WSB Aragon & BSB Knockhill

Quote of the weekend has to come from Marco Mellandri after superpole. He saw Biaggi ahead of him, knew he'd been fast all weekend, so decided to follow him. "I would like to thank Max for this pole position." He even tried not giggling whilst saying it, but failed. Only to follow this up after Race one by thanking Max for his mistake, although this time he did keep a straight face.


Checa seemed to succumb to the pressure of a home race by trying too hard and crashing in Race 1, but got it back together for Race 2 with a 3rd place. It was also Haga's 300th WSB race, which seemed to pass without too much mention.


Chaz had a good WSS race, despite Szkopek trying to take him out in qualifying. When Chaz went to have a word in the pits it almost came to blows, each blaming the other. I've seen the video, if this had been MotoGP Szkopek would have been taken to a quiet place and shot. However, WSB seem to take a more reasonable approach and just ignored it. Sam Lowes, still coming back from injury, got 2nd and Salom was 3rd.


Tommy Hill showed his class at Knock Hill by doing his first double, but Shakey showed his class by qualifying badly (a crash in qualifying leaving him in 9th) and still managing to get on the podium. Hopkins showed his passion by faling off and then doing a Scottish jig across the grass, it would appear there was nothing wrong with his rear tyre, it was just a crap one!


As for the really important stuff. Bel's still leading, Noddy's still 2nd and Paul's still 3rd. At least Steve's no longer on 666 points!


This weekend we've got the Assen TT, don't forget it's on Saturday. The results of the Fantasy racing will be late next week as I'm on holiday. Try not to miss me too much!

WSB Misano & Fantasy Racing update

Ok, I agree that the WSB races weren't the most enthralling, but at least the Supersport race was interesting. Having said that, Haga was third in the second race, and if any of you weren't happy to see him on the podium again leave the room now, you should be ashamed!

Checa once again showed his class and why, at the end of the season, he will be World Champion;  I admit I may have to eat those words, but all things being equal I can't see him being beaten, when he doesn't win he's on the podium. Is it suspicious that despite winning on two occasions his bike's failed to make it to Parc Ferme, could he be running a supercharger that he doesn't want the scrutineers to see? At least Castrol Honda got a load of TV time, thanks to Xaus acting as taxi driver.

It's a shame about Johnny's crashes resulting in a broken wrist and no ride on Sunday. Haslam seemed to be running well, although the rear-facing camera showed huge amounts of chatter, just before he high-sided. In-case you haven't heard he's going to be a daddy, so congratulations are due there.

Rain seemed to be the equalizer at Misano as well as at Silverstone this weekend, helping Tom Sykes set pole position, but the sun came out for the races.

Foret showed why he has been WSS World Champion with a classy ride, only spoilt slightly by a couple of little mistakes. Do you remember when he used to constantly look over his shoulder, causing him to fall of on a couple of occasions? He seems to have cured that habit now. And now confession time; I've never really rated Broc Parkes, I could never understand how he managed to get such good rides. Yes, that's right, Broc Parkes, the guys whose leading the WSS Word Championship, just goes to show what I know. Sam Lowes was doing really well to catch Foret with 5 laps to go and then a back marker decided to hold the racing line, losing Sam 1 second on that lap, but he still managed to get third, which is fantastic considering he's just come back from injury, and this is his rookie year. Chaz managed 6th,

As for the SKBC Fantasy racing. Bel's still leading on 788 points, Noddy's second on 757 points, and Paul's third with 702 points. Only one to worry about is Stevie W on 666 points. Maybe we should rename him Damien. As for everyone else, you all losers (obviously not Steve, he seems to have contacts in low places!).

Silverstone MotoGP - No diving on the shallow end

Should London not be entirely ready for the Olympic swimming events in 2013 I think Silverstone could be offered as a substitute. It wasn't that long ago that I was taking the michael out of Miller for having a water feature, we've topped that by turning the whole race track into a water feature. Makes for bloody good racing though!


Unless you're name's Cal Crutchlow. Collar bone broken in four places, and then you see your team mate finish on the podium, one week after he broke his collar bone. Perhaps this means next time out Cal's going to be on the podium, who knows.


Colin entertained the troops on Saturday night, if you fancy a laugh watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdqTMPwjqR8

As for the race, Stoner dominated in style and truly deserved the win, especially when some of the best riders in the world either crashed (Lorenzo, Simoncelli & Spies to name three), or couldn't find the pace (Rossi). Dovi got second, also well deserved, and third.... Colin Edwards,  complete with plated collar bone and muscles seperated from ribs (apparently more painful than the collar bone).


Moto2 was far too exciting to describe, but I'll try anyway. Scott started really well, in-fact he lead for a while, but started to drop back. Bradl demonstrated why he should be World Champion this year. Apparently he can't ride in the rain according to the Eurosport's German commentary team. For someone who can't ride in the rain he still managed to finished in front of everyone else, proving that he can swim in the deep end. And then there was Bradley. He couldn't really have qualified any worse if he'd stayed at home. 28th. He finished 2nd. Herve Poncheral (Tech 3 Tea Boss) has probably never experienced such lows and highs in one week, In case you don't know he's team boss of Colin Edwards, Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith.


Yonny Hernandez did well (9th) considering his brother was meant to be riding this weekend, but didn't get a visa and was turned away by Customs. He should have tried speaking Polish or covering himself with boot polish (that's polish, not Polish).


Haven't seen all the WSB yet, so I won't comment yet.

IOM TT

Don & Steve take a break from watching the motorbikes to say hello to everyone.

Silverstone MotoGP - Bring it on

So, it's just round the corner, the Silverstone British GP. Here's some interesting (to me at least) numbers.

This will be (hopefully) Stoner's 150th Grand Prix.

If Stoner wins he will be the first Honda rider to win three races in a row since 2003, and that was Rossi.

Rossi has never raced at Silverstone - in fact he's only done a couple of laps on a Ducati road bike. Last year Nicky Hayden finished 4th.

And Cal? Well, this may be his rookie year, but last year he did the double at Silverstone on a Superbikes, so he knows the track probably better than any other he'll ride at this year. Could he improve on his season's best finish of 7th?

Spies finished 3rd last year, and he seems to have finished his run of bad luck, that could be interesting.

Randy de Puniet qualified 2nd last year, and was 3rd up till the last four laps, when his front tyre screamed "no more!".

As for Jorge, he likes Silverstone, and he can't really afford to let Casey keep winning. Could be a good race. Or it could be another boring procession, with the final result being decided by a four man jury called "Race Contol". Lets hope not.


And I almost forgot to mention: Jake Zemke is coming to BSB. He'll be riding the ex-Alex Lowes WFR Evo Fireblade. Do we need anymore confirmation that we have the best national series in the world?

MotoGP Catalunya

Another race weekend over, and when it comes to the supposed "premier class" the excitement seemed to be in qualifying rather than the race. Simoncelli eventually pipping Stoner to pole, who then demonstrated his appreciation of the Spanish crowd by waving to them as he wheelied the back straight. I've no doubt that really impressed the Pedrosa fans!

The race; someone won, someone else was second, and another bloke was third. Cal did a good, but lonely job finishing seventh and the only racing we saw was between 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th.

Moto2 was certainly good racing, but that's a product of control engines and tyres. Despite this Bradl is showing his true class, and so is Marquez coming from God knows where to finish second. Bradley wasn't doing too bad till he got hit Tahashi's bike, unfortunately finishing 19th and out of the points. Scott's at last got his name on the score sheet finishing 11th (his first points this season!). Simon was taken out by Sofuoglu and has broken tibula and fibula. Both riders were summoned to race control but weren't able to make it as they were in the medical centre. Simon won't be riding at Silverstone, and judging by other recent race control decisions I would expect them to take some form of action against Keenan. Soon overtaking will be banned, just so that it doesn't become too dangerous.

Talking of which.... Johann Zarco. An inspired last corner move helped him to his first Grand Prix win, only for race control to add a 20 second penalty for "pushing" Terol off the track. This is the same Terol that finished 2nd, or 1st after seasonal adjustments, note finished, didn't crash and still got 20 points. Ok, it was a tough move, even Jezza McWilliams, one of the toughest around, said it was a tough move (he told me on twitter), but a race should be decided on the track, not in the court room. Because someone has a hate campaign against Simoncelli a precedent has been set by race control leaving them no option but to flex their muscles again, or risk confirming that there is a hate campaign against Simoncelli. I think the same will happen with Sofuoglo/Simon, a race control decision will probably punish Soguoglo, one of the most exciting riders in that race. Anyone remember Capirossi/Harada? Capirossi's punishment for blatantly taking out his team mate and championship rival was ...... to become world champion.

And now for the really important stuff - Bel's leapt into the lead,16 points ahead of Noddy, who's 38 points ahead of me. Everyone else, look for yourself, I've done enough typing for one evening.

Next racing. 16th June. Our own Grand Prix at Silverstone. Come on the Brits..

WSB Miller & BSB Thruxton

So, ever wondered what it's like to come off a motorbike at 160mph? Ask Stuart Easton. During practice for the washed-out NorthWest 200 he clipped his team mate's bike and stopped very quickly without the aid of his brakes, or his bike. Result: Broken pelvis, broken femur (that's your thigh bone), another broken femur, burst bowel and a number of broken fingers. Gary Mason (Easton's team mate) was so convinced that Easton was dead he wouldn't go near him, until another competitor (Martin Jessop, I think) told him that Easton was actually moving. Good job it was his out lap otherwise he would have been going even faster!!!!!

As they say every cloud has a silver lining, and whilst this is probably not how he wanted to get the job, Alex Lowes was given Easton's bike this weekend. And got Pole Position for Race 1. Not bad for first time on a SuperBike. Ok, not brilliant races, 7th in the first and crashed in the second, but when he crashed he was chasing, and catching Shakey, so all in all he did a good job. He dedicated his Pole Position to Stuart Easton and acknowledged that Stuart had done all the work to get the bike to where it was. Can't help thinking if I was Stuart Easton, lying in a hospital bed, I'd be wondering why, after all my hard work, I couldn't get pole....

The weather made for interesting racing. Shakey failed to qualify, crashing out on his first qualifying lap, so he started bog-last. 9th row. And finished first. And set the fastest lap. Anyone surprised he won the second race from Pole Position? You shouldn't have been. And don't forgot Hopper. First time at Thruxton (he'd been allowed to do a couple of laps in a hire care a week or so ago), it rains,and he still manages a 4th and a 3rd. He certainly is world class. And dispelling all (well most) of the stereotypical myths, Steve Brogan proved that even a Scouser can be a true sporting gentleman, by pushing Alex Lowes back to the pits so that he could take part in race 2 after an electrical fault on his (Easton's) bike.

And then came World SuperBikes. Race one was interesting. It was held on a race track that had a water feature, which is novel, and brought back some good memories; of Haga when he used to race motorbikes; of Biaggi, when he used to be a tosser (that might not be just a memory); of Corser when he used to be a contender (although he did have the help of a very soft set of tyres, which lasted about four laps); and why Checa, for so many years, factory MotoGP bikes.

I have a feeling Johnny Rea might be taking Biaggi off his Christmas list. Although we didn't see it, Johnny described the crash as "...being Simoncelli'd" by Biaggi. Biaggi described it in his post race (2) interview as being crashed into by Rea. Who do you believe???? 

Race 2 was fairly boring, but did underline Checa's class. Are we witnessing this year champion? Today (Tuesday) is Leon Haslam's birthday, and some of the riders have stopped off in Las Vegas to help him celebrate. As Eugene Laverty posted on Twitter ".....Flying back to Vegas tonight, that race weekend really interrupted my holiday." Haslam also posted a comment about his race weekend on Twitter "Oh Well."

Next up, MotoGP from Catalunya, this Sunday. I wonder if Pedrosa will make it.

MotoGP Estoril & BSB Oulton

A busy weekend in the world of motorcycle racing. MotoGP on Sunday and BSB on Monday.

Side Show Bob seemed to be setting the world on fire, as well as Lorenzo's temper, but failed to produce after crashing again. Stoner, what happened there? Rossi's getting closer with the Ducati, but is it going to be enough for this years championship? Apart from one or two crashes not much actual racing though. However I have managed to pick up 9 new followers on Twitter after a comment to TwitGP was deemed funny, they'll learn.

A bit of MotogGP trivia for you. Who was the last non-alien (not Lorenzo, Stoner, Pedrosa & Rossi) to win a fully dry MotoGP race, and for an extra point can you name the year and the circuit? Barry, you already know the answer so don't try to be clever.

Terol walked the 125's. Thank God for Moto2, at least there was some good racing there, and a well deserved win for Bradl, a good second for Simon and an emotional 3rd for Takahashi, who's brother was killed the week before in a traffic accident in Japan.

And BSB. How good were both races? (and yes that is rhetorical). Alex Lowes may have a brilliant future, although for his sake I hope Bel never tips him for the top. And I for one think it's fantastic that Hopper won a race, it's really going to make the season interesting. Feel sorry for Tommy Hill, falling off on someone else's spilt oil, knackering his shoulder, tendons ripped and rotator cuff damaged, all in the same weekend that his brother broke his wrist.

As for the important stuff.... I'm sure you'll all be pleased to see that Noddy's made it into the top three, the best I can manage is 7th at the moment. Vicky's teams are 21 and 28 (which coincidentally is the sum of her actual age). Bel's 2 and 12, which proves he knows a lot or nothing (or both?!) about motorcycle racing.

The next race is MotoGP from Le Mans on 15th May.

BSB Brands Hatch

So, we're fully underway now, first round of BSB done. I almost went, but had to take Amelia and Olivia to the Southend Shake Down instead, were we met up with the Etchells clan, Noddy,Jordan, Heidi, Steve, Ashley and Ollie.

Have you seen the racing yet? No! Then you won't know that Shakey won the first race, and Tommy Hill won the second (even with a broken elbow). John Laverty lost the end of a finger, well, when I say lost I mean removed, he hasn't lost it, it's in a jar in his motorhome, and thanks to Twitter you'll be able to see it as well. Also thanks to Twitter Noddy, using the years of whit and the finely honed humour that we've become used to, asked him how he was now going to pick his nose. John Laverty, disappointingly, couldn't be bothered to reply, and to think if he had, Noddy would have advised him how to race a motorbike....

The good news is the results have shot one of my teams up the leader board to eighth position, we won't talk about my other team, and if you're worried about being last you're not alone - no really, in equal last place are Barry and Bob.

The next races are next weekend. MotoGP from Estoril on Sunday and BSB from Oulton Park on Monday.

WSB Assen

o, what have we learnt after another round of World Superbikes? Assen is still a brilliant race track, did anyone see, there was actually some racing going on, overtaking and everything......

Chaz Davies is faster than Casey Stoner - in a go-cart admittedly, but he still beat him, and apparently set a lap record, oh yes, and he won the SuperSport race. Sam Lowes had to get his brolly-dolly identical twin brother to drive him home, a massive high side landed him on his head, the term from the medical centre was "severe concussion" and a broken collar bone. Gino Ra threw it away from what looked like a safe second, however he did have clutch problems throughout all the races (2 red flags, that was interesting).

Johnny's back, three in a row at Assen, shame Checa had to shit in his tea-cup, and Biaggi, but a 1st and a 3rd are still good results and put him 4th in the championship. Checa, again top class, kept his head, used a tyre that can only do 9 laps, and took Biaggi on the last corner of the penultimate lap, could this be his year?

Yet again it looked like Haslam had to seriously over-ride the bike and managed to get a 12th and a 5th, and Corser managed to throw it away in the second race.

A good second race from Camier, and a flash of the old Haga, leading the race for a while - and then the money started to show, being out-paced by factory bikes.

For those of you interested (if you're not stop reading now) we've booked our flights and hotels for Portimao in October, at the moment it's Bel & Karen, Barry & Ez, John & Ev, Paul & Karen, Noddy (no mates) going. Flying out of Stansted 13th October and back on 18th October. If anyone else wants to go you better think about booking soon, the cheap flights are running out quickly.

And now for the important stuff.

Steve W is at the top, followed by Ez and then Bel. Noddy's dropped to 6th & 7th, has he peaked too early? James is 4th, which considering he's a self-confessed dunce when it comes to bike racing is pretty good (or pretty lucky depending on your point of view!), Vicky's managed to leave the bottom, which would be impressive if it wasn't for the fact that the team that's dropped below her is Barry's joke team..... And how am I doing?? Pretty crap actually, but I'm beating Karen, which obviously isn't important.

The next round should have been MotoGP from Motegi this weekend, but due to the earthquake it's been postponed, however to make up for it TwitGP2 took place this weekend, and was won by Colin "Colin" Colin (you may know him as Colin Edwards). The next real race is Brands Hatch BSB on Bank Holiday Monday, anyone fancy going?

Bored now, and I've got to do the washing up, I just can't put it off anymore. Bye

Donington

It's not time to start panicking yet, but Noddy's 4th & 5th (does anyone else think I'm picking on Noddy?)

A little known, nut interesting fact about Checa's win this weekend. You may have thought (if you'd seen him on the podium) that he was a bit more emotional than normal, well, 13 years ago, Carlos crashed a 500GP bike at Donington, and it was so bad he was read the last rites..... he's come back and beaten the track, and well done to him.

Next races are this weekend. MotoGP Jerez. Can Rossi get that Duc working any better? We shall see.

The Next One

So, are we all ready for tomorrow's racing? It's gonna be interesting.

Rossi could only manage 12th after loosing the front end, and a lot of qualifying time - but as we know, he's a racer, a good start and generous use of his elbows could make for an interesting race, however his team mate has out-qualified him, just, and the best Ducati is de Puniet, although he did manage to bin it as well.

Two Honda's on the front row, then two Yamaha's, then two more Honda's. Anyone going to bet against Stoner? Anyone going to bet at what point Dani's shoulder starts to cause problems, because despite qualifying 2nd he looked buggered in Parc Ferme, I don't think he can do a full race, even his home race, but we will see.

Colin out-qualified Cal, but only by 1/10th, and he binned it. And Hopper has got three riders behind him, don't forget he's only sat on the bike for the first time this weekend, so that's quite impressive.

Bradl's got an impressive pole in Moto2, Marquez is 4th after a get-off that made a bit of a mess of his bike. Scott's not done himself too many favours by falling off early in the session, the best he could do was 13th, however Bradley's 5th, if he gets a good start he could do quite well, we will see.

In the 125's Danny Webb struggled, and came close to being outside of 107%, fortunately he managed to qualify 19th, so some big work to do tomorrow. Danny Kent however managed an impressive 9th. Cortese leads, but Terol's right up his jacksy, could be another interesting race.

Bel's away at the MCN Butlins weekend, so it's almost certain he won't get up in the morning in time to see the first races, however his pipe and slippers bike did make 150BHP on the dyno, and still does 50MGP. Shame it looks like a Stanna Stairlift!

So, there we go. If I'm not too pissed tomorrow night, I might even update the Fantasy Racing and add my view of the racing - or I might just have an early night.....

First Race

So, the long winter is over at last, a civilised sport has returned to our lives (and it coincides with the 6 Nations - it doesn't get better than this!).

Please find attached the first set of results. Well done to Bel, Ez and Stevie W for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

As you can see I've used my years of motorcycle racing knowledge, skill and judgement to rush into 7th and 20th - bollocks!

As usual I'll attempt to send out updates on raceday, but sometimes they'll be delayed (especially if I don't start getting more points).

It looks like Me, Noddy, Bel and Russell may have made an inspired choice of Sam Lowes. Only five people picked Checa, and only Bel picked Biaggi and Checa.

Whoever chose Toseland might have problems this year, however I thought I was on to a good thing with Guintoli, especially when he qualified on the front row, only to rush to zero points in both races. Serves me right for picking someone riding a mustard yellow bike, and he's French!!!

Haga did well, considering. I think Laverty was unlucky in the second race, some good things to come... Johnny Rae's riding with a nasty hand injury, and Camier has suspected Glandular Fever, so they both did quite well in the circumstances.

Pirelli need to be shot for their crap tyres in the SuperSport race.

Not sure if I can be arsed to provide this sort of commentary everytime, but it's been amusing this time. 

If you've got any comments, or just want to take the piss, there's nothing stopping you emailing the whole group just to see what kindd of response you get.....