Rolling Start?!

So what's with the rolling start at the Fontana AMA Daytona Sportbike races this past weekend? That's just bizarre .... a two by two, rolling start right out of the NASCAR playbook. I'm sure there's a good reason for it in stock car racing, but it has no reason-for-being in a motorcycle race. Obviously dreamed up by a car guy who doesn't watch bike racing. Unlike a car race, the standing start of a bike race is one of the most exciting moments of the race. Why on earth would you replace it with a boring rolling start? Bizarre. Oh and don't get me going on the 1125cc Buells racing against the 600 sportbikes. That's just blatant Americanism trying its best to get an American product on the podium. A big twin has no place in a mid-size race. Haga rides an 1100cc twin at the front of the WSB pack, so it has nothing to do with the number of cylinders anymore. Actually it's insulting ... for Buell that is ... the only way they can win a race is to run against the little bikes. The commentators were saying things like "look at the power the Buell has down the straight". Well .... duh!

Happy Hopper

John Hopkins seems to be happy with his new ride. Conditions were mixed at the Almeria track where he got to try both dry and wet, tyres and settings. It's interesting to see his comments comparing a SuperBike to a MotoGP bike: "After my disappointing season last year, it's great to get out on track and enjoy riding a bike again. I've never been on a Superbike in my life but the size of the motorcycle makes a big difference and suits my style. It feels good to be able to move around on the bike again and feel it spinning coming out of the corners." Let's see how he does playing in traffic. With the top three to five riders running very fast already and Hopper still learning the bike, I don't see him finishing any higher than 6th this weekend ... if he's lucky. Not that I'll be watching him anyway with Spies, Haga and Biaggi providing all the entertainment at the front. The question is how many others will be able to keep up with them like Kiyonari did in the last race.

Pro Ride Honda Quits WSB

Pro Ride Honda missed the first two rounds of WSB because of money problems, but was expected to rejoin the series this weekend at Valencia. No so ... their sponsor has pulled out, leaving the Italian team in the lurch and 2005 BSB Champ, Spaniard Gregorio Lavilla, without a ride. The team has access to enough cash to run two minor (as in, low cost) riders, David Checa and Roland Resch, in the three WSB "Italian" rounds: Monza, Misano (San Marino) and Imola. Lavilla is trying to drum up a wildcard ride at Valencia and is still hoping to participate in the series, one way or the other ... not too likely.

Stoner Builds BMW Collection

Casey Stoner won this afternoon's MotoGP BMW M Award Shootout, as the only rider to break the 1:39 mark, with a time of 1:38.646. He takes home the limited edition BMW 135i Sauber F1 Team Edition to add to the collection he started last year. The session was halted 3 minutes early due to light rain. Interesting to note that Rossi won the BMW in 2007 but lost the championship to Casey, then Casey won the car last year and Rossi finished as champion. Looks like it's bad luck to take home the four-wheel prize.
Behind Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati, the remainder of the top five finished in the 1:39s, with Rossi second, followed by Capirossi, Lorenzo and Vermeulen. That's both Fiat Yamahas and both Rizla Suzukis. Sixth to fifteenth places all ran in the 1:40s.
Of other interest, Gibernau managed an 8th, ahead of Melandri in 12th. Toseland highsided, big time, but appears to be as well as one can be under the circumstances. Toni Elias must've had some tall gearing ... while finishing 9th, he ran the highest top speed of 287kph, with Rossi second fastest at 284kph.
The final pre-season practice session is in progress and will wrap-up at 18:00 local time. Next stop: Losail, Qatar under the lights.

Lorenzo Takes First Blood

The Jerez First Practice just finished. Only three riders got below 1:40 with Lorenzo 7/100s ahead of Rossi, with Stoner only 4/100s behind. Behind them, 6 riders under 1:41 with Vermeulen, followed by Edwards and Capirossi.

Hacking is a Probie

Jamie Hacking's suspension has been suspended and he won't miss any races. He's still out of pocket the $4000 fine and is on probation for the rest of the season. That means something like, if he swears at an official public venue, then a one race penalty will be enforced. Do you think any of the other riders will try to push his buttons? How about DiSalvo? This has nothing to do with racing so who cares anyway?

Stoner and Hayden Quit MotoGP!

After deciding that they can't compete with the likes of Gibernau and Melandri, both Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner have quit MotoGP. A loophole in Ducati Marlboro's Shell sponsorship contract allows them to break their riders'contract provided they work for Shell pumping gas in Madrid. Here Nicky fills a wary Spaniard's shiney red bike with diesel while Casey gives him a friendly pad on the bum.

He's baaaaaaaack ...

Sete Gibernau is back on track ... literally. Jerez is his home circuit and he'll be joining in the fun this weekend piloting the Guinea Ecuatorial Onde 2000 Ducati Desmosedici GP9 (say what?) for the MotoGP Official IRTA Test. I didn't think it was possible to make a Ducati look ugly just by painting it, but somehow these guys managed. Having been out of the game for awhile and still recovering from a shoulder operation and subsequent re-injury, Gibernau may have a tough time being competitive. He was a second and a half off the pace in Malaysia in February and missed Qatar because of his shoulder. At least he can keep Melandri company mid-pack. The good news is that once real racing starts, Rossi will be too busy at the front to make a fool out of him again.

Jamie Hacking Suspended

Hacking has been suspended indefinately for throwing a hissy-fit Sunday in the media centre after post race interviews. "No premier sporting organization would tolerate, whether it be motorsports or major league stick and ball sports, the level of disrespectful, profane and vulgar language in a public forum as demonstrated by Jamie Hacking ... . His behavior was totally disrespectful to the media, his competitors and the sport of motorcycle racing in general".

So what happened? ...
Looks like Hacking was already a little peeved at something at the beginning of the race 2 interviews, then when third place diSalvo was being interviewed, Jamie started talking to Danny Eslick. Jason shot Hacking a "Hey! I'm doing a little interview over here!" Then when Hacking and Eslick started talking again:

DiSalvo: "Hey, did I talk during your thing? Did I? Answer my question."
Hacking: "Do you have a microphone? They can hear you."
DiSalvo: "Let's show a little respect here."
Hacking: "I lost all respect for you a long time ago."
DiSalvo: "I never had any for you."

The interview ended with the air full of static and apparently after the cameras were turned off, Hacking left the media centre cursing.

Here's the interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCPctYu0txg

Mladin and the also rans ...

Looks like there's no real competition for Mladin this year. It was no big surprise that Mat took first in both Fontana AMA SuperBike races this weekend. In race one on Saturday, teammate Tommy Hayden tried to make a race of it, but Mladin finally tired of playing and got on with business, winning by nearly 9 seconds. Geoff May (Suzuki) arrived at the checkered flag third. Like I said earlier, this year there's no race for first. In fact Mladin doesn't even need to show up ... just give him the trophy now. He's a world class rider walking all over a domestic series ... but I think without him as mentor and competition, Ben Spies wouldn't be the rider he is today. Time for Mat to retire.
Behind Mat on Sunday, the race was Hayden and Yates until Hayden missed a couple of gears in the middle of the race on the front straight and they made contact, with Yates having one of those on-film-forever moments saving the bike. Hayden kept going on a slightly damaged bike for another second. After a highside early in race one, Larry Pegram managed third on his Ducati in race two. I suppose we might as well give Hayden second for the season and send him home as well ... or make the Yoshimura GSXR1000's carry 50lb lead weights to give the other teams a chance.

Told you so ...

John Hopkins officially signed on Thursday, with Stiggy Honda to race WSB, starting with round three in Valencia in two weeks. He replaces Italian Roberto Rolfo. Hopper finished 4th in the 2007 MotoGP, but then switched to Kawasaki for 2008 and suffered multiple injuries, both a factor in his 16th place season finish. Teammate Haslam's podium finish in Australia and Rolfo's 5th place Superpole finish at Qatar, show that the bike is quite capable of a good result. It's now up to Hopper to put his bike where his mouth is. He'll be under a lot of self-imposed pressure to succeed, so big crashes are possible.

GSE Racing Takes Lazy Approach to Testing

This year, GSE (Airwaves) Racing will be running WSB-spec R1s in British SuperBike, instead of Ducatis (Shakey Byrne #67 won last year on a GSE Ducati). Rather than test the bike for themselves, GSE is going to watch how the WSB Yamaha team does, copy their setup and show up at the first race practice session. The actual press release says that rather than develop the bike themselves, they'll "concentrate on preparing our race bike to the same spec as the (WSB) factory team ". I suppose if it's good enough for Spies and Sykes, it's good enough for Ellison and Camier. Last year Camier was on a GSE Ducati and Ellison rode a Honda ... you'd think the riders could use a little preseason practice on their new bikes.

The UnRace

Next week is the last MotoGP practice session before the season starts. The Jerez circuit is more technical than Qatar and is a good indicator of relative performance between the 2009 teams. While it's not a race, it is the last chance they get to show their stuff before the real racing starts. The fastest rider wins a BMW ... so there's also a little motivation in the air. Last year Stoner won it, with Rossi second. This year could be a repeat performance. Rossi might like to win, just to make a point, but he's an intelligent rider (compared to many), understands that testing and dialing-in the bike is more important and won't do anything to risk the beginning of the season. If he happens to be faster than anyone else, then fine, but I think he'd rather come second at Jerez and win the Qatar opener on Easter weekend.

Hopper to WSB

Hopper has now been officially released from his contract with Kawasaki, which means the roadblock to joining the Stiggy Honda WSB team has been removed (he was talking to them back in December). He's now free to sign on as teammate to Leon Haslam and Roberto Rolfo. There are lots of bike fans bad mouthing Hopkins on various forums, but let's face it, if he joins the WSB pack, it'll only add depth to an already deep field of talent. He'll probably run towards the front of the "peloton" and isn't likely to see a podium all season but there's more to racing than the three guys at the front.

World SuperSport - Worth Watching Too

Just finished watching a replay of the Qatar SuperSport race. What a finish! Four bikes fighting for the lead in the last four corners, Laverty and Pitt passing and repassing with Laverty winning out of the last corner with better exit speed ... Crutchlow running wide onto the astroturf in a spray of sand and debris, one leg off the bike followed by a pass on Sofuoglu in the last corner to finish third (his first WSS podium). Wow! Just like a close 250GP finish ... anybody's win and riders riding over the edge. Now that's a race ... you'll never see a finish like that on four wheels.

What's Hopper Up To?

On March 9th, John Hopkins posted comments on his website saying that his fans were "in for a big treat", but that he couldn't say anything yet because he's "been under STRICT instruction from my management not to comment". So what's up? As far as I know, he hasn't been seen practicing with any team that would provide a clue. If it's a "big" treat, I'm guessing he's not headed back to the AMA and it might be a last minute MotoGP ride of some sort. Could be a WSB ride but I doubt it. No press release yet, but everything's underway except MotoGP and BSB. Hmm ... BSB? I wonder.

PS: MotoGP announced their provisional entry list today and Hopper's not on it.

MotoGP Schedule Reduced

After dropping Shanghai to make room for a round in Hungary, the new Balatonring circuit won't be ready in time, due to financial issues and rough winter weather, and has asked to be excused from the 2009 calendar. GP's were previously held in Hungary at the Hungaroring near Budapest in 1990 and 1992 (1: Lawson, 2: Chandler, 3: Mamola). The plan is now to have Balatonring ready in time for 2010. The September 20th race has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled for another venue. With the Misano race previously moved forward one week from it's original date (13 Sep), that now leaves a month long break in September. Here's the revised 2009 MotoGP calendar:

12 April - Losail
26 April - Motegi
03 May - Jerez
17 May - Le Mans
31 May - Mugello
14 June - Catalunya
27 June - Assen
05 July - Laguna Seca
19 July - Sachsenring
26 July - Donington Park
16 August - Brno
30 August - Indianapolis
06 September - Misano
04 October - Estoril
18 October - Phillip Island
25 October - Sepang
08 November - Valencia

And the Winner Is ...

As expected, Qatar went Spies, Haga, Biaggi for both races. Spies tagged along in third behind Biaggi and Haga for most of the first race, passed with 6 laps to go and pulled away as tyres started to fade. In race 2 "Big Ben" jumped to the front earlier and ran away from the pack, holding about a 3 second lead, like many of his past AMA races.
The entertainment was provided by Haga and Biaggi fighting for second place. Biaggi is riding very well this year ... smooth-as-silk lines. Haga had some front end problems but he wrestled it into submission. Smrz didn't spoil anybody's day except his own and Shakey managed a sixth in race 1 but only 12th in race 2. Couple of other interesting results ... Aprilia went 3, 4 in race one with Nakano 10 seconds behind Biaggi. He could only make 7th in race 2, but proves Aprilia has got it sorted right out of the blocks. In race 2, Kiyonari (Honda) was right on Biaggi's tail at the finish. Sykes, Spies' team mate, made a very good showing in both races (7th and 5th), showing that Yamaha has it sorted too. This means that there's a good bike under a good rider with Spies and the big-bang Yamaha ... looks like the Stoner-Ducati combination of two years ago.
Honourable mention goes to BMW who managed a top ten finish in race 1, with Corser in 9th and two top tens in the second race with Corser leading Xaus, 9th, 10th. Nice try, but I don't see them making a single podium this year. I'm calling it now: barring DNFs by Spies, he'll take the 2009 WSB Championship ... sorry Nori, you're going to finish second again.

Melandri Signs With "Bad Wind" Kawasaki

It's official, Melandri signed a one year contract with Hayate yesterday. If he can make a silk purse out of a pig's ear he should be able to get a better ride next season. At least he'll stay in touch with the series and keep in shape ... good luck Marco.

Spies like Rossi?

There's something that I've noticed about Spies that very few riders possess, except Rossi and Mat Mladin back in the AMA. Rossi is the master, but all three riders have the ability to keep riding at full tilt when the tyres eventually go off. This is a rare skill ... even Baylis didn't have it. Like Rossi, Spies is also very smooth with good lines. Neither rider likes to lose or get passed, but neither Rossi nor Spies let the Red Mist get the better of them ... they just step up their game. There was a study awhile ago that measured MotoGP riders' heart rates during a race. All riders had their adrenaline pumping and their hearts were racing along with their bikes. But not Rossi ... his heart rate stays mid-range and calm when others are about to blow an artery. There's something about Spies that tells me he may have this in common with Rossi as well. It's looking entirely possible that the championship bikes in both WSB and MotoGP will be Yamahas and their close competition in both series will be Ducati. Interesting.

Fabrizio Fades ...

Spies has both qualifiers and the Superpole! Well that pretty much increases the odds of a season sweep by Spies. With both Fabrizio and Neukirchner struggling, and Biaggi and the new Aprilia at the front, the podium could very well be Spies first, with Haga and Biaggi fighting for second/third. Biaggi's fast, but Haga is a much stronger rider when fighting for position. After doing so well in both qualifiers, Rea's Superpole attempt put him way back on the grid, so he's not likely to finish at the pointy end of the stick. The front row spoiler is Jakub Smrz (Ducati). If he can make the distance, he could very well keep up and snatch one or both of Biaggi's podium chances. The other rider to watch is Nakano also on a Ducati. Both Aprilia's are putting BMW's efforts to shame. Top bikes at Qatar this year are Ducati, Yamaha and Aprilia.

WSB First Qualifying Results

Ok, so it looks like Qatar is not a track for Haslam. The first qualifying session had Ben Spies first, followed by Johnny Rea, Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi all within a second. A nice surprise was Shakey Byrne in 6th (on a Ducati of course). First qualifier doesn't mean much but it shows who's probably competitive ... such as Biaggi on the Aprilia ... and who's not, like the two Beemers. Fabrizio and Haga were further down, but they'll probably move up in the next session. So I'm going with Spies definately on the podium both races with one or even two first places. Haga probably one or two podiums, with at least one second, maybe a first. Biaggi a possible podium in one race. Good showings and possible podiums from Fabrizio and Rea and longshots, but possible podiums, for Neukirchner, Laconi or Nakano. I've been a Shakey Byrne fan for years, since he was a test rider for Fast Bikes magazine/videos with Rob Frost. Would be nice to see him in top 5 or better. I'm also starting to think that Spies might even take the championship, if he doesn't crash-out of any races.

Motorcycle Race?

I just finished watching the replay of the Daytona 200 on SpeedTV, hoping it would be better the second time around, but no. I'm sorry, that wasn't the 200. It was a 6 lap sprint. Borrrrring.

WSB At Qatar This Weekend

WSB, the earlybird series, will finish three rounds before MotoGP even gets started. This Saturday, it's round 2 at Losail, Qatar. The one kilometre long straight and two shorter straights have favoured the Ducatis in the past so Haga could very well get the double and Fabrizio could do well. Other bikes have been evolving so Ducati's advantage may have faded a bit, and it will be interesting to see how the new Aprilia and BMW of Biaggi and Corser go on this track. Both riders have done well here before so the question is whether the bikes are up to it. Barring crashes, I'm guessing one or both Ducatis on both podiums, with the other spots filled by Spies, Neukirchner, Haslam or maybe even Biaggi. In the unlikely event of rain, all bets are off and it's anybody's motorcycle race.

Melandri to Sign With Hayate MotoGP

Marco Melandri .... a great race rider, but not so great development rider ... looks like he's about to sign with Hayate ("Bad Wind") MotoGP, riding the ZX-RR. That means there's only one Kawasaki on the grid and that leaves Hopper sitting on the sidelines.
Hopper's put in some good rides over the last couple of years, so it's a fat shame that he's bikeless. If he can't ride MotoGP, maybe a Superbike series somewhere will pick him up. He wants to ride international, but it would add some much needed depth to AMA Superbike if he went back to the States.
Melandri didn't do so well with the Ducati last year, so it'll be interesting to see if he adapts better to the Bad Wind Kwacker, a bike that's said to be a bit lacking in development time already.

Next Openers

The first 2009 WSB round is a done deal, Daytona is over and the AMA 2009 motorcycle racing season is underway ... two major openers to go. BSB British SuperBikes' first race of the year is on the Indy circuit at Brand's Hatch, on the same weekend that MotoGP roars to life on the sand-strewn Losail Circuit in Qatar. On April 12th, we'll see if Rossi's still as motivated as last year and whether Stoner can get his old self back. Both tested well at Qatar this past week, with Stoner first, Lorenzo second and Rossi in third. Full results here. Pre-season tests don't really give a good idea of how a season will turn out, but it does show that there probably won't be any surprises this year. The top runners will still be pretty much the same as last year. Pedrosa's crash on Monday will mean he'll get off to a slow start and although he may get strong enough to reach the podium later in the season, he's not going to be the 2009 champion. Who's it gonna be? Rossi, Stoner or someone else who's time has come? Next MotoGP action is last pre-season test at Jerez, March 28 and 29.

Let the Games Begin ...

Ok, so the first WSB round is over, the first AMA American Superbike motorcycle race ran on Thursday afternoon and the Daytona 200 was yesterday evening, under the lights. The 2009 season's off to a good start (sort of) and all three races are worth a comment or two ... the good, the bad and the ugly.

IMHO WSB is definately off to a great start. Being Brit-born, living in Canada, I try very hard to find some reason not to like American riders, but I'm having a hard time not liking Ben Spies. He comes from the Mat Mladin school of racing and if he can beat Mladin, he can beat anyone on a superbike. That boy knows how to race motorcycles. It would be nice to see Haga finally win a season, and with Baylis retired, this was promising to be his season in the sun ... unfortunately Spies may spoil his tea party. Lots of depth to the rest of field ... notice how many different riders attempted passes at Lukey Heights? This looks like it's going to be a good year to watch WSB.

Without Ben Spies, this year's AMA Pro American Superbike races will feature Mat Mladin, followed by all the other guys. The only question will be "Who will finish second?" ... Neil Hodgson gave a good performance at Daytona, but who knows how things will turn out on a proper race track? Next race: March 22nd at Fontana, California.

Then there's the Daytona 200. What can I say ... the lead riders seemed to like the format, because there was time to relax and chat as they tootled around behind the pace car. Relax!? Chat!? Pace car!? WTF ... it's NASCAR on two wheels. The 200 is supposed to be a race of bike, rider skill and the ENDURANCE of both, tested over 200 miles. The NASCAR format, bunching up riders to turn a long race into a series of short sprints, with a bit of luck-randomizing thrown in, makes it a completely different type of race not worthy of its own heritage. Then again, it hasn't been much of a race since they switched down from litre bikes to 600cc minibikes.

Next up ... BSB and MotoGP!