MotoGP // LORENZO ENDS 2010 W/VALENCIA WIN

Valencia has been the last race of the season since 2002, its spot in the championship is a double-edged sword though. In close championship years Valencia can be a climactic title decider (MotoGP 2006, 250cc 2009…). Other times it can feel like a final hurdle that everyone just wants to get over with so they can begin testing for next season. Seeing as Jorge Lorenzo sealed the title fight four races ago in Malaysia, Valencia seemed in danger of ending up in tedious hurdle territory... [read more]

After the horrid weather of last weekend’s event in Portugal, the mild sunny Valencia weekend was a godsend. It made for practice sessions that were actually of use on race day. In qualifying Jorge Lorenzo put in his usual long string of fast runs and Casey Stoner did his usual bare minimum of laps while clocking one or two that were just blistering. Stoner took pole at the very end of the session by pulling more than three tenths on Lorenzo, seemingly out of nowhere. Valentino Rossi looked disappointing until near the end of the session when he surprisingly shot to fourth while Marco Simoncelli snatched his first-ever front-row start by coming third. This was a milestone for him but not too surprising, as his form has been quite competitive in the late season. Starting grid was as follows: Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Marco Simoncelli, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Ben Spies, Colin Edwards, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Melandri, Randy DePuniet, Aleix Espargaro, Hector Barbera, Loris Capirossi, Hiroshi Aoyama, Carlos Checa and Alvaro Bautista.

Stoner and Lorenzo hit turn one in the same order they got off the line, Hayden shot to third and Dani Pedrosa climbed to fourth. Valentino Rossi, however, sank immediately and inexplicably to tenth. By turn two, Pedrosa was in second and Lorenzo down to fifth. Lap one began to settle in and the top ten over the line the first time were: Stoner, Hayden, Pedrosa, Simoncelli, Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Spies, Rossi, Melandri and Barbera. Lap two saw Simoncelli and Lorenzo tussling back and forth with Jorge trying to shoot up the inside for a pass in the final turn before the front straight. Simoncelli had the line and kept it firm, forcing Lorenzo to come about as close to crashing as is possible. Miraculously, he managed to stand the bike up and regroup. He did lose a few places but he had managed to pull out of a bobble that would have taken out almost any other rider.

Just as lap three got going Nicky Hayden ended his season in the gravel trap after a high-speed lowside into turn one. He wasn’t happy. Commentators initially suspected Pedrosa was responsible, but on replay he was absolved of any part in the crash. He may never live Estoril, 2006 down. As the camera cut back to the race, Rossi had somehow ascended to fourth place and looked to be on a charge. Similarly, Lorenzo had managed to keep his composure and was, as of lap four, back to fifth place. Stoner, meanwhile, had failed in his usual disappearing act, hinting that this race may not turn out to be completely processional.

Laps six and seven saw Rossi and then Lorenzo slide past Simoncelli, both thankfully without incident. The two Fiat Yamaha riders then began to creep up on Stoner and Pedrosa up front. It was at this moment that Dani began to fade. Only after the race was it revealed that he was still suffering badly from the injuries he sustained at Motegi, he reported weakness and numbness in his arm. On lap ten, both Rossi and Lorenzo dispatched him within two corners. He sank backwards from there despite a heroic effort. From there, Stoner, Rossi and Lorenzo checked out but stuck together as a group. Jorge would pass Rossi on lap twelve, but Rossi refused to be dropped just yet and the two of them closed in on Stoner as a pair.

On lap thirteen, the camera cut to Nicky Hayden in his garage, leathers all scuffed up, looking justifiably disconsolate. The Dorna feed then cut to a replay of his crash and then quickly back to Nicky who looked to lip readers to be uttering words unsuitable for television. Poor Nicky had a decent year that too often looked a little more promising than it turned out.

Meanwhile, Pedrosa began to be swallowed up into the group behind him which consisted of Simoncelli, Dovizioso and Spies. As they all swapped places, Rossi began to drop back a little from the front two. He later explained that his shoulder injury from much earlier in the year started to sap his endurance and he decided third was good enough and backed off accordingly. Lorenzo finally got the best of Stoner early in lap 23 and the podium from there was settled. The only action left to speak of was the battle for fourth place. Ben Spies, after sitting in sixth contentedly watching Simoncelli and Dovizioso go at it, pounced with four laps left and passed both riders in front of him. He was briefly challenged by Dovizioso but ultimately took fourth, capping a great rookie season.

Jorge Lorenzo pulled off his ninth victory of the season after very nearly being knocked off his bike on only the second lap. He did so wearing a gold, 12,000 Euro, Swarovsky crystal encrusted helmet (no joke, it will be a long time before a more garish helmet appears in MotoGP). He also crushed the hopes of both Stoner and Rossi to score one last victory for their respective manufacturers, as they both migrate elsewhere as of Monday. It was, for Jorge, a very fitting punctuation mark on a stellar season. Rossi had special t-shirts made as a goodbye to the Yamaha M1 that he and others so painstakingly developed over the past seven seasons. He even reprised his stopping-to-kiss-the-bike move from his first win for Yamaha at Welkom, South Africa back in 2004. Lorenzo, for his part, had shirts made up reading “3_ _” he penciled in the 83 in parc ferme to signify the record 383 points he hauled in this season. Stoner, true to his understated self, had no celebration whatsoever.

Elsewhere, last week’s wonderboy, Marc Marquez, did the business to secure the 125cc title by coming in fourth place. After his insane race last week and the nine other wins this season, he richly deserved it and we congratulate him. He is only 17 so let’s hope he keeps his form long enough to become Lorenzo’s Lorenzo in a few year’s time.

Valencia defied the odds to be a pretty great race after all. On to 2011!!!

Image: MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // LORENZO RETURNS IN ESTORIL

MotoGP went into Sunday’s race at Estoril, Portugal with nothing but gigantic question marks to go by. All five practice sessions were marred by rain in one form or another. Friday’s morning session had only a single timed lap, by Hiroshi Aoyama. The rest of the riders wisely decided the rain was too heavy. Friday afternoon and Saturday morning practices happened on schedule but were only slightly less wet, Sunday’s warmup wasn’t rainy but the track was still plenty damp. Worst of all, the all-important Saturday qualifying was cancelled completely for all classes. Grid positions were determined by the riders’ best times in the sessions that actually took place... [read more]

Positions were as follows: Jorge Lorenzo, Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Ben Spies, Marco Melandri, Andrea Dovizioso, Randy DePuniet, Colin Edwards, Marco Simoncelli, Aleix Espargaro, Dani Pedrosa, Loris Capirossi, Alvaro Bautista, Hector Barbera, Hiroshi Aoyama and Carlos Checa. Ben Spies would have a crash on the warmup lap on Sunday morning, dislocating his foot and ruling him out of the race.

The cruelest joke of the weekend, however, was the weather gods deciding to dispense with all the rain silliness just in time for the actual race. This may sound like good news but nobody had any dry practice. As a consequence, teams could only shrug and make guesses about fuel mapping and bike setup. It was in this endless sea of unknowns that Sunday’s race took place.

Lorenzo got a good start, beating the crowd down into turn one as Rossi, Stoner and Hayden piled up alongside each other. Rossi was forced to stand the bike up and lost a few positions as a result. Dovizioso took advantage of the chaos to sneak past all three of them and slot in behind Jorge. Lorenzo led the lap while a group consisting of Dovizioso, Hayden, Rossi, DePuniet and Stoner jockeyed for position behind. DePuniet took himself out of this group on the next lap going into turn one, it was a favorite place for going in too deep and standing the bike up all weekend. Lap two saw a lot of action as Hayden took the front spot from Lorenzo, Rossi passed Dovizioso then Lorenzo, Lorenzo and Dovizioso re-passed Rossi, Rossi re-passed Dovizioso just as Stoner passed them both and then Rossi immediately got back around Stoner. They crossed the line into lap three as Hayden, Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner, Dovizioso but by the end of the straight, ½ km later, it was Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner, Hayden, Dovizioso. You get the picture, it was a chaotic first few laps. Enjoyable though.

Just now, a resurgent DePuniet and Simoncelli added themselves to the front group, now totaling seven. Lorenzo and Rossi then decided this was too much and began to drop the five behind them. Lap four saw Rossi sneak by Lorenzo at the chicane (slowest corners in MotoGP apparently) to take the lead. Rossi began to pull a gap on lap five just as Stoner began catching up to Lorenzo. Stoner then promptly chucked it into the gravel coming through the parabolica that leads into the front straight, ending his race and any aspirations at second in the championship.

Hayden, meanwhile, was riding a lonely third as the fight for fourth place started to become the point of focus. Simoncelli had quietly moved his way up and finally passed Dovizioso on lap eight into fourth, Pedrosa and DePuniet lurking behind them. On lap twelve Lorenzo suddenly began to chip away at Rossi’s lead, which was then up near two seconds. Going into lap 17, Jorge made his move, drafting Rossi and taking him into turn one. Rossi tried to answer but Lorenzo stayed ahead as the two of them just took off into the stratosphere. Lorenzo would eventually best Rossi by eight seconds but Rossi was 18 seconds ahead of third place. The Fiat Yamahas really nailed it.

At the same time Hayden began to succumb to his tires and drop back into the group of five behind him with Simoncelli passing him going into lap 18. Dovizioso passed both Pedrosa and Hayden that same lap to slot in behind Simoncelli and begin the hunt for the final podium spot. Dovizioso passed him on lap 21 but Simoncelli got him right back. The quartet of Hayden, Edwards, Pedrosa and DePuniet were meanwhile tussling back and forth not far behind. Dovizioso and Simoncelli would trade third place another five times in the last few laps with Dovizioso narrowly taking third and preventing Marco Simoncelli’s first MotoGP podium. Nicky Hayden followed that group closely, finishing fifth.

Lorenzo’s win was his eighth of the season but only his first since Brno, which was all the way back in August. It was also his third consecutive win at Estoril from pole position. The Fiat Yamaha 1-2 also sealed the rider/ constructor/ team trifecta for Yamaha the third year running.

Extra, extra special mention has to go out to Marc Marquez, the 17 year old frontrunner in the 125cc class. Marquez went into the weekend with a 12 point championship lead. Due to the lack of a qualifying session, Marquez started the race all the way back in 11th place, his closest rival, Nico Terol, on the front row in 4th position. At the start Marquez quickly made it up to 2nd before the race was stopped for impending rain. Marquez was due to restart the race in that spot but on the sighting lap before the restart, Marquez fell and damaged his bike. He made it back to pit lane but did not make it back out before the pits closed. This meant Marquez would have to restart from 17th place, all the way at the back of the grid. He made an absolute rocket start and was into 4th place before even going into turn one of the 9 lap restarted race. He then waged an epic battle with Nico Terol and Bradley Smith to take what can only be described as a jaw-dropping victory. True, his fall was a product of inexperience but the rest showed a coolness rarely seen in riders of any age. Well done, Mark. That was a real treat to watch.

Photo: MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // STONER GIVES BLOWOUT PERFORMANCE IN AUSTRALIA

Phillip Island, Australia is one of a handful of really special tracks on the MotoGP calendar. It’s been around in one form or another since the 20s but has only hosted GP racing since 1989. Much of the track was made up of natural roads so the track has a natural, flowing feel to it. It is also quite fast. Therefore, it rewards not only the brave but also the more creative riders. It’s no coincidence that Valentino Rossi has been on the podium twelve of the thirteen races previous to this weekend. Some of his most memorable races have been won here. Similarly, Casey Stoner has won Phillip Island the last three years in a row. It is a thing of true beauty to watch him slide both tires coming out of some of the track’s huge, sweeping turns... [read more]

After Jorge Lorenzo taking the title one week ago in Sepang, all the attention is now focused on who will come in second place. Dani Pedrosa occupied that spot coming into the weekend by a margin too large for him to lose it just yet. Dani, fresh off a nasty collarbone break in Japan, actually flew all the way to Australia and took part in practice but ultimately felt he was not up to the task of racing. Rossi, Stoner and Dovizioso are all mathematically eligible for the runner-up spot and probably breathed a sigh of relief at the news Pedrosa was out.

In all three practice sessions, the man to beat was undoubtedly Stoner. He topped all sessions except for the very first (very wet) practice session on Friday, where Lorenzo beat him by 0.334 sec. Lorenzo was the only person who would qualify within a second of Stoner in the end. Valentino Rossi struggled through every practice, he never placed any higher than seventh place. He would qualify in eighth, just in front of Andrea Dovizioso. If they were going to mount an attack on second in the standings, they would have a mountain to climb. The wet/dry/wet/dry oscillations kept most riders from really nailing in their settings, frankly. All except Casey Stoner, who was maddeningly (for everyone else) always fast, no matter what the weather was like. The final starting order was: Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Ben Spies, Marco Simoncelli, Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden, Randy De Puniet, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Melandri, Aleix Espargaro, Mika Kallio, Hiroshi Aoyama, Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera.

Casey Stoner surprised absolutely nobody by tipping into turn one in first place. Jorge Lorenzo thought he was right behind him but Ben Spies had the line and narrowly edged him. It didn’t last long as Lorenzo put in a tough pass going into the very next turn, forcing Spies to stand up and lose three places instead of just the one. Unsurprisingly, Stoner had built up a visible lead halfway through lap one, he crossed the line for the first time 1.5s clear of Lorenzo. They were followed by Hayden, Simoncelli, Dovizioso, Spies, Edwards, Melandri, Rossi and De Puniet rounding out the top ten.

Lorenzo did a good job of keeping himself clear of the fighting pack behind him while at least making an attempt at sticking with Stoner. Rossi, in the opening laps, languished around where he began the race, he was keen to change that however. As of lap three, Rossi began to claw his way through the pack, much as he did one week ago in Sepang. At the same time, Andrea Dovizioso began to go backwards fast. He had a problem with his steering which would eventually put him out of the race. By lap four a battle was forming for third place between Hayden and Simoncelli which would soon also draw Spies and the ascendant Rossi into its orbit. This would comprise the most exciting action of the entire race. Going into lap six, Rossi passed Simoncelli going into the scarily fast turn one, he was now in fifth place. One lap later Rossi passed Hayden going into turn ten with a move that was tough, but not unsportsmanlike. Hayden did his best to keep his composure but Simoncelli squeaked through on him as he was regrouping. Rossi wasted absolutely no time in going after Spies, he passed him, again into the treacherous turn one.

As the three behind Rossi re-grouped and shuffled around, Stoner and Lorenzo continued to clear out. As boring as Stoner’s march at the front could be, the camera would sometimes cut to him sliding through the turns, obviously having fun. It was good consolation. Meanwhile, going into lap ten, Nicky Hayden had gathered himself and passed Simoncelli down the front straight to take fourth and hunt down Rossi. He seemed intent on avenging Valentino’s move on him a few laps earlier. The laps ground down, Nicky shadowing Rossi closely, but on lap twenty Hayden turned it up a bit and began to look to threaten to take third in a real way. Spies and Simoncelli had dropped back but they were in a similar battle to the two in front of them, Spies took fifth, down the straight again, going into lap 23. He would pull away and keep the spot til the end. On lap 25, Hayden finally made his move on Rossi, at the turn four hairpin, and made it stick. Valentino also refused to be gapped and shadowed Hayden immediately, sniffing around for a pass but unable to put one together. Rossi stuck to his rear for two more laps as fans breathlessly waited for him to make another move. It finally happened, again at turn four, when Rossi stuck it up the inside of Hayden and forced him wide, enabling Valentino to sneak past. Hayden tried valiantly to repay the favor but narrowly missed the podium, again.

Casey Stoner’s fourth straight victory in Australia was yet another demonstration of just how dominant he can be when he is on his game. It begs the question of his unevenness though. He started 2009 and 2010 strong, dropped off precipitously and then came back with some decisive wins. His move to Honda next year is a gamble for sure but he has proved over and over that he can beat anyone when it’s his day. Jorge Lorenzo has been phenomenal all year, winning the title and only finishing off the podium twice. He is also the only rider to score points in every race this season. However, he has not won a race since Brno, back in August. While this has no bearing on the title, Jorge will be keen to clock one more win before the season’s end, just to put an exclamation point on his amazing season. Finally, there is Valentino Rossi. He has had the toughest season of his career so far and he is still within a shout of second place. More importantly, keep in mind that almost every thrilling battle of this season (not to mention the last decade) have involved the Italian, who some regard as being past his prime. Add Dovizioso, Spies (who clinched the “Rookie of the Year” title Sunday) and Simoncelli, who have all been in great form, to this and next year is looking pretty rosy. Despite the dwindling grid numbers, that is.

2010 Australian Grand Prix // Complete Results:

1. Casey Stoner
2. Jorge Lorenzo
3. Valentino Rossi
4. Nicky Hayden
5. Ben Spies
6. Marco Simoncelli
7. Colin Edwards
8. Aleix Espargaro
9. Marco Melandri
10. Randy De Puniet
11. Mika Kallio
12. Alvaro Bautista
13. Hiroshi Aoyama
14. Hector Barbera

Photo: MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // LORENZO TAKES TITLE IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia has seen a number of title-deciding races over the years because it sits so late in the season. As a result, the absolutely punishing heat and humidity are often compounded by the tension of a title-deciding race. What’s worse is the ever-present threat of torrential downpour which can render all the weekend’s careful preparation useless. This happened last year and threatened to screw up Valentino Rossi’s plans royally. This year, it was Jorge Lorenzo, chasing his first-ever premier class title, who would have to play Sepang just right... [read more]

Dani Pedrosa, the only person still mathematically capable of beating Lorenzo to the title, was out for the second race in a row with a broken collarbone. This meant Jorge only had to place ninth or higher and he would take the title. However, Valentino Rossi made it absolutely clear one week ago that he didn’t plan to cede his crown to Lorenzo without proving he still has the ability to battle any rider and come out on top.

Toward that end, Rossi came out strong, topping Friday’s practice session, after that, his riding seemed to falter some. When qualifying came, he could manage no better than sixth place. To counter Rossi’s unevenness, Lorenzo was never out of the top three in any practice. He also stood at the top of qualifying for much of the session. He took the top spot from Stoner early on, was deposed by Ben Spies and then quickly landed on top again. Then, from nowhere, Nicky Hayden stole provisional pole from sixth place with less than five minutes left in the session. Lorenzo wouldn’t take defeat so easily and bested Hayden with less than a minute to go. No other rider had any answer, so the starting grid was: Lorenzo, Hayden, Dovizioso, Spies, Stoner, Rossi, Edwards, Bautista, Capirossi, Melandri, Simoncelli, Espargaro, De Puniet, Aoyama, Barbera and Kallio.

Lorenzo maximized on his pole position by being first into turn one. He seemed eager to try and get away safely at the front but Dovizioso decided to tag along with him. Rossi had a terrible start, he sunk as low as eleventh place in the opening few corners. Lorenzo then fought off Dovizioso through the final hairpin to narrowly complete lap one in first. At the same moment, Casey Stoner took himself out of contention when his front end slipped out on him, as it has far too many times this season. Lorenzo began to pull away from everyone except for Dovizioso, who shadowed Jorge’s every move and appeared ready to pounce at any second. Meanwhile Valentino Rossi had been methodically clawing his way back up the order with some genuinely ambitious overtaking. By the middle of lap four he passed Marco Simoncelli to take third place. Rossi now went to work on catching the two leaders by clocking the fastest laps of the race so far.

As the laps ticked on, Rossi miraculously bridged the chasm to the front two and left little doubt he was going to become a factor at the front before the end. Sensing this, Dovizioso made his move at the beginning of lap nine; he out-braked Lorenzo into turn one and led for the first time. Mid-way through the next lap, Rossi would pass Jorge going into turn nine and commence his hunt for Dovizioso, who he passed in the exact same spot on the next lap. Andrea retook the lead going into turn one with five laps to go but Rossi got him back, again at turn nine. Lorenzo refused to be dropped, he had been hanging onto the front two the entire time. Jorge had wisely learned his lesson from Motegi and refused to take part in any real battle but remained ready to pounce if the opportunity presented itself. As the laps wound down, Dovizioso stayed with Rossi but never was able to mount a pass, Valentino crossed the finish line only 0.224 seconds in front. Jorge Lorenzo backed off his pace, figuring third place with a world title beats tempting fate by pushing too hard, the gap back to him had grown to six seconds. Valentino had produced a masterpiece designed to take as much spotlight away from Jorge’s title as was possible. While Rossi did well, nothing really trumps a title-winning race, not even a spectacular win.

Further down the order, Ben Spies took a respectable fourth place after passing Simoncelli going into lap fifteen. The battle for fifth place raged hard in the final laps with Bautista, Simoncelli, Aoyama and Hayden swapping that spot multiple times. Bautista won that battle with Nicky Hayden following him. Hiroshi Aoyama took seventh and his best finish of the season after fending off some seriously hard riding from Simoncelli (it looked like their race here last year). Aoyama did this after having qualified all the way back in fourteenth, good stuff for someone who broke a vertebra this year.

So the 2010 MotoGP title has been settled. Jorge Lorenzo is only the second Spaniard to win the title (after Alex Criville, in 1999) and the first to win 250cc and MotoGP. Many congratulations to Jorge for the achievement. Now that the pressure is off his shoulders, we can only hope to see him tangle with Rossi unfettered for the last three races. It would also be nice to see Andrea Dovizioso win a dry race as he has been painfully close to the “aliens” all year. The next race is only one week away at Philip Island, Australia. It’s an amazing track that both Stoner and Rossi do well at. Let’s hope there are still some great battles left in the year.

It’s worth noting that the Moto2 title was settled Sunday after Toni Elias took fourth place aafter his only title challenger, Julian Simon, fell and rejoined the race but was unable to finish in the points. It’s Elias’ first title, surprisingly enough, and he was so overcome by emotion that he could barely speak in the press conference. He dedicated the title to pretty much his entire family and to Shoya Tomizawa, whose number 48 was on Elias’ special celebratory leathers. He ran a fantastic year, paving the way for an expected return to MotoGP next season. If anyone doubts Elias’ worth, go back and watch Estoril 2006. It was a fantastic performance and also the last time a satellite bike has won a MotoGP race. Big congratulations to Toni.

2010 Malaysian Grand Prix // Complete Results:

1. Valentino Rossi
2. Andrea Dovizioso
3. Jorge Lorenzo
4. Ben Spies
5. Alvaro Bautista
6. Nicky Hayden
7. Hiroshi Aoyama
8. Marco Simoncelli
9. Marco Melandri
10. Randy De Puniet
11. Hector Barbera
12. Mika Kallio

Photo: MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // STONER'S WIN ONE-UPPED BY BATTLE FOR THIRD

MotoGP finally got around to running the Japanese GP this weekend. The race originally was to run back in April but an uncooperative volcano in Iceland killed most air travel out of Europe. Sunday’s rescheduled race slots in nicely with the next two rounds (Malaysia and Australia). All three are now on consecutive weekends, meaning less jet lag and presumably easier movement of cargo. Hopefully... [read more]

The biggest news of the weekend was Dani Pedrosa crashing on only the third lap of the first practice session. The bizarre accident was only captured by his onboard camera, so Honda and Dorna have just one angle from which to investigate. Honda’s conclusion so far is that Pedrosa’s fly-by-wire throttle stuck open. His bike got severe wobbles and dumped him hard on his left side. Dani got up and walked to the track edge, giving some hope that maybe he was unhurt. Unfortunately, he was then stretchered away. X-rays showed he had broken his collarbone in three places. He was immediately flown back to Barcelona to undergo surgery (imagine flying that far with such an injury). There is as yet no verdict on whether he will take part in the race in Malaysia next week. Pre-race tabulations concluded that if Jorge finished first or second at Motegi, and Pedrosa didn’t show up for Malaysia, the title would be Lorenzo’s.

Qualifying saw Andrea Dovizioso channel his absent teammate with menacingly fast and consistent laps. He would take his first MotoGP pole position with six minutes left in the session. The Fiat Yamahas were back on form after their less than stellar showing two weeks ago. Lorenzo stayed near the top of all sessions and Valentino Rossi’s lingering shoulder injury was a much smaller factor than he and his team had anticipated. Rossi clinched second position on his very last lap, just a few hundredths behind Dovizioso. More importantly, Rossi knocked Lorenzo off the front row for the first time this season. Even though the title is out of the question for Rossi, he is keen to hold his own against the man taking it from him. Casey Stoner snatched third after uneven results across all sessions. He seemingly ironed out whatever was upsetting his rhythm. The starting grid was as follows: Dovizioso, Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo, Edwards, Spies, DePuniet, Simoncelli, Bautista, Capirossi, Hayden, Melandri, Espargaro, Aoyama, Barbera and Kallio.

Dovizioso had a great start, leading into turn one, but Casey Stoner quickly snatched the lead into turn two. Dovizioso refused to be dropped and would periodically chip away at Stoner’s lead. Unfortunately for him, Stoner would respond by upping his own pace. As close as Dovizioso was getting, he could never get close enough to really challenge Stoner. Stoner wouldn’t really break away until near the end, eventually winning by a comfortable margin of just under four seconds. While Stoner was cruising to victory, the TV audience was distracted by the battle for third place. Rossi had passed Lorenzo with 19 laps to go but had never dropped his teammate/ rival. With about 7 laps left, Lorenzo passed Rossi under brakes at turn 5 and Rossi immediately passed him back and pulled a slight gap. With 2 laps to go Jorge was right on Rossi’s tail again. Going into turn 5, Lorenzo tried the same move as before with Rossi countering again, just more forcefully. They banged fairings going under the tunnel and Rossi retained 3rd place. Going into the S curves, Lorenzo tried to grab the inside line, forcing Rossi wide. Rossi countered by forcing Lorenzo wide in to the second half of the turn complex. Lorenzo regrouped for a last lap push on Rossi but found himself too far back to mount a pass at his favorite overtaking spot (turn 5). This time though, he made a pass stick on Rossi going into the S curves. Rossi then took Lorenzo at the V corner (these corners are so literally named) and barely kept 3rd place, wheelieing up to the hairpin. Rossi barely managed to keep Jorge at bay and eked out the final podium spot. It was a fantastic battle the likes of which we have not seen this year. Jerez, where Lorenzo charged to victory in the final laps from a distant 3rd place, would be the closest such battle this season.



It would be an understatement to say the Rossi/ Lorenzo battle stole the show but there were some other notable performances. Dovizioso’s strength over the whole weekend added real ammunition to his bid for a 3rd factory Honda ride next year. Colin Edwards took a strong 5th place while his teammate, Ben Spies, came back fighting from an early bobble that sent him and Hayden off track into 15th and 16th. He eventually managed to claw his way back to 8th. The Suzukis also had a strong showing, they would have finished 7th and 8th had Capirossi not run off track with 3 laps to go, stalling his bike and failing to finish. Hopefully such results will persuade Suzuki to stick with their 2-man team and pour more resources into their MotoGP effort.



The Rossi/ Lorenzo scrap brought out all the expected recriminations. Lin Jarvis felt Rossi should have been more helpful to Lorenzo’s championship effort. Lorenzo himself complained that some of Rossi’s moves were “a bit too much.” On Rossi’s side, Masao Furusawa, who was instrumental in Rossi’s Yamaha success, was caught on camera smirking at the amazing battle going down and Rossi could be heard on camera in parc ferme saying “it was fun!” From my perspective, Lorenzo got as hard as he gave. The racing was definitely rough but Jorge put some similarly hard moves on Pedrosa in Jerez earlier in the year.

Malaysia is looking to be where the 2010 championship will most likely be decided. Lorenzo is 69 points ahead of Dani Pedrosa, the only other rider with any mathematical chance of taking the title. The odds of Dani making it to Sepang seem slim right now. If he skips the race, Jorge has only to finish 10th to be champion. If Pedrosa makes it, Jorge needs to come out 7 points ahead of him. Valentino Rossi faced similar odds of taking the title at Sepang last season. A bad start on a rain-soaked track and a determined Jorge Lorenzo threatened to spoil everything. Rossi prevailed in the end but Jorge never made it easy for him.

2010 Japanese Grand Prix // Complete Results:

1. Casey Stoner
2. Andrea Dovizioso
3. Valentino Rossi
4. Jorge Lorenzo
5. Colin Edwards
6. Marco Simoncelli
7. Alvaro Bautista
8. Ben Spies
9. Randy De Puniet
10. Hiroshi Aoyama
11. Marco Melandri
12. Nicky Hayden
13. Hector Barbera
14. Aleix Espargaro
15. Mika Kallio

Images: MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

VIDEO // GYRO-CAM + S1000RR @ HOCKENHEIM

Featured this year in the MotoGP Championship, the gyroscopic onboard camera allows you to see just how far a rider leans into a corner. That said, it now seems the technology has reached the commercial market, as BMW attached a gyro-cam to their S1000RR superbike and took it for a spin around Hockenheim. Video comes courtesy of Hell for Leather // [comment]

MotoGP // STONER BREAKS WIN DROUGHT @ ARAGON

After the terrible and depressing events of the last two MotoGP outings, all involved seemed to need a clean slate of some sort. The new circuit at Aragon promised that in a tangible sense because it is a brand new circuit for GP racing. In a more psychological sense, MotoGP used Aragon as the site to give Shoya Tomizawa a collective goodbye with a minute of silence held on the start/ finish straight between Sunday’s morning warm-up and the afternoon races. Shoya’s family laid him to rest in Japan this past Wednesday. Individual riders, almost without exception, rode with Tomizawa stickers on their bikes... [read more]

With Friday’s practices being a combination of acclimating to the track for FP1 and wet-weather damage control for FP2, Saturday was when the riders were really able to reconcile their bikes with the unfamiliar circuit. The usual suspects (Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner) hovered near the top during both sessions. Valentino Rossi was noticeably far down the time sheet after struggling with his settings. More importantly, he revealed that the shoulder he injured early in the season has been much more persistent a problem for him than previously revealed, so much so that Rossi is considering skipping the final two races of the season in order to have surgery and be properly sorted out for next year. Casey Stoner finally seemed his old self again as he took an impressive pole position, his first since the opening race at Qatar, which he crashed out of on lap 5. Jorge Lorenzo defied the big weakness of the Yamaha (he, Rossi and Spies posted 3 of the slowest 5 top-end speeds) by landing in second. Dani Pedrosa blew a very promising last qualifying lap by running too deep into turn ten, although he still ended up on the front row in third. Final QP order was: Stoner, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Hayden, Spies, DePuniet, Rossi, Dovizioso, Simoncelli, Barbera, Edwards, Bautista, Espargaro, Melandri, Aoyama and Kallio.

The first lap of the race provided some good action. Stoner got the holeshot but Lorenzo challenged him forcefully through the first few turns, getting ahead briefly before Casey stole the lead back from him, twice. Lorenzo knew he would have to get ahead from the start if he had any hope of staying at the front. Pedrosa, normally the early front runner, bobbled between turns one and two and was dropped to fifth. He would gain fourth place from Spies on the back straight. Here his Honda demonstrated how down on top speed the Yamaha was by blowing past Spies with almost no effort. The order at the end of lap one was: Stoner, Lorenzo, Hayden, Pedrosa, Spies, Simoncelli, Dovizioso, Rossi, Barbera, DePuniet, Bautista, Melandri, Espargaro, Edwards, Kallio and Aoyama.

Stoner immediately began a campaign to run away at the front as Pedrosa tried desperately to claw his way back up the order. He passed Hayden on the back straight in lap two exactly the same way he did to Spies on lap one. Lorenzo would suffer an identical fate one lap later. Pedrosa now tried valiantly to chase down the escaping Stoner but could never get any closer than around one second. Hayden now began hunting Lorenzo. Despite catching up quickly, he found passing near impossible. The race began to settle into a series of battles between pairs: Stoner/ Pedrosa, Lorenzo/ Hayden, Spies/ Dovizioso, Simoncelli/ Rossi, etc, etc. The action only really resumed on the last few laps when the Dovioso/ Spies heated up considerably. They swapped positions a few times, but instead of a battle to the end, the fight ended with Dovizioso crashing out near the end of the final lap. The Lorenzo/ Hayden battle came to a head simultaneously when Nicky made a brave overtaking move just before the back straight. Lorenzo was totally unable to match the Ducati’s top speed and Nicky secured the last podium spot. The final results were as follows:

MotoGP @ Aragon // Race Results:

1. Casey Stoner
2. Dani Pedrosa
3. Nicky Hayden
4. Jorge Lorenzo
5. Ben Spies
6. Valentino Rossi
7. Marco Simoncelli
8. Alvaro Bautista
9. Marco Melandri
10. Aleix Espargaro
11. Hector Barbera
12. Colin Edwards
13. Hiroshi Aoyama
14. Mika Kallio


Aragon marked Casey Stoner’s first win since Malaysia last year. He attributed his return to form to some very minor adjustments to the Ducati’s geometry, which he claimed made all the difference in his confidence in the bike. Aragon was also Nicky Hayden’s first podium of the season, this after a string of fourth places where he narrowly missed finishing one step higher. Conversely, it was Jorge Lorenzo’s first race of the season that he failed to finish on the podium. It was also Valentino Rossi’s worst finish of 2010 as well as the first race since Valencia in 2007 that a Yamaha factory rider failed to podium. Aragon’s clean slate was sort of a double-edged sword.

Lorenzo still sits 56 points into first place ahead of Pedrosa. Casey Stoner, in third now, is four points too far down to be able to win the championship, under any possible scenario. Lorenzo still seems to have a hand firmly on the trophy and a resurgent Stoner might further complicate Pedrosa’s miracle challenge. Hoping some action returns to the front in the remaining five races. Next race is in two weeks at Honda’s Motegi circuit, just outside Tokyo. It was originally going to be the third race of the season but was postponed after a volcano in Iceland decided to completely throw international travel into a tailspin.

Editorial: Jeff Winterberg
Photo: MotoGP

MotoGP // FIRST BACK-TO-BACK WIN FOR PEDROSA

No account of Sunday’s race at Misano will ever be viewed except through the lens of Shoya Tomizawa’s terrible accident and subsequent death. Tomizawa, a well-liked Moto2 rider, fell from his bike on lap 12 and was struck by two riders following close behind him. Initial reports said his injuries were not life-threatening but he succumbed to his injuries about halfway through the MotoGP race that followed. The riders were not made aware of Shoya’s death until the race had finished (obviously)... [read more]

Misano this year fell on the weekend immediately after Indianapolis. Dani Pedrosa was keen to continue his momentum after his win there. That win marked the first season in the premier class where he has won more than two races. A win at Misano would mark his first back-to-back victory in the class. Jorge Lorenzo, 68 points up coming into the weekend, would be keen to win, but just as eager to limit the damage to his title lead that crashing out while pushing too hard might cause.

Practice and qualifying sessions were largely dominated by Pedrosa, who came first in all but the second free practice. In that session, he trailed Lorenzo by 0.104s. Pedrosa would be the only rider to come in under the 1:34 mark in qualifying. He looked pretty ominous. The starting grid was as follows: Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Stoner, Rossi, Spies, DePuniet, Edwards, Dovizioso, Simoncelli, Melandri, Capirossi, Barbera, Aoyama, Hayden, Espargaro, Bautista and Kallio.

Pedrosa was quick off the line as usual and entered turn one first. He was followed by Stoner, Lorenzo and Rossi. By turn two, Nicky Hayden, in a turnabout from last year (he and Edwards were dealt the same blow by DeAngelis in 2009) knocked Loris Capirossi and himself off, effectively ruining both their days. Ben Spies meanwhile had dropped back to tenth. Lorenzo quickly passed Stoner a few turns later to take second. Crossing the line for the first time the top ten were: Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Stoner, Rossi, Dovizioso, Edwards, Simoncelli, DePuniet, Melandri and Spies. Pedrosa, having taken the lead from the start would proceed to bang out laps each quicker than the one previous until he had a lead of over five seconds on Lorenzo. He would not be passed the entire race. Lorenzo would not drop from second either after his pass on Stoner on lap one. Rossi would pass Stoner on lap eleven and Dovizioso followed soon after. The top five was now cemented.

Further down the pack, Ben Spies would valiantly claw back positions until he reached sixth where his forward momentum was stopped by the huge chasm to Stoner. He would finish there. In the back of the pack, it was Alvaro Bautista who again did a lot with a sub-par bike. He had qualified sixteenth but clawed his way back up to eighth place in the end. In the end though, the final standings were pretty close to the qualifying standings. All in all, a rather processional race.


MotoGP @ Misano // Complete Results:

1. Dani Pedrosa
2. Jorge Lorenzo
3. Valentino Rossi
4. Andrea Dovizioso
5. Casey Stoner
6. Ben Spies
7. Colin Edwards
8. Alvaro Bautista
9. Hector Barbera
10. Marco Melandri
11. Aleix Espargaro
12. Hiroshi Aoyama
13. Marco Simoncelli

Pedrosa’s win chips Lorenzo’s championship lead down to 63 points. Maybe Lorenzo’s freight train is not as unstoppable as once thought, but if he can stay at or near the podium, Dani has little chance.

Apologies if this race report seems unnecessarily cursory. The race had little action to speak of. What’s more, as soon as the race ended, the riders were informed of Tomizawa’s death and a palpable sadness descended upon the entire paddock. Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta could be seen walking up to each rider in parc ferme, presumably doling out the bad news. Although the crowd was likely unaware, the sadness on the faces of Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Rossi standing on the podium was unmistakable. The rider’s national flags were at half-mast and champagne was out of the question. As Valentino Rossi later put it “when something so sad like this happens everything else goes to zero and the result doesn't matter.” That sentiment was universal among the riders, teams and anyone else who was asked.

Photo(s): MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

NEWS // TOMIZAWA FATALLY INJURED DURING MOTO 2 RACE

MotoGP suffered its second tragedy in as many weeks with the death of Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa. Tomizawa will forever be enshrined in motorcycling history as the first-ever winner of a Moto2 class race after he took a commanding victory at the opening round in Qatar back in April. He was only 19 years old... [read more]

Tomizawa, on lap 12, fell coming out of turn 10 and was hit by Alex DeAngelis and Scott Redding at high speed. His body just spun limp on the track. Shoya was initially reported to be in a coma, but near the end of the MotoGP race word came through announcing his death, the riders only getting the news after the race finish. Podium ceremonies were very muted, the flags were at half-mast and there was no champagne. You could see the sadness etched in the faces of Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Rossi.

Tomizawa was the rider all the Japanese journalists pointed to as the one to watch over the next few years. His riding had the aggression of a 19-year-old but his bike control was that of a much older rider. Shoya was more importantly a favorite among his fellow riders and MotoGP journalists. Last week, after being taken out at the beginning of the race and obviously in pain, Shoya still managed a smile and a wave to the camera. His agreeable disposition seemed impossible to spoil. Instead of looking for the crash footage, please seek out video of him on the podium in Qatar. He was in tears and it was really sweet. He’s much better remembered like that.

The outpouring of grief and memorials from the entire MotoGP paddock leave no doubt that Shoya Tomizawa was not only respected as a racer but also held in high esteem personally. Sincere condolences go out to his family and friends.

Image: MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // DECISIVE PEDROSA WIN @ INDIANAPOLIS

MotoGP racing made its way back to the U.S. for the second and final time in 2010 for round 11 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Jorge Lorenzo came into the weekend in first position, where he has been since race number two at Jerez, his lead at 77 points over second-place Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo has indicated that he is now riding with the overall championship in mind and not individual race wins. This will presumably mean a more conservative Lorenzo giving other riders a chance at winning races... [read more]

One issue that emerged over the weekend’s practice sessions was the condition of the track. The MotoGP layout at Indy utilizes part of the oval straight, part of the old F1 layout and newer sections built in 2007 to accommodate GP bikes. This makes for a patchwork of different surfaces, the transitions between which are sometimes less than optimal for motorcycles. To make matters worse, certain sections of track have developed some nasty bumps that took down some of the best GP riders including Stoner, Hayden, Spies and, most surprisingly, Valentino Rossi on three different occasions. Nobody seems to be able to recall Rossi falling three times in a single weekend. Needless to say, many riders are calling for Indianapolis to repave a few sections before next year’s race.

Ben Spies ticked off another first in his MotoGP career by snatching pole position in a qualifying session that saw a few riders go down and some others fail to live up to expectations. Still, a rookie putting a satellite bike in pole position is no small feat. It begs the question of whether or not Yamaha has begun throwing more factory team-level parts at Spies in anticipation of his move into Rossi’s ride there next year. Either way, he seems to be reaffirming the wisdom of the decision to bring him up for 2011. The starting grid was as follows: Spies, Lorenzo, Hayden, Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Stoner, Rossi, Simoncelli, Edwards, Capirossi, Bautista, Melandri, Aoyama, Espargaro, Kallio, Barbera, De Puniet.

Spies got a dream start from pole, beating the pack into turn one, while Jorge Lorenzo reverted to his old ways and dropped like a stone back to fifth place. Between those two were Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa, who failed to achieve one of his miracle starts. Following Lorenzo was Rossi, Simoncelli, Melandri, Stoner and Edwards rounding out the top ten. They would cross the line for the first time in this order, with Spies looking to pull a small gap over Dovizioso. On lap two, Lorenzo began to put pressure on Pedrosa but Dani responded by shooting past Hayden. This gave Pedrosa a bit of breathing room to catch the front two while Lorenzo was left to grapple with Hayden. It took Lorenzo a little less than a lap to pass Nicky and hunt Pedrosa down. Meanwhile, Stoner had just passed Simoncelli for eighth, setting his sights on Melandri who promptly lowsided out of his 200th GP start.

On the same lap, Hayden, while chasing Lorenzo, had ripped his left-hand knee slider off in a turn. He desperately tried to reapply it to his leathers while going down the front straight, to no avail. This was particularly worrisome for his race as Indy is mostly left-hand turns, meaning he would have to take the majority of the corners without the aid of his knee slider. Pedrosa now got past Dovizioso early into lap four and began to hunt Spies while Rossi took advantage of Hayden’s troubles to move into fifth, Stoner would follow on lap six. Lap eight saw Pedrosa pass Spies on the front straight and begin his unstoppable march to the win. It also saw Stoner crash out into turn eleven just as he was closing in on Rossi. The excitement was now in watching Lorenzo stalk Dovizioso for the remaining podium spot, which he did going into the first turn of lap twelve. His delay in passing Dovizioso effectively put him out of reach in catching Spies, let alone Pedrosa. This order would stand at the front until lap 20, when Rossi got past Dovizioso, whose tires were beginning to give him trouble. There would be little more action in the remaining eight laps, save for Hector Barbera putting in a very hard pass on Capirossi in one of the final corners of the race.

This weekend marked the first time Dani Pedrosa has won more than two races in a season at the top level of GP racing. It was also Ben Spies’ first pole position and first second place in MotoGP. A win for Spies this season doesn’t seem too far-fetched. It was also Lorenzo’s first race of the season where he didn’t come first or second, he is only the third rider ever to have come first or second in the first ten races of the season, behind Agostini and Doohan. Even so, it will still take a massive streak of bad results for the title to slip away from him. Rossi’s fourth place finish, while not where he wanted to be, was a great showing after the terrible sessions he had leading up to the race. The other unsung winner of the weekend was Alvaro Bautista who came in eighth place (he missed seventh by only 0.08 sec). Bautista has been plagued by falls, injuries and the mediocre performance of this year’s Suzuki. Hopefully results like this will convince Suzuki to pour some money and resources into its MotoGP effort instead of pulling out after 2011, as some fear.

2010 Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix // Final Results:

1. Dani Pedrosa 47m31.615s
2. Ben Spies 47m35.190s
3. Jorge Lorenzo 47m38.427s
4. Valentino Rossi 47m44.248s
5. Andrea Dovizioso 47m53.500s
6. Nicky Hayden 48m06.753s
7. Marco Simoncelli 48m08.355s
8. Alvaro Bautista 48m08.440s
9. Aleix Espargaro 48m16.520s
10. Hector Barbera 48m22.983s
11. Loris Capirossi 48m27.001s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama 48m29.518s
13. Randy De Puniet 48m35.754s

DNF

Mika Kallio
Colin Edwards
Casey Stoner
Marco Melandri

On a note unrelated to MotoGP, 13-year-old Peter Lenz, riding in a US Grand Prix Union race at Indianapolis on Sunday morning, crashed and was run over by another rider during the warm-up lap. He was pronounced dead soon after at a local hospital. While everyone involved in racing knows the risks involved, it’s heart-wrenching to see someone, especially someone that young, suffer something like that. Condolences to his family and friends.

Photo: Mirco Lazzari via Autoblog
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // ROSSI WILL RIDE FOR DUCATI IN 2011

Valentino Rossi surprised absolutely nobody this afternoon when first Yamaha, then Rossi himself, then Ducati announced that he is leaving Yamaha to ride for the Italian manufacturer for 2011-12. While a big shakeup, Rossi’s Ducati move has been a near-certain rumor in the motorcycling world for many months, it’s unofficial status coupled with its near-certainty having been a running joke for some time now... [read more]

Yamaha issued a press statement about Rossi’s leaving, followed by a handwritten note by Rossi himself, filled with conciliatory language. That part was good to see given Valentino’s acrimonious departure from Honda at the end of 2003. Yamaha will release Rossi to test the 2011 Ducati machine directly following the season’s last race of the year in Valencia, Spain on the 7th of November.

Conventional wisdom cites Jorge Lorenzo’s dominance on the Yamaha M1 that Rossi and his crew chief Jerry Burgess have developed over the years as one of the prime motivators for Rossi’s departure. Yamaha also attempted to cut Rossi’s salary by around a third in order to give Lorenzo a hefty raise.

While it’s not hard to believe that the world is focusing on the “Italian on an Italian bike” narrative, the prospects of a title on a third manufacturer’s bike are likely what Rossi himself has in mind. That sort of a coup would leave little ammunition for those disputing his “greatest of all time” status.

The big question mark is still whether Jerry Burgess and the rest of Rossi’s crew will be making the jump yet again.

Photo/Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // LORENZO WINS AGAIN @ LAGUNA SECA

The MotoGP circus landed in the U.S. for the first of its two 2010 rounds this past weekend and your humble narrator was actually in attendance. This was great for me but from the standpoint of race reporting, it’s tough to give a nice overview having seen the race from only one vantage point, this explains the more brief report. To compensate, some nice photos are included here... [read more]

This weekend’s festivities at Laguna Seca marked the end of the first half of the MotoGP calendar. Jorge Lorenzo began the weekend with a hefty 47 point lead ahead of second place Dani Pedrosa. To put this in context, in 2008, Valentino Rossi left Laguna Seca with 50 points over Casey Stoner and would go on to win the championship with the most points ever scored in a season (373).

Lorenzo’s chances for the title seem to be better than average at the moment, but less overt is the asterisk hanging over its authenticity given Rossi’s four-race absence. In order to erase that doubt, Jorge knows he must win convincingly with Rossi now back in action. Valentino, while arguably not at 100%, came maddeningly close to a podium spot one week ago in Germany and in both practice sessions appeared to be riding with a shot of contending a top-three spot at Laguna. Lorenzo responded by taking pole position away from Casey Stoner in the final moments of qualifying with an authoritative lap of 1:20.978. Behind them was Andrea Dovizioso with his first-ever front row starting spot. The rest of the top ten, in order were Dani Pedrosa, Ben Spies, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards, Marco Simoncelli and Hector Barbera.

Lorenzo got off the line well but was quickly swallowed up by Pedrosa, Stoner, Spies and Dovizioso. Going into turn 4, he was in fifth place. When they crossed the line for the first time it was Pedrosa, Stoner, Lorenzo, Spies, Dovizioso, Rossi, Hayden, Simoncelli, Edwards and Melandri making up the top ten. Spies began to come under pressure from behind and dropped back to seventh. Meanwhile, Stoner, who was running close to Pedrosa, dropped back toward Lorenzo. A few seconds back, Rossi began to harass Dovizioso over fourth position.

Lap five saw Lorenzo pass Stoner into turn five as Stoner ran wide. Now Jorge had the job of chasing down Pedrosa who has a nasty habit of escaping at the front and running away with races. As things began to settle in, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Stoner were away together at the front; they were followed by a tight group comprised of Dovizioso, Rossi, Hayden and Spies a few seconds back. Next was Melandri, Simoncelli and Edwards with a gap over the group of Capirossi, Kallio and Espargaro. At the rear were the replacement riders DeAngelis (subbing for Aoyama) and Roger Lee Hayden (subbing for DePuniet), Barbera and Bautista both out of the race already with a retirement and a crash respectively.

Lorenzo began to gap Stoner and simultaneously chip away at Pedrosas lead, lap by lap gaining a tenth here and there and putting pressure on his former nemesis. But just as it appeared the race was headed for a good battle between the two Spaniards, Pedrosa succumbed to the pressure and tucked the front going into turn five, flipping the bike sideways into the air fence. Dani knew his bike was gone and his race over, he just took his gloves off and walked away. Lorenzo then ticked off fast, consistent laps, eventually gaining more than four seconds on Stoner and cruising to his sixth win of the season. Meanwhile, Andrea Dovizioso had pulled nearly two seconds over Valentino Rossi and a third place finish seemed to be very likely for him.

Unfortunately for Dovizioso, his tires began to fail him just as Rossi put his head down to try and reel him in. Just as the race was about to dip under five laps to go, Rossi took over third going into turn eleven. Dovizioso fought back down the straight but Rossi managed to cut across him going over the hill through the slight left-handed turn one, sealing the pass going into the turn two-three complex. Dovizioso held on tenaciously but was never able to mount a pass, he had to settle for third place while Rossi achieved the dream finish that so narrowly eluded him at Sachsenring.

Lorenzo’s victory was his sixth of the year, but almost as impressive is the fact that he has finished in second in the other three races. His penchant for dramatic highsides has been tamed completely along with his Biaggi-esque win- or-fall attitude. The first half of this season has given us a Jorge Lorenzo that can control himself when he knows he can’t win a race, not letting himself be goaded into wild riding that throws points away. Even more importantly is the Jorge Lorenzo we saw this past weekend who has seemingly begun to master Rossi’s trick of pressuring a rider into making a mistake when he may not be quite close enough to mount a pass.

The naysayers will always cite Rossi being gone for a good chunk of the season for Lorenzo’s title juggernaut but the absolute calm, smooth authority he has ridden with is dispelling that race by race. He may not have been 73 points (!) ahead of his closest rival if Rossi had been there the whole time but it’s hard to imagine him being anywhere but first place this year. Rossi has said this himself. If his march to the title is unstoppable, let’s at least hope Rossi’s return will give us some exciting racing to at least keep things interesting.

Photo/Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // PEDROSA VICTORIOUS @ GERMAN GRAND PRIX

The MotoGP world has been in a tailspin the last two weeks. First with Valentino Rossi testing a WSBK Yamaha at Misano and then later at Brno. At Brno, riding on Pirellis, Rossi posted lap times that would have made him very competitive in the WSBK race one week previous. He subsequently made the decision to, at least tentatively, return to racing, much to the delight of fans and sighs of relief from Dorna, who have seen ticket sales and television ratings slide ever since the moment Rossi was flung from his M1 at Mugello six weeks ago. The media frenzy as he got on his bike for Friday’s practice was almost comically large... [read more]

The other pre-race hubbub came during Saturday qualifying when, with 26 minutes or so left to go, Jorge Lorenzo’s engine gave up on him, spitting oil and coolant all over the racing line down the entire front straight and catching fire Red flags were deployed quickly but not quickly enough to save Ben Spies and Randy DePuniet from hitting the slick and sliding into the gravel. Spies was unhurt but DePuniet struck Spies’ bike and was taken to the Clinica Mobile but found to have no serious injuries. Once qualifying resumed, Lorenzo would snatch pole position with less than four minutes to go. He was followed by Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi and Hector Barbera rounding out the first two rows

The race began with the customary taking of the lead by Pedrosa, followed by Lorenzo, Barbera, Dovizioso, Stoner, Simoncelli and Rossi. Lorenzo regained the lead within the first lap and Hector Barbera began to move backwards as the more familiar frontrunners picked him off one by one. The top four (Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner and Dovizioso) began to pull away together, but Lorenzo failed to run away at the front as he has so often lately. Behind that group was Simoncelli and Rossi contending for fifth and sixth with another gap back to a group consisting of Melandri, Hayden and Barbera.

Then, with 21 laps to go, just as Rossi gapped Simoncelli and caught up to Dovizioso (who had dropped back from the leading group) Randy DePuniet crashed, his bike spreading oil on the track, catching fire and collecting Aleix Espargaro and Alvaro Bautista for good measure. The race was red-flagged and everyone returned to pit lane so the mess could be cleared. DePuniet broke his left leg in much the same place as Rossi broke his right one six weeks ago. Espargaro and Bautista, although unhurt, were prevented from restarting the race because of a rule stating a rider’s bike must be returned to the pits within five minutes of a red flag in order for them to restart.

The race was restarted with grid places based on rider positions as of the red flag going up. This meant that the riders who had pulled way from the rest now saw their leads erased. The biggest winner from the restart was Nicky Hayden, who, after a seriously disappointing starting position of fifteenth, had worked his way up to sixth place, the gap to the front was reduced to mere meters. The start went much like before with Pedrosa hitting the lead early followed by Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Stoner, Hayden and Rossi. Rossi quickly passed Hayden and Lorenzo got by Pedrosa. With 16 laps to go, Rossi surged ahead of Dovizioso at turn 13 into fourth place and began hunting a podium spot in earnest. Three laps later, Pedrosa drafted Lorenzo down the short front straight and eked past into a lead he would would extend convincingly over the final twelve laps of the race. While first and second places were now pretty well settled, the battle for third raged. Valentino Rossi hunted down Casey Stoner and battled with him for the last ten laps of the race, often fearlessly hanging his broken right leg off the bike into the corners.

Third place swapped between the two eight times in the final nine laps but it was Stoner going wide into turn 13 to get the run and pass Rossi on the very last corner of the race, taking a bit of the drama out of Rossi’s impressive return. Fifth place, the battle for which had been going on largely out of view of the cameras, went to Dovizioso. He was followed by Simoncelli, Hayden, Spies, Barbera, Melandri, Capirossi and DeAngelis. Colin Edwards had retired after a lowside just before the red flag and Kallio did the same in the first corner following the restart. A real historian of the sport should be consulted on this point but I believe Sunday’s tally of only twelve finishers has to be one of the lowest ever. Despite this, it was a more exciting affair than the previous few outings.

Jorge Lorenzo had his lead chipped down to a still impressive 47 points. He has, however, not finished any lower than second place so far this season. Unless Dani Pedrosa is upping his overall game, he has already won his customary two races for this season. If this sounds glib, it’s worth noting that Pedrosa has had erratic results in MotoGP for a long time, looking strong one weekend only to fall backwards precipitously the next. His recent results may be in response to Casey Stoner looming as a teammate for nest season. If he beats Stoner convincingly in 2010, he might be able to establish himself on top of the HRC hierarchy for 2011.

Valentino Rossi’s near-podium finish was as surprising as it was unsurprising. Sure, he came back early and was in great form after being out for six weeks with a nasty injury but MotoGP fans and media continue to act surprised when Rossi pulls yet one more coup that the odds were against. Not to diminish his accomplishments though, his determination to confound people’s expectations seems boundless sometimes. The biggest loser of the weekend was Randy DePuniet, who has had a great season, especially for a satellite rider. Going by Rossi’s model, he will likely be out until well into September.

2010 German Grand Prix // Complete Results:

1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 28m 50.476s
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Fiat Yamaha Team 28m 53.831s
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 28m 55.733s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 28m 56.099s
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 29m 7.634s
6. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 29m 8.233s
7. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 29m 8.411s
8. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 29m 11.433s
9. Hector Barbera ESP Paginas Amarillas Aspar 29m 12.476s
10. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 29m 25.693s
11. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 29m 35.518s
12. Alex de Angelis RSM Interwetten Honda MotoGP 29m 35.68s

DNF:

Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing
Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing
Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP >
Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Photo: MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // LORENZO WINS @ CATALUNYA

The last two MotoGP rounds (Silverstone and Assen) have been runaway victories for Jorge Lorenzo. While this is fantastic for Lorenzo, it has left fans perhaps wishing for some of the drama his rivalry with Valentino Rossi provided last year. Catalunya was the venue for what was arguably 2009’s most exciting battle. If you haven’t seen it, find a way to do so. This weekend’s festivities being the fourth Valentino Rossi-less race of the season, the announcers were keen to remind viewers of last year’s glory as perhaps a means of distraction. I don’t know how many times the final turn was referred to as “The Valentino Rossi Memorial corner” as if everyone knew 2010 would never eclipse 2009... [read more]

Leading up to Sunday, all was going according to the script of the last few races. Lorenzo was on pole and dominant in all sessions except for warm-up where he was third but only 0.161s off leader Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa and Stoner, for their parts, maintained their alien status by being at the top end of the timesheets when it counted. It was, however, Randy DePuniet who again upset conventional wisdom by landing his satellite LCR Honda on the front row for the third week in a row. It’s worth noting that DePuniet actually led a good chunk of qualifying practice.

At the start of the race, Pedrosa got one of his trademark starts, catapulting him from the second row to first place immediately with Lorenzo close behind, his own starts having improved lately. Unfortunately for Pedrosa, as he later explained, his brakes failed him going into turn one. He managed to pump them in time to avoid running straight into the wall and was able to rejoin the race, albeit in tenth place. From here the leading pack consisted of Jorge Lorenzo followed by Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Randy DePuniet, they quickly dropped the other riders. By the middle of lap two, Dani Pedrosa had managed to work his way back to fifth and was looking to close down on DePuniet. Then as lap three got underway, Dovizioso managed to out-brake Lorenzo into turn one and take the lead. A lap and a half later Lorenzo took it back and Pedrosa soon after got past DePuniet.

At the start of lap five, it was Stoner’s turn to run wide. He lost fewer places than Pedrosa did but he was still punted back to fifth. It only took Stoner a lap or two to get back past DePuniet and he set his sights on Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Dovizioso having pulled away. These latter two seemed to be locked in what was hopefully becoming a real protracted battle but, alas, with just over ten laps to go, Dovizioso lost the front going into turn ten, leaving Lorenzo to skate to another distant first place. Pedrosa and Stoner were left to provide the spectacle, though they were close, Stoner could never quite get the run to really make Dani too nervous. Randy DePuniet rode home to a season’s best and lonely fourth place. He had chosen a harder rear tire, which likely prevented him sliding around too much at the end at the expense of challenging in the early stages of the race. The top ten was rounded out by Alvaro Bautista, Ben Spies, Loris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden, Marco Melandri and Hector Barbera.

Aside from the obvious reinforcement of Lorenzo’s juggernaut status, Catalunya may have underscored Dorna’s need to get Rossi back into action as soon as possible. Despite the fact that there was a little more battle here than the past two outings, the contrast to last year’s Catalunya was still there. Rossi may be the only person in the series right now capable of challenging Lorenzo consistently. Let’s hope rumors of his return at the Sachsenring are true (most selfishly because I will be at Laguna Seca one week later).

Also very worth mention is Suzuki’s fifth and seventh places after what can only be termed a disappointing start to the season. Let’s hope it inspires the factory to start dumping a little more money into their MotoGP program. It should also be noted that Ben Spies continues to place highest of all the rookies, in races he has not crashed out of at least. If you consider that he has placed on or close to the podium at tracks where he has prior experience (Assen) or that nobody has been to (Silverstone) he would seem to be living up to his promise as the next real threat from America. Doubly so if he moves up to the factory Yamaha next year if all this gossip about Rossi defecting to Ducati comes true.

Photo(s): MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

MotoGP // LORENZO VICTORIOUS @ DUTCH GRAND PRIX

Going into Saturday’s Dutch TT at Assen, MotoGP fans could be excused for feeling like they were in some sort of alternate universe. If at the beginning of the season anyone had predicted that by round six Valentino Rossi would have been out for two races already with no return imminent, Casey Stoner would have yet to be on the podium and that Randy De Puniet would have twice qualified second ahead of the factory Hondas, it would have sounded a bit outlandish.

In short, the narrative of the unassailable aliens has been somewhat debunked in 2010. Fortunately, for those craving consistency, there has been Jorge Lorenzo. Ominously strong even before Rossi’s nasty accident at Mugello, Lorenzo has qualified on the front row of every race so far and has yet to finish lower than second place. Going into Saturday’s race, he was beginning to look unstoppable... [read more]

Lorenzo got off the line well, his starts having improved since the beginning of the year, but the two most noteworthy were Dani Pedrosa and Randy De Puniet. Pedrosa did a characteristic catapult from seventh place into third while De Puniet blew his second place with a wheelie off the line, immediately slamming his front tire back down to earth. He slid back to ninth place and crossed the line after lap one having clawed back to sixth, all his hard qualifying work undone. Meanwhile, American rookie phenomenon, Ben Spies, had quietly jumped into second place with Pedrosa, Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso making up the initial top five. Lorenzo immediately began to drop the pack and it looked as if he was about to repeat his runaway win at Silverstone from six days previous.

After two or three laps, it became apparent that Spies was in fact holding up the pack rather than Lorenzo skating away. Once Pedrosa and then Stoner got past Spies, it seemed like a battle of the three remaining aliens was underway. Unfortunately, Pedrosa was never able to do more than look ominous and by lap nine or ten, Lorenzo had put his head down and began to pull away, the top three finishers effectively settled. What was left was the battle for fourth place between Dovizioso, now past Spies, and De Puniet in sixth. With twelve laps left, Spies began to close on Dovizioso, passing him about two laps later in the run up to the chicane just leading into the start/finish line. Their battle had allowed De Puniet to close in and move into fifth place another two laps later. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, his tires began to turn on him in the waning laps and in a reprise of Silverstone he lost the battle and landed in sixth, Dovizioso securing fifth and Spies in a very respectable fourth. Behind that group was Nicky Hayden in a lonely seventh followed by Colin Edwards, Marco Simoncelli and Aleix Espargaro rounding out the top ten.

Lorenzo’s win puts him an astounding 47 points ahead of second place Dani Pedrosa. It’s tough to estimate what the standings would look like if Rossi hadn’t been knocked out, as Lorenzo was already looking dominant as of round two. With twelve races still to go, it is still far from over but one gets the sense that Lorenzo is running away with the championship the same way he has run away with the last few races.

MotoGP // 2010 Dutch Grand Prix:

1 25 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 171.5 41'18.629
2 20 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 171.3 +2.935
3 16 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 171.0 +7.022
4 13 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 170.6 +13.265
5 11 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 170.5 +15.323
6 10 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 170.4 +15.772
7 9 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 169.7 +25.867
8 8 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 169.5 +28.991
9 7 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 169.1 +35.658
10 6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 169.1 +35.837
11 5 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 167.7 +56.769
12 4 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 167.7 +56.890
13 3 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 167.4 +1'00.615
14 2 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 166.9 +1'08.074
15 1 64 Kousuke AKIYOSHI JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 163.4 1 Lap

Images and Info: MotoGP
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg

RUMOR // ROSSI TO RACE FOR DUCATI & FERRARI?

Just to be clear, all of this is unconfirmed, but rumors are swirling about the blogosphere that nine time MotoGP champion, Valentino Rossi, following the 2010 MotoGP season, might join the Ducati factory team for 2011. The rumor also suggests that Rossi, if he were to ride for Ducati, would sign on as a test driver for the other Italian superpower, Ferrari.

According to TwoWheels, Rossi's two-year deal with Ducati would allow him time to test Ferrari's F1 cars, as well as guarantee a move to rally racing come the end of his motorcycle racing career. The rumor has gained some ground thanks in part to speculations that current Ducati factory rider, Casey Stoner, will be leaving the team at the end of the year and ride instead for the Repsol Honda team. Other rumors include the return of Aprilia to MotoGP come 2012 // [comment]

MOTO GP // PEDROSA WINS ITALIAN GP @ MUGELLO

On Sunday, Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa collected his first MotoGP victory of 2010 at the Mugello Circuit in Italy. Pedrosa, who finished more than four seconds ahead of second place Jorge Lorenzo, took an early lead and never looked back. Lorenzo, who had won the last two races for Yamaha, was unable to catch the young Spaniard who repeatedly broke the lap record, lapping the 3.25 mile circuit close to his qualifying speed. Pedrosa's teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, finished third after a hard fought battle with Lorenzo early in the race, while Casey Stoner finished fourth ahead of Marco Melandri.

Follow the link for complete results... [read more]

MotoGP // 2010 Italian Grand Prix @ Mugello:

1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 42:28.066
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha +4.014
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda +6.196
4. Casey Stoner Ducati +25.703
5. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda +25.735
6. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda +25.965
7. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha +28.806
8. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati +40.172
9. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda +41.394
10. Loris Capirossi Suzuki +42.107
11. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda +43.095
12. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati +43.363
13. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha +1:14.393
14. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki +1:24.389

Not classified

Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 8 laps
Nicky Hayden Ducati 5 laps
Valentino Rossi Yamaha DNS

Image and Info: MotoGP
Editorial: Justin W. Coffey

NEWS // CASEY STONER LEAVES DUCATI FOR HONDA

According to Autoblog and VisorDown, Ducati factory rider, Casey Stoner, has decided to leave the Italian motor bike manufacturer and ride instead for Honda come the end of the 2010 MotoGP season. This would leave American Nicky Hayden as the only Ducati factory rider for the 2011 season.

According to the report(s), Stoner will replace Dani Pedrosa atop the Repsol Honda. As for the open spot at Ducati, there is rumor that Fiat Yamaha rider, Jorge Lorenzo, has shown interest in making the switch and Valentino Rossi, last year's champion, has also said he had an open offer from Ducati // [comment]

PHOTO GALLERY // MotoGP 2ND OFFICIAL TEST @ SEPANG

Having provided us with results from MotoGP's second official test at the Sepang International Circuit earlier this week, ColdTrackDays correspondent, Anas Zakaria, now brings us a handful of images from his visit to the Malaysian racing circuit... [read more]













For a look at more photos from Anas Zakaria's visit to the second official MotoGP test at the Sepang International Circuit, click here

Photo: Anas Zakaria
Editorial: Justin W. Coffey