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MotoGP 2014 Le Mans Results

May 18, 2014

Once again, it’s all Marquez, all the time 

Under a flawless blue sky in northwest France, 88,000 MotoGP fans witnessed the laying of another brick in the wall of fame being built by Marc Marquez.  The 21-year old Spaniard overcame a dicey start to become the youngest rider in this history of the sport to win five premier class races in a row.  Having shattered the all-time lap record at Le Mans in practice, the Repsol Honda phenom is re-writing the record books every time out.  Today, it appeared, was just another day at the office. 

Marquez the Man

Without wishing to suggest a conspiracy amongst the other top riders, the conventional wisdom for beating Marquez seems to have coalesced around the concept of “roughing him up” at the start of a race, pushing him back into pack traffic, allowing one of the other Aliens to jump out to a lead, and then praying collectively that he runs out of time going through the field.  This “anyone but Marquez” approach worked perfectly today, as he got off to a poor start—the sole remaining flaw in his otherwise flawless game—got pushed wide by Jorge Lorenzo early, and finished the Lap 1 in 10th place.  The thought crossed my mind that in order to make it interesting he occasionally allows this to happen, enjoying slicing and dicing the field on his way to the win.  Today at Le Mans it looked like this:

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So, with six consecutive poles under his belt dating back to Valenciana last year, he breaks the record set by Mike Hailwood in 1962 to become the youngest rider ever to take five premier class wins in a row.  Next up:  Casey Stoner’s record seven poles in a row set in 2008.  Next after that:  Mick Doohan’s incredible 10 wins in a row in 1997.  Once Marquez learns how to start these things quickly—recall Jorge Lorenzo was a terrible starter when he came up in 2008 and has become one of the best since then—he will have to find something else to hold his attention during races.  Capable of turning lap times over half a second faster than his nearest competitors—half a minute in dog years—he will be competing with himself for the foreseeable future. 

Elsewhere on the Grid 

Rossi 2014Valentino Rossi, who led the first half of the race and appears thoroughly rejuvenated, claimed his third 2nd place finish of the year and his 10th premier class podium at Le Mans.  Expect an announcement in at Mugello that Yamaha has signed the Doctor for two more years of chasing Marquez around the world.  The most surprising result today was the 3rd place finish of GO&FUN Honda pretty boy Alvaro Bautista, taking his third premier class podium ever and first since Motegi in 2012.  Starting seventh, Bautista quietly moved up the standings until Lap 12 when he went through on LCR Honda pilot Stefan Bradl into fourth position.  He then turned his attention to the surprising Pol Espargaro, who had placed his Tech 3 Yamaha on the first row of the grid and looked podium-worthy, going through on the rookie on Lap 18.  For me, seeing Bautista on the podium is about as jarring as seeing John Daly winning a golf tournament.

The two Honda surgical convalescents, Repsol’s Dani Pedrosa and LCR’s Stefan Bradl, fared surprisingly well today, less than two weeks after surgeries on their forearms.  Pedrosa, one of the toughest guys in MotoGP, spent a good part of the day in ninth position before his fuel load dropped, allowing him to recover to a respectable fifth place finish.  Alas, his string of eight consecutive podia came to an end today in a gutsy performance.  Bradl, seeming less affected by his own medical issues, spent a good part of the day in the top four before fading to seventh place at the flag.

Sandwiched in between the two Hondas at the end was Jorge Lorenzo—remember him?—who started and finished sixth, never Lorenzo at workappearing as much of a threat to anyone anytime.  Last year at this time, Lorenzo had two wins and four podia in five starts for 91 points and trailed series leader Pedrosa by 12.  This year, Lorenzo has appeared on the podium once, has managed 45 championship points, and trails Marquez by an unfathomable 80 points.  He is routinely getting schooled by teammate Rossi, and appears to have had his iron will broken by the untouchable Marquez.  Lorenzo desperately needs something—hypnosis, EST, perhaps a visit to a Jamaican voodoo practitioner—to get his fighting spirit restored.  He appears to be in a PTSD-like trance, and needs someone to slap him, piss him off, and get him to stop feeling sorry for himself.  Lorenzo needs to get mad; sad isn’t working.

Farther Down the Food Chain

The hapless Nicky Hayden—if it weren’t for bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all—got tangled up with Andrea Iannone early in the first lap and saw his day come to an early end.  Iannone apparently failed to escape unscathed, as he went down himself on Lap 2, followed shortly thereafter by the increasingly irrelevant Hector Barbera.  With Ioda Racing’s Danilo Petrucci sidelined with a broken wrist, the battle for 16th place raged all day, eventually won by Michael Laverty on the PBM nag.  The saddest sight of the day was Colin Edwards pushing his bike, Fred Flintstone-like, across the line with his boots, having apparently run out of gas late on the last lap.

If Le Mans is the least abrasive racing surface on the MotoGP tour, Cal Crutchlow has become its most abrasive rider.  Crutchlow, who apparently believes the world owes him fame and fortune, barely got out of Q1, qualified last in Q2, started 12th and finished 11th.  He did manage to whip his factory Ducati to finish in front of Pramac’s Yonny Hernandez and three Honda “customer bikes”, winning the Taller Than Danny DeVito award again this week.  At my deadline, no explanation is available for how teammate Andrea Dovizioso managed to go from leading the race early from a front row start to an eighth place finish on a non-abrasive racing surface.  Praying he doesn’t attribute it to understeer, one of the hallmarks of the Desmosedici.  (Imagine an NFL quarterback attributing his five interceptions in a single game to the opposition having put 11 defenders on the field to cause him problems.)

On to Mugello in two weeks, one of the shrines of MotoGP racing, a track where Valentino Rossi could conceivably give Marquez a run for his money.  Rossi’s home race, on a Yamaha layout, with the crowd solidly behind him…  Wishful thinking?  Perhaps.  One of the few remaining obstacles to Marquez running the table in 2014?  Unthinkable, sure, but the word is rapidly losing its meaning as the Catalan onslaught continues.

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MotoGP 2014 Le Mans Preview

May 13, 2014

All eyes on the streaking Marquez 

Repsol Honda #1 Marc Marquez sits atop the grand prix motorcycle racing world with expectations growing at a geometric rate.  Heading into Round 5, he has captured the last five poles, dating back to Valenciana last season, and has won every contest in 2014.  He has topped the timesheets in most of the practice sessions.  Aside from his boyish good looks, all he has going for him is timing, balance, reflexes, intelligence and a really good bike.  The only hope for the rest of the grid this weekend is rain and plenty of it. 

Luckily for the grid, the flying circus will be performing in France, where the last two races have been declared “wet.”  (When it’s heidi_klum_51raining pitchforks and hammer handles, having a marshal flashing a sign reading “WET RACE” is like watching Heidi Klum strut down a runway with some dweeb in the first row waving a sign reading “SUPERMODEL.”  Not exactly necessary.  Just sayin’.)

Recent History at Le Mans

The most recent dry race at the legendary Bugatti Circuit took place in 2011, when Repsol Honda chieftain Casey Stoner got away early on his way to a) the win, and b) that year’s championship.  Behind him, pandemonium reigned, as Marco Simoncelli put Stoner’s Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa out of the race and into the hospital with an ill-advised passing attempt on Lap 17.  Repsol #3 Andrea Dovizioso took advantage of Pedrosa’s misfortune to steal second place from Valentino Rossi, who put his Ducati Desmosedici on the podium for the first and only time that year.

In 2012, factory Yamaha stud Jorge Lorenzo ruled Le Mans in the rain, beating Rossi to the finish by 10 interminable seconds.  Rossi, in turn, punked Casey Stoner on the last lap, relegating the Australian, who had announced his surprise retirement that weekend, to third.  Afterwards, it was hard to tell whether Rossi was more jubilant over making it to the podium or sticking Stoner’s you-know-what in the dirt.

Dani-dani-pedrosa-9702356-435-380Last year was Dani Pedrosa’s One Shining Moment, as the diminutive Spaniard, who had struggled all weekend and started out of the six hole, put the hammer down at the start and led the last 23 laps of the very wet race, launching himself into first place for the season.  Cal Crutchlow, in his final (competitive) year aboard the Tech 3 Yamaha, managed second place, despite having his entire body held together with Bondo and strapping tape.  Rookie Marquez made it to third place after a three day escapade during which he spent roughly as much time in the runoff areas as on the track.  The two factory Ducati bikes managed fourth and fifth, unable to shake the cursed “mudder” label.

Feast or Famine for Rossi at Le Mans

In his last six visits to the Loire River valley, Valentino Rossi has experienced the highs and lows of his chosen profession.  He followed up his win in 2008 with the comical flag-to-flag outing in 2009 in which he finished 16th.  In 2010 he finished second to Yamaha teammate Lorenzo, and podiumed in both 2011 and 2012 while wrestling the Ducati.  Last year, back again with Yamaha, he crashed out of third place in the middle of the race under pressure from Crutchlow and ended up finishing 12th.

Some years chicken; some years feathers.  After watching his teammate Lorenzo get overtaken late in the day in Jerez by Mr. Pedrosa, Rossi is probably looking forward to a little payback this weekend, especially with Dani coming in at less than 100% fitness.

Latest Honda Fad—Arm Pump Surgery 

Last week both Dani Pedrosa and LCR Honda strongman Stefan Bradl underwent surgery to repair muscles in their forearms that want to bust out of their casings like bratwursts on a hot grille.  Pedrosa, whom we weren’t aware was having any physical problems on his way to another solid third place finish in Jerez, might simply miss going under general anesthesia, as it’s been almost a year since his last collarbone surgery.

Bradl, it will be remembered, had problems in Jerez that indicated something was wrong; now we know what it was.  Although both riders have been cleared to race this weekend, Le Mans is one of those stop-and-go joints that demands a lot of hard braking.  Pedrosa will have his work cut out for him to keep his own personal string of eight consecutive podium finishes alive.

There is no truth to the rumor that Alvaro Bautista requested permission to have surgery on one of his forearms, in order to do a little bonding with the factory Honda riders who aren’t embarrassing themselves this season.  Bautista is not having arm pump issues, just every other issue imaginable.

This Just In—Cal Crutchlow Frustrated with DucatiCrutchlow

Last year, after four rounds, a fractious Cal “I’m Good Enough for a Factory Ride” Crutchlow sat in fourth place for the season with 55 points.  Later in the year, he achieved his goal of becoming a factory team rider, abandoning the Tech 3 Yamaha squad and hooking up with Ducati Corse to take on the badass Desmosedici.  Sure, the Big Red Machine was widely seen as a career buster.  Sure, even the Doctor was unable to get it to work right, suffering through two of the worst years of his life.  But, it was argued, Cal is big and burly and strong enough to bend the Ducati to his will.  He was going to show the world that it wasn’t just about the money.

Um, no.  Heading into Round 5, Cal sits mired in 16th place, a mere two points ahead of Karel Abraham, for God’s sake, with ten (10) championship points to show for his season thus far.  He’s now mouthing off in the media about the junk he’s being forced to ride.  He is the least productive of the four Ducati pilots, two of whom aren’t making “factory” money.  At this point, Cal needs to man up and start running with teammate Andrea Dovizioso, who podiumed in Austin and currently sits in fourth place for the year.  Having made his bed, the Brit needs to lie in it and STFU.  As they say back home, “Hard cheese, old boy.”

New Rubber Coming in 2016

Having grown weary of being the whipping boy for every rider from Valentino Rossi to Gabor Talmacsi since 2009, Bridgestone has announced that it will no longer be the sole supplier of tires to MotoGP after next season.  This leaves the field open for the other three candidates—Pirelli, Dunlop and Michelin—to step up to what is a thankless job.  Never mind all the data the company collects and then ostensibly uses to improve its retail lines.  Not a race goes by without some rider or 12 whining about grip, deterioration, etc.   From what little I’ve read on the subject, Michelin appears to have the inside track.  Similarly, there seems to be little debate that the change in tires will have a greater impact on the sport than the forthcoming changes in the ECUs.

What About the Weather in France This Weekend?

Glad you asked.  As of Tuesday afternoon, the forecast is surprisingly good, calling for fair skies and mild temps, with next to no chance of rain.  Personally, I’ll believe it when I see it.  If it turns out to be a dry race, I suspect there’ll be more Yamahas on the podium than Hondas.  If it’s wet, expect Andrea Dovizioso to find his way to the rostrum.  The race goes off at 8 am EDT on Sunday, and we hope to have results right here that afternoon, even though our favorite Motorcycle.com editor will likely be on his honeymoon.  Congratulations Dennis and Jackie.

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Marquez Goes Four for Four in 2014

May 4, 2014

MotoGP 2014 Jerez Results by Bruce Allen 

On a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon in southern Spain, Marc Marquez took care of business, becoming the first polesitter to win in Jerez since Nicky Hayden in 2006.  He is the first rider to win the first four races of the season since Valentino Rossi in 2002.  He checked off Jerez on his list of Tracks Where I’ve Won Races, the last venue on the 2014 tour to make the list.  He is undefeated since clinching the world championship at Valencia in 2013.  In short, at age 21, he is the bomb-diggity of the MotoGP world. 

Before getting into the race itself, which was a procession up front and a dogfight in the middle of the pack, consider for a moment what it must be like to be #1 in the world at anything at age 21.  How about hitting .450 and winning the World Series in MLB?  Earning a ring while canning 40 points a game in the NBA?  Capturing the Grand Slam in the PGA?  For the Canadians reading this, scoring 200 points per season and hoisting Sir Stanley’s trophy?  Doing whatever it is they do at Manchester United really really well?  You get the point.  The question for Marquez is, other than the monotony of winning championship after championship for the next umpteen years, what’s left?

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The 2014 Gran Premio bwin de España

Today’s race was riveting for perhaps the first half of the first lap, with Marquez on the Repsol Honda, Valentino Rossi and the desperate Jorge Lorenzo on the Movistar Yamahas, and dark horse Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Ducati all leading the race for a few seconds.  Things sorted themselves out fairly quickly, with Marquez taking the lead followed by Rossi, Lorenzo and, by Lap 2, Repsol #2 Dani Pedrosa.  Marquez then laid down a vapor trail and disappeared, leaving the other three Aliens free to slug it out all day for the less cool spots on the podium.  Things stayed this way until Lap 21, when Pedrosa finally managed to go through on Lorenzo, crushing his spirit on what had to be a miserable 27th birthday for the Mallorcan.

At day’s end, Marquez and Rossi appeared jubilant, Rossi having secured his second podium of the year.  At the post-race presser, Pedrosa appeared tired and subdued.  Lorenzo, naturally, was not invited to meet the press.  Having a hard time imagining what it’s like to be on top of the world at age 21?  Imagine what it must be like to feel past your prime at age 27. The 37 year-old Rossi appears rejuvenated, and pretty much announced today that he will remain in MotoGP after this year.  Rule #1 in this game is beat Cristina-Capella3your teammate, and Rossi is doing this.  Good for him.  Lorenzo’s sole consolation today was having been awarded the #1 brolly girl on the grid, a breathtaking long-stemmed brunette who made me regret once again not having studied Spanish in high school.

Elsewhere on the Grid

The battle for spots five through nine raged all day, with too many position changes to keep track of.  Ducati Corse #1 Andrea Dovizioso, in the midst of a very good season, started sixth and held off a resuscitated Alvaro Bautista on the Gresini Honda for fifth place.  Bautista, who had qualified 10th after crashing out of the first three races of the year, bought himself a little grace with his respectable sixth place finish today.  He will need to keep improving for the rest of the year to hold into his seat with the GO&FUN team next year.

Aleix Espargaro, the victim of another qualifying practice crash, started from the middle of the second row and finished seventh, not bad for an Open class entrant, but still disappointing after his stellar offseason.  Once again, the two Tech 3 Yamaha guys, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro, occupied consecutive spots at the finish, having traded places during the race from their starting positions.  All this togetherness from the French team leads one to believe they sit down tout ensemble after races for some brie and a glass of sauvignon blanc, passing around their camera phones to compare photos and share a few laughs.

LCR pilot Stefan Bradl, on a factory spec Honda, started seventh on the grid and finished 10th on a track where his dad won a race decades ago.  He finished just in front of Nicky Hayden, Hiro Aoyama and Scott Redding, all of whom were riding “customer” Hondas.  For would-be Alien Bradl, such stunning under-achievement will surely tarnish his reputation if it continues.  Guter Gott allmächtig! 

Pain and Suffering at the Back of the Pack

Three riders had forgettable days in Andalusia.  Andrea Iannone, over-achieving on the Pramac Ducati all season, came crashing back to earth this weekend.  After threatening for podiums at both Austin and Argentina, he qualified 15th on Saturday and retired out of 18th place during the race.  We will keep an eye on him going forward to see which was the fluke, today or Rounds 1-3.

Cal Crutchlow, whose crash in Austin left him with a mangled right pinky and “bruised lungs” (?) missed the trip to Argentina and returned this weekend for three days of Churchillian blood, toil, tears and sweat.  Fighting the pain in his hand, he could only qualify 14th and retired on Lap 6 with a braking problem, i.e., every time he applied the brakes he cried out for his mama. Welcome to Ducati Corse, big guy.

Finally, we turn to Colin Edwards, whom many of you hold in much higher esteem than do I.  Having somehow made it into Q2, he spent most of the day running at the back of the pack with the likes of Michael Laverty and Broc Parkes before “retiring” on the final lap.  One has to be careful with that word these days, as Colin is apparently considering calling it a career before the end of the season, a rumor he denies.  But the three days of testing at Jerez commencing tomorrow will apparently see Simone Corsi, late of Moto2, on Edwards’ #5 NGM Forward Racing Yamaha.  Listen carefully, and you can hear the drumbeats off in the distance.

Tired of Tires

One of my least favorite subjects in this sport has to do with tires.  The race announcers were banging on about tire conservation during both the Moto2 and MotoGP races; other than Pedrosa, no one had much to say about tires after the race.  Rossi did credit his choice of the harder option front for his ability to hold off Pedrosa at the end, but tire selection and tire conservation are separate issues.

Bridgestone logoThe biggest announcement of the week, that Bridgestone was bailing as the official tire supplier to MotoGP after next season, produced a shockwave throughout the paddock, with every rider quoted on the story professing their profound respect and affection for the company and its products they’ve spent the past few years bashing continuously.  Dorna wants a single supplier, and has put out an RFP for same that expires in only a few weeks.  Perhaps some aggressive manufacturer will step up, perhaps not.  I, for one, would like to see MotoGP return to letting each team negotiate its own tire contract.  Given the profusion of classes on the grid—Factory, Factory 2, Open, Mongrel—it seems a little silly for Dorna to require one manufacturer to come up with the range of compounds necessary to allow each team to maximize its on-track performance.  Just sayin’.

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MotoGP 2014 Jerez Preview

April 29, 2014

“The Marquez Years” appear to have begun

In order to understand what we are currently witnessing in MotoGP, it is necessary to examine some semi-recent history in F-1 racing.  (You know, the four-wheel set.)  I am reluctant to do this, in that I believe contraptions with four wheels should be going 400 mph to match the terror of traveling 200 mph on two wheels, which F-1 most certainly does not.  But a short primer on F-1 between 2000 and 2004 will shed some light on what we may have to look forward to for the next few seasons. 

Between 2000 and 2004, known to fans as “The Schumacher Years,” German driver Michael Schumacher won five F-1 championships, dominating the competition like no driver before or since.  During the period, he started 85 races, finished 77 and won 48.  While this was going on, interest in F-1 and race attendance dropped significantly; ten years later, both have recovered, but needless to say this utter dominance was bad for the sport.  (It is interesting to note that it was a rule change concerning tires prior to the 2005 season that leveled the playing field, or at least pissed in Ferrari’s gas tank.  Otherwise, the procession could have gone on years longer.)

Meanwhile, over in MotoGP, between 2001 and 2005 Valentino Rossi was doing roughly the same thing—five championships, 83 starts, 78 finishes and 51 wins.  So why, then, when one Googles “The Rossi Years” does the top article in the search talk about the Ducati Desmosedici in 2011 and 2012?  I think it’s because, compared to F-1, MotoGP was a cute little boutique sport followed mainly by Europeans with next to no TV coverage outside of Italy and Spain.  The first race in North America wasn’t held until 2005 at Laguna Seca.  Compared to today, there was essentially no audience to lose.  But the marketing machine that Dorna has constructed over the past decade is at risk due to the phenomenon that is Marc Marquez.

A number of writers, myself included, have complained about Dorna chief Carmelo Ezpeleta’s constant tinkering with the rules, the upshot of which is that by 2016 all the bikes on the grid will be using the same electronic control software.  But perhaps we should be more circumspect in our criticism.  Rather than trying to simply make MotoGP less expensive, at which he seems to be failing, his plan may be to avoid The Marquez Years that could effectively bring the sport to its knees, financially.  Honda may bail on MotoGP, as they’ve been hinting, but MotoGP will likely continue to exist.  Rather than simply dumbing down MotoGP, Ezpeleta may, in fact, be saving it from itself.

Post-Argentine Excuse Fest

In case you missed it, the Grand Prix of Argentina resulted in Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha stalwart Jorge Lorenzo claiming the podium, with Yamaha #2 Valentino Rossi, LCR Honda German Stefan Bradl and Pramac Ducati heartthrob Andrea Iannone capturing spots four through six.  Perusing the racing media on Monday, I made note of the blizzard of excuses offered by many of the top riders following their performances on Sunday:

  • Pedrosa suffered from a slow start and blamed himself, believing that his trademarked slingshot start from, say, 2010 might have given him the win, which is rubbish.
  • Lorenzo called Sunday’s third place finish the sweetest of his career, but blames the rules prohibiting in-season engine development for what will likely be his worst season since he was a rookie in 2008.  More rubbish.
  • Rossi claimed he would have beaten Lorenzo to the podium had he not been pushed wide by a late braking Bradl when they were busy slugging it out on Lap 5.  He had nothing to say concerning the other instances when he ran wide and lost time all by himself.
  • Bradl himself offered no excuses for finishing fifth, despite having returned from his Q2 crash with his brains scrambled, convinced he was Iron Man.
  • The Tech 3 Yamaha guys, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro, both complained that their YZR-M1s didn’t perform as well with a full fuel load as they did later in the day.  Not exactly a news flash there.
  • Andrea Dovizioso blamed his fall from second place to ninth on a shoddy front tire and reduced engine power which resulted from “losing some oil” early in the race.  As he vividly demonstrated on Saturday when he blew an engine to Kingdom Come, it could have been worse.
  • Andrea Iannone blamed HIS fall from third place to sixth on tire wear, which only happens to every rider in every class in every race.
  • Finally, Aleix Espargaro, after crashing out on Lap 2, was only able to recover to finish 15th due to a broken handlebar, proving that it’s always something when you don’t have Repsol or Movistar stamped on your leathers.

Jerez track

Wasn’t This Supposed to be a Jerez Preview? 

Right.  Back in 2011, Ducati pilot Valentino Rossi’s low-side on Lap 8 took Repsol Honda icon Casey Stoner out of a race he looked very capable of winning, leaving the door open for Lorenzo’s Yamaha.  2011 was the year that marked the low water mark of MotoGP, as only 17 riders started the race and but 12 finished.  Repsol Honda bridesmaid Dani Pedrosa took a lucky second after both Ben Spies and Colin Edwards “retired” late in the race, but trailed Lorenzo by 19 seconds.  Ten seconds farther back was the plucky Nicky Hayden, who earned his annual podium on the Ducati.

The Jerez round in 2012 was a barnburner, with Stoner edging Lorenzo by a second and Lorenzo, in turn, “pipping” Pedrosa at the flag by 4/10ths.  The wet conditions that hampered the Moto2 race gave way to sunny skies and a great win for Stoner in a year that ultimately belonged to Lorenzo.  2012, you will recall, was the year Stoner discovered he is lactose-intolerant.  Gag me.

Lorenzo - Marquez

Last year, late in the day, Pedrosa held a slight lead over rookie Marquez and Lorenzo, who were battling furiously for second place.  Neither was giving an inch, Spanish machismo firmly in place, until the last lap, as reported here:  “Finally, though, at, of all places, the Jorge Lorenzo corner, its namesake went a shade wide and Marquez, lizard brain firmly in control, dove inside.  As Lorenzo attempted to cut back, the two touched, with Lorenzo being forced wide into third place both for the day and the season.”  This marked the beginning of the Lorenzo-Marquez rivalry that continues today, with Marquez in command, and Lorenzo able to muster little more than brave smiles and repeated vows to, somehow, do better next time.

Jerez is a Honda track.  Is there anyone out there who doubts Marquez and Pedrosa will end the day 1 and 2?

What about the Weather Forecast?

Cristina-Capella3Spanish beautyRight again.  Weather.com calls for hot and sunny conditions for all three days, temps in the upper 80’s, and the crowd full of tall, tan, scantily-clad Andalusian beauties.  The Honda RC213V likes it hot, so check off another advantage for the Repsol team.  Can Jorge Lorenzo or Valentino Rossi pull a rabbit out of his hat?  Will Aleix Espargaro’s homecoming feature a podium parade?  The race goes off at 8 am EDT on Sunday, and we’ll have results, hi-rez photos and analysis right here later in the day.

 

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Marquez Hat Trick in Argentina

April 27, 2014

New country, new continent, same outcome 

Repsol Honda crown prince Marc Marquez recovered from a confusing start to win the inaugural MotoGP chase at the picturesque Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo.  After slipping briefly into seventh (7th) place from pole position at the start, the charismatic Catalan sliced his way through the field, spent 13 laps in second place giving leader Jorge Lorenzo the heebie-jeebies, and went through Lorenzo’s Yamaha easily on Lap 17.  Cruising to the flag from that point, he became the first premier class rider to start the season with three wins from pole since Giacomo Agostini in 1971. 

Those of us fortunate enough to watch today’s race witnessed what is the greatest start to a MotoGP premier class season in 43 years.  Longer than most of you reading this have been alive.  Some have referred to Marc Marquez as the greatest rider to come along in a generation.  After his performance this weekend, he is arguably the best rider to have come along in two generations.  Maybe ever.

As a rookie, Marquez seized the title from Lorenzo, a reigning double world champion and one of the fine riders of the modern era.  Today, he spotted Lorenzo six positions and perhaps five seconds, punked him at the time and place of his choosing, and barely broke a sweat.  For Lorenzo, having given up 25 points to Marquez in Qatar and another 19 in Austin, finishing third today and appearing on the podium must have felt like a win.  A mere two years ago, a result like this would have had him cursing himself and spitting thumbtacks.  Down 53 points after three rounds in 2014, it promises to be six long months of brave smiles for the gentleman from Mallorca.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Aside from the drama up front, there was plenty going on all over the grid today.  Repsol Honda #2 Dani Pedrosa had himself a rough start, too, falling back from the #3 hole on the grid and spending some quality time in seventh position before roaring back later in the day.  At the beginning of Lap 8 he sat in fifth place; by the end of Lap 9 he was running third, having put away both LCR Honda pilot Stefan Bradl and junior Ducati tough guy Andrea Iannone.  Pedrosa trailed Lorenzo by four seconds on Lap 12 and ended up beating him by a second and a half, despite having Yamaha icon Valentino Rossi in his rearview for most of the second half of the race.

Rossi, after watching his front tire get torn to smithereens in Austin, went with the Bridgestone Kevlar option today and was all over the board.  Finishing the first lap in second position, he ran wide on several occasions, one time courtesy of a hip check from Bradl, before finally settling into fourth place where he finished.  Having announced at the start of the season that the results in his first six races of this year would determine his future in MotoGP, I’d guess he’s still wondering whether he has what it takes to meet his own high standards.  Certainly, Rossi is too proud (and has too much branding to protect) to become the next Colin Edwards and continue suiting up years after his peak.

Stefan Bradl enjoyed a productive fifth place finish after starting ninth, courtesy of a brutal high side in qualifying that left him shaken, not stirred, in his team garage on Saturday afternoon.  Iannone, who has been impressive all year on the Pramac Ducati, ran with the first group again early in the day before finally finishing sixth, the top Ducati to cross the line, three spots ahead of factory rider Andrea Dovizioso who, occupying second place at the end of Lap 2, got passed like a hat at a revival meeting the rest of the day.

Let Me Just Say This about Alvaro Bautista

Dude seems to spend way more time and attention on his appearance than on his profession.  Cursed with abnormally good looks, he puts blond streaks in his hair, then has them removed.  Grows a nice two week beard, and today shaves it off.  Narcissists generally sit around wondering, “Gee, what can I do to make myself prettier?”  Alvaro Bautista shows all the symptoms.  Just sayin’.

Meanwhile, running Fausto Gresini’s factory spec Honda RC213V, he crashes out in Qatar, crashes out in Austin and today, with the pressure on, makes it as far as Turn 5 of the first lap before landing in the kitty litter.  This, barely five days after the volatile Gresini expressed “concern” about Bautista’s competitiveness, and three days after Bautista himself vowed to take no unnecessary risks in order to finish the race.

I expected Gresini to give Bautista the boot after 2012 and again after 2013.  There is just no way he will sign him to a new contract after this season.  With riders like Vinales and Rabat looking to move up from Moto2 next season, and Bautista’s history of underachievement and excitability—how many times has he found himself running up front early in races only to crash out, often taking other riders with him—Bautista is toast.  Devilishly handsome toast.  Adios, muchacho.

Quick Hitters

Once again this year, the Tech 3 Yamahas seem to be connected at the hip. It was 2012 when Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow seemed to spend the season fighting each other every lap of every week. Last year, Crutchlow had the advantage over then rookie Bradley Smith. This year, however, Smith and new teammate Pol Espargaro seem to be traveling in tandem again. Both riders crashed out in Qatar. In Austin, it was Smith finishing fifth and Espargaro sixth. Today, it was Smith seventh and Espargaro eighth. Unlike 2012, they are usually separated on the track most of the day, but somehow seem to end up back-to-back. Espargaro seems to be slightly ahead of where he was expected to be at this point, Smith slightly behind.

Nicky Hayden got worked by teammate Hiro Aoyama at the finish line today. As if having one of the slowest bikes on the grid isn’t bad enough, the Kentucky Kid gets jammed by Aoyama, who was last seen in a MotoGP top ten at Motegi in 2011. Ugh.

Cardion AB rich kid Karel Abraham, with another dazzling 13th place finish today, has collected more points in 2014 (8) than he did in all of 2013 (5). That Honda Production Racer seems to be working wonders for him.

Finally, before we start licking our chops over Jerez next week, we must note another disappointing weekend for Aleix Espargaro on the NGM Forward Yamaha. Once again, expectations were high after he qualified fourth. Once again they were dashed when he went walkabout on Lap 2. Although he recovered sufficiently to finish 15th, he looks capable of challenging for the podium every time out, but isn’t getting it done. We’re sticking with our earlier call that he will finally get his podium at Assen or The Sachsenring.

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MotoGP 2014 COTA Preview

April 9, 2014

Visit Motorcycle.com for an edited version of this, complete with un-stolen photos.  Until then, please enjoy the raw copy.

Marquez at Aragon

Marquez, HRC look to dominate, deep in the heart 

When last we saw our helmeted heroes in action—it seems like months ago—Honda’s brilliant Marc Marquez out-raced grizzled Yamaha veteran Valentino Rossi to the flag in a riveting season opener in Qatar.  Rossi’s teammate and two time world champion Jorge Lorenzo lost his marbles on Lap One, ending up in the kitty litter, any chance he might have had for a third premier class title vanishing in a puff of smoke and a shower of sparks. 

Things in the Movistar Yamaha garage are unlikely to improve this weekend, as The Circuit of the Americas—COTA to those in the know—appears to have been custom- built for the Honda RC213V.  With but one long straight and a mess of first-gear corners, COTA places a premium on rapid acceleration, where the Honda has, in recent years, enjoyed a clear advantage over the Yamaha YZR-M1.  Some will point out that Yamaha installed its own “magic box” transmission in the M1 in the midst of last season, leveling the playing field to a degree.  But only the wildest of Yamaha devotees would suggest that HRC will not enjoy a productive outing in Austin this weekend.

Recent History at COTA 

MotoGP history at COTA defines “recent”, as last year’s race marked the circuit’s premier bash.  Marquez and Pedrosa dominated the timesheets during practice, with Lorenzo pressing to keep up and Rossi having all kinds of problems, ranging from smoke and water damage to his bike (from a fire in the Tech 3 garage on Thursday night) to braking issues that would plague him for most of the year.

LCR Honda handfeste Stefan Bradl and then-Yamaha Tech 3 Brit Cal Crutchlow had a few shining moments leading up to the race, but ultimately it was Marquez, Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo starting and finishing one-two-three.  In the process, Marquez became the youngest rider ever to win a premier class race, an accomplishment that launched him on the way to becoming the youngest rider ever to win a premier class world championship.

Marc Marquez does love himself some COTA.

Jorge Lorenzo—Fearing Marquez, Blaming Bridgestone

Q:  From a distance, how can you tell when a MotoGP rider is complaining about Bridgestone tires?

A:  His lips are moving.

Generally, MotoGP riders, at least those not winning championship trophies, blame a lot of their problems on tires.  The four current pilots who have won premier class titles—Marquez, Rossi, Lorenzo and Nicky Hayden—generally have fewer, if any, complaints about rubber.  (This calls to mind the old expression that a poor carpenter blames his tools.)  I’ve made my position on this topic clear in the past: in the absence of a grid-wide tire failure (such as NASCAR/Goodyear experienced in Indianapolis in 2008), when tires become an issue, either the team selected the wrong compound or the rider doesn’t know how to manage them properly during the race itself.

Which is why I find it so surprising that Jorge Lorenzo, of all people, should have spent so much time this winter and spring complaining about the new heat-resistant slicks that Bridgestone developed specifically to mitigate tire degradation under race conditions.  At Losail in March, it became a veritable chant—no rear grip, no rear grip—despite which he managed to qualify 16/100ths of a second behind polesitter Marquez.  His inglorious exit late on Lap One did nothing to confirm his complaints, for two reasons: first, he blamed himself for having been too aggressive on cold tires (doing a reasonable impression of Alvaro Bautista in the process) and second, Valentino Rossi spent the day on Marquez’ pipes running the same tires on the same bike.  Tires weren’t an issue for The Doctor.

I believe Jorge Lorenzo spent much of the offseason contemplating another year of chasing Marc Marquez around the globe and that Marquez is now firmly planted inside his head.  I believe Lorenzo was shocked and appalled when Marquez took the pole in Qatar, on a Yamaha track and with a broken leg.  I believe Lorenzo believes he is incapable of beating Marquez’ Honda on his own Yamaha.  Which is why I believe Lorenzo may consider switching teams—perhaps with Dani Pedrosa—during the silly season that commences in the early fall.  Life is short, and no one more competitive than Lorenzo; if you can’t beat ‘em, it might just be best to join ‘em.

Jorge-Lorenzo-Smile-HD

An Open Class Rider on the Podium?  It Could Happen.

Austin is one of those tight layouts were Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro, he of the Yamaha power, soft tires, plentiful fuel load and unbridled optimism, should have his first real chance to podium on one of the new Open class machines.  He was highly competitive at Losail despite trashing both of his bikes in practice—channeling Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy”—thus starting ninth, and ultimately finishing fourth.  He has been legitimately fast all winter and topped the timesheets during the first three practice sessions in Qatar, on a track not particularly well-suited to his strengths.  If he can manage a front row start in Texas, I expect him to joust with Rossi in a tooth and nail battle to join Marquez and Pedrosa on the podium.

The other pleasant surprises at Losail—Andrea Iannone on the satellite Ducati, Hayden and Scott Redding on Honda Production Racers and the factory Ducati pair of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow—will have their work cut out for themselves in Texas.  Bradley Smith on the Tech 3 Yamaha, Bautista on the Gresini Honda and LCR’s Bradl were fast, too, for awhile. Should any of these guys finish on the podium, in my late dad’s words, I’ll buy you a good cigar.

The mental condition of Jorge Lorenzo, facing what amounts to his season opener 25 points in arrears of Marquez, remains to be seen.  Suffice it to say that if he crashes out again this week, some serious questions will arise in the factory Yamaha garage and above. (The possibility exists that Marquez crashes out and Lorenzo wins in Texas, putting my first month’s worth of work here squarely in the hopper.)

Your Weekend Weather Forecast 

Conditions in the greater Austin area for Friday through Sunday are expected to be sunny and quite warm, with the possibility of Sunday turning cloudy and slightly cooler.  Curiously, Bridgestone has announced that it is unable to supply the new heat-resistant slicks this weekend and that the 2013 tires will be the only choices on offer.  Based upon his litany of woe these past few months, this should be seen as good news for Jorge Lorenzo.  The bad news?  He and Rossi got spanked pretty good last year, the Repsol Hondas outscoring the factory Yamahas 45-26.

One more example of how you need to be careful what you wish for.

We’ll have race results and analysis right here for you on Sunday evening.

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MotoGP 2014 Losail Results

March 23, 2014

Marquez starts where he left off; major fail for Lorenzo 

 

Marquez in Sepang 2013

After a shocking offseason, in which the MotoGP world appeared to have been turned on its head, it was mostly the usual suspects occupying the podium as the big bikes of MotoGP kicked off 2014 in fine style under the lights of Losail.  Defending world champion Marc Marquez, six weeks after breaking his leg, barely held off a resurgent Valentino Rossi for the win, with Dani Pedrosa sneaking onto the podium in third place.  Double world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who has been singing the blues for months, crashed out of the lead on Lap One and landed squarely behind the eight ball. 

Before getting into the race itself, let’s examine the rule changes in microcosm, by comparing the second qualifying sessions from 2013 and this past Saturday.

2013 and 2014 QP2 Capture

MotoGP 2014: The Playing Field Leveled

In the run-up to the race, considerable discussion centered around the off-season rule changes and the effects those changes would have on life in the upper reaches of the premier class.  (See this great article in Cycle World for a fascinating look behind the scenes of these changes.)  A comparison of the 2013 QP2 and 2014 QP2 illustrates how far off base many of those conversations were. Without exception, every rider who made it through to QP2 in 2014 improved his time compared to last year.

The expectation that the 2014 Open class would be more competitive than the 2013 CRT class has been clearly met.  The groaning and gnashing of teeth emanating from the Movistar Yamaha team that the new rules punish them for their previous success ring hollow, in that they, too, improved their qualifying times from last year.  The “unfair advantage” Ducati allegedly enjoys by opting to run in the Open class is a myth; in 2013, Ducatis qualified 4th, 10th and 11th, while this year they managed 4th, 8th and 11th.  And even poor Nicky Hayden, whose Honda Production Racer is, according to him, only slightly faster than a 1986 Vespa, improved on his time from last year, just not by enough to make it to QP2.  Waah waah waah.

The last word on this subject:  the most fascinating aspect of all of this is the remarkably reduced spread in the QP times.  Last year, the difference between Lorenzo and Aleix Espargaro was 2.3 seconds.  This year, the margin between Marquez and Pol Espargaro is a mere .6 seconds.  Despite the sniveling and whining from Lorenzo and Rossi, this portends much more exciting racing in 2014.

But What about the Race?

With a front row comprised of Repsol Honda’s wonderkid, FUN&GO Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista, and Monster Tech3 Yamaha Brit Bradley Smith, the offseason madness looked set to continue into the season opener.  Movistar Yamaha’s Lorenzo?  Fifth.  Repsol Honda veteran Pedrosa?  Sixth.  Aging factory Yamaha icon Rossi?  Tenth.  Expectations were all over the board.  NGM Forward Yamaha poster boy Aleix Espargaro, who had owned the offseason and the first three practice sessions in Doha, choked on a bone in qualifying, crashing both of his bikes, and started from ninth place.  Of the first 12 qualifiers, four were factory studs, another four represented satellite factory teams, and four enjoyed Open class advantages in fuel and tire choices, three of which were Ducatis.

Anything could happen.

The race got off to a clean start, with Lorenzo vaulting into the lead, putting his ambition to become a Spanish blues singer on hold.  Then, in turn 15 of Lap One, the unthinkable occurred—Lorenzo crashed out of the lead, an unforced error which just as suddenly revived his musical aspirations.  As the riders crossed the start/finish line for the first time, it was Stefan Bradl on the LCR Honda, Marquez, Smith, Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Ducati, Andrea Iannone on the satellite Ducati, and Rossi leading the way.  My thoughts, at that point:

  • Stefan Bradl?  He’ll crash.
  • What are Dovizioso and, moreover, Iannone doing up front?
  • What happened to Bautista?  Did he crash already?
  • Where’s Elmo Dani Pedrosa?
  • Does Bradley Smith look like a chemo patient with eyebrows, or what?

Gradually (ignoring the Lorenzo debacle) a state of normalcy began to settle over the field.  Iannone crashed out on Lap Two, but would recover sufficiently to finish tenth.  Both Bautista and Pedrosa began picking riders off and moving up the chart.  Rossi, who I thought had been sandbagging over the winter, suddenly materialized in fourth place on Lap Six.  Bradl crashed out at turn six of Lap Nine, at which point the top five riders were Marquez, Rossi, Smith, Pedrosa and Bautista.  Instead of a 2013 front group consisting of one or two riders, there were four or five in the picture.  Things were getting interesting.  And by “interesting”, I mean that Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi, Tomorrow and Yesterday, suddenly found themselves in a cage match that would provide 13 laps of grand prix motorcycle racing at its finest.

Ultimately, Smith crashed his satellite Yamaha on Lap 19, giving up 11 championship points in the process, and Bautista laid his RC2013V down on Lap 21, handing third place to Pedrosa.  That Marquez would enjoy his seventh career win in the premier class was not a shock; for him, a broken leg seems about as bothersome as a head cold.  That he would need every ounce of skill, daring and luck he owns to nip Rossi at the flag is remarkable.  Rossi is not a seven time premier class champion for nothing, and his ability to adjust to pretty much anything—outside of a Ducati Desmosedici—is firmly established.  There must be some serious head-shaking going on in the Movistar Yamaha garage tonight, as the new boss has, for the time being, given way to the old boss.  And I wonder how Jeremy Burgess, Rossi’s former crew chief, is feeling about now.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Aleix Espargaro, despite his miserable QP and inauspicious start, ended the day in fourth place, and must still be feeling wildly optimistic about his prospects for the season.  The two other Brits in the field, Cal Crutchlow on the Ducati and rookie Scott Redding on the production Honda, ended up sixth and seventh, sticking it in the eye of the American contingent of Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards, who still had relatively good days.  Hayden drove his Vespa to an eighth place finish, while the 40 year old Edwards enjoyed his first top ten finish in over a year aboard the #2 NGM Forward Yamaha.  Edwards insists that he will switch to the FTR frame once it is ready, while teammate Espargaro seems pretty happy with the status quo.  As noted above, Andrea Iannone completed today’s top ten.

Five Things We Learned Heading to Austin

  1. The world has never seen anything like Marc Marquez.
  2. Valentino Rossi still belongs in MotoGP.
  3. Aleix Espargaro may not win the 2014 title, but his stock is way high.
  4. It could be a very long year for Jorge Lorenzo.
  5. After a number of dull, predictable years, MotoGP is BACK.

Top Ten after 1 Round

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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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2014 Valencia Test Times, Day 2

November 12, 2013

by Bruce Allen

11/12/2013            Courtesy of Crash.net

1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 30.536s (Lap 75/77)
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 30.768s (58/60)
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 30.948s (67/72)
4. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 1m 30.990s (57/60)
5. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 1m 31.208s (41/72)
6. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 31.397s (77/78)
7. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 31.414s (56/57)
8. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 1m 31.661s (55/62)
9. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 31.836s (66/72)
10. Andrea Iannone ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing (GP13) 1m 31.844s (61/68)
11. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (GP13) 1m 32.114s (53/53)
12. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Test Team (GP13) 1m 32.473s (47/65)
13. Nicky Hayden USA Power Electronics Aspar (RCV1000R) 1m 32.576s (76/76)
14. Yonny Hernandez COL Ignite Pramac Racing (GP13) 1m 32.800s (26/27)
15. Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Yamaha M1) 1m 32.847s (17/18)
16. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Yamaha M1) 1m 33.149s (21/34)
17. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 1m 33.672s (32/43)
18. Randy de Puniet FRA Paul Bird Motorsport (ART) 1m 33.833s (22/37)
19. Scott Redding GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R) 1m 34.541s (22/23)
20. Mike di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (FTR-Kawasaki) 1m 34.618s (29/42)

Interesting notes–

Marquez, Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Bradl all lap under 1:31, starting up where they left off on Sunday.

Dovi testing at ValenciaAfter a full year on the GP13, Andrea Dovizioso is half a second faster than Cal Crutchlow is after one full day.  Nicky Hayden slipped a mere 8/10ths from his qualifying time on the GP13 during his first day on the new Honda lite RCV1000R.  Little Brother Pol Espargaro, riding the Tech 3 satellite Yamaha, beat Big Brother Aleix on the FTR Yamaha  by a full second.  Randy de Puniet shows up out of nowhere and Paul Byrd puts him on the full ART, throwing Michael Laverty back on the so-called PBM-ART, from which Laverty thought he had graduated late last season; the Welshman can’t be too happy about that.  And Hector Barbera, fresh off signing a new two year deal with Avintia Blusens, is too drunk to get on the bike either day, but sober enough to give a gushing interview to the Italian media as to how excited he is by the prospect of finishing 16th most days for the next two years.  Jeesh.

Scott Redding is too banged up to give his new Honda lite a proper whipping.  Valentino Rossi, who unceremoniously threw his faithful and longstanding crew chief Jerry Burgess under the bus last weekend, still finds himself running behind the likes of Bradl, Bautista and satellite Yamaha rider Bradley Smith.  Vale, you’re on the same bike Lorenzo nearly won a third world championship on.  The problem is NOT the crew chief!

Yonny Hernandez, on a factory spec GP13, finds himself running in 14th position.  Wait until he gets the dumbed-down version with the second rate software.  At least he’ll still have the pleasure of getting to burn out a dozen engines during the season, while Crazy Joe Iannone will have to settle for five engines and a fighting chance to run in Q2s and finish in the top ten at some tracks.

 

Captain America - 1969

This picture of Peter Fonda doing his Captain America bit from Easy Rider  is appropos of nothing, but there’s no editors at Motorcycle.com to take it down.  Gotta love that!  Pretty sure the crack about Barbera being drunk wouldn’t have made it through, either.

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Marc Marquez–2013 MotoGP Champion

November 10, 2013

by Bruce Allen.  An edited version of this story will appear on Motorcycle.com later today.  Until then, please enjoy the raw copy. 

With 13 points separating defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo and rookie challenger Marc Marquez heading into the 2013 finale in Valencia, the tension leading up to the race couldn’t have been cut with a machete.  Unforced falls by leaders in the Moto2 and Moto3 tilts served as a reminder that, as Yogi Berra once observed, “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”  When it was over, however, Yamaha icon Lorenzo had won the race and handed over his crown to Repsol Honda’s boy wonder Marquez.  It feels like the beginning of a new era in grand prix racing. 

Final Podium of 2013-2

To take his third title in the last four years, Lorenzo needed a win and a load of bad karma to befall Marquez.  Winning, as it turned out, wouldn’t be a problem, as he had the pace all weekend while Marquez was in an uncharacteristic risk-aversion mode.  Lorenzo’s strategy early in the race was to take the lead, slow the pace, and see if mayhem might arise behind him.  Instead, he found himself in a cage match with Repsol #2 Dani Pedrosa, who had been dispatched by his team with orders to harass and annoy Lorenzo.  As a result, the first ten laps of the race were as good as it gets in motorsports.

At the start, the two Japanese factory teams got away at the front, with Lorenzo and Pedrosa playing grab-ass while Marquez lay back slightly, bracing for an expected assault from Yamaha #2 Valentino Rossi, whose job was to attack Marquez and, hopefully, force him into a king-sized mistake.  Five separate times during the first seven laps, Lorenzo and Pedrosa exchanged positions twice, as Pedrosa would go through on Lorenzo and Lorenzo would immediately return the favor.  Meanwhile, Rossi, pedaling as hard as he could, was unable to mount the slightest challenge to Marquez, abandoning his teammate to the usual Repsol double-team.  [In his first year back from two purgatorial seasons with Ducati, The Doctor has officially been demoted to The Physician’s Assistant.  One hopes he gets out of the game before becoming The Registered Nurse.]

Lap 10 was decisive.  Pedrosa had gotten in front of Lorenzo once again, and the now-desperate Mallorcan dove inside hard enough to prompt an examination from Race Direction, pushing Pedrosa way wide and allowing Marquez to take the lead, with the ever-dangerous Alvaro Bautista, onboard the GO&FUN Gresini Honda, sneaking briefly into third place as Pedrosa re-entered in sixth.  Lorenzo and Marquez then traded passes late in the lap and again for the last time on Lap 11.  Rossi and Pedrosa went though on Bautista on Lap 12.  Pedrosa, with Lorenzo’s tire tracks on both sides of his leathers, passed Rossi for the last time on Lap 14, and was shown a little respect by Marquez on Lap 27, who sat up to allow him back into second place, cementing the final order of finish.

Lorenzo’s Pyrrhic victory displayed once again the heart of a champion, while Marquez’ well-considered third place result evidenced intelligence and coachability.  Having won the last three races of the season, two of which were contested at very Honda-friendly tracks, Lorenzo demonstrated that Yamaha’s new magic gearbox has decidedly leveled the field.  Thus, my coronation of Marquez as the inevitable ruler of the next decade appears to be somewhat premature.  Certainly, the next few seasons promise some epic duels between the two Spaniards, with Pedrosa and Rossi filling the undercards until they decide to hang up their leathers and call it a career.

2013 Valencia Top Ten Finishers

Valencia 2013 Top Ten

2014 Starts Tomorrow

Top tier team testing for next season begins tomorrow at Ricardo Tormo, although Yamaha will not take the track until Tuesday.  Cal Crutchlow, who crashed out of fifth position today, climbs aboard the Ducati Desmosedici for the first of what promises to be two years of well-paid ineptitude.  His former and now new teammate Andrea Dovizioso seemed at some point to lose interest in dragging the big red bike so far behind the leaders, having earned 81 points in the first half of the season and 59 thereafter.  Crutchlow’s place on the Monster Tech 3 team will be taken by Pol Espragaro, who graduates from Moto2 with the 2013 trophy in his mitts.

Brit Scott Redding, who finished the Moto2 season in second place, joins Alvaro Bautista on the Gresini team with one of the new production Honda RCV1000Rs beneath him, and will benefit from the extra horsepower that comes with it.  Both Nicky Hayden and Hiro Aoyama will go to work tomorrow for the Aspar team, also riding the new Honda lite machine, with current riders Aleix Espargaro defecting to NGM Forward Racing to join Colin Edwards on Yamaha-powered hybrids, and Randy de Puniet slinking off to the Suzuki factory to test their anticipated 2015 entry for a year.  The Pramac junior Ducati team will retain Andrea Iannone on factory equipment and Yonny Hernandez on a spec version, with “The Seven Circles of Hell” embroidered on his leathers.  We’ll have to wait and see what transpires closer to the bottom of the premier class food chain.

A Thriller at Moto3 

The Moto3 race today was an object lesson for those of us who turn up our noses at the youngsters on the little bikes.  Three Spanish kids—Luis Salom, Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales—lined up at the start understanding this was a rare “winner take all” occasion.  Getting off cleanly from the front row, all three attacked the 24 laps of the Ricardo Tomo circuit, with Vinales and Salom taking turns in the lead, and young Rins sitting in third.  Unaccountably, on lap 15 Salom lost the front and slid unmolested into the kitty litter, leaving Vinales and Rins to slug it out for the title.  With four laps left, the riders dropped their gloves and started throwing hooks and haymakers, every turn contested, the gap separating them measured in hundredths of seconds.

Almost as if it were scripted, it came down to the final turn on the final lap, with Rins going through, running a tiny bit wide, and leaving the door ajar for Vinales, who eased through and won the sprint to the flag.  Vinales graduates to Moto2 next season, while Rins appears destined to remain in Moto3 for another year, where he is expected to contest the championship with teammate Alex Marquez on the way to their expected Moto2 debuts in 2015.  With Suzuki and now Aprilia having announced their intentions to re-enter the premier class fray in 2015 and 2016, respectively, and speculation rampant as to whom will pilot the new factory bikes, Vinales, Rins and Marquez the Younger would appear to be logical suspects.  By then, one of the three may have replaced Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda and a second received the baton from Valentino Rossi on the factory Yamaha.

A Final Word on the 2013 Season

Aside from Marquez’ brilliance, no discussion of the past year can take place without mention of Lorenzo’s two injurious crashes in the Netherlands and Germany or Pedrosa’s ruinous accident at the Sachsenring.  Last year, in anticipation of Marquez joining the premier class, we found an appropriate quote from Rudyard Kipling with which to close our season’s work.  This year, we sacrifice literary elegance for down-home wisdom, and turn to the late Don Meredith, the hilarious quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys back in the day.  It was Meredith who observed, “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, wouldn’t it be a merry Christmas?”

christmas-candy-bark2

Enjoy the off-season, be well, and please join us here again next spring for more MotoGP news and analysis.  On time and on the money.

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Posted in Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Moto, MotoGP, MotoGP Valencia, Motorcycle Racing, Racing News | 2 Comments »

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