Casey Stoner's Retirement Announcement

Here's Casey Stoner's retirement annoucement verbatim. Yes, he's only 26 years old ... I guess he was on the "Freedom 26" retirement investment plan. Why didn't I think of that?

“Afternoon everyone.”

“Basically, this has come after a long time of thinking, a lot of time talking with my family and my wife. This has been coming for a couple of years now, but at the end of this 2012 season, I will be not racing in the 2013 championship. I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP and go forward with something different with my life.”

“After so many years of doing the sport which I love, and which myself and my family made so many sacrifices for, after so many years of trying to get to where we have gotten to and this point. This sport has changed a lot, and it’s changed to the point that I’m not enjoying it, I don’t have the passion for it. So at this time, it’s better if I retire now. There’s a lot of things that have disappointed me and also a lot of things that I have loved about this sport, but unfortunately, the balance has gone in the wrong direction, and so basically I won’t be continuing any more. It would be nice if I could say that I will stay for just one more year, but then when does it stop? So we decided to finish everything as we are now.”


This is bound to have some impact on his performance over the rest of the season. How can he be motivated after comments like that? Seems to me he may have run into the same Honda corporate attitude that turned Rossi over to Yamaha. There's bound to be a book about this once he's off-contract ... will make an interesting read. I wonder if Simoncelli's crash last year increased pressure from family members to find a safer line of work. Anyway ... seems to me this is a boost to the Lorenzo camp. I would think that the only motivation left in Stoner might be to win the home round at Phillip Island at the end of the season to sign off in style.

IOM TT 2012 Is About To Start

Here we go ... practice starts tomorrow. Here's the schedule for this year's version of the greatest race on Earth:

PRACTICE WEEK

Saturday, May 26
Solo Newcomers (all solo classes) Speed Controlled Lap
Lightweight/Newcomers (all solo classes) Qualifying
Sidecar Newcomer Speed Controlled Lap
Sidecar Free Qualifying

Monday, May 28
Superbike/Superstock/Supersport/Newcomers (except Lightweight) Qualifying
Sidecar Qualifying

Tuesday, May 29
Superbike/Superstock/Supersport/Newcomers (except Lightweight) Qualifying
Supersport/Lightweight/ Newcomers (all solo classes) Qualifying
Sidecar Qualifying

Wednesday, May 30
Superbike/Superstock/Supersport/Newcomers (except Lightweight) Qualifying
Sidecar Qualifying

Thursday, May 31
Superbike/Superstock/Supersport/Newcomers (except Lightweight) Qualifying
Supersport/Lightweight/Newcomers (all solo classes) Qualifying
Sidecar Qualifying

Friday, June 1
Superbike/Superstock/Supersport/ Newcomers (except Lightweight) Qualifying
Sidecar Qualifying

RACE WEEK

Saturday, June 2
11am - Dainese Superbike TT Race
2pm - Sure Sidecar TT Race 1
Supersport/Lightweight Qualifying

Monday, June 4
10.45am - Monster Energy Supersport TT Race 1
Sidecar Qualifying
2pm - Royal London 360 Superstock TT Race

Wednesday, June 6
10.45am - SES TT Zero Challenge
1pm - Monster Energy Supersport TT Race 2
3.15pm - Sure Sidecar TT Race 2
Senior Qualifying
Lightweight Qualifying

Friday, June 8
10.45am - BikerPetition.co.uk Lightweight TT Race
1.30pm - PokerStars Senior TT Race

Wish I was there ... wish I LIVED there! Good luck with the weather.

Wet and Wild

Normally wet races aren't particulary exciting. The fast riders go slow to ensure a finish of some sort while middle of the pack riders bet everything, hoping for a rare podium finish. Not this time. Lorenzo has become an incredibly smooth rider since 2010. He's rock solid and carves beautiful lines around a race track. All that smooth as silk riding translated into pulling away from the pack on the rain-soaked LeMans circuit. Pedrosa had his usual rocketship start, but he just doesn't like the wet so faded after not too many laps. Stoner stayed just behind Lorenzo ... but he recently announced his retirement planned for the end of this season, so his motivation is down a peg or two.

Now comes Rossi. From a third row start, he found the Ducati extremely stable in the wet and seemed to have more control in the corners than he usually does on a dry track. This seemed to click somewhere deep in his cortex and the old Rossi was raised from the dead. He battled with Dovi and Crutchlow for third, but they both eventually had off-track excursions trying to keep up. With Stoner in his sights, and the odd lapper to get in Stoner's way, he managed to catch Casey and dice it out with deep, tight passes in slippery corners. It all paid off in the end and Rossi grabbed the second step on the podium. Amazing. It's hard to say whether making it to the front of the pack has rekindled his drive to win, or whether it was just a rainy day fluke. One of the best wet races ever.

It's hard to say what will happen next. Stoner's retirement might take the edge off his motivation and Rossi's success may bring him out of "retirement". Certainly the bike is up to the task and the wet weather handling improvement may offer some clues to finally fixing the dry track problems. It seems to imply the chassis is still too stiff. Then there's Lorenzo. He's a match for Stoner's speed and he's got the smooth lines of Biaggi ... except he doesn't crash. He's also now leading the points race by eight points. The next dry race will be interesting. If Lorenzo beats Stoner, then the 2012 Championship could be his.

Special mention goes to Cal Crutchlow. Albeit he has lots of rain-riding experience coming from the UK, but outside of the Rossi-Stoner battle, his chicane shortcuts and hard diving passes inside Dovizioso in waterlogged corners were the most exciting moments of the race.

And Again ... Estoril

Well, it's not looking good for an exciting 2012 MotoGP season. The CRT bikes have diluted the pack and if you're not Stoner, Lorenzo or Pedrosa, you bike is down a quart. The top three riders,Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa in that order, did very little from start to finsih that was entertaining. Just plain old brilliant riders on brilliant bikes running 24 parade laps. Next came two excellent riders on pretty good bikes, Dovizioso and Crutchlow who could have been in contention for the podium if their second-level bikes were up to the task. Next were Baustista and Rossi, again, great riders on so-so bikes. This was Rossi's best race yet ... he actually looked confident and in control ... too bad the bike wasn't in the same league as the leaders. The CRT bikes aren't even in the race, with last place getting lapped by the leaders just before the finish. Lapped!? What is this ... AMA?

Ok, so I'm going to call it now. The podium will basically remain the same for the rest of the season, except for wet races. The "aliens" are down to three: Stoner, Lornzo and Pedrosa. There will be close races, but it seems that the Championship will end in the same order as the Estoril podium: Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedroa in that order. This is of course assuming that nobody DNF's or has injury issues.

If you really like bike racing, watch Moto2 this year.

Jerez - Stoner and Lorenzo

Work is very busy at the moment so I've only just had time to watch the Jerez race. By now you've probably seen it too so I won't repeat what you already know. I'm always amazed at Dani Pedrosa's ability to fire his bike off the line no matter what row he starts on. He did it again from row two launching himself into the early lead. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that he weighs less than his leathers?

Other things of note: how is it that Hayden has managed to figure out the Ducati to some degree and Rossi is still trolling around at the back of the pack? Maybe it's time to call it quits. The early laps of the race were quite amazing from a rider skill perspective. The bikes were bunched together, overlapped into corners, with various riders taking distinctly different lines ( yes I'm talking about you Cal ), but even with the banging, pushing and shoving, everyone stayed on in full control. Great bikemanship by all. And finally, although Lorenzo couldn't quite catch Stoner, he's sure looking smooth and solid. There's going to be lots of close racing between these two for the next little while.

Lorenzo It Is.

Well, after that Moto2 race, the MotoGP main class was a little sedate. As usual Pedrosa launched up into the top three from a third row start ... then with a little back and forth it settled into Stoner, Lorenzo, Pedrosa. Not much happened for quite some time other than to note that there were two completely separate races going on. After two laps, the CRT bikes were way back on their own, but not so slow that they ever got lapped. A lot of the bikes seemed to have problems with their Bridgestones and as predicted by many, tyres went off with about 6 laps to go. From that point on, Stoner's bike was sliding even with traction control. This probably contributed to arm pump in his right arm that took the wind out of his sails. Lorenzo motored under Stoner to take the lead, then Pedrosa slotted into second with a spectacular hard braking dive into turn one, his rear wheel waving well off the ground. There was a good contest between Cal Crutchlow and Dovi behind the leaders in the last few laps, with Crutchlow finally making the pass for fourth. Further back Hayden got the best of Barbera and Bautista to finish top Ducati. So, Lorenzo takes his first Losail GP after many attempts. I'm thinking he's going to give Stoner much more of a run for his money this year ... a bit of a combination of his wild riding of two years ago and his serious down to business riding of last year. Pedrosa looked in top form as well ... it's going to be a close three-way championship this year. Only problem is that we're down from 17 "real" MotoGP bikes to 12 and poor old Rossi is at the back of the pack.

Moto2!

Wow. Well, I thought the opening Moto3 race was exciting, but that was nothing compared to the opening Moto2! Eleven rows of three on the grid, close tight racing, aggressive, paint-swapping battles and passing, passing, passing. All the top riders pulled out all the stops and almost all ran wide at one time or another. Marquez pushed leader Luthi wide, who rejoined in 5th. Marquez then got passed by Iannone, then nipped him back at the line to take the win. Awesome race.

First Moto3 Is History.

The first running of the Moto3 GP class, 4-stroke replacement for the 125GP class is now done. Exciting racing from the buzzing hoard of small displacement racers. While 17 year old Spaniard Maverick Viñales won the race by several seconds, the story is second place, bike number 5, 16 year old Italian Romano Fenati in his plain white lid. In his first ever GP level race, Fenati battled closely with Viñales and took the lead a number of times, finally fading slightly to a solid second place. Probably the best ever finish of a GP rookie in his maiden race. This is definately a rider to watch. And then there was third place. Five bikes fighting closely for third ... somethimes three abreast into corners, followed very closely by two more. If you blinked you missed a diving pass, or out-braking to make your heart stop. Luis Salom eventually crossed the line ahead of the pack. Now that was real motorcycle racing. Twenty minutes 'til the Moto2 kick-off!

Stoner, Pedrosa and Dovizioso In It Too.

Stoner, Pedrosa and Dovizioso pulled the plug out in today's MotoGP warmup and now we've got six or more real podium contenders, including Hayden, top Ducati in sixth. Edwards is top CRT bike ... 2 1/2 seconds off the pace. This should be a great race, with lots of close racing at the front ... and lots of lapped traffic to really mess it up. First ever Moto3 race is about to start and 3 hours to go before the big show. Can't wait.

It's Going To Be A Good One

Jorge Lorenzo has pole for tomorrow's season opener in Qatar, with Stoner 2/10ths behind. Lorenzo's attitude looks a little more agressive than last year ... in 2011 he played the cool, calm champion and seemed to be missing something. He's looking good in practice ... believe it or not, he's never won here, so this could be the first. Stoner is, well, Stoner ... although he now has a 7 week old daughter and that has changed some other riders in the past. He looks strong but we'll see how much he's willing to push it. The most agressive looking rider in practice was Cal Crutchlow, less than 4/10 thenths behind Jorge ... he literally stomped out to his bike like he was marching into gladiatorial battle. Next on the grid is Spies, followed by Hayden. Rossi might still be having problems but Hayden has the Ducati figured out. In fact Rossi is the slowest real MotoGP bike, with only the 9 CRT bikes behind him. There's no way that's all the fault of the bike ... he's just not hungry enough. Fastest bike on the track? ... Hector Barbera at 339kph on the straight ... gotta love litre bikes. So ... Lorenzo to win? Could very well be. At the very least, it should be a close battle at the front, with Crutchlow probably running a crash or win strategy, Lorenzo determined to prove he can win in the desert and Stoner trying to show he's still the man. Gonna be a good one.

Is MotoGP Gonna Survive?

Well, last year there were 17 bikes on the MotoGP grid. This year, with the move to 1000cc bikes and the CRT teams, the grid is now up to 21. Good right? Well, not so fast. With 9 CRT bikes, that leaves 12 real MotoGP bikes. It will be interesting to see whether the CRT bikes make the race more entertaining or just get in the way. Only hours to go before we find out. Stay tuned for Qatar under the lights.

Any Guesses Yet?

Any guesses on how World SBK is going to turn out this season? Well, Carlos Checa cleaned up at Imola after Tom Sykes gave him a run for his money in both races. No matter how hard Sykes pushed, Checa reeled him in and took home the trophy. Best bet for 2012? Checa to win. Good effort by Brett McCormick, the rookie Canadian who got as high as 11th in race one before fading, finishing just outside the points in 16th place in both races. Hopper made it to 13th in race 1 and DNF'd in race 2. Final placing for race one was Checa, Sykes, Haslam and Biaggi. Race 2? Well, how about Checa, Sykes, Haslam and Biaggi. Biaggi's starts were Pedrosa-like rockets from row 2, even getting the holeshot in race 2, but to no avail. He had good pace and perfect lines, but it didn't help. Checa's Ducati and Sykes' shear determination left him in their dust with Haslam somewhere in between. Well, even if Rossi can't get his Ducati to the front, Checa has no such problem. MotoGP starts next. Bring it on.

Canadian Steps Up to WSBK

The Effenbert Liberty Racing Team has decided to withdraw from the 2012 World SuperStock championship but they're not deserting their new SuperStock rider: 2011 Canadian Superbike Champion Brett McCormick ... who has now been promoted to World SuperBike. Effernbert will consolidate their racing team budgets allowing them to run four riders in WSBK. Brett's teammates are Sylvain Guintoli, Jakub Smrz and Maxime Berger and he'll be on track with them for the next round at Imola in two weeks. The Canadian roadracing series (and tracks) are pretty lame so it's quite an accomplishment for a Canadian to make it to this level. Go Brett.

Biaggi Shows What Can Do When He Wants

A bit late with this post, but if you didn't already know, things didn't quite work out as expected for Checa at Phillip Island. With a neck-snapping, lightningbolt of a highside, Carlos was spat out of the lead in the first race. Biaggi made good use of the opportunity and rode his smooth as silk lines to finish first. In Race 2, Checa rode to first place as might be expected, but the star of the show was Biaggi again. He made contact with Tom Sykes, ran off the track on the first lap and regained the paved surface in a distant last place. He carved his way through the pack and made it all the way back to second place which is very likely where he would've finished anyway. Even if you're not a fan of the little Roman, you've got to be impressed. So, Checa didn't run away with the Championship lead in the first round ... leader on the board is Max Biaggi ... for now anyway.

Ducati's Other Runner

Well, Ducati may be struggling to catch up to the leaders in MotoGP, but not so in World SBK. Last year's champion, Carlos Checa on the Althea Racing Ducati is back at it again, topping the results on the last day of testing at Phillip Island with a time of 1'31.8", with Tom Sykes close behind at 1'31.9" on a factory Kawasaki. That's still a second behind Checa's fastest ever lap last year. There are eight riders within the first second, with six bikes clumped between 1'32" and 1'36". Looks like there could be some close racing in the lead groups at next week's Phillip Island season opener.

So things are looking a little better for Ducati in this series ... oh wait ... did I mention there are no Hondas or Yamahas in WSBK? I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

Eugene Laverty managed to crash on the last day of testing ... tank slapper coming out of turn one, which bumped his front brake pistons back into the calipers ... and ... yes, "I have no brakes!" going into turn one. He ran off track and landed hard on his hands and head, suffering a broken bone in his left hand and a sprained finger in his right. The report is that there's no significant head trauma ... but we'll see if he's drooling and staring vacantly into space on his 45th birthday. Anyway, he's expected to be fit enough to race next week. I hope the clutch is a light pull on the Aprilia.

Results
1. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1'31.8"
2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'31.9"
3. Leon Haslam (BMW) 1'32.2"
4. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'32.3"
5. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1'32.4"
6. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1'32.4"
7. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) 1'32.5"
8. Michel Fabrizio (BMW) 1'32.6"
9. Maxime Berger (Ducati) 1'32.9"
10. Leon Camier (Suzuki) 1'33.1"
11. Marco Melandri (BMW) 1'33.0"
12. David Giugliano (Ducati) 1'33.5"
13. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) 1'33.5"
14. Ayrton Badovini (BMW) 1'33.6"
15. David Johnson (BMW) 1'34.1"
16. Josh Brookes (Suzuki) 1'34.5"
17. Lorenzo Zanetti (Ducati) 1'34.7"
18. David Salom (Kawasaki) 1'34.9"
19. John Hopkins (Suzuki) DNS

Don't Do That Last Practice Lap

It was a Monday, but it was the 13th. On his last lap on day one of Phillip Island testing, John Hopkins high-sided before braking for turn two. It had been a damp day, but Hopper blames the crash on a used tyre and too much entry speed. He came down on his right hand, fracturing a bone at the base of his missing fourth digit. He's back in California now and will most likely miss the SBK opener downunder next week. Poor hippity Hopper ... guy just can't catch a break.

Nicky Hayden Goes Under The Knife

After being unable to complete testing at Sepang this past week, Nicky Hayden has gone back to California to have his shoulder injury reviewed. Initial tests have shown that there's damaged cartilage in his left shoulder plus some muscle damage in his back. This is more serious than previously thought. Tomorrow he'll undergo surgery for further evaluation and whatever repairs are necessary. It's not known if this will seriously impact his start to the season. There appears to be enough time to recover to some degree, but with injuries of this kind, you never really know.

So What's The GP12 Really Look Like?

Here it is, full aluminum frame and all. It's a shame they had to drop their innovative frameless design, but if it was holding them back and the writing was on on the wall in large block letters, then go with the obvious. Anyway, Ducati is now back in the race. Carry on gentlemen.

The Ducati GP12 Is Rideable

In spite of Valentino Rossi's lukewarm results at Sepang, he still seems to be very happy with the bike. Basically, it's still got some issues with acceleration and electronics, but the basics are there. According to Vale, "The riding position has improved a lot, and it’s better on braking and corner entry. I can brake like I want to and take the lines that I like, and I feel comfortable in general. I was able to ride well and not make mistakes, and there’s a reason for that. It means that the bike can be ridden. It’s more agile in change of direction, and it wheelies much less".

If he's happy and he views the remaining problems as just technicalities to be worked out, then it's possible he'll put in some good results at his favourite tracks like Mugello. Not to say the he'll be able to catch Stoner, but it appears he'll be visible in the background putting in some decent laps.

Three Weeks 'Til Phillip Island!

The 2012 World SuperBike season is almost here, with the Phillip Island opener on February 26th. Melandri joins the herd amid high expectations on a BMW and Nine-Finger Hopper is looking forward to playing with the big boys again after missing out on the British SuperBike championship by only 2 points last year. Hope the weather's good this year on the south coast of Australia. You never know what you're going to get ... if it's not raining, the wind can sometimes be a big factor. Here's hoping for a calm sunny day where everyone can show their stuff. I love watching racing at Phillip Island on TV (or the computer these days) ... but I'd rather be there in person.

Not Too Bad Vale

The first Test of 2012 has now been completed at Sepang. No big surprises: Stoner way ahead, followed not that closely by Lorenzo and Pedrosa, implying a similar finish in 2012 to last season. Stoner riding under bike number 1 instead of 27 (if you've got it, flaunt it?) was by far the fastest rider on day 3 ... setting a new Sepang lap record for fastest ever race lap, fastest ever pole lap and fastest ever recorded lap on two wheels (1:59.607).

There were several interesting results on day 2 ... like Spies being only 0.157 off Stoner's pace and Hector Barbera finishing ahead of Valentino Rossi on the Pramac Ducati. Speaking of Rossi ... how's Ducati doing you ask? Well, not too bad really, but definately not Championship material quite yet. Vale finished 5th behind Spies, 1.2 off the pace ... well Stoner's record-breaking pace that is. Last year was worse, and this implies Rossi might get a look a podium or two depending on the venue, but that's just not good enough Ducati. Now that the chassis is sorted, time to fine tune the rest of the package.

Speaking of Yamaha ... how's Dovi doing on the Tech3? Well, he's looking good ... but unfortuantely not as good as he did last year on the Honda. I expect the podium runners will be pretty predicatable this year Stoner, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, with possibly a close finish to the championship. It could come down to attrition ... whoever can stay on the bike and not suffer any "training injuries" has the best shot. It will be interesting to see if the various track layouts can boost some of the second tier pilots onto the podium.

The wildcard factor is that there will be lots more lappers to contend with in the form of the CRT teams ... that is, a second class of bikes on the track, that might have a hard time getting a podium in a SuperBike race (depending on the rider). If the second tier "real MotoGP bikes" don't get spread out too much, the interesting racing could be for 4th, 5th and 6th this year.

Hopper Down A Digit

When John Hopkins crashed his MotoGP wild card ride on the Rizla Suzuki at Brno last summer, he badly damaged his right hand. Specifically his right ring finger has undergone 6 surgeries since then and on Thursday it was decided that the prognosis was not good. So yesterday (Friday the 13th), just before lunch, off came two thirds of the finger. Hopper is already saying it feels much better than it has in months and is expected to be fit for the World SuperBike opener at Phillip Island on February 26th.

More "Training" Injuries

Valentino Rossi's career took a turn for the worse after injuries sustained during a motocross training session in 2010. This was followed by an horrific practice session crash at Mugello that resulted in a compound frature to his right leg. He recovered from the broken leg, but the shoulder injury plagued him right through the first half of the 2011 season. Last week Nicky Hayden suffered shoulder and rib injuries during a dirt track practice session.

On Thursday, Andrea Dovizioso broke his right collarbone during a motocross training session. He underwent surgery today and is expected to recover quickly. With three weeks to go before the Sepang test round, he could be back in shape in time to participate on his new Tech3 Yamaha M1. In 2011 Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow recovered quickly from simple collarbone breaks but both Rossi and Pedrosa were plagued with slow healing shoulders in the first half of the season. While these were more serious injuries, it's never good to start a new season with recent injuries no matter how quickly they heal. Maybe it's time the relatively small number of MotoGP riders consider some other way of staying in shape during the off season.

End of 16.5" Wheels for Superbikes

Pirelli has announced that tyres for the 2013 WSB and BSB series will be 17" and they will not be supplying 16.5" tyres. It would appear that this will reduce costs and increase revenue, since they'll be able to market their Superbike-spec tyres to serious trackday riders. It will be interesting to see if this has any noticeable effect on lap times since, in theory, the 16.5" tyres provide a larger contact patch at full lean. Probably not but we could very well see a few more mid-corner crashes this season.

Mid-winter Fix

Here's a great IOM TT slow motion video ... for best viewing, double-click, then watch full screen at 720p:

More Injuries for Hayden

After recovering from a broken scaphoid bone in his right wrist, Nicky Hayden crashed during a flat track session in Kentucky on Tuesday. This time it's a broken shoulder blade and two ribs on the left side, so it's not yet known whether he'll be fit for the January 31st training round in Sepang. "I came up behind another rider, and he went to move out of the way. I wasn’t going that fast, but he clipped my front wheel and I went down and landed pretty hard on my left shoulder, and that was it."