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The State of the Game: MotoGP in 2014

March 23, 2014

Then, There Were Eight 

The decision, announced on February 28, 2014, that the once-proud Ducati factory would compete the 2014 MotoGP season on the “Open” side of the tracks suggests that Dorna chieftain Carmelo Ezpeleta’s not-so-secret mission to dumb down the sport is working.  As the season starts, 15 of the 23 bikes on the grid will be running in the Open class. 

In 2012, Dorna introduced us to the CRT class of bikes, for which I was never able to come up with satisfactory filler for the acronym.  While expanding the grid from the mid-teens to the mid-20’s, the move increased the number of bikes traveling at relatively slow speeds (BTRSS) without increasing competition at the top of the food chain (TFC) where only three riders won races in 2013.

In the midst of last season, the two dominant MotoGP factory operators, Yamaha and Honda, announced that they would be making equipment available to the Open teams in 2014.  Yamaha announced its intent to lease, not sell, what are basically year old M-1 engines and swing arms, while Honda would be selling, not leasing, entire bikes, in this case a cranked-up version of their World SuperBike RCV1000R, affectionately known as the Honda Production Racer.

NGM Forward racing, featuring Colin Edwards and veteran older brother Aleix Esparagaro, jumped all over the Yamaha offer and slotted M-1 engines in their FTR frames.  Pretty much everyone else at all serious about actually competing in the premier class went with the Honda production bike, including Aspar with both Nicky Hayden and Hiro Aoyama onboard, and Fausto Gresini, who bought one for Scott Redding to learn on while #1 rider Alvaro Bautista gets to keep his RCV for another year.  Karel Abraham’s dad bought him one.  The Avintia Blusens team plods on for another year with their Kawasaki powered FTRs, while Paul Byrd Motorsports continues with Paul designing his own frames for Aprilia powerplants.  Ioda Racing, which had been planning another two-rider season with Aprilia, saw their main sponsor Came walk and now looks shaky as the season starts, putting the screws to Brit rider Leon Camie, whose premier class tenure appears to have lasted, um, less than one race.  Whether the team, and Danilo Petrucci, finish the season together remains to be seen.

So, propulsion this season will come from four Ducati engines, six Yamahas and eight Hondas; Aprilia will power three riders and Kawasaki two.  With most of the juice still residing in the two top factory teams, Repsol Honda and Movistar Yamaha (with one notable exception), the season opener, now less than a week away, brings with it a lot of unforced whining from some unexpected places.  Actually, pretty much everyone but Aleix Espargaro is whining about something, as follows:

  • Defending world champion Marc Marquez is placidly copacetic about the leg he broke in training last week.  This may portend something of a slow start for the super sophomore, or nothing at all.  We tend to lean toward the latter.  He’s not whining now, but if he gets off slowly this season, we’ll be waiting for it.
  • Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, always good for a complaint or two, and with a few more microphones poked at him since Casey Stoner retired in 2012, was bitching about the lack of grip from the new Bridgestones, until the Phillip Island test, where he was the fastest guy on the track.  (One way Dani could improve grip would be to put on a few pounds.)  Dani is now on the back nine of his career, and fewer of us will be paying attention to his periodic rants as things wind down for him.
  • Double champion Jorge Lorenzo, put off by the new fuel limits and the tires, doubts he’ll be able to manage much better than second place this year.
  • Lorenzo’s Yamaha teammate, the legendary Valentino Rossi, whose last three seasons were utterly forgettable, has been laying down some very fast laps while holding his cards tightly to his chest and saying little of substance.  Perhaps he and his new crew chief have something going on.  Personally, I would love to see Rossi come back and challenge for wins again.  The game needs another Alien.
  • LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl seems to spend a lot of time in fifth place.  Just sayin’.  He’s on the same bike as Marquez and Pedrosa.
  • Gresini Honda, sponsored again this year by GO&FUN, features chronic underachiever Alvaro Bautista on their #1 RC and recent Moto2 grad Scott Redding on their #2 RCV1000R.  Bautista has tested in the top ten, Redding in the bottom ten.  Redding will finish the season closer to Bautista than he has been during testing thus far.
  • The satellite Yamaha Tech 3 team, featuring Bradley Smith and injured rookie Pol Espargaro, seems to be having its own problems with tires and fuel mixture.  However, they will be working with the new Yamaha seamless shift transmissions this season.  Most of the interest in this duo will have to do with their intra-team competition, rather than their top-ten-but-never-contending-for-a-win performance during races. They will have a problem, however, if the Forward Racing team starts beating them on a regular basis, suggesting that engines, gas and development outweigh software and the sanctity of the “factory-made” label.
  • Bear with me while I try to think of something positive to say about the Drive M7 duo of Nicky Hayden and Hiro Aoyama turning laps on their HPRs.  OK, their livery looks minty fresh.  There.
  • The team making the most positive noise during offseason testing, without question, is the Open team at NGM Forward Racing.  Aleix Espargaro has been consistently running in the top three and appears to be loving his new Yamaha powerplant.  With four extra litres of fuel, seven extra engines during the season, a softer rear tire and Yamaha power, it figures to be only a matter of time before Espargaro becomes the first Open class rider to win a race.  My guess would be Assen or Sachsenring this year.  Funny, though, that HRC is whining in the media about how the NGM project is “outside the intent” of the new regulations.  In my half-baked opinion, that would be true only if the new FIM regulations required Open teams to finish in the bottom third of the grid.  I’ve checked—it’s not in there.  And the NGM joke is that the ancient Colin Edwards is hanging around not to milk another mediocre season out of Aspar’s horde of sponsors, but to “mentor” Espargaro, who is running circles around him.  My sides are splitting.
  • The revelation that all four Ducati Desmosedicis will run in the Open class this season is big.  Big, in that the new Powers that Be in Bologna have decided that, though the Dorna software is marginally inferior to Ducati’s own, having twice as many engines to break, more fuel, and the ability to continue development of the engine during the season, which Ducati desperately needs, far outweigh the loss of a couple of 10ths due to the software.  Dovizioso’s sentence has one more year to run, while Cal Crutchlow has now really put himself in it, having signed on for two years of Open class competition and second-rate results, but for a bigger paycheck.  Yonny Hernandez and Andrea Iannone will keep the wheels turning over at Pramac; Crazy Joe may challenge Crutchlow a few times this year, which will be great fun to watch.  Crutchlow will also have to sit around next year as the factory Honda and Yamaha teams, with Suzuki making its return, go about the process of pushing wheelbarrows full of Benjamins at Marquez and Lorenzo, with Rossi and Pedrosa on hand to drive up the bidding.
  • Life goes on at Avintia Blusens and Paul Byrd Motorsports, both of whom must have the best, most understanding, least demanding sponsors in motorsports.  Two riders per team, with a Top Ten finish for one of the four once in a while. 

The newest release of the “Dorna software” appears to be a sizeable step up, especially for Ducati.  So sizeable that Dorna and FIM threw together a third class of bikes, “Factory 2”, to which contestants running in the Open class will be dispatched if and when they start appearing on podiums on a regular basis.  Open 2 bikes basically split the difference on engines and fuel, compared to the two “established” classes.  This cobbled-up class was apparently developed, on the back of a cocktail napkin, in response to the howls of protest emanating from the Yamaha and, especially, Honda camps concerning the unexpected competitiveness of some of the Open class bikes.  Perhaps they should refer to it as The Espargaro Rule.

Until Marquez got hurt last month, it looked to be a no-brainer predicting the 2014 world champion, and it doesn’t really look much different today.  Lorenzo and Pedrosa have had some issues during the offseason testing sessions, while Valentino Rossi looks strong again, and Aleix Espargaro looks like a factory rider.  If Rossi has, indeed, regained the step he had obviously lost since 2010, and if Espargaro has the bike to remain in the top five on a regular basis, it promises to be a more interesting season than was 2013.  Marquez, even with a tender start, looks to be dominant, and Pedrosa and Lorenzo will be fine.  Issue Alien cards to Rossi and Espargaro, and it will be a fun season to watch.

As well as further evidence that Ezpeleta’s evil plot is working.

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Posted in Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, MotoGP, MotoGP Losail, MotoGP Qatar, Motorcycle Racing, Racing News | Leave a Comment »

MotoGP Brno 2013 Preview

August 22, 2013

Marc Marquez looking for four in a row 

Fresh off his fantasy weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, rookie Marc Marquez leads Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa and the rest of the grid to eastern Europe for the bwin Grand Prix České republiky.  Between 2007 and 2011 the winner here went on to win the premier class championship.  Pedrosa put an end to all that last year, edging eventual factory Yamaha champion Jorge Lorenzo by 2/10ths of a second.  Will the race revert to its historical pattern in 2013? Captain America - 2013

Now that Marquez has established himself as a legitimate title threat in his first premier class season—how crazy is that?—let’s take a moment to review his year-to-date performance.  Other than Assen, where he lost by two seconds to a resurrected Valentino Rossi, he has won at the tracks where the Honda RC213V thrives—Austin, the Sachsenring, Laguna Seca and Indianapolis.  At Jerez, he lost to Pedrosa by 2+ seconds, back when he was still deferential to his veteran garagemate.  He took thirds at Losail, Le Mans and Catalunya, all of which are Yamaha-friendly layouts.

Brno is generally considered to favor the Yamaha, with few first-gear turns.  But Honda has taken the last two Czech rounds, and Marquez has thrived here, too, with a win and a razor-thin second place in two Moto2 tries.  Were it not for Honda’s “magic box” transmission, Brno this year would appear to be a toss-up.  (This is like speculating how a bullfrog might fare if he had wings.)  One thing is certain—both Pedrosa and Lorenzo are going to push to the max to keep the rookie behind them this weekend.  Otherwise, we’ll soon be talking about the magic number for Marquez to clinch the title.

Recent History at Brno 

Back in 2009, Lorenzo crashed out of the lead, leaving the win to Rossi, followed at some distance by Pedrosa, with Toni Elias—remember him?—a distant 3rd on the Gresini Honda.  Lorenzo had 4 DNFs that year and still managed second place.  Rossi, who crashed only once—at Indianapolis—won the 2009 title by 45 points.  A 16 year-old Marquez drove his 125cc KTM scooter to a run-of-the-mill 8th place finish at Brno that year.  At age 16, many of us were just earning our licenses; Marquez already had corporate sponsors.

Recall 2010.  Lorenzo’s first championship season featured an easy win at Brno over Pedrosa, with Stoner in 3rd on the Ducati, having put Ben Spies away late in the day.  Rossi, still recovering from leg and shoulder injuries suffered in a cold tire wreck at Mugello early in the season, finished 5th.  The 148,000 fans held their breath when Andrea Dovizioso, piloting the factory Honda, went lowside, leaving him standing on the tarmac facing riders coming directly at him in 5th gear.  Although he avoided getting creamed, his second off a few laps later ended his day.  17 year-old Marquez, on a 125cc Derbi, had one of his worst outings of the season, finishing 7th, but went on to win the title anyway.

In 2011Casey Stoner won easily for Honda, demolishing the field after Pedrosa left the premises.  Dovizioso came in 2nd, followed by Marco Simoncelli, Lorenzo, and Ben Spies, back when Spies had a bright future.  Pedrosa crashed out of the lead early, after qualifying on the pole, with the fastest bike in the joint (cue the music, from Pink Floyd’s Momentary Lapse of Reason.)  Stoner would win the title that year.  Marquez, having moved up to Moto2, lost by 16/100ths of a second to Italian Andrea Iannone in a vintage Moto2 race to the flag.

2012 saw Pedrosa “pip” Lorenzo by 18/100ths, one of Pedrosa’s finest races ever.  Yamaha qualified four bikes in the top five, but Pedrosa out-dueled the series leader in a fantastic last lap to remain in the conversation for the 2012 title. (It would prove to be a short stay, as he crashed out the following round at Misano.)  At Brno, however, he wrecked my theme for this week, that whoever wins at Brno wins the championship.  Lorenzo would repeat in 2012, despite Pedrosa taking six of the last eight rounds.  Marquez, still a teenager, won a thriller in Moto2, barely edging Thomas Luthi who, in turn, nosed out Pol Espargaro, who punked Iannone, the top four riders finishing barely half a second apart.  (If the premier class could conjure up that kind of action at the front, attendance across the globe would double.)

A Season on the Brink

Watching young Marquez seize the attention of the motorcycle racing world has got to be a hard thing for Jorge Lorenzo.  A double world champion, at age 26, Lorenzo should be sitting on top of the heap, in his prime, the top dog for the iconic Yamaha racing brand.  Yet here he is, his body injured and his pride wounded, perhaps wondering if he’s won his last title.  He came out in the media this week sounding impatient, stating for maybe the first time his opinion that Yamaha needs to expedite the move to their own magic transmission, that they can’t really compete with the Hondas at this point.  A true company man and Yamaha loyalist, he must really be feeling the pressure to level even veiled criticism at his Japanese masters.

And as hard as it may be for Lorenzo, imagine what it’s like being Dani Pedrosa in the summer of 2013.  Early in the season, it appeared this would be his year; time, finally, for his first premier class title after years of distinguished service and too many surgeries to count.  Though he will only turn 28 next month, he’s an old 28, with the scars to prove it.  When you see him, unaware that the cameras are on him, he looks dejected, scowling, downcast.  In a scant four months he has gone from being the alpha male at the top factory team in the game to simply Marc Marquez’ teammate.  In the garage area at Indianapolis at noon on Sunday, the crowd assembled outside the Repsol garage vanished as soon as Marquez came out, jumped on his scooter, and headed off for lunch, with Pedrosa still inside.

You can’t really blame Pedrosa for feeling cursed.  As good as he is, he’s had to deal with Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo his whole career, and now Marquez.  Scott Redding is coming up next year, and looks to be a load with 1000ccs under him.  And teenagers Alex Marquez, Marc’s little brother, and his buddy Alex Rins are getting it together in Moto3, heading for Moto2 and MotoGP in a few years.

There’s simply no relief in sight for Dani Pedrosa.  The guy can’t catch a break.

Brazil to Join Argentina in 2014

Carmelo Ezpeleta, the Big Cheese at Dorna, left Indianapolis on Sunday evening and flew to Brazil, where he held a press conference to announce that there will be not one, but two, rounds in South America beginning next season.  The Brazilian GP will have to await FIM homologation—if you don’t know, don’t ask—before it’s official, but it sounds like a done deal, which is great.  The announcement does raise the question as to which venues will get booted off the schedule, now that Indianapolis is certain for next year.  Certainly, one of the Spanish rounds is likely to go away.  If I had to guess, I’d suspect the German Grand Prix might go on hiatus, as the Sachsenring is out in the middle of nowhere and most of the riders dislike both the circuit and the food.

The Czech Grand Prix lifts off at 7 am Eastern time in the United States on Sunday.  Fox Sports 1 is the new home of MotoGP on TV, but has not yet released their broadcast schedule for that day.  We will have race results here later on Sunday.

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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 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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Since We’ve Been Gone: Rossi, Pedrosa and Stoner Win

June 23, 2008

Stoner Winning at Donington

Casey Stoner winning at Donington.  Photo courtesy of motogp.com

Old news:  Rossi won his third race in a row at Mugello in Italy.  Pedrosa stopped the win streak at 3 by winning at Catalunya in Spain.  Stoner on his Ducati broke through for his first win since Round 1 by winning the Great Britain GP at Donington, sharing the podium with the usual suspects, Rossi and Pedrosa.

MotoGP World Standings After Round 8

1   Valentino ROSSI   ITA   Fiat Yamaha Team   162

2   Dani PEDROSA   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   151

3   Casey STONER   AUS   Ducati Marlboro Team   117

4   Jorge LORENZO   SPA   Fiat Yamaha Team   104

5   Colin EDWARDS   USA   Tech 3 Yamaha   82

6   Andrea DOVIZIOSO   ITA   JiR Team Scot MotoGP   68

7   Nicky HAYDEN   USA   Repsol Honda Team   57

8   James TOSELAND   GBR   Tech 3 Yamaha   53

So far this season, here’s what we know.

Yamaha and Honda own 7 of the top 8 spots.  The top riders include two Spaniards, two Italians, two Americans, a Briton and an Australian.  More than half of the season remains, and it’s a four man race.  The top four riders are the only ones to have won a race this season.   Lorenzo is hanging in after crashing in practice at Catalunya.  Colin Edwards hasn’t given Americans much to cheer about, and 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden hasn’t been seen on a podium yet.

In most sports, that would be it for the season.  MotoGP, by being contested on two wheels and at, like, 12,000 rpms, has plenty of potential for drivers to drop out of races.  As Mr. Berra remarked, it ain’t over until it’s over.

Stoner, the reigning world champion on his badass Ducati, has put himself in contention after a 6 race drought.  Rossi, in the midst of another great season, leads in points; he and Pedrosa have been on the podium in every race this year, a pretty remarkable feat in itself.

On to Assen this week.

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Rossi’s 2nd Straight Win Gives Him Overall Points Lead

May 20, 2008

These excerpts directly from the MotoGP website, a great write-up of Sunday’s race at Le Mans in France:

Valentino Rossi took a second consecutive race victory at the Alice Grand Prix de France, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Colin Edwards. The Italian now holds a three point advantage at the top of the World Championship standings. Rossi’s runaway triumph at Le Mans tied Angel Nieto´s record of 90 World Championship wins.

Rossi Wins at Le Mans

While second row starter Rossi had broken away from the pack early, the battle for the podium was closely contested right up to the line. The Italian´s Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo once again took his share of the limelight, bursting through the field to take second place in spite of a catalogue of injuries. His latest rostrum means that he is now the highest rookie point scorer for an opening five races in history, overtaking hero Max Biaggi.

Completing the all-Yamaha podium, Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards took another rostrum finish not quite in line with his predictions of victory, but nonetheless a fantastic achievement for the newly consistent American.

Poleman Dani Pedrosa relinquished his lead of the World Championship with fourth place, having attempted to lead the race from the front. Some hard moves from both Lorenzo and Edwards at the end of the Le Mans battle left the Repsol Honda rider off the podium for the first time in 2008.

Rossi now leads the World Championship by three points from Lorenzo and Pedrosa, who are tied for second. Stoner is running a distant fourth, while Nicki Hayden, world champion in 2006, trails in the 7 hole with 37 points.

MotoGP Le Mans Results:

1. Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team)

2. Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team)

3. Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha)

4. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda)

5. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki)

6. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot MotoGP)

7. Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP)

8. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda)

9. Randy De Puniet (LCR Honda MotoGP)

10. Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini)

World Standings After 5 Events

______Rider______Nation___Team________Points

1 Valentino ROSSI____ ITA___ Fiat Yamaha____ _97

2 Jorge LORENZO_____SPA___ Fiat Yamaha_____94

3 Dani PEDROSA_____ SPA___ RepsoI Hond____ 94

4 Casey STONER_____ AUS___ Ducati Marlboro_ 56

5 Colin EDWARDS____ USA___Tech 3 Yamaha__ 47

6 Loris CAPIROSSI____ ITA____Rizla Suzuki_____42

7 Nicky HAYDEN_____ USA___ Repsol Honda___ 37

8 Andrea DOVIZIOSO_ ITA____ JIR Team Scot___36

9 James TOSELAND___GBR___ Tech3 Yamaha___33

10 Shinya NAKANO___JPN___ San Carlo Honda__28


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Moto GP Chase Tightens Up in China

May 4, 2008

Lorenzo airborn on Saturday, finishes 2nd on Sunday!

Jorge Lorenzo loses it during practice on Friday for the Moto GP stop in Shanghai. He pulled it together enough on Sunday to finish 4th. Photo by Shanghai Daily.

Seven time world champion Moto GP rider Valentino Rossi, riding a Yamaha, outlasted Honda’s Dani Pedrosa to win the Shanghai stop on the world tour Sunday. Pedrosa’s 2nd place finish left him in the lead for the 2008 title in a tight race. His 81 points lead Jorge Lorenzo, the winner at Portugal, by a mere 7 points, with Rossi in 3rd with 72 points. Casey Stoner, reigning Moto GP champion riding for Ducati, finished a distant third in Shanghai, and now hasn’t won since Qatar’s opening race of the season. He has 56 points and is still in it, but is not dominating the way he did just last year.

The chase for the 2008 title is now officially wide open, with four different riders having won four different races. Next stop on the tour is May 18th at the legendary Le Mans course in the Champagne country southwest of Paris.

Top Ten MotoGP World championship standings after the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on Sunday.

1. Dani Pedrosa_(Spain)_Honda_81_Won at Spain Race #2

2. Jorge Lorenzo_(Spain)_Yamaha_74_Won at Portugal Race #3

3. Valentino Rossi_(Italy)_Yamaha_72_Won at China Race #4

4. Casey Stoner_(Australia)_Ducati_56_Won at Quatar Race #1

5. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Suzuki 33

6. James Toseland (Britain) Yamaha 33

7. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha 31

8. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 29 (2006 World Champion)

9. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 26

10. John Hopkins (U.S.) Kawasaki 26


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American Colin Edwards Takes Pole in Shanghai

May 3, 2008

This is starting to be fun. Team Yamaha is geeked up, as their boy Colin Edwards had the fastest qualifying time in the Moto GP stop in Shanghai. And he looked damned good doing it.

Colin Edwards qualifying in Shanghai, courtesy of AFP

Colin Edwards, courtesy of AFP.

They’re running the race Sunday morning. Watch this space for details. Har.

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About MotoGP Indy Weekend September 12-14

April 29, 2008

The Indianapolis MotoGP races this September 12-14 will attract motorcycle enthusiasts from around the Midwest. Between 1.5 and 2 million motorcycles are registered within an easy day’s drive of Indianapolis. MotoGP, referred to by Harley riders as “the imports”, is a very international sport, and attracts an international crowd–the teams, the suppliers, vendors, hangers-on, the idle rich. It is big money, stupifyingly brave drivers, beautiful women, and global paparazzi up the you know what. (Harley Davidson bikes running in a separate racing circuit, the AMA National Flat Track series, have a series stop that Saturday at the Fairgrounds, which will draw another set of fans to the city.) The MotoGP race is the big deal.

Race weekend at the track goes like this. Friday is carburetion, Saturday is quals, or is it vice versa? For sure, Sunday is 3 separate races–125cc, 250cc and the big bikes, up to 800 cc. Class basketball for imported motorcycles. The MotoGP stop at Laguna Seca, since its inception in 2005, has been limited to just the big bikes. Indianapolis will have all three classes for carb, quals and racing, which may attract a few more fans of smaller bikes.

Suffice it to say, lots of people and bikes in town.


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Moto GP Motorcycle Racing 101, Circa April 2008

April 28, 2008

In 2006 Nicky Hayden, riding for Honda, won the World Moto GP championship. In 2007, Casey Stoner, riding for Ducati, took the crown. Both of these guys are in the process of becoming world famous rock star types. Thus far this year, after 3 races, Jorge Lorenzo, riding for Yamaha, and Dani Pedrosa, riding for Honda, share the point lead. Stoner, riding again for Ducati, won the season opener in beautiful Qatar. 3 weeks later, Pedrosa won in Spain. On April 20, Lorenzo won in Portugal, putting him in a tie with Pedrosa for the world title, with most of the season yet to go. Event #4 is this week in Shanghai. (Just what that country needs at this precise moment in time. C’est la guerre.)

There are 19 races worldwide in 2008, including Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on July 20 and Indianapolis on September 14. Monterey is race #11, and Indianapolis is #14 of the season.

Around 250,000 people have attended at Laguna Seca each year since its inception in 2005. Indianapolis could easily see 300,000 for its inaugural race. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce, approximately 1.8 million motorcycles are registered within an easy day’s ride of Indianapolis. They are geeked about this race. If only one out of twelve attends, roughly 8%, there’s your 150,000 motorcycles in Indianapolis for the weekend.

Amazing. Can’t wait. It’s going to be epic.

2008 Moto GP International Schedule

………Event……………………………………..Winner

______________________________________________

March 9 Losail Qatar…………………………..Stoner

March 30 Jerez Spain………………………….Pedrosa

April 20 Estoril Portugal………………………Lorenzo

May 4 China Shanghai…………………………Rossi

May 18 Le Mans France

June 1 Mugello Italy

June 8 Catalunya Catalunya

June 22 Donington Great Britain

June 28 Assen Holland

July 13 Sachsenring Germany

July 20 Laguna Seca USA

August 17 Brno Czech Republic

August 31 Misano San Marino & Riviera di Rimini?

September 14 Indianapolis USA

September 28 Phillip Island Australia

October 5 Motegi Japan

October 19 Sepang Malaysia

October 28 Estoril Portugal

November 2 Ricardo Torma Valencia

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