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Random MotoGP musings on a Friday…

June 28, 2013

…after my boy Jorge Lorenzo fell, together with his multiply-fractured collarbone, out of the 2013 championship race in a relatively tame high side on Wednesday, nothing like Marquez’s high side on Thursday, in which the rookie went completely ragdoll in a pas de deux with his bike, broke a finger, broke a toe, walked away and qualified on the front row.

One of the racing publications suggested the possibility that Lorenzo might try to race on Saturday without having qualified on Friday.  Not sure how that works, other than badly.  If Lorenzo can be 85% by Saxony he can wait for Pedrosa to crash, or, delightfully, the rookie to CAUSE Pedrosa to crash in a silly overtaking move somewhere like Laguna or Brno.

What a bummer it is to be kind of Pedrosa-neutral, ready to see him BEAT Lorenzo for the title, but now having to almost hope he has bad luck and collects a DNF or two in order to make it a horse race again.

If Marquez were to accidentally dump Pedrosa on the way to a win Sunday, Livio Suppo’s worst nightmare come true, the standings would look like this:

Pedrosa     123

Marquez    118

Lorenzo     116

Crutchlow   91

Just sayin’.

________________________________

A.  Competing  =  starting a race.

B.  Qualifying  =  finding one hot lap.

C.  Racing  =  consistent hot laps

D.  Winning = Doing lots of C and leaving some B for when it is necessary or opportune.

When turned upside down this approximates the food chain in MotoGP.  There are two, maybe three D’s.  There are four or five C’s.  There are three or four B’s.  And the rest–16 or so–are mainly out there turning laps, maybe qualifying top six in the rain, looking for photo ops for the sponsors, chasing promotional opportunities.  Lots of training, great reflexes–kind of guy who could snatch your dollar bill out of the air from 2″.  But the top 10 are the only guys with even a remote chance of a podium.

So, 60% of the field is out there to wear the colors and get some exposure for the sponsors.  Of the rest, perhaps four or five have a chance of winning a race.  The rest, if you’ll pardon the observation, are satisfied with one hot lap in qualifying, keeping the shiny side up for 25 laps, letting attrition take its toll on the field, and telling everyone about their  “Top Ten” finish and what a thrill it was, how the team–everyone but him, really–worked really hard all weekend blah blah blah.  That he didn’t actually overtake anyone all day, but managed 9th place nonetheless.  In the words of Gilbert Godfrey, “Big whoop.”  Some pretty big names in this group.  Former  world champions.

Nice that at least one of the top ten is a “CRT” baller, Aleix Espargaro.  Make it a new rule that if brothers are competing in the series, they must either both be on prototypes or both on Frankenbikes.  We’ve had the Spies rule, then the Marquez rule.  Time for the Espargaro rule.

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MotoGP Catalunya 2013 Results

June 16, 2013

by Bruce Allen.  An edited version of this column will appear on Motorcycle.com.

Jorge Lorenzo Repeats; Championship Tightens 

Factory Yamaha #1 Jorge Lorenzo won a number of battles today at the Gran Premio Aperol de Catalunya.  He beat challengers Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez to the finish line for his second consecutive win of 2013 and his second in a row at Montmelo.  He beat the Spanish summer heat that had a number of riders seeing stars.  He beat the racing surface itself, which was hot, greasy and abrasive.  So why does he seems destined to finish second in 2013? 

Race weekend 2013 in greater Barcelona was sunny, warm and confusing.  There was a different leader in each of the free practice sessions leading up to Saturday’s qualifying, in which series leader and Repsol Honda #1 Dani Pedrosa took the pole—his first ever here—in his 200th grand prix start.  The front of the starting grid today was weirdness itself:

  • a first row comprised of Pedrosa, Yamaha Tech 3 overachiever Cal Crutchlow and Lorenzo.
  • a hilarious second row featuring satellite Honda jug head Alvaro Bautista, factory Ducati #2 Nicky Hayden and Repsol Honda rookie phenom Marc Marquez; and
  • an all-Italian third row of factory Yamaha #2 Valentino Rossi, satellite Ducati comer Andrea Iannone and factory Ducati #1 Andrea Dovizioso.

One of the areas in which Lorenzo has improved his game over the past few years is starting races.  Back in 2010 and 2011, he would routinely qualify brilliantly, only to enter the first turn of races in, like 6th place.  This, in comparison to rival Pedrosa, who generally started races as if he had been launched by the catapult on an aircraft carrier.  Again today, in a repeat of his performance at Mugello two weeks ago, Lorenzo entered Turn 1 aggressively ahead of polesitter Pedrosa, a critical move that would make his win today possible.

25 Laps of High Anxiety

By the end of the first lap, the top five consisted of Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Marquez, Crutchlow and a frisky-looking Rossi, who appeared capable of a podium, if not a win.  Rossi has enjoyed six career wins here, but another poor qualifying practice, in a season full of them, consigned him to a fifth consecutive off-the-podium finish after his triumphant second-place result in Qatar.  More on Rossi later.

The next 24 laps reminded me of playing Bingo in a church basement, which offers players a unique combination of boredom and anxiety.  The only change in the top four positions occurred when Cal Crutchlow, heavily jinxed by me in last week’s preview, slid off the track and out of the race on Lap 6 for his first DNF of the season.  As in Mugello, Lorenzo desperately fended off the determined Pedrosa until his fuel load dropped, at which point he was again able to breathe, while not actually “breaking” Pedrosa until the last three laps.

What broke Pedrosa today was less Lorenzo than teammate Marquez, who spent his entire day in third position.  Late in the race, when it became clear Pedrosa was not likely to overtake Lorenzo, the rookie decided to make a run at him.  He spent most of the last three laps of the race attached to Pedrosa’s pipes, like a terrier on a pants leg, until the last lap, when he had a “MotoGP moment” during a last-gasp move on Pedrosa that forced him to stand the bike up and concede second place (by 6/100ths of a second).  Marquez is a baller, with five podiums and a DNF in six rookie starts.  He will file today’s race under “Lessons Learned in 2013”.

Don’t be surprised if this is the last time Pedrosa ever tops Marquez in Catalunya.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Alvaro Bautista, onboard the FUN&GO Gresini Honda for what has to be the last season, once again exhibited his low racing IQ for the world to see.  Dude qualified fourth and had an outside shot at a podium.  But, heading into Turn 10 on Lap 1, he seemed to take aim at Rossi, went in hot, lost the front, and slid out, barely missing the Italian’s rear wheel and a repeat of their conjoined debacle in Mugello last time out.  Another bonehead move on cold tires, reminiscent of Assen last year where he almost wrecked Lorenzo’s season.  I join Fausto Gresini in wondering what the hell is up with this guy.

Riders enjoying a productive day today included LCR Honda sophomore Stefan Bradl, who salvaged 11 points after starting in 10th place, and Tech 3 Yamaha rookie Bradley Smith, who held on for sixth place in his best outing of the year.  Andrea Dovizioso managed seventh today despite running on the rims as he crossed the finish line.  Aleix Espargaro was again the top CRT rider, ending the day in eighth place.

Normally we ignore much of what happens in the lower tranches of MotoGP, but today we make two exceptions.  We congratulate Colin Edwards, on the NGM Forward Racing CRT, who, in 9th place, managed his first top ten result since finishing 5th at Phillip Island in 2011.  And we salute 10th place finisher Michelle Pirro for his versatility.  So far this season, he has been a test rider for Ducati.  He has been a wildcard on the Ducati “Lab Bike.”  He has been a substitute rider for Ben Spies on the Ignite Pramac Ducati.  Today, though, he was onboard the Lab Bike wearing Pramac colors, the third, and hopefully last, permutation of a second-stringer for Ducati Corse.  Will we ever again see Ben Spies in MotoGP?

As The Sun Sets on Valentino Rossi

Barring rain at a layout like Aragon, it’s possible Valentino Rossi has won his last race in the premier class of MotoGP.  The guy who defined the sport for most of a decade has lost a step, as was clear today.  Sitting alone in 4th place after Crutchlow’s crash, The Doctor was unable to mount any kind of challenge to Marquez over the next 19 laps.  He appeared to be hoping for something bad to happen to one of the leaders, which would have elevated him to a cheap podium.  As we’ve said here before, most knowledgeable MotoGP observers say it’s 80% rider, 20% bike in this league.  If you buy that reasoning, you may also buy the idea that Rossi is done as a championship contender.  The following graph shows Rossi’s wins per season since joining the premier class in 2000.

Rossi Wins per Year Since 2000

The Big Picture 

After six rounds, Dani Pedrosa still leads Jorge Lorenzo by seven points.  Marquez trails Lorenzo by 23, with Crutchlow 22 points behind the rookie.  Barring crashes, which is like barring respiration, it is a two man race again this year.  Pedrosa’s lead is actually larger than it looks, for two reasons:

  • There are only a couple of Yamaha-friendly circuits remaining on the 2013 calendar.
  • Lorenzo is currently working engine #4, while both Pedrosa and Marquez are on their second powerplants.  With a statutory limit of five engines for the season, the likelihood that Lorenzo will have to start from pit lane in several races cannot be denied.

True, Lorenzo’s primary gift is his consistency, supplemented by his patience and tire management skills.  Scrawled on his helmet today was his mantra “Constant as a Hammer”.  He’s a polished professional at the top of his game, getting everything possible from his Yamaha M-1.  But the smart money is saying it’s not going to be enough in 2013.

Top Ten after Six Rounds

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MotoGP News: Pedrosa Wins at Le Mans

May 19, 2013

This article is now published on Motorcycle.com.

Dani Pedrosa Wins Shocker in the Rain 

At the start of the 2013 French Grand Prix, the Alien with the faintest prospects had to be Repsol Honda minuteman Dani Pedrosa.  Since joining the premier class in 2006, he had never finished higher than third here.  Though his free practice sessions were good, he crashed in qualifying, putting him back in the 6 hole for the start.  He was eighth in the wet morning warm up practice.  But when the red lights went out, it was Pedrosa who dropped the hammer on his rivals, won the race, and put himself in the lead for the 2013 world championship.  Bravo, Dani! 

80,000 soaked French spectators received more shocks today than a nun in a cucumber patch:

  • Andrea Dovizioso led more laps on his factory Ducati than Valentino Rossi did in the last two years, before fading to fourth place.
  • Cal “It’s Only a Flesh Wound” Crutchlow drove his Monster Tech 3 Yamaha to an exhilarating second place finish, providing his French team with its best result in years, with a cracked shinbone and too many contusions to count, courtesy of yet another hard fall on Saturday.
  • Rookie sensation Marc Marquez finished third—not a surprise—after driving his Repsol Honda all over the park, skirting the gravel more than once, and spending a good part of the day in eighth place.  Marquez is very good.  He also seems to be very lucky, a powerful combination.
  • Valentino Rossi, who struggled all weekend, started eighth on his factory M-1 and was looking strong, running third on Lap 14 when pressure from a streaking Crutchlow forced him into a lowside and an eventual 12th place finish.  Rossi can ill afford more disappointment at Mugello.  In the words of Satchel Paige, he’d best not look backwards, ‘cause something may be gaining on him.
  • Even Nicky Hayden had a good day, moving up from the 10 hole at the start to finish fifth, putting more Ducatis than Yamahas in the Top Five.
  • Yamaha #1 Jorge Lorenzo will, at some point, tell us what the heck happened to his race today.  As our deadline looms, we’re left to wonder.  See below.

For the second year in a row, the race was run in the rain.  Last year, Lorenzo ran away from the field to win for the third time in four tries in France.  The Mallorcan started well today, dogging race leader Andrea Dovizioso and his red Ducati for two laps before dropping like a stone for a dozen laps to as far back as ninth place on Lap 17.  He would ultimately finish seventh behind Fun & Go Honda slacker Alvaro Bautista, for God’s sake.  Was it water vapor inside his visor?  A slow leak in his rear tire?  The heartbreak of psoriasis?  Whatever it was, it left him with a nine point day, buried in third place for the year.  Not exactly a momentum booster heading to Mugello in two weeks.

A Quick Word about MotoGP Qualifying

Across the board in motorsports, everyone makes a big deal about how important it is to qualify well.  MotoGP, buying heavily into this theory during the offseason, decided that it needed two qualifying sessions to sort out the finer points of determining who starts where.  Granted, the 15 minute qualifying sessions are a hoot, resembling a Chinese fire drill, especially at the longer circuits, where coming up with a single fast lap can be a challenge.

Today was a good example of the folly of such thinking.  The first three qualifiers were Marquez, Lorenzo and Dovizioso.  By the midpoint of the first lap, your race leaders were Dovizioso, Lorenzo and Pedrosa, who had started sixth, while Marquez was dawdling in 10th.  On the silliness scale, this ranks just behind the National Basketball Association, where teams play 82 regular season games to secure homecourt advantage in the playoffs, then go out and lose the first game in the series.   Just sayin’.

Elsewhere on the Grid

LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl crashed today for the third time in four outings in his rookie season onboard the Honda RC213V.  After winning the Moto2 title last year and tearing it up during offseason testing, young Stefan and Company must be shaking their heads, trying to get the taste of ashes out of their mouths.  The six points he earned today by finishing 10th are but cold comfort.

Perhaps the best eighth place finish of the year was turned in today by Michele Pirro, subbing for Ben Spies on the Ignite Pramac Ducati.  Pirro, called up two rounds ago when Spies’ physical problems put him on the shelf for Jerez, started in 14th place and moved steadily up on the field all day.  It must be said that Le Mans, especially in the rain, is a Ducati-friendly circuit.

Today’s race put the vast difference between the prototypes and the CRT bikes in clear perspective.  All 12 of the prototypes finished today, occupying the top 12 spots at the flag.  Five of the 12 CRT bikes failed to finish, including homeboy Randy de Puniet, whose Lap 17 crash left him with six (6) points for the season, as compared to teammate Aleix Espargaro’s 20.  De Puniet confirmed this weekend that he will be in Japan this coming week testing the 2014 Suzuki prototype, causing me to wonder who’s in charge of the racing program at the Hamamatsu factory, and what’s in his medicine cabinet.

The Big Picture

Today’s race shuffled the Top Ten standings for the year, elevating Crutchlow and Dovizioso at the expense of Bautista and Rossi, respectively.  The Repsol Honda team must smell blood with Mugello, historically a very Yamaha-friendly circuit, next up.  Everyone expects Yamaha to do well in Italy, with its wide, sweeping curves, thousands of Rossi supporters, and eight wins (plus two seconds) in the past 10 years.  But if Pedrosa and Marquez end up on the podium in suburban Florence, the 2013 constructor’s trophy is likely to go to Honda for the third year in a row.

2013 Champ Standings after 4 Rounds Top Ten

Next Up:  Mugello

MotoGP makes its annual pilgrimage to Tuscany in two weeks, to the legendary Mugello circuit outside Florence.  Ground Zero for the Renaissance is always one of the favorite stops on the MotoGP calendar.  This year, the pressure on Lorenzo and Rossi is enormous, as the season is starting to get away from them.

In our Le Mans preview last week, we compared the premier class battle between the factory Honda and Yamaha teams to the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, and found ourselves leaning toward the tortoise.  Perhaps we’ve been misled by this story for generations.  Perhaps, indeed, young and fast beats consistent and experienced.  We’ll find out in two weeks.

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MotoGP Le Mans 2013 Preview

May 14, 2013

An edited version of this article, complete with hi-rez photos, is now available at Motorcycle.com.

Team Yamaha Ready to Rumble in the Rain 

As the fastest sport on two wheels heads into France for Round Four, one thing is certain—the stakes for the 2013 championship are higher than they’ve been in years.  The Repsol Honda team of Dani Pedrosa and rookie sensation Marc Marquez has youth and speed going for it.  The factory Yamaha duo of defending champion Jorge Lorenzo and prodigal veteran Valentino Rossi has consistency and experience in its corner.  And while it’s not quite the fabled Tortoise and the Hare, the analogy works. 

Sure, rookie Marquez has been setting the world on fire thus far.  And sure, Dani Pedrosa came through in Jerez when he really needed a win, aided by an assist from his young wingman.  Lorenzo, though, is a double world champion, and Rossi, who is still getting used to the factory M-1 on which he dominated the game for years, has another seven premier class trophies lying around his man cave back in Italy.  It’s just too early in the season to suggest that this is Marquez’s year, or Pedrosa’s year, or even Honda’s year.

In 2013, He Who Remains Upright will win the title.

Take a look back at the last four champions.  Rossi won in 2009 despite a comical wet/dry 16th place finish in France and crashing out in Indianapolis.  In 2010, Lorenzo didn’t crash all year, but won the trophy by 140 points and could have easily absorbed a few lowsides without damaging his championship prospects.  Casey Stoner in 2011 crashed out early in the season at Jerez and won the title convincingly.  And last year, Lorenzo repeated despite getting de-biked by Alvaro Bautista at Assen and falling unassisted in Valencia.

Let’s pile on a little.  Here is the spread in points between first and third place, by year since 2009, after three rounds:

Year            Leader/points     Third place/points       Spread 

2009               Rossi – 65          Lorenzo – 41                 24

2010             Lorenzo – 70        Dovizioso – 42              28

2011             Lorenzo – 65          Stoner – 41                   24

2012              Stoner – 66          Pedrosa – 52                14

2013           Marquez – 61             Lorenzo – 57                 4 

All of which is a rather long way of saying that a DNF this season, by any of the top four riders, will put him squarely behind the eight ball.  If Rossi can find a way onto the podium at Le Mans, surprising no one, it will make things that much tighter at the top of the class.  And, judging from Marquez’s comportment in Jerez, I would say that he is the most likely of the four to get separated from his machine in the first half of the season.  Even at 320 kph, slow and steady wins the race.

Recent History at Le Mans

2009 was the epic flag-to-flag affair that saw Lorenzo run away from the field, joined sometime later on the podium by one Marco Melandri on the Hayate Racing Kawasaki— I know, right?—and third place finisher Dani Pedrosa.  The following excerpt from that day’s coverage remains one of my all-time favorites:

The first rider to pit was Valentino Rossi, who was busily watching Lorenzo lengthen his lead until, on Lap 4,he couldn’t stand it anymore, and pitted to swap his wet bike for the dry.  Thus began one of the worst days of his premier class career.  In chronological order, he immediately executed a rousing lowside, limped back to the pits, traded his tattered dry bike for his original wet bike, got flagged for speeding on pit row, took his ride-through penalty, turned a few slow laps, pitted again, traded back his wet bike for his now-repaired dry bike, returned to the track and finished 16th, two laps down. He might as well have gone to Baltimore to watch the Preakness.

In 2010 it was Lorenzo again, joined onstage by Rossi and Dovizioso.  Stoner’s early crash left the door open for the Mallorcan.  At the end of the day Lorenzo led the Australian by 59 points, and Stoner’s dream of a title in 2010 lay in ruins.

Two years ago, Casey Stoner took his first career win at Le Mans with an easy stroll past Dovizioso and Rossi.  This was the race in which the late Marco Simoncelli undercut Pedrosa in one of the lefthanders and sent him flying off his bike and out of the 2011 championship race.  For Rossi, the 2011 French Grand Prix podium would be the high water mark in a brutal inaugural season with Ducati.

Finally, in 2012, Lorenzo again led the way, this time in a driving rainstorm, while Rossi enjoyed one of his two podiums last year, finishing second, ten seconds behind Lorenzo and two seconds in front of Casey Stoner, who had announced his impending retirement only days earlier.

Having enjoyed three wins out of his last four outings in France, in the wet, the dry and in-between, Jorge Lorenzo should be the favorite going into the weekend.  With weather conditions expected to be cold and damp, it’s not that hard to envision Rossi on the podium and Marquez in the gravel.  And with but one third place podium finish at Le Mans since 2007, not to mention his season-ruining crash in 2011, Dan Pedrosa’s expectations for the weekend are bound to be fairly modest.

Ben Spies MIA Again

As was the case last time out in Jerez, Ben Spies will be reclining in Texas this weekend, nursing his shoulder, chest and ego.  Michele Pirro will again be riding a Ducati on Sunday, this time as a substitute rider for the Ignite Pramac team.  Last time out he was a wildcard.  The difference being, this time he’s into Spies’ engine allotment, which can’t make Ben all too happy.  According to SpeedCafe.com, “After a medical check in Dallas, American Spies was advised that it was in his best interests to delay his comeback.”  Um, perhaps until 2014, in World SuperBikes, running around with Nicky Hayden and becoming relevant again.  Everyone’s pointing to Mugello, but we’re taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Quick Hitters

Hectic Hector Barbera received a bit of community service as his punishment for getting beat up by his ex-girlfriend a few weeks ago in Jerez.  One wonders what the sentence might have been had he WON the fight…

Most of the CRT bikes are getting a software upgrade for their ECU units this weekend.  The exceptions are the ART entries of Espargaro, de Puniet, Abraham and Hernandez.  (No one seems to know, or actually care, whether Bryan Staring will be getting new software or not.)  One of the upgrades to the package is referred to as “anti-jerk”, which came along too late to be of any use to James Toseland…

The rumors of Cal Crutchlow’s impending demise at Monster Tech 3 Yamaha just won’t go away.  Stunning, in my opinion, that Pol Espargaro is being groomed to take the place of the gutsy Brit.  This could mean, of course, that Nicky Hayden is toast at Ducati, and that he will be consigned to promoting the Ducati brand in WSB, while Crutchlow will get his long-awaited factory ride.  (You gotta be careful what you wish for, Cal.  Ask Andrea Dovizioso.)  Following the dominoes, it suggests the brass at Yamaha corporate see the end of the Rossi era approaching, especially if Espargaro signs a one year deal with Tech 3.

The cool part will be watching the Espargaro brothers go at each other next season.  Recall 2011 when both were working in Moto2, as older brother Aleix punked Pol by a single point for the season.  Take that, bitch.

It’s a pretty good bet that last sentence won’t make it past the editors.  J

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MotoGP Jerez 2013 Results

May 5, 2013

An edited version of this story will appear on Motorcycle.com sometime tomorrow.  Until then, enjoy the raw copy here.

Pedrosa wins as Marquez and Lorenzo tangle 

The 2013 Gran Premio bwin de Espana brought a startling reversal of fortune for the top teams and riders in the premier class.  Yamaha owned the practice sessions as factory studs Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, joined by the ascendant Cal Crutchlow, took three of the top four spots again and again.  Honda, though, qualified Dani Pedrosa and rookie Marc Marquez on the front row.  The final podium of Pedrosa, Marquez and Lorenzo delivered a new series leader and a furious double world champion. 

By all rights, defending champion Jorge Lorenzo should have had a more satisfying result today.  He turned 26 on Saturday, and celebrated by having Turn 13 named in his honor.  He had been at or near the top of the timesheets all weekend and qualified on the pole.  While everyone around him spent Saturday crashing into the gravel, Lorenzo ran as if on rails.  In the stifling Spanish heat on Sunday, though, it was Dani Pedrosa who had the pace.  After a poor start, Lorenzo moved back into the early lead on Lap 1 and held it until Lap 6, when Pedrosa passed him on his way to a comfortable win.

By then, Lorenzo was getting dogged by rookie Marquez, who showed no respect going through aggressively on Rossi on Lap 2, with Crutchlow sitting in 5th place hoping for bad karma among the leaders.  As the race approached its midpoint, Marquez was attacking Lorenzo at every opportunity, slipping, sliding and generally causing heart failure among the team and his ever-present dad.  After one of those “moments” on Lap 12, the rookie backed off, appearing content to settle for the third spot on the rostrum.  The race at that point devolved into another of those premier class processions most everyone hates, other than the 111,000 locals in attendance going mental over the prospect of an all-Spanish rostrum.

As the riders crossed the start/finish line for the last time, Marquez re-appeared on Lorenzo’s pipes.  Lorenzo, who had struggled all day with front grip, appeared to be in trouble, but continued blocking Marquez, other than a momentary exchange of positions around Turn 6.  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.

As race announcers Gavin and Emmett observed, it appeared Marquez, accelerating when he should have been on the brakes, would have run wide had Lorenzo not been there to provide a bounce.  From here, it looked to be one of those incidents where Race Direction might step in and assess some of their shiny new penalty points for 2013.  [At deadline, the silence from the stewards is deafening.]  Lin Jarvis, who directs Yamaha racing, spoke of the contact as being “just a racing incident,” showing immense self-control.  Lorenzo, visibly angry after the race, rebuffed several attempts from Marquez to make nice, but declined to threaten vengeance upon the gifted upstart at LeMans.

Farther Back on the Grid

Valentino Rossi, who ran an uninspired fourth today, sits in fourth place for the year, 15 points behind teammate Lorenzo, and not yet as relevant as we had hoped entering the season.  Cal Crutchlow, with puzzling rumors circulating about him losing his Tech 3 Yamaha ride next season to Pol Espargaro, delivered another gritty performance today for fifth, after crashing twice on Saturday and with everything bone and organ to the left of his sternum throbbing.

A number of other riders acquitted themselves nicely today.  Alvaro Bautista, on the GO&FUN Gresini Honda, battled Crutchlow most of the day, eventually coming in sixth, ten seconds in front of Nicky Hayden, who led the woeful Ducati effort and spanked teammate Andrea Dovizioso by some 16 seconds.  Aleix Espargaro qualified poorly in 13th but finished 9th, once again topping the CRT charts.  Dude deserves a shot at a prototype ride next year, especially if his big brother, who washed out of the premier class once already, gets one at Tech 3.  And Michele Pirro, wildcarding onboard the so-called Ducati GP13 “Lab Bike”, managed 11th place today, which sounds better than it actually is, given the fact that three of the five riders who crashed out early likely would have beaten him.

The Big Picture

In a split second, the 2013 standings shifted, with rookie Marquez now standing alone at the top of the pile, with a large bull’s-eye on his back.  Pedrosa is resurrected into second place, four points down and a single point ahead of Lorenzo, who had entered the weekend tied for the lead.  After three races this season, we’ve had three winners, a major upset, and the beginning of a new inter-team rivalry.  Jorge Lorenzo is saying his Yamaha M-1 is not yet good enough, although he certainly is.  And let’s not forget that Jerez is one of the tight, slow tracks that typically favors the Honda RC213V.  Lorenzo can be forgiven for being in a bad mood after today’s cluster.

Quick Hitters

The rider suddenly under considerable pressure is 2012 Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl, whose quick offseason testing on the LCR Honda raised eyebrows and expectations heading into the season.  With two crashes in three starts and 11 points for the season, Bradl may start looking over his shoulder.  Given, however, the history of Germans in France, we can expect young Stefan to return to form at LeMans, possibly at the head of a Panzer division…Yonny Hernandez took the weekend off, qualifying 21st and crashing out early.  And here I thought he was on his way up the food chain.

Randy de Puniet, who pressed teammate Espargaro all last year for top CRT honors, appears to be coasting this season, after rumors of a romance with Suzuki surfaced several weeks ago.  With but six points to show for 2013, he’ll undoubtedly play the “home race” card in two weeks and turn a fast lap in qualifying before settling back into the bottom ten on Sunday…Colin Edwards made a liar out of me, moving from 17th to 15th position on the last lap to steal his first championship point of the year, and making hash of my prediction he would go 0-for-2013.

There will be a one day testing session here on Monday, and, as has become customary since Casey Stoner left in 2011, Ducati has the most on the line. Having again raised expectations with their new Lab Bike, we are fully prepared for another major disappointment from the Bologna factory, which seems to need an entire division just to keep track of the hundreds of iterations of the once-proud Desmosedici floating around.  These days, Ducati Corse must resemble O’Hare Airport on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Watching the Sun Setting on the Circuito de Jerez

Although attendance today was huge—111,000—it’s down from 2010, when I joined 130,000 fans at the storied Andalusian venue.  As the Spanish equivalent of the Daytona 500, the Grand Premio bwin de Espana continues to draw spectators, some of whom probably had to hock their watches to buy tickets.  The track oozes water when the weather is wet and oil when it’s hot.  Hot and slippery works great for sex, but not so much for two-wheeled racing, as it was today when five riders crashed out on the first four laps.  And the infield, which was a manicured lawn back in the day, is now a sea of dandelions and weeds, a symptom of the decline of the Spanish economy and the Estoril-like future of one of its most loved venues.  Qué pena!

 

 

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MotoGP Jerez 2013 Preview

May 1, 2013

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

The Spaniards Return Home for Round Three 

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

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

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

Recent History at Jerez

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

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

Kevin Schwantz vs. Alberto Puig

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

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

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

Elsewhere on the Grid

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

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

Your Weekend Forecast

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

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2013 MotoGP Qatar Preview

April 5, 2013

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

Pedrosa, Marquez feeling it as the season begins 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alien Debut Seasons

ROOKIE STATS ARTICLE 1

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

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

Late News

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

Round One:  The Losail Circuit, Doha, Qatar 

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

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

Lorenzo airborn on Saturday, finishes 2nd on Sunday!

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

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

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MotoGP 2012 Phillip Island Results

October 28, 2012

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

Stoner wins!  Pedrosa crashes!  Lorenzo clinches! 

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

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

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

Pedrosa Finally Cracks

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

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

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

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

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

Image2012 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo—First Spanish Double World Champion

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

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

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

Sidebars

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

On to Valencia

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

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

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

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MotoGP 2012 Indianapolis Preview

August 14, 2012

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

Aliens Take Aim at the IMS Infield Track

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

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

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

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

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

The MotoGP World Tips Slightly on its Axis

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

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

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

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

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

Toni and the Wildcards

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

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

Chasing Jorge Lorenzo

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

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

It’s not happening.

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

Just not this weekend.

Your Hurrying Hoosier Forecast

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

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

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MotoGP 2012 Laguna Seca Results

July 29, 2012

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

Stoner Outduels Lorenzo in Replay of 2011 Classic

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, Not Exactly Everyone

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

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

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

Elsewhere on the Grid

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

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

Bits and Pieces

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

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

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

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