"On Line" - The MotoGP Blog

Turning Point

Strictly speaking, all races are equal. Every race scores 25 points for the winner, 20 points for 2nd place, 16 points for 3rd, so in purely mathematical terms, they are all of equal importance.

Of course, some mathematicians would probably refute that, pointing out that 25 points in the first race of the season count for a whole lot less than 25 points in the final race of the season. After all, a win in the first race is usually little more than a sign that you’ve got your season off to a good start, while 25 points - or less - at the last race can be the difference between going down in the history books as World Champion and the chump who came up short. Taking these factors into account, you can be pretty sure that someone, somewhere has created a mathematical formula which perfectly encapsulates the relative importance of the points scored in each race.

But the MotoGP championship, like all motorcycle racing, is more than just a statistical exercise. Though the number of points scored may not change from one race to the next, the impact one race can have be worth double or even triple the points on offer. For example, though the difference between 1st and 2nd at the season opener is only 5 points, the race can sometimes set the tone for the rest of the season. Take 2007, when Casey Stoner and the Ducati turned up at Qatar and showed the world that what Honda and Yamaha had pinpointed as key factors in building an 800cc MotoGP bike were completely wrong, and that horsepower was still king.

The Numbers Game

It’s not just early races which are important, though. Races at the end of the season can be important too. Nicky Hayden was leading the 2006 championship comfortably, until his team mate crashed into him at the penultimate round in Portugal, and seemed to gift the title to Valentino Rossi. The next race, the last of the season, Rossi returned the favor, succumbing to the pressure of a poor start and the accumulated woes of a troubled season.

The 2006 season also shows that races in mid-season can have a huge impact, far beyond the actual points available. At Laguna Seca, the final race before the summer break, Rossi suffered a broken engine, putting him out of the race which Hayden went on to win. His title hopes looked over, but 4 weeks later at Brno, the first race after the summer break, Rossi was back on the podium and back in contention, after Hayden finished off the podium for the first time in what was to become a string of difficult races.

The Agony And The Ecstacy

And some races become pivotal, the point at which a season, sometimes even an entire career, can change. Sete Gibernau, grandson of the man who founded the famous Spanish motorcycle manufacturer Bultaco, had a racing career littered with such moments. Gibernau’s transformation from fancied outsider to title challenger began after the death of his team mate, Daijiro Katoh from injuries sustained in a crash in Japan. At the next race, which Gibernau won, he was a changed man, with no sign of the erratic nature which had held him back. That season, Gibernau became a focused, dedicated racer, and pushed Rossi hard for the title.

Two years later, another race changed Gibernau’s season, this time for the worse. At the 2005 season opener at Jerez, after a tense battle throughout the race, Valentino Rossi dived up the inside of Gibernau into the final corner. Gibernau tried to slam the door, but it was too late. The Spaniard clashed fairings with the Italian, and ran off into the gravel. Robbed of victory in front of his home fans, and despite finishing with just 5 points fewer than Rossi, Gibernau became bitter and obsessed and was never competitive again. Sete Gibernau lost not just the race that day, he also lost the title, and started on the downhill slide which ended with his retirement.

Read on »

Let Battle Commence

The gloves are off. Neither Valentino Rossi nor Casey Stoner were taking any prisoners during their enthralling and almost terrifying battle at Laguna Seca, and since leaving the track, the atmosphere has only gotten worse.

It started with complaints in parc ferme by Casey Stoner that some of Rossi’s passes were too hard and too dangerous. The complaints continued in the post-race press conference and in the media immediately after the race. Valentino Rossi then poured oil onto the fire by dismissing the incidents as the kind of thing that happens during a close race, and nothing to get particularly upset about. He summed it up in two words which are well on their way to achieving legendary status: "That’s racing!"

Stoner parried swiftly. "That’s racing, is it? We’ll see…." Part threat, part promise, it was clear the young Australian was not about to let it lie. In the weeks that followed the race, he stepped up the war of words, telling the Spanish press that he had lost all respect for Rossi, a man he once regarded as a hero. He even suggested that Rossi’s fears that he couldn’t match Stoner’s pace had forced him to overreach himself, saying "I believe that I can be faster than Rossi. He knows that too and it worries to him. I probably shouldn’t say it but I think that it was because of that in Laguna he let his ambition to win take control over his technique."

In turn, Valentino Rossi has made no secret of the fact that he intends to pursue the same tactics for the rest of the season. In the run up to the Brno race, Rossi set out his stall quite bluntly: "We have seven races left and I am dreaming of them all being as fun as Laguna Seca!" The message could not be clearer: If Casey Stoner didn’t like the passes Rossi put on him in the US, then that’s exactly what Rossi is going to serve up for Stoner at every race to come.

All In The Mind

The war of words reveals a deeper truth about motorcycle racing: Though the focus is almost always on the physical aspects of the sport, the speed of the machines, and the delicate balance, subtle throttle control and sheer skill of the riders, a very large part of racing takes place between the ears.

It’s not hard to understand why. Roaring towards a corner at close to 200mph, waiting for the very last inch to go from full throttle to full brake while getting ready to find the exact fastest speed you can pitch the bike through without crashing requires incredible concentration. The slightest distraction means braking a foot later, which means carrying a fraction more corner speed, which is so often the difference between exiting the corner ready to fire off towards the next turn, and exiting the corner in a jumble of gravel, tumbling limbs, and expensively destroyed motorcycle parts.

So it’s unsurprising to find that mental tactics can be just as effective as extra horsepower. If you can get your opponent to spend a few percentage points of his attention on worrying about you, where you are on the track and what you are likely to do, that’s less focus on getting the most out of the bike. A little intimidation can get you a few fractions of a second, time you won’t find as easily through suspension adjustments and traction control settings.

Valentino Rossi is an acknowledged master of this trade. Rossi broke both Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau with his mental pressure, turning them from championship contenders to also-rans, forcing them both out of MotoGP. His modus operandi was simple: get in behind his rivals, and breathe down their neck until their concentration broke and they made a mistake. All Rossi had to so was to show them a wheel now and again, and bide his time until they ran off the track, or ran wide, or crashed out. It worked often enough to make Rossi’s 5 premier class titles if not a walk in the park, then at least a jog around the block.

Are You Talking To Me?

Then, two young riders came up from the 250 class, and to Rossi’s horror, they were impervious to his pressure. Both Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner were perfectly happy to let Rossi sit on their tail, as it allowed them to get on with the job at hand: pushing the bike to its absolute maximum every lap of the race. That strategy gave Pedrosa 6 race wins, and handed Casey Stoner a world title. Clearly, another tactic was required.

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Crunch Time

In theory, motorcycle racing is simple. A bunch of riders line up at the start, and the fastest rider and bike combination wins. But theory has a way of falling so disappointingly short when faced with reality, and this is no exception. After all, it isn’t the fastest rider who wins, but the first rider to cross the line. Examples are legion of riders who are incredibly fast, but who have a tendency to find a way to end in the gravel, rather than the winner’s circle.

And there is more than one way of ensuring you are first across the line. Every rider has their own approach, a way of leveraging their own strengths to beat the opposition, bending the race to follow the direction which will play into their hands, and away from their rivals. Their tactics and strategy are almost a signature, a little piece of racing DNA, and speaks both of their ability and of their racing heritage.

Dani Pedrosa, for example, wants to get an early lead then settle into a fast rhythm, lapping as precisely and perfectly as he can, each corner taken at the fastest speed possible. He treats each race more like a time trial than a group race, and can push the bike hard from the start of the race all the way to the end, his concentration never lapsing, his speed only flagging in the final laps as the engine management systems start leaning out the bike to conserve fuel. Ironically, Dani Pedrosa has the perfect mindset and strategy to win the Isle of Man TT, and the worst possible physical stature to deal with the rough, uneven conditions encountered when racing on public roads. But on the relatively smooth, manicured asphalt of a short circuit, Pedrosa is almost unbeatable.

Mr Perfect

Casey Stoner most resembles his fellow Australian and five-time World Champion Mick Doohan. Like Pedrosa, Stoner likes to run fast, perfect laps, but where Pedrosa lets his concentration be disrupted when battling with other riders, Stoner relishes the opposition. Just as Mick Doohan did before him, it merely increases his determination step up the pressure another notch, pushing harder still until his opponents cry mercy, and capitulate. Stoner lays his rivals out on the rack, and stretches them and stretches them until they can take no more.

Other riders require the challenge of rivals to be at their best. Kevin Schwantz was at his best in a brawl, when wile, cunning and brute force could overcome the speed of his opponents. If you went into the last lap with Schwantz on your tail, you were in real trouble, as the American racing legend would surely find a way around you before the lap was over, and steal the win you’d worked so hard to secure. Left to run on his own, however, Schwantz would let his concentration lapse, and start to sag. The measure of Schwantz’ motivation was made clear after the crash that broke Wayne Rainey’s spine. Without the pressure of Rainey chasing him every foot of the way, Kevin Schwantz started losing interest, and retired shortly afterwards.

Like his hero Schwantz, Valentino Rossi is another rider who prefers the challenge of competition. Rossi rides best when he has others to push him, and is forced to up his game to match their attacks. But though the Italian enjoys close battles, that isn’t the way that he wins races. Valentino Rossi’s tactics have much less to do with bikes, or tires, or passing, and much more to do with pressure.

PsyOps

Like Casey Stoner, Rossi wins by mercilessly applying pressure on his rivals until they crack. But while Stoner applies pressure by just going faster and faster until the opposition can no longer keep up, Rossi does so by finding his opponents’ weak spots, and like a practiced master of martial arts, exerting just enough force to incapacitate them, waiting until they make a mistake.

But the tactics which proved to be so deadly when dealing with Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau have been useless when confronted with Casey Stoner. When Rossi raced Biaggi and Gibernau, all he needed to do was sit snapping at their heels for long enough, and at some point, distracted by the pressure from behind, both Biaggi and Gibernau could be counted upon to make a mistake and hand Rossi the win.

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No Rest

The life of a MotoGP rider can seem utterly sublime to outsiders. Flying around the globe to ride the most advanced motorcycles on the planet at some of the best tracks in the world sounds like a pretty idyllic existence. Combine this with a very generous salary, a three-day work week and continuous VIP treatment - including a fresh supply of attractive young companions - and for anyone who loves motorcycles, it is hard to imagine a better life.

Like all idealized depictions - whether it be of glitzy Hollywood fame or the serenity of an Italian hilltop village - it glosses over the less attractive parts of reality. No one ever mentions the long hours of training to achieve the necessary level of fitness to be competitive, the self-denial to ensure that your weight is kept to an absolute minimum, the endless hours of boredom either attending, or waiting to attend, the PR events which your sponsors demand.

Nor does anyone talk about the fact that you are in some degree of pain for much of the season, either recovering from a crash at previous races or from freshly received injuries at the current event. Nor do you hear about the chronic exhaustion as you chase around from one end of Europe to another, or even worse, from one continent to the next, to attend the next race, or to do some testing, or to launch a new motorcycle for your manufacturer. Look beyond the superficial glamor and the life of a MotoGP rider is a pretty tough existence.

Busy Busy Busy

The US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca is a case in point. The last of a series of back-to-back race weekends, in which the riders have competed in 6 races in 8 weekends, Laguna Seca marks the end of the grueling first half of the MotoGP season. The MotoGP paddock arrives at Laguna Seca after a 12 hour flight from Germany - if they’ve been lucky enough to get a direct flight, that is - to cross a 9 hour time difference, to get ready for a race which comes just 7 days after the German Grand Prix. Most of the paddock are carrying some kind of injury or illness or infection picked up during the hard slog of the season, and are longing for a break.

Instead, in one of the most important markets for the motorcycle manufacturers (despite a sliding dollar and slumping housing market), the first thing that exhausted MotoGP stars get to do once they land on US soil is roll up for a series of PR and publicity engagements, still carrying around that dazed, jet-lagged, grubby feeling that only international air travel can bestow. Their diaries are full from dawn till deep in the night from the moment they land to the minute they roll out on the track for the first practice.

Adding insult to injury, the track they roll out onto is another tight, twisty track with no straights to speak of, and a couple of the most difficult turns on the calendar. With even the front straight containing a high-speed kink, and the turns leading into each other to such an extent that a mistake in one corner can cost you time through the next four or five turns, there is nowhere that the riders can relax and catch their breath. It’s a place that requires utter concentration every inch of the way, for all 32 laps of the race. Read on »

The Equalizer

It seems entirely self-evident: the winner of any given motorcycle race on any given Sunday will be the best rider, on the best bike, with the best tires. The rider with the most horsepower, the sweetest handling and the stickiest rubber - and the skill to leverage this magic triptych - should, barring incident, win every race.

And that’s what’s so great about racing in the rain. Horsepower becomes irrelevant, as any surfeit of power simply disappears in wheel spin; electronic traction control quickly becomes so intrusive that it slows you down rather than speeding you up; handling characteristics which have been a major disadvantage in the dry lose their relevance, as the lower speeds being reached aren’t pushing the handling envelope quite so brutally. The rain takes all those factors and throws them overboard, reducing the racing to its most basic elements: The rider who can judge the limits of traction most precisely - and more importantly, dares to go looking for just where those limits are - will win the race. His bike may be a stable-full of horsepower short, he may be struggling with grip in the dry, the bike may refuse to change direction on sticky rubber: These things no longer matter. The only question is are you brave enough to find the limit, and good enough to keep it there?

When you add soaking conditions to a tight and technical track like the Sachsenring, the truth of this axiom becomes even more obvious. With no straights to speak of, and with the bikes spending much of their time heeled hard over through an intricate set of turns, racing motorcycles here in the rain truly becomes a question of exploring the outermost limits of adhesion. There is nothing left to fall back on, no more odds stacked in anyone’s favor, it comes down solely to the rider, and what they are capable of.

Here Comes The Rain Again

So despite the truly miserable conditions which greeted the MotoGP riders as they headed out for the sighting lap, there were a few happy faces among the riders and teams at the back of the grid at the Sachsenring on Sunday afternoon. The rain had been threatening to arrive all weekend, and after a brief downpour which disrupted Saturday morning’s free practice session, then another shower during the warm up on Sunday morning, it finally started in earnest after the 125 race finished and as the 250 race got underway.

But the rain did not please everyone. The wet conditions left many teams worrying about a wet setup. Most of the riders, including Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi, had sat out the first half of Saturday’s wet session, waiting for the track to dry. Then there were the riders who just don’t get on with the rain, riders such as Jorge Lorenzo. As fast as they are, the wet weather makes them tentative, and tentative means slow.

Finally, there were the tire men. Surprisingly, there has never been a proper, full wet race at the Sachsenring before, and so the men from both Michelin and Bridgestone were having to second guess themselves for tire choices. With so many left turns, too soft a compound would mean that tires not lasting the whole race, especially if a dry line started to form. The flip side of that coin was that too hard a tire would not retain enough heat in the right side of the tire, with so few right handers to cope with.

In the end, Michelin decided to play it safe, only providing their riders with a medium compound wet tire, hard enough to last the entire race, whilst Bridgestone gambled a little, supplying a mixed compound tire with a harder left and a softer right side. But if the rain eased up, a dry line started to form, the race would be up in the air once again.

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Hard Left

Despite Germany’s status as an economic powerhouse and one of the motors behind European economic growth, the German language has failed to make very many inroads as a global means of communication. Coming too late to Imperialism to spread the language through the methods which worked so successfully for Britain and France - foreign conquest - it wasn’t until the 20th century that words started filtering into other languages from German. While French, Spanish and English words went on to permeate the languages of almost every country on Earth, German left most other tongues completely untouched.

One German word, however, is almost universally understood, because the thing it describes has gripped the imagination of motoring enthusiasts around the world. The Autobahn has come to signify more than just the two or more grade-separated lanes of tarmac that form the backbone of Germany’s transport network. Despite its troubled history, the German Autobahn has attained an almost mythological status, one of the few places on the planet where hardcore speed freaks can get a legal hit of their personal high. Although at least 25% of the Autobahn system does actually have enforceable speed limits in place, and many of the unlimited stretches of road have so much traffic on them that any speed much above the advisory 130 km/h is extraordinarily perilous, if not physically impossible, Germany’s motorway system remains a place where motor vehicles can be held at their maximum speed for many minutes on end.

Slowhand

How ironic, then, that the German MotoGP round should take place at the Sachsenring, a circuit at which the world’s fastest racing motorcycles never reach anywhere near their maximum speed - even after last year’s capacity reduction to 800cc. Indeed, so tortuous is the circuit that many bikes never even see 6th gear, their riders preferring to use a longer 5th gear instead of a severely shortened 6th down the Sachsenring’s short front straight.

Officially, the track has 10 left turns and 4 right turns, and technically speaking that statistic is correct. However, a cynic might say that as the bikes never actually lift between many of the turns, there are more like half that number. And the way the corners run together, this is not such a wild claim. Though the first tight right and then the open left which follow the front straight are quite clearly separate turns, from there, the corners all run into one.

The first and most obvious exponent of this is the Omega Kurve, the double right hander which, unsurprisingly, looks like the Greek letter omega. After close to 270 degrees of going right, the track then flicks back left, through an almost interminable sequence of left handers, to climb the hill before heading on down to the back straight behind the paddock. A quick flick right as they bikes fire down the hill, gaining speed and momentum until they hit the main overtaking zone at the Sachsenring, the Sachsenkurve.

Take A Chance

This is the point at the track where speed and braking allow you to stuff your bike up the inside of an opponent, and steal a place. But it isn’t quite as simple as it sounds: coming down the hill, you often find yourself carrying more speed than you anticipated, and with several sizable bumps on the entrance to the turn, front wheels are for ever on the verge of tucking, ready to deposit you at the track’s busiest gravel trap of the weekend.

Even if you do get past, there’s no guarantee of still being there when you cross the line. Braking up the inside into the Sachsenkurve leaves you open to counter-attack along the short straight before the Quickenburgkurve, meaning you can lose the place you just gained in as much time as it took you to take it in the first place. And with just a short run up to the finish line, losing out at the final turn usually means losing out at the line.

Left, Left, Left

All those tight turns packed efficiently into a small surface area are only one of the circuit’s more unusual aspects. The other departure from the norm is that the Sachsenring is a counter-clockwise circuit, consisting mostly of left hand turns. The majority of racing circuits run clockwise, with right handers vastly outnumber left handers, a fact which is itself something of an anomaly. Throughout the history of the world, and in almost every other sporting discipline, racetracks, be they for horses, cars, bicycles (motorized or otherwise), athletes or greyhounds, all run counter-clockwise. Whether it be NASCAR or speed skating, a racetrack consists of a couple of straights linked with long left hand turns. Except, apparently, when it comes to setting out road courses for motorcycles and cars to race upon.

But the Sachsenring follows that age-old pattern, and for riders who grew up turning left, that can be a positive advantage. Perhaps the leading exponent of left hand turns is Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden. The son of a dirt tracker, and having spent his childhood racing on dirt ovals, Hayden always does well on left-handed tracks, and the Sachsenring is no exception. Indeed, the German race comes at exactly the right time for the Kentucky Kid, as he is finally starting to gel with the Honda RC212V now that HRC have given him the pneumatic valve engine to work with. Since then, Hayden has been remarkably more competitive, except for the small question of reliability. Electrical faults at both Donington and Assen prevented Hayden from getting the results he now looks capable of, with the podium lost to the engine dying on the last corner at Assen the cruelest blow. But HRC will surely be fixing those issues, and once they are fixed, Hayden could be back in contention.

Though he does not have Hayden’s background in dirt track, Hayden’s team mate Dani Pedrosa does have proven ability at the track. Pedrosa romped away with the win here least year, in one of his trademark check-out-from-the-front races. But though the Spaniard’s speed and ability is unquestioned, especially with a clear track ahead of him, Pedrosa also profited from the heatwave which hit the German circuit last year, favoring the Michelins for the first time that year, and leaving all of the Bridgestone runners save Loris Capirossi - who had gambled on his tire choice - struggling with grip and well down the order.

Whatever The Weather

This year, Pedrosa will not have the weather working in his favor. A heatwave looks completely out of the question at the Sachsenring this weekend, the weather looking like bringing more of the same conditions which swept the British and Dutch rounds a couple of weeks previously. And those changeable conditions, with dry spells following rain often and at short notice, are exactly the sort of conditions that suit Bridgestone tires down to the ground, especially when they are underneath the factory Ducati of Casey Stoner.

After struggling a little at the start of the season, the reigning world champion has completely refound his form, putting in two devastating performances at Donington and Assen. Within two races, Stoner has gone from being too far behind to be a serious candidate for the championship to being right back in contention, now just 25 points behind Valentino Rossi, and 31 behind leader Pedrosa. With Stoner looking this good, there is every chance that the Australian will roll on to the track at the Sachsenring on Friday, and be fastest all the way until the flag drops on Sunday.

Though most of Stoner’s revival is down to the Australian, he has certainly been helped by his main rival Valentino Rossi. In a rather neat, if unfortunate piece of symmetry, the Italian gifted Casey Stoner a heap of points two weeks ago at Assen, crashing out while trying to pass Randy de Puniet, just as he did last year at the Sachsenring. The crash cut his points lead from 45 to 25, making Rossi’s goal of regaining the title he lost two years ago that much more difficult.

But The Doctor still leads the Australian, and is not far behind Pedrosa, meaning that the title race still has a long way to go. And with his annual silly mistake already out of the way, Rossi should now be good for nothing but podiums. The Italian is superb at the Sachsenring, as he is at every other track on the calendar, and will be determined to give Stoner and Pedrosa a run for their money. With the twists and turns of the track suiting the outstanding maneuverability of the Yamaha, he is going to be a very difficult man to beat on Sunday.

Back From The Edge

If the track suits the Yamaha, it certainly does not suit the Suzuki. This year’s Suzuki does poorly when it spends a lot of time on the edge of the tire, the lack of edge grip preventing the rider from laying the power down out of corners. And at the Sachsenring, that’s exactly what the bike spends most of its time doing, cranked over on one ear, trying to accelerate on to the next corner.

This will be making Chris Vermeulen’s job particularly difficult. The Australian’s seat at Suzuki is currently the subject of a great deal of speculation. With Suzuki unlikely to front a third bike for 2009, and the Japanese factory very keen on getting Ben Spies into the MotoGP series, Vermeulen is going to have to step up his game for the rest of the year. Vermeulen will need to finish in the top 5, rather than just the top 10, to be sure of his future in MotoGP.

His team mate has less to worry about, which is probably a good thing. Loris Capirossi is just coming back from a very nasty arm injury suffered in a high speed crash at Assen, after previously being hurt at Barcelona, and so is both rusty and sore. The chances of the Italian veteran being able to overcome the Suzuki’s handicaps to get close to the podium in Germany are faint indeed.

One man with a considerably better shot at the podium is the Texan Colin Edwards. The Tech 3 Yamaha man is having his best season since 2005, and has been been on the podium twice so far this year. The Yamaha is superb, the Michelin tires are brilliant, and Edwards is relaxed. That’s a pretty potent mixture, and the Sachsenring could prove an almost perfect stage for things to come together for the Texan. The only thing holding him back will be the thought of next week. Edwards has had his heart set on conquering Laguna Seca since the series returned to race there 3 years ago. So while he has the chance to do very well indeed here, he is more likely to be treating the event as a warm up for Laguna. Edwards will be worth watching very closely indeed.

Don’t Look Now

If there is one man who really doesn’t need to be watched closely, it is poor Marco Melandri. The Italian continues to struggle with the Ducati, and the impression that neutral spectators get while watching Melandri is that he would rather not be watched at all. Running around at the back of the pack is well below what the former championship runner-up is capable of, and the next two races will be crucial. Fortunately, both the Sachsenring and Laguna Seca are tracks that Melandri loves, and would be expected to do well at under normal circumstances. Sadly for Melandri, it’s been a very long time since we’ve seen anything which resemble normal circumstances from the Italian. We can only hope.

That his poor results aren’t all down to Melandri is demonstrated by the other two Ducatis. Indeed, such are the problems at the d’Antin team that the team manager, Luis d’Antin, announced his resignation from the team which bore his name for many years just a day before the event was due to start. The Alice Ducati team will continue without him, but whether that will have any material influence on their results remains to be seen. Toni Elias is up and down, though mostly down, while Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli has shown the most promise of late. Guintoli scored his first top 10 of the season last week, and will be hoping to continue that trend.

The Frenchman will have a little help from the Kawasaki team, as John Hopkins will not be racing at the Sachsenring. The American is still hurting too badly from his horrific high-speed crash at Assen two weeks ago, and won’t be returning until Brno in August. This leaves only 17 riders on the starting grid, and only one Kawasaki. Ant West, like Marco Melandri, has struggled with the Kawasaki, showing only a fraction of his potential. Some fixes have already been provided to help West with the lack of rear grip he is complaining about, and perhaps as the only rider in Germany, he will get a little more attention from the Kawasaki engineers. He surely needs it.

Return

James Toseland returns to a track he’s never ridden at before, a factor which may well play in his favor. At Assen and Donington, tracks he knows extremely well from his Superbike days, the reigning World Superbike champion struggled, forced to recalibrate everything he’d learnt about the tracks, being able to brake later and get on the gas earlier. Now, at a track he has to learn from scratch again, his task should be simpler again, and he could be further up the order, where he started the season.

Another rider who has slipped down the field a little is Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard started the season in blaze of glory, before entering mid-season in a flare of X-rays. A series of nasty crashes, culminating in a spell in hospital with concussion after crashing in Barcelona, have taken the wind out of Lorenzo’s sails, and the Spanish rookie is slowly rebuilding his confidence. At the past couple of races, this process has been fascinating to watch, starting the weekend slowly, while getting quicker every session, before finishing much further forward than his qualifying performance might suggest. Lorenzo is still destined for  great things, he’s just taking his time getting there.

Randy de Puniet and Alex de Angelis have been lucky in comparison with Jorge Lorenzo. The two satellite Honda riders have crashed much more often than the Spaniard, but they manage to escape almost unscathed at each opportunity. But though they suffer little physical damage, their reputations are a good deal more tarnished. Both men have been warned by their team bosses that they need to stay on the bike and try and finish. And both men have shown they have the speed to be competitive, de Angelis’ performance at Mugello being particularly impressive. But being competitive also means being fast on the final lap, and getting the bike across the line. That has proven to be a big ask for both men this year, and there’s little reason to expect things to change very soon.

The Tortoise And The Hare

In a country where unlimited speed is enshrined in law, and which has some of the fastest racetracks - such as Hockenheim and the Nurburgring - in the world, the Sachsenring is an anomaly. Tight, twisty and difficult, speeds are slow, and even the 800 cc MotoGP bikes never seem to stretch their legs there. The advantage for spectators is of course that this neutralizes any horsepower advantages which one bike may have over another, and takes racing back to its purest and simplest form: going as fast as possible round the corners. With power taken out of the equation, the racing should be closer, and with the weather looking unpredictable, the racing could be closer still. We can only hope that the race turns out to be as capricious and surprising as the weather which has swept across Northern Europe this summer.

The Rules Of Racing

There’s an old axiom in motorcycle racing that says that you can’t win the race in the first corner. Of course, being a truth universally acknowledged means that at every race, somebody tries to disprove the rule by launching themselves off the starting line in a fit of abandon, hoping that if they can just make good on some places and get into Turn 1 first, then they can take control of the race. The upshot of such a precipitate course of action is usually that, far from proving their own point, the hotheaded riders instead prove the corollary to this axiom, which is that, if you can’t win the race in the first corner, you can most assuredly lose it.

The examples are legion, so many in fact that it makes it difficult to remember specific incidents. One first-corner crash fades into the next, with every weekend yet another rider heading into the gravel and out of the race by leaving their braking way too late, or pushing too hard on tires which haven’t warmed enough yet, or jamming their bike into a non-existent gap between riders they haven’t quite managed to pass. But a couple of incidents illustrate the point all too well.

Down And Out

One of the most memorable was the omen that Valentino Rossi’s 2006 championship defense was to be long, difficult, and ultimately futile. Crushing the opposition in 2005 meant that the team had taken their collective eye off the ball, and the factory Yamaha team entered the season with a bike that chattered and vibrated and simply wouldn’t handle, a problem made worse with the added grip of qualifying tires. So Rossi started the 2nd race of the season at Jerez from down in 9th on the grid, behind the Spaniard Toni Elias. Trying to make up the positions he had lost, Rossi fired through the order from the start, and tipped into the first corner in 4th position. Unfortunately for Rossi, the man he had just edged into 5th was wild man Toni Elias, and the Spaniard, braking far too late to actually make it round the turn, slammed into the rear of Rossi’s Yamaha, sending him into the gravel, and left to chase his way up through the field for a couple of points. Rossi’s enforced charge combined with Elias’ determination not to get passed resulted in disaster for Rossi.

There are of course more recent examples. None more recent than the previous race, the British Grand Prix at Donington. In his first MotoGP race in front of his home crowd, and at a track that he knows well for the first time since they left Qatar, the tension really got to James Toseland. The British rookie struggled all weekend, suffering partly from the difficulty of finding a setup in changeable weather, and partly just from nerves. Two crashes in the final minutes of qualifying left Toseland down in 16th on the grid, and with it all to do. To make matters worse, the home crowd had already been sent wild by fellow Brit Scott Redding’s victory in the 125 class, and expectations were being raised from sky high to somewhere beyond the orbit of Pluto. Once the flag dropped, Toseland succumbed to the temptation to make up as much of his deficit as he could at the first corner, with the inevitable result. Asking too much of his tires at Redgate, Toseland slid, fell and ended up in the gravel, rejoining the race already nearly 40 seconds down.

Electric Voodoo

The pressure to get into the first corner ahead of the pack has been increased by the use of launch control systems. With riders virtually able to pin the throttle and dump the clutch off the line, the electronics removing the proclivity of the bikes to hoist the front wheel, as well as ensuring the engines don’t bog down, the differences in the run down to the first corner are getting ever smaller. Getting into the first corner ahead is becoming more and more a question of reflexes and anticipation, and less about fluffing the start due to pre-race nerves.

Launch control has also increased the importance of qualifying, and the free practice sessions running up to it. As the electronics have taken the luck out of the starts, the further forward a rider is on the grid, the better his chances of getting into the first corner at the front of the pack. And so qualifying sessions have become ever more competitive, with the first qualifying tires now making an appearance about halfway through the hour-long session, a whole 10 minutes earlier than in previous years. The ability to put in a fast lap on very sticky rubber is becoming more and more crucial to the results.

The reigning World Champion Casey Stoner is a master of both arts. His starting reflexes are sublime, honed as a child dirt-track racer. When the race only lasts a couple of minutes, you can’t afford to waste even the tiniest fraction of a second, and Casey Stoner cherishes every thousandth he can gain. But Stoner is also astounding in practice, establishing his place at the top of the timesheets in any given session early, and not relinquishing it without a major fight. He has a knack of dominating almost every session of practice at an event from the moment the bikes roll out on track, and doesn’t appear to understand the concept of building up slowly.

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No Sleep Till Breukelen

Barely had the engines cooled and the dust been washed off the bikes after the race at Donington before the entire MotoGP circus was busy packing and loading up to head on over to the northern reaches of the Netherlands, and the TT Circuit at Assen. In the toughest part of the season, with 7 races in 8 weekends, this is probably the toughest part, with the British and Dutch Grand Prix just 6 days apart.

It’s hardest on the crew members traveling with the trailers, having to make the long trek southwards to cross the English Channel, before turning northward again to head up to Assen. But it’s unpleasant even for the riders, making the short hop across by air. Air travel has long ceased to be a luxury, and the security checks for passengers leaving British airports have grown ever more severe, now consisting mostly of forcing passengers to spend as much time as possible waiting in line, on the premise that any potential terrorists will have lost the will to die by the time they pass through the metal detector gate and are treated to an intimate personal massage by a man with a uniform where his sense of humor ought to be. Though the flight time to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport is brief, actually getting to the point where you are able to fly is a grueling ordeal in itself.

And once they arrive, it’s straight back to work, with yet more publicity appearances for the benefit of the sponsors, meeting people here, greeting fans there, and before they realize it, they’re back out on track, lapping the 4.5 kilometers of Assen’s once glorious track at maximum speed before the race on Saturday.

That Old Black Magic

At least there are still a few sections left of the venerable circuit which still recall just how mighty a track Assen once was. With the old North Loop neutered, having made way for Mammon and the commercial attractions of the TT World leisure center, and the meander taken out of the old Veenslang, only the last third or so of the track is left to witness what once was. And the section from Mandeveen, gaining ever more speed up through successive right handers at Duikersloot, Meeuwenmeer and Hoge Heide, culminating in the intimidating and blisteringly fast left at Ramshoek, a place which has hurt so many riders, is still one of the finest sections of racing tarmac in the world.

From Ramshoek, the track then flicks back for the GT chicane, the scene of many memorable battles, before the final run up to the line, where the circuit’s charm peters out once more on way into the new Haarbocht which starts the revised section of the Northern Loop. No wonder the riders still complain so bitterly about the changes made at the end of 2005. The old Southern Loop serves only to remind everyone of what was lost, as a faded wedding photograph serves as a reminder of the beautiful young things which once pledged their troth.

You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling

Despite his still tender years, Casey Stoner leads the lament, mourning the changes every time he is asked about them. On the subject of Assen, the champion sounds more like a hoary veteran bemoaning the state of the modern world than someone barely past the first flush of youth. But his displeasure with the changes has no effect whatsoever on his speed here. The Australian champion was incredibly fast last year, leading for much of the way until he was reeled in by an unleashed and gaudily decorated Valentino Rossi. In the end, the Italian’s sheer brilliance at one of his favorite tracks was too much, even for the ruthlessly dominant Casey Stoner of 2007, and Stoner had to watch as Rossi passed and went on to win.

Whether this year will see a repeat performance remains to be seen. Like last year, Casey Stoner comes to Assen coming off a runaway victory at Donington, where Valentino Rossi had no answer for him. But the situation is a little different from 2007. Then, it was Casey Stoner who led the championship, while Valentino Rossi had a worryingly large deficit of 26 points to the Australian. This year, it is Rossi who leads, with a massive 45 point lead over the reigning world champion as we approach the halfway point of the series. Last year, the Ducati was the machine to beat, Stoner having won an intimidating 5 of the first 8 races. This season, the Yamaha is the bike to have, taking 4 victories out of 8, of which Rossi took 3 in a row.

But the machinery is much more finely balanced this year. Ducati finally seem to have fixed the problems that plagued Casey Stoner’s GP8 earlier in the year, giving the bike a little smoother power delivery low down, and the direct result of that was Stoner stamping his authority on every session at the British Grand Prix. But Valentino Rossi and his crew chief Jeremy Burgess are understanding the combination of the Yamaha M1 and Bridgestone tires more and more each race, making Rossi a very difficult prospect to beat.

Then, of course, there’s Dani Pedrosa. Despite being on the only factory bike still using steel valve springs, Pedrosa has only been off the podium once this season, and that was a 4th place at Le Mans. Pedrosa has been a paragon of consistency, never spectacular but always fast, romping way to two wins in Spain. The Spaniard trails Rossi by just 11 points, and as a podium regular at Assen, will be in the hunt for the win.

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Expect The Expected

Interviewed on the grid at Valencia, before the start of the final race of 2006, where the championship seemed to have slipped out of his hands, Nicky Hayden said "This is MotoGP, anything can happen. That’s why we line up."  Every race weekend, countless factors can influence the possible outcome of a race: The weather can turn from dry to wet, or vice versa; a seemingly innocent crash during practice can injure hands, wrists or feet, suddenly making riding a bike a lot more difficult; settings which worked at the previous race can turn out to be useless at the track at hand; or perhaps even a fault with a rider’s number 1 bike can leave the riding around uncomfortably on their spare machine, which though ostensibly identical, still feels just that little bit different.

This weekend at Donington was a case in point. The English weather had done its very best to turn proceedings on their head by being dry on Friday, then soaking wet on Saturday. Sunday started dry again, the rain having made way for a fierce wind gusting nastily at some of the crests around the track. Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo had turned up still hurting from pre- and post-race crashes at Catalunya, and were circulating well down the order. And American Superbike champion Ben Spies had flown in to ride the injured Loris Capirossi’s Suzuki, and impressed the sceptical European fans by qualifying 8th on the grid in a downpour.

Spies’ World Superbike counterpart could have done with a good deal less of that unpredictability. Almost from the moment James Toseland rolled up at his home Grand Prix, things just kept on going awry. First, the settings he had found at the post-race test at Catalunya turned out not to work at all at Donington, meaning he was constantly in the bottom half of the field. Then, in an effort to get a decent grid position, he crashed twice in one lap in the dying minutes of qualifying, leaving him stranded down in 16th place. This certainly wasn’t part of the plan, and Toseland was left wishing that things would work out as he had imagined them before the event, instead of spinning wildly out of control.

Same Ol’ Same Ol’

Some things, though, are as predictable as the motions of the heavens. Once Casey Stoner headed the timesheets within minutes of the first free practice session starting, then repeated the feat during every session, only bested in the dying minutes of a rain-drenched FP3, a palpable sense of fate overtook the paddock. The improvements that Stoner had found at the test after Barcelona left the World Champion looking exactly like the rider who crushed the opposition in 2007. We’d seen this version of Casey Stoner before: arrive at the track and be fastest from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon.

Fortunately, a couple more extremely predictable things happened, which prevented the outcome from being a foregone conclusion. The first was that once again, a Yamaha made it onto the front row of the grid, as they have done so often this year. And this time, it was Valentino Rossi who had qualified next to Casey Stoner, raising the possibility that this could be a dogfight rather than a runaway.

The second thing that we all just knew would happen was that the other Australians on the grid thrived in the wet conditions. Ant West, so far this year positively glued to the back of the grid, qualified 7th in the rain, and was unlucky at that after discovering he didn’t have a softer rain tire for the end of the qualifying practice. And Chris Vermeulen did even better, qualifying in 3rd and on the front row of the grid in the wet. It remains a paradox that motorcycle racers from the world’s driest inhabited continent are so incredibly quick once the rain begins to fall. You could almost suspect them of trying to get it all over with as quickly as possible so they can get back into their nice, dry pit garages.

Vermeulen and West would not have the elements on their side on race day, as the rain was long gone by the time the bikes rolled up to the starting line for the race. If the Suzuki rider and the Kawasaki man were to run at the front, they’d have to try a different tack. The two Australians would have to find a way to surprise the rest of the field.

Roller Coaster Ride

As the red lights dimmed and 18 highly-strung racing motorcycles howled off the line like demented banshees, Casey Stoner lived up to his billing as one of the fastest starters on the grid, firing off the line and into Redgate, the long, scary first right hander, ahead of the pack. Behind Stoner, the Hondas were also getting their traditional rocket-propelled starts, with Nicky Hayden creeping up round the outside of Valentino Rossi, and team mate Dani Pedrosa positively shooting through the field, from 9th to contend for 5th place.

Entering the turn and rolling down towards Hollywood, Valentino Rossi used his inside line to take back 2nd from Hayden, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Chris Vermeulen. Having launched off the line, Dani Pedrosa was not close enough to squeeze between Colin Edwards and Ant West into 6th, and deciding an alternative approach was required, he back off a fraction to settle for 8th, and cut inside.

At the back of the field, James Toseland’s luck wasn’t getting any better. Wanting to make up places as quickly as possible in front of his home crowd, and possibly further inflamed by the sight of his fellow countryman Scott Redding winning the 125cc Grand Prix, the first Brit to win a GP since Jeremy McWilliams in 2001, Toseland was off the line like a scalded cat and into the first corner as hot as the water that scalded it. The Tech 3 Yamaha man had gone from 17th to challenge for 12th, but that was more than his rear tire could handle. The back came round on Toseland too quickly for him to save it, and the Englishman was dumped unceremoniously on the tarmac, banging his head and his right hand hard in the fall. Obviously hurt, yet stung by his pride even more, Toseland remounted, and rejoined the chase already 30 seconds down.

Unaware of, and unconcerned with the drama at the back, Casey Stoner was pushing fast at the front. Behind Stoner, Valentino Rossi was chasing hard, but was simultaneously forced to contend with an unleashed Andrea Dovizioso. Dovi had started forcefully, stuffing his Team Scot Honda up the inside of Nicky Hayden at the Old Hairpin, before sliding underneath Rossi a couple of corners later at McLeans. But having seen Dani Pedrosa pull a similar trick two weeks ago at Barcelona, The Doctor was not going to allow Stoner to get away easily. Lining up for Coppice, Rossi was back past Dovizioso once again, and off chasing.

Coming Up

Behind Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden had company from his Repsol Honda team mate. After backing out of the pass of Edwards and West at Redgate, the wily Spaniard had cut inside and used the tight line through Hollywood to climb up into 6th. He was onto Vermeulen at Starkey’s, and past him going into Coppice. For a man who is accused of not being able to pass, the way he bludgeoned his way forward 4 places on the first lap was deeply impressive.

Further back, another young Spaniard was slashing through the field. Jorge Lorenzo had looked a shadow of his former self throughout the weekend, confessing that his big crash at Catalunya, which had seen him hospitalized with concussion, had shaken him badly. His stated goal at Donington was to recover some of his confidence, and he got a big chunk of that back on the first lap. Starting from a lowly 17th place on the grid, the reigning 250 world champion was up into 10th by the end of lap 1.

As the pack thundered across the line at the end of the first lap, Casey Stoner had already taken over half a second lead, with Valentino Rossi leading the chase behind. As they tumbled down the long flowing turns which make up the Craner Curves section, the first verse in what was to become a repetitive refrain took shape on the track. Stoner ran down fast and smooth, but Rossi stooped like a falcon hunting down its prey, closing in on the Australian’s tail. Round Starkey’s, and through Schwantz and McLeans, Stoner would inch back the ground he had lost, extending his lead once again.

On the run though Coppice, and up through the Foggy Esses, Rossi would start to close on Stoner once again, only for Stoner to use the acceleration of his Ducati out of the hairpins at Melbourne and Goddards to pull out more of a lead once again. Each lap saw the song repeated, and each time, the end result was the same. Valentino Rossi pushed to close the gap, but everything that Rossi had, Stoner had an answer for it.

The Turn Of The Screw

Rossi and Stoner edged backward and forward, Stoner gradually eking out a lead like a game of long-distance chess. Every time Stoner pushed, and took out a couple of tenths, Rossi would respond, and try to reel the red Ducati back into his grasp. But each time Rossi cut the lead, or at least limited the damage, Stoner would just turn the screw up another notch, and extend his lead again. Though Casey Stoner had the upper hand, he wasn’t handing out the kind of beating he had last year, but could only apply a form of Chinese water torture. It was much slower, but potentially equally effective.

Rossi had the added distraction of events behind him. Though his dismissal of Dovizioso’s first lap challenge had been sufficiently firm to prevent a repeat, the Team Scot Honda rider was still stuck on The Doctor’s tail. Though unable to pass, he settled for playing the waiting game, sticking to Rossi’s back tire in anticipation of developments to come.

Unfortunately for Dovizioso, those developments were coming from behind. Dani Pedrosa was on an all out charge. Up to 5th on the first lap, Pedrosa started hunting down his team mate Nicky Hayden ahead. By lap 3, he was right on the tailpipe of Hayden’s new pneumatic valve engine. Then on the next lap, the Spaniard demonstrated that at Donington at least, the air valve engine had no advantage over the old steel spring unit, as Pedrosa plunged down Craner ahead of the American, and was off to chase Dovizioso.

Dovi had had a gap to Hayden, but Pedrosa closed it down straight away. On lap 5, Pedrosa was on the Italian, and try as he might, Dovizioso could not resist the inevitable. He postponed it for 3 more laps, bravely holding off the charging Pedrosa through the Esses, into Redgate, down Craner, but eventually, on lap 8, he succumbed to Pedrosa’s advances. The Spaniard had lined Dovizioso up from McLeans, getting the drive out of Coppice to pass under the Dunlop Bridge. Rossi would be next.

Showdown

If it had taken Pedrosa 4 laps to get past Dovizioso, getting past Rossi would prove even tougher. He was with the 7 time world champion within a couple of laps, but the hard part lay ahead of him. Lap by lap, Pedrosa inched closer to Rossi, trying to get into a position to strike. By lap 14, Pedrosa was close enough to show his hand for the first time, poking his wheel up the inside of the Yamaha after Rossi had run a little wide at Goddards. Rossi had been warned, and tried to gap the Spaniard

Next time round, Pedrosa struck again. Getting drive out of Goddards again, this time he was close enough to swoop inside Rossi into the first turn, and into 2nd. But Rossi knows all of Donington’s secrets, and dropping down Craner like a stone, he was back on Pedrosa at the bottom of the hill, and jamming his Yamaha inside the Spaniard’s Honda into the Old Hairpin, and taking back 2nd.

Now, though, Pedrosa could smell blood. The Spaniard aimed another barb at Rossi through McLeans, then tried to get the run on to the back straight. Rossi was waiting, and left his braking late for the Esses, keeping Pedrosa well behind.

But the Repsol Honda man was just preparing his assault. Once more, Pedrosa closed through the Melbourne Loop, and drove out of Goddards, and once more, he swept inside The Doctor into Redgate. Sensing Rossi closing once again for a pass at the bottom of the hill, Pedrosa was not to be fooled by the same trick twice. Braking a fraction later, and hugging the left of the track, he kept Rossi off through the Old Hairpin, this time holding on to 2nd place.

Not The Only Fruit

Rossi knew that he’d showed his hand on the last lap at the Hairpin, and so bided his time instead. He pressured Pedrosa round the rear half of the track, intimating he would strike again soon, then sprung another surprise. Pedrosa knew that Rossi would attack at the Esses, as the harsh braking for the chicane plays to the Italian’s strengths. So the Spaniard slammed the door on the first part of the Esses, to make sure that Rossi could not get inside.

Rossi, however, had other plans. Instead of striking in the first part of the chicane, Rossi carried his speed through the corner and up the inside of the 2nd part. Running wide at the right part of the left-right flick, a consequence of defending the entry into the Esses, Pedrosa was surprised to see The Doctor float past up the inside, and back into 2nd heading up the Melbourne Loop.

This time, Pedrosa was too far back out of Goddard, and had lost his advantage for another run at Rossi through Redgate. Pedrosa had done what he could, but come up short. Put back firmly into 3rd, Pedrosa was forced to wait, and to regroup.

Rossi’s battle with Pedrosa had lasted just a handful of laps, but had occupied enough of the pair’s attention that by the time it was over, the leader’s advantage had grown from just over 2 seconds to nearly 4. And with Rossi still forced to keep one eye on Pedrosa behind, Casey Stoner’s advantage was still building, a fraction of a second at a time. His lead was not insuperable with half the race left to go, but Stoner was still faster than the men chasing him.

Repeat Performance

As the laps ticked off, Stoner’s lead continued to grow, his Chinese water torture starting to take its toll. Any hope that either Valentino Rossi or Dani Pedrosa may have cherished that they could catch the Australian gradually seeped away, exposing yet another perfect, dominant display by the reigning World Champion. Crossing the line to take the win, Casey Stoner had built up a maximum lead of nearly six and a half seconds. It was exactly what we had come to expect from Stoner, and exactly the kind of race the Australian loves.

Behind Stoner, Valentino Rossi had submitted to the Australian’s will, and concentrated on staying ahead of Dani Pedrosa. Having lost a day to Saturday’s rain - a factor which had seemingly had no effect on Casey Stoner -  he didn’t quite get the setup he needed to get close enough to Stoner to battle for the win. Instead, he focused on the championship, and staying ahead of Pedrosa, and came home comfortably in 2nd.

Dani Pedrosa had started to struggle after his battle with Valentino Rossi, and never quite got close enough again to have a chance at attacking once again. Added to his woes were the Honda’s apparent strategy of allowing for plenty of fuel at the start of the race, leaving Pedrosa riding a bike down on power for the last few laps, as the engine management system tries to ensure that he has enough gas in the tank to get home. He managed that alright, but lost 4 more precious points to Valentino Rossi in the title race, his deficit growing once again to 11 points.

Breath Of Fresh Air

The fight for 4th had been closer, and with a much less certain outcome. After being passed by one Repsol Honda, Andrea Dovizioso then had Nicky Hayden come by on the other, which Colin Edwards and Chris Vermeulen closed up from behind. Hayden headed that group for a third of the race, before a warning light came on and distracted him, leaving the Kentuckian worrying whether his new air valve engine would make it home in one piece. Within a couple of laps, Hayden was shuffled back to the rear of the group, until he regained confidence that his engine wasn’t on the verge of self-destruction, and he picked his lap times up once again.

Fellow countryman Colin Edwards was moving in the opposite direction. Getting off to a slow start, the Tech 3 Yamaha rider gradually fought his way through the pack until he reached the battle for 4th. Picking off Hayden while the Kentucky Kid was worrying about his warning light, Edwards went on to take Andrea Dovizioso on the next lap, jamming his Yamaha up the inside of Dovizioso’s Honda into the Esses.

Within a few laps, the Texan had built a lead over 5th place that would prove unassailable. Colin Edwards proved once again that leaving the safety of the factory Yamaha team can be a step forward, rather than a step back. Another solid 4th place leaves the Texas Tornado with firm grip on 5th place in the championship, with prospect for improvement should either Lorenzo or Stoner falter.

Having conceded 4th to Edwards, Andrea Dovizioso dug in his heels. The Italian could not follow Edwards’ pace, but he was faster than the men behind him, and he hung on to 5th place. The Italian rookie continues to impress aboard the Team Scot Honda, and the rumors in the paddock that he will take over Nicky Hayden’s seat at the factory Repsol team are growing stronger every weekend. On the evidence of Donington, it would not be undeserved.

Miracle Man

In the end, the battle for 6th proved to be one of the toughest fights of the weekend, and something of a minor miracle. Starting from the back of the grid, and frankly looking as if he was just going through the motions during practice, Jorge Lorenzo had gained in confidence and stature almost every lap. As the race went on, his lap times got faster, and after gaining 7 places on the first lap, he slowly set about fighting his way forward. In a show of bravery, but also calm maturity, Jorge Lorenzo made his way all the way into 6th place, passing both Nicky Hayden and Chris Vermeulen with 6 laps to go. If his aim at Donington was just to regain the confidence he had lost in the crashes large, small and humongous which he had suffered almost every race weekend since Shanghai, and not to crash, he succeeded gloriously. The old Jorge Lorenzo could well be very much back in business.

Nicky Hayden finished the day in 7th, the new engine not having destroyed itself, and Hayden much happier with the power delivery. If it is up to the American, he will be using the air valve engine for the rest of the season, and this may well suit Honda as well. Hayden was battling nearer the front again this weekend, and looking more like the Hayden of old. Though he is pretty sure that he will not be offered a new contract with the factory Honda team at the end of the year, he is grabbing every opportunity to audition for another seat. The way the new air valve engine allowed him to bully the RC212V around the track reminded most observers of Casey Stoner, firming up the possibility that he could replace Marco Melandri at Ducati next year.

Starting from the front row, Chris Vermeulen was soon caught up in the scrap for 6th, eventually losing out to finish 8th. Vermeulen had ridden another steady race, finishing exactly where we have come to expect this year. Whether this kind of performance will secure his ride at Suzuki for next season remains to be seen.

Shinya Nakano came home in 9th, the Japanese rider showing slow, if steady progress. Another candidate for replacement, his sole saving grace is currently his nationality, but if Yuki Takahashi continues to impress on his underpowered Honda 250, Nakano’s days in MotoGP could well be numbered.

What Are You Doing Here?

In 10th came a surprise almost as big as Lorenzo’s 6th position. The testing which Ant West had done in Japan was obviously starting to pay off. Though West is probably not the rider that Casey Stoner is, he is capable of far more than just running around at the rear of the pack, a fate which he has been forced to endure for much of the season. But now that Kawasaki have found some rear traction, West may be a little closer to the sharp end again, and may yet spring a surprise or two on MotoGP followers.

Yet another surprise in 11th. Ant West may have been helped by Kawasaki, but Toni Elias has been helping himself, and is starting to find a way to ride the seemingly unmanageable - unless you’re Australian - Ducati. Elias’ results are gradually improving, and the Alice team could yet climb out of the basement of MotoGP.

In 12th and 13th finished a pair of Frenchmen, Randy de Puniet finishing ahead of Sylvain Guintoli. De Puniet remains mercurial, incredibly quick in one session, then slow again the next, and entirely unpredictable during the race. The one thing De Puniet did right on Sunday was not to fall off, though he’ll have to start setting his sights higher than that.

Compatriot Sylvain Guintoli showed some promise as well, his deficit to the rest of the field continuing to fall. Like Alice Ducati team mate Elias, he continues to make slow progress, the only question being whether it is progress enough.

The reigning AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies did exactly what was expected of him, and perhaps a little bit more. Though 14th position is hardly anything to write home about, Spies was quicker every time he got on the bike, and his lap times were improving throughout the race. He also got to learn the bike and the tires away from the full glare of publicity that the two wildcard appearances in the US will generate, and will have a much better chance of a decent result in front of his home crowd. With Loris Capirossi still not absolutely certain for Assen, the American could gain yet more valuable experience at the Dutch race, if he has to substitute for the Italian veteran once again.

Back in 15th place, Alex de Angelis had done exactly what most people expected of him, too. He’d been fast in places, and managed to crash, remounting to continue the race. De Angelis is undeniably a serious talent, but he can’t afford to keep falling off and ruining his chances with silly crashes.

And sadly for Marco Melandri, he was where people have come to expect to see him too. The Italian looks increasingly dispirited, and is certain to seek some way out of the 2nd year of his his 2 year contract with Ducati. That break could come quite early, as various rumors were floating about that Melandri could be replaced as early as Assen or the Sachsenring, with Sete Gibernau enlisted to take his place. Assen may be a little early, but the Sachsenring is entirely plausible, as Melandri is currently not much more than a warm body aboard the Ducati. It would be better for both the Bologna factory and Melandri for them to end the suffering as early as possible. But just when that will be remains to be seen.

In 17th and last place - John Hopkins having been sidelined with his 3rd mechanical problem of the year by his Kawasaki - came the battered and bruised local hero, James Toseland. Toseland’s expectations had been set to high, as had the expectations of the crowd around him. Problems with setup and an overeagerness to make up for his poor qualifying meant that Toseland got into the first corner too fast, and crashed out. To his eternal credit, he remounted, despite a bang on the hand and the head, and went on to complete the race, despite being lapped, and despite not having either a back brake, a right footpeg and only half a front brake lever. If his first corner crash can be put down to a fit of exuberance, the rest of his race showed a great deal of character. Many other riders would have trundled back round to the pits, and hid in their motorhome.

We Knew This Would Happen

The British Grand Prix at Donington threw up things both surprising and unsurprising, and gave plenty of food for thought. The winner was never seriously in doubt after the first session of practice, with Casey Stoner looking ominously like his former self. That prospect must seriously worry Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, as despite being 45 points down to Valentino Rossi in the title chase, in the form Stoner’s currently in, he could claw back that difference by the end of the season.

And Dani Pedrosa cast off some of the criticism leveled at him after his similarly dominant win at Catalunya two weeks ago. It was said that Pedrosa could only win if he had a clear track ahead of him, and he was averse to fighting his way through the pack. The way he barged his way forward from 9th to 3rd and took the fight to Valentino Rossi was a fair refutation of any such claims. If he can continue to fight once he reaches the front group, then his reputation will be more firmly established.

The MotoGP circus now has just 6 days before the Dutch TT at Assen on Saturday. No rest, for either riders, teams, or even followers and MotoGP scribes. This truly is the guts of the season, and can make or break a rider’s year. For now, the championship and the future of so many MotoGP riders is still completely open.

2008 Donington Race Result

Standings after Round 8, Donington Park, Great Britain

The Sound And The Fury

Racetracks are remarkable things. At their heart lies a deep paradox. For devotees of motor racing, they are mighty temples, places where they congregate to worship at the high altar of speed. For them, the smell of hot oil and fuel burnt and unburnt, and the deafening howl of engines pushed to bursting point and beyond for lap after lap stir the blood and are the very reason they flock to the track in their tens and hundreds of thousands, to fulfill a deep-seated need to experience the spectacle of racing.

For racing’s detractors, the noise, the smell and the danger are precisely the reason to loathe racetracks. To them, thousands of people traveling from all around the world to watch a group of leather-clad lunatics waste such a precious – and costly – commodity as gasoline by going round in circles at high speed is utterly incomprehensible, and almost criminal in its wastefulness. The fact that this strange activity also produces a great deal of noise and a certain amount of stench just adds to their aversion.

In many countries, the problem is getting worse. Once located far from civilization, the space and open roads that made racing easy to organize have attracted wealthy refugees from the expanding towns, meaning that the suburbs are gradually closing in on the once isolated racetracks. And as those big comfortable homes, sold as oases of tranquility, get closer to the circuits, the complaints about the noise and the crowds and the traffic have increased, and the authorities which supervise the tracks are constantly forced to examine ways of reducing the problems.

Crisis? What Crisis?

Some tracks are luckier than others, though. For a variety of reasons, a number of tracks have fewer problems to deal with than the rest. The Losail circuit in Qatar, located in the middle of a desert and built at the behest of an authoritarian government, is unlikely to be surrounded by expanding populations hungry for space, and even if it were, their complaints would fall on deaf ears. A track like Jerez, in the heart of bike-mad Spain, has more fans living nearby than people who hate racing, and can therefore rely on plenty of local support. Any recent arrivals near the track are most likely moving to be nearer the circuit, and fully aware of the consequences.

There is a slightly more novel reason that Donington Park, the venue for the British MotoGP round, manages to limit complaints about the track. Like Qatar, the track benefits from its location. Unlike Qatar, however, this has less to do with its isolation from the inhabited world, and more to do with being situated next to Nottingham East Midlands Airport. The 50,000 aircraft a year which take off and land at the airport generate plenty of noise and stench of their own, neatly disguising some of the noise of the racetrack, and diverting attention away from the circuit.

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