Whilst not them most interesting race in the world, it certainly had some highlights, and demonstrated why two of the riders out there have been World Champions, and will be again. Casey Stoner bade his time, running (by his standards) a has-been third for most of the race, and then, when the bike was doing what he wanted after using most of the fuel, he overtook Pedrosa and then Lorenzo and then won by 7 seconds, truly a World Champion's ride. And Jorge, after a high-side almost as big as his China one, got back on, set pole, lead most of the race, and finished a safe second, all with an extra hole in his backside, as described by Ben Spies' mum (she being on the3 other side of the garage when Jorge returned from the crash, in case you think anything untoward has been going on there!)
Talking of whom, Ben was disappointed with qualifying, he (and me) expected a bit better, and come the race he entered the first corner on 97th - well, that's probably what it felt like to him! Although again, showing World Champion class, he kept on it and finished 4th, after a hard couple of laps behind the mobile chicane better known as Rossi.
Another fairly disappointing race yet again for the Ducati's. After the race, in an "exclusive" MCN interview, Rossi was asked if he thought he could win a race this year, to which he replied, "Yes, if the conditions allow it, unfortunately the conditions we need are snow." At least he hasn't lost his sense of humour.
As for SKBC Fantasy Racing, Noddy's closed the gap a bit on Bel, and stretched the gap a bit on Paul. It's starting to get exciting.
Don't forget Brands Hatch BSB - August 7th
Ben Bostrom proved that he is a proper gentleman, obviously bowing to sponsors pressure to ride the Honda, during an AMA weekend as well, he admitted it was completely his fault for ending up off the track, and that the bike was a bit beyond him. He was probably being a bit harsh on himself, given a few more hours he would have done better, but no-one else that weekend was also taking part in two other races.
Monday, 25 July 2011
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Motegi & the rider's refusal.
Have you read Toby Moody's Autosport report http://plus.autosport.com/free/feature/3685/why-motogp-has-to-go-to-japan/?
You should, if you have even the slightest interest in Motorcycle racing, you really should. Toby, quite rightly, has pointed out that the riders are employees, which is correct, but I think there is a caveat. Yes, they are employees, but they are employees that have been trained, for the greater part of their lives, and all of their careers, to believe that they are the best in the world. They are forced to make instant decisions upon which their very lives depend, and they are, by absolute necessity, supremely confident in their own abilities and opinions.
We will see if they are just employees when Honda sacks Stoner and Yamaha sacks Jorge. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I think if it does it will disprove Toby's point about them being employees. I suppose a small bonus for Ducati would be that if some of the Japanese employees don't go, they'll probably get a bike on the podium!
I absolutely agree with Toby when he's says that the whole paddock owe a debt of gratitude to the Japanese factories, without them there probably wouldn't be the motorcycle racing that we have today. But when you ask a racer a question, don't be surprised at his answer. Rossi seems to be playing his cards close to his chest, but then he is famous for using the media to his advantage, whereas Stoner, and to a lessor extent Jorge, are well known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves. I feel that if they don't back-down, and they continue to refuse to go to Motegi, some of the fault should lie with the media for asking closed questions, knowing full well that these guys are not scientists or linguistic masterminds.
Hopefully, the independent report will come back saying that Motegi is safe, and that someone will explain to the riders what the report actually means. Toby provided some radiation comparisons in his article; I wonder if this had been presented to the riders before they were asked the question about whether they would go to Motegi, if their answers may have been a bit different?
I really don't want you to think that I consider Toby to be an idiot, he is far and away more knowledgeable about this subject than I will ever be (and can construct a sentence so much better than me as well). He demonstrates every race weekend his love of this sport, and every other weekend (if you follow him on twitter ) his love and knowledge of practically every form of motorsport, he is also a lot closer to all of the riders than I could ever hope to be, but I think on this occasion, unusually, he might have missed a point. Perhaps some of the lower order teams can afford to sack riders, I'm not convinced that the bigger teams will, especially when you consider the sponsors, who will be loving this whatever the outcome.
You should, if you have even the slightest interest in Motorcycle racing, you really should. Toby, quite rightly, has pointed out that the riders are employees, which is correct, but I think there is a caveat. Yes, they are employees, but they are employees that have been trained, for the greater part of their lives, and all of their careers, to believe that they are the best in the world. They are forced to make instant decisions upon which their very lives depend, and they are, by absolute necessity, supremely confident in their own abilities and opinions.
We will see if they are just employees when Honda sacks Stoner and Yamaha sacks Jorge. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I think if it does it will disprove Toby's point about them being employees. I suppose a small bonus for Ducati would be that if some of the Japanese employees don't go, they'll probably get a bike on the podium!
I absolutely agree with Toby when he's says that the whole paddock owe a debt of gratitude to the Japanese factories, without them there probably wouldn't be the motorcycle racing that we have today. But when you ask a racer a question, don't be surprised at his answer. Rossi seems to be playing his cards close to his chest, but then he is famous for using the media to his advantage, whereas Stoner, and to a lessor extent Jorge, are well known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves. I feel that if they don't back-down, and they continue to refuse to go to Motegi, some of the fault should lie with the media for asking closed questions, knowing full well that these guys are not scientists or linguistic masterminds.
Hopefully, the independent report will come back saying that Motegi is safe, and that someone will explain to the riders what the report actually means. Toby provided some radiation comparisons in his article; I wonder if this had been presented to the riders before they were asked the question about whether they would go to Motegi, if their answers may have been a bit different?
I really don't want you to think that I consider Toby to be an idiot, he is far and away more knowledgeable about this subject than I will ever be (and can construct a sentence so much better than me as well). He demonstrates every race weekend his love of this sport, and every other weekend (if you follow him on twitter ) his love and knowledge of practically every form of motorsport, he is also a lot closer to all of the riders than I could ever hope to be, but I think on this occasion, unusually, he might have missed a point. Perhaps some of the lower order teams can afford to sack riders, I'm not convinced that the bigger teams will, especially when you consider the sponsors, who will be loving this whatever the outcome.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Sachsenring & Oulton Park
Sachsenring - what a circuit, even the MotoGP race was exciting, and well done to Danny, back on the bike back on the podium. If you've ever wondered how good Stoner actually watch the slow motion pictures of him taking one of the (many) left-handers, he has his own unique line going over the kerb, but he was actually drifting both wheels whilst still on the kerb.
Spies put in a good performance, despite being full of snot he managed to snatch 5th from Simoncelli on the last lap.
The 125's was fantastic, proper racing with loads of overtaking, as you would expect, but more so on the shortest GP circuit of the year. Moto2 showed that Scott Redding hasn't forgotten how to ride, and Bradley demonstrated that riding angry isn't always a good thing.
The next MotoGP round (no 125's or Moto2's) will be in Laguna Seca next weekend, where Ben Bostrom has a wild card ride on an LCR Honda, that might be designed to give Toni Elias a kick up the arse, or will it be his last ride?
Oulton park was a disappointment, more so for Hopper, but at least he walked away, unlike John Laverty who had a massive high-speed crash on Friday, dislocating BOTH shoulders, breaking BOTH ankles, and breaking some ribs. Apparently he's looking forward to racing again in a couple of weeks, although this will be wheelchair racing with Stuart Easton (and that's according to Eugene)!
The second race was cancelled due to concerns with the weather and oil on the track, but Brands Hatch (7th August) will be a triple header. I'm going, are you?
If you use Twitter, as I do, and follow Stuart Higgs (top man of BSB) has been tweeting some more American riders (after Hopper and now Zemke have joined) and has promised some interesting wild cards for the last round at Brands Hatch, he's also intimating that he is trying to reinvent the Transatlantic series, or something similar. This could be interesting.....
As for the SKBC Fantasy racing, a certain Noddy, currently in 2nd place, has been tweeting Jorge Lorenzo to advise him that he's part of the team and needs to put in a bit more effort, Bel appears to be running away with it at the moment, being 101 points clear of Noddy. Paul's only 65 points behind Noddy (sweating yet?) and then there's a another 100 point gap.
Monday, 11 July 2011
Assen, Mugello, Snetterton & Brno
Sorry it's been so long, I've been on holiday and hadn't seen any of the races. I have now....
Assen proved yet again why it's called the Cathedral. Ben Spies seems to like the place having now won his first MotoGP race, Dovi beat Stoner, which probably made for interesting politics in the Repsol Honda garage and Simoncelli took Lorenzo out (not on a date) - that pleased Jorge! It would appear that all of Ducati's might is not making a lot of difference to Rossi and Hayden, but I'm sure that will work out soon enough.
Bradley managed to get two 3rd's in a row and is starting to show some consistency, although it may already be too late for the championship - but you never know.
WSB from Brno was good, especially for James Toseland. He wasn't racing due to his wrist injury but he did show the world his new girlfriend, Katie Melua, which must come as a relief to Bel who up till now has been convinced that James is gay and fancies him. As for the racing, Melandri & Biaggi head-to-head was good, with clean racing and one win a piece.
Next round is MotoGP from Sachsenring on 17th July.
Bel seems to be gathering a head of steam and is now 108 points ahead of Noddy, however Paul's only 25 points behind Noddy so this game is a long way from over yet.
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