from the factory Yamahas.  Stoner and Pedrosa blew away Spies and Lorenzo, spoiling the young American’s second consecutive podium in his home crib.  It marked Indianapolis’ first look at Valentino Rossi wearing (some) Ducati red, and it wasn’t pretty, as The Doctor qualified 14th and finished 10th, one of the most painful outings Rossi has endured in the premier class.  Ever.

Seeking a trend, we can summarize: Rossi and Hayden, Lorenzo and Hayden, Pedrosa and Spies, Stoner and Pedrosa.  Something for every taste and budget.  No telling who may have the hot hand this year, other than the Ducati boys, who won’t.

The MotoGP World Tips Slightly on its Axis

Whenever there is change on the factory teams, I go into a bit of altered consciousness trying to make the adjustments.  On the Repsol team–Stoner/Pedrosa to Pedrosa/Marquez.  On the Yamaha team–Lorenzo/Spies to Lorenzo/Rossi.

[Valentino Rossi back wearing Yamaha leathers in Alien-land.  The sun will rise in the east; all is again right with the world.  I’m flashing on baseball’s A-Rod, who went off to Texas to “win a championship” (good one, Alex) and ended up with the Yankees.]

At Ducati, Rossi/Hayden to Dovizioso/Hayden.  Audi has apparently been ordered by their new Italian employee to fix the GP12 or, um, well, actually, he’ll race for two years and leave in disgust after promising he won’t.  Perhaps Audi is already experiencing buyer’s remorse about owning the rights to an Andrea Dovizioso who feels free to tell them how to run their business.  Ducati is also said to be pursuing a new development strategy, fielding factory-supported A and B teams, grooming younger riders with big potential and wide shoulders to ride for their satellite squads.  See, Nicky Hayden, on a one year deal, is no spring chicken.  Just sayin’.

Andrea Dovizioso is additional proof that life on the factory teams, even Ducati, must be several orders of magnitude sweeter than life on the satellites.  Dovizioso, on the Tech 3 Yamaha, has been hammering podiums all year, and is intentionally throwing away any chance of continuing to do so for probably two full years, thus completing his personal negative career hat trick.  He got worked at Repsol Honda last year.  He got worked just last week by factory Yamaha.  And now he will turn himself inside out trying to race the Ducati, the Career Killer, for money.

Speaking of screwed, we’re witnessing the dizzying rise and fall of Cal Crutchlow, who took such an aggressive I’ll-Be-Doing-You-A-Bloody-Favor stance with the Bologna factory that they encouraged him to pound sand, as it were.  Crutchlow’s options, apart from remaining on the Tech 3 Yamaha, are few.  Cal needs new advisors less inclined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Next year, he won’t be the only Englishman on the grid, either.  There’ll be a new Brit in town, most likely Scott Redding.

Toni and the Wildcards

This, unfortunately, is not one of the bands you’ll hear in the infield this weekend.  With Hector Barbera questionable, dragging his three week old broken leg around, Toni Elias again brings his high-priced vagabond routine to the Pramac Ducati, which he was able to remain aboard at Laguna Seca for almost two full laps.

Steve Rapp returns with his Attack Performance Kawasaki-powered privateer after failing to qualify in Monterey.  He is joined by Aaron Yates, fronting for Hoosier-based GPTech, sporting another homegrown frame and powered by Suzuki, which is kind of an oxymoron, but they’re new, so we’ll overlook the irony.  Assuming one or both qualify, they’ll be battling with the CRT dregs and definitely trailing the Aprilia-powered ARTs beneath Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro.

Chasing Jorge Lorenzo

One of the things I’ve never spent much MotoGP energy on is arranging interviews with Big Stars.  This year, with a photographer and interpreter in tow, I’ve made a serious run at gaining an exclusive with Jorge Lorenzo Himself, as in Possibly This Year’s Repeat World Champion.  This would be a huge score amongst the gearheads who edit and publish this stuff, and would raise my stature with them immeasurably, given how low the bar currently sits.

Somehow, I located the email address of the Yamaha team flack, Mr. Gavin Matheson.  My proposal to him, in exchange for 10 minutes with his guy, was drinks and dinner at my place for him and Jorge, grilling some fresh salmon and Indiana sweet corn, with local summer tomatoes on the side.  Some down time away from the track, kickin’ it, with a Rolling Stone-style feature spread on the Motorcycle.com website the following day.  A few really penetrating questions, more to do with his private life and interests than bike stuff and the whole internationally-famous-jock-who-can’t-go-anywhere-in-Spain-without-armed-guards thing.

It’s not happening.

Gavin on Monday assured me that despite his almost overwhelming personal desire to see Jorge’s smiling face on the Motorcycle.com site, Jorge’s interview schedule is already jam-packed, which allows him time for video interviews, but not much else.  Here at Motorcycle.com we don’t take that kind of thing personally.  We are still young, and there will be plenty of other grands prix at which Lorenzo, perhaps even Rossi, will become putty in our hands, revealing things in This Publication that you can’t get anywhere else.

Just not this weekend.

Your Hurrying Hoosier Forecast

Indiana has been broiling all summer; last week I cut my lawn for the first time since, like, May.  But the weather forecast for race weekend is dry with temps in the 70’s.  The IMS has been promoting the race hard this year, and attendance is expected to be up, way in excess of what they drew at the “U.S.” Grand Prix in frigging California.  The Gen Con Convention is in town this weekend, billing itself as “the original, longest running, best attended, gaming convention in the world.” And Indy Fringe brings its “offbeat theatrical (freak) show” to Mass Ave. for 11 days starting on the 17th.

Let’s review.  On Friday and Saturday nights we’ll have thousands of motorheads, gamers, and thespians sharing the same space downtown. The opportunities for some epic flash mobs are virtually endless.  I’m taking the family down for a good old Hoosier family funfest on Saturday night, with pictures to follow.  Check back here on Sunday night or Monday for the race story.

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MotoGP 2012 Laguna Seca Results

July 29, 2012

An edited version of this article will appear on Motorcycle.com on Monday, complete with hi-rez photos.  Until then, please enjoy this summary of the MotoGP 2012 U.S. Grand Prix.

Stoner Outduels Lorenzo in Replay of 2011 Classic

Defending world champion Casey drove his Repsol Honda RC213V past Yamaha mullah Jorge Lorenzo into the lead on Lap 22 of today’s U.S. Grand Prix for a convincing and refreshing win, his third at Laguna Seca.  This turn of events provided observers with a startling déjà vu of last year’s race.  Stoner’s Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa finished third both years, adding the same eerie similarity to the podium celebration and post-race press conference.

I knew something weird was happening in Monterey when I glanced at the results of the first two practice sessions and noticed that the top five spots in each were identical.  FP3 was mostly fogged out, and the Repsol Honda team blew it off in the garage playing euchre rather than tackling The Corkscrew blindfolded.  Lorenzo snatched the pole from Stoner on the last lap of the QP, and then Stoner topped Lorenzo in the warm-up practice on Sunday morning by a full 1/1000th of a second, after waiting an hour for the fog to clear.  Although the podium duplicated last year’s rostrum, the lead-up to the weekend was vastly different.

Recall last year.  Heading to California, Stoner was enjoying a string of seven straight podium finishes, and led defending champion Lorenzo by 15 points.  Lorenzo had been having a great season until he crashed out at Silverstone and finished a lowly sixth at Assen.  Curiously, on Saturday Stoner had given himself virtually no chance of winning, all but conceding the round to his Alien rivals, a master class in sandbagging.

Despite having amassed a total of eight (8) points in the last two rounds and trailing Lorenzo by 37, Stoner started this weekend quick and got better each day.  Curiously, he was the only one of the top six riders to choose the softer option rear tire on a day when the sun was quickly heating the racing surface.  My thought was he would try to jump out to the lead and hope his tire held up long enough to fend off his challengers late in the race.  And though he was able to go through on Pedrosa on lap 3, it took him 22 laps to pass Lorenzo.  At that point I, for one, expected the Spaniard to win the race, thinking that his rear tire would outlast Stoner’s.

Wrong.  The Australian did a masterful job managing his rubber, and still looked strong at the end of the day.  Lorenzo, visibly exhausted after the race, didn’t have enough left in his tank to mount a serious rally at the end.  Pedrosa observed after the race that the soft tire was too soft and the hard tire had no grip, and seemed pleased to have finished third.

When the tire dust cleared, the standings at the top of the 2012 chart had tightened slightly.  Stoner became the first three-time winner at Laguna, where Hondas have won four of the eight races since 2005; it is inarguably a Honda-friendly layout.  Lorenzo, with four consecutive poles but only one win, enjoys a larger lead leaving California than when he arrived.  Pedrosa is, as yet, uninjured in 2012.  Heading into the summer break, everyone has something they can feel good about.

Well, Not Exactly Everyone

Laguna Seca lived up to its reputation as a thorny place to ride motorcycles at high speeds.  By lap 2, both CRT pilot Michele Pirro and Pramac Racing designated victim Toni Elias had crashed out.  Two CRT pilots retired with mechanical problems or, more likely, Corkscrew-induced psychological issues, and James Ellison crashed on lap 20.  None of these mishaps had anything to do with anything.

That would change on lap 22, when the luckless Ben Spies endured an ugly crash out of fourth place, ruining yet another weekend for the wayward American.  No one on the grid tries harder, or has less to show for his efforts.  As the old blues standard laments, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.”  Having injured his heel in a QP crash, Spies may have added to his medical woes ending his day with an Olympic-caliber double back flip in the tuck position, with a degree of difficulty of 4.3 out of 5.

The last and most surprising fall of the day occurred on lap 29, when Valentino Rossi, who never crashes, lost it at the top of the corkscrew for his first DNF of the season.  We knew Rossi had a lot on his mind before the race, with the speculation about his future with Ducati and rumors of a return to the factory Yamaha team swirling.  His Italian employers sent one of their Bigga Bosses to California to make The Doctor a final offer for next year, somewhere in the neighborhood of €17 million ($21 million) to waste another of the last few years of a great career wrestling the demonic Desmosedici.  Vale didn’t appear to have much on his mind at all after the crash, wandering around in the gravel looking like he’d had his bell rung, waiting for his own personal fog to clear.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Tech 3 Yamaha teammates Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow spent another lovely Sunday afternoon bashing each others’ brains in, finishing 4-5 for the fourth time this season.  Nicky Hayden, glowing after having signed another one year contract with the Italian factory, went through on rookie Stefan Bradl late in the day to claim 6th place, relegating the German to a still respectable 7th in his first visit to Laguna.

San Carlo Honda’s Alvaro Bautista started 7th and finished 8th, another nondescript day at the office for the young Spaniard.  Aleix Espargaro, clearly the cream of the CRT crop, finished ninth, with” Kareless” Abraham rounding out the top ten in his first return to action since Barcelona.

Bits and Pieces

The Hayden-Ducati marriage appears to work better for Nicky than for Ducati, as his best days are well behind him.  Over the past three seasons he’s managed a single third place finish each year, and the last of his three (3) premier class wins came back in 2006, when he somehow won the world championship with a thin 252 points.  (In 2008, Pedrosa would finish third with 249 points.)  Other than name recognition, the Kentucky Kid doesn’t bring much to the party any more.

Rumor has it that Fausto Gresini, the volatile manager of the San Carlo team, is courting Andrea Dovizioso to return to the Honda family that so unceremoniously dumped him last year.  Fausto has clearly lost whatever confidence he ever had in Bautista.  Whether he can convince Dovizioso to wear Honda colors again is problematic.  Personally, I think Dovizioso has earned the second factory Yamaha seat, and that Rossi could again be competitive on the factory-spec San Carlo Honda.

An interesting bit of trivia concerns the Constructors Trophy awarded each year to the manufacturer whose riders earn the most points.  Not surprisingly, Honda and Yamaha sit tied at the top of the pile.  But third place Ducati is much closer points-wise to the Aprilia ART bikes than to the two Japanese manufacturers.  We’ve come up with a term to describe the increasing irrelevance of the Ducati MotoGP program:  Suzukification.

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