MotoGP: Catastrophe For Toni Elias

Loopy Spanish superstar Toni Elias has broken his femur (thighbone) in practise for the Dutch round of MotoGP at Assen. He fell from his Honda and seemed to be sliding safely along the tarmac when he hit a gravel trap and started tumbling violently.
Early indications suggest that it is a serious break that could take 7 to 11 months to heal, even with the skills of the brilliant but crazy MotoGP surgeon Dr Costa on hand. This means that unless these reports are false, Toni's season on the Gresini Honda is over.
Elias has been on the podium this year, but has suffered from the same inconsistency that has befallen his team-mate Marco Melandri. This year's Honda is a terrible bike, and the Gresini team have had a terrible time trying to make it work on Bridgestone tyres.
The Spaniard won over a lot of fans after his performance at Turkey, where Valentino Rossi claimed the youngster was dangerous, but most observers thought Vale should shut up and watch a video of himself ramming Sete Gibernau a couple of years ago.
There are no easy breaks where the femur is concerned, with even the best case scenario being a layoff of around 8 to 10 weeks. Amazingly, up until medical advances in the 20th century, a broken femur had a high fatality rate, and even though our modern medicine has made it survivable, it is still a nasty bone to break, requiring very long recovery times.
Losing Toni's exciting sideways riding style for the rest of the season is a real blow to MotoGP. Hopefully the young nutter will heal quickly and return to the paddock as soon as possible.

MotoGP Donington: Stoner Steamroller Rolls On

Casey Stoner: is he Doohan in disguise?
In the British MotoGP round, Casey found himself in a tricky position. He was in 2nd place behind Colin Edwards in treacherous conditions with the track starting to dry out. In front of him, the Michelin rubber of the number 5 Yamaha started to overheat, causing Edwards to run very wide twice in two corners. What should Stoner do? Stay conservative and wait behind the Texan until the last lap, or shut his eyes, open the throttle and scream past into the lead?
There was only one choice.
For a guy like Stoner, anyway.
He won by 12 seconds after deciding to crank open the throttle and go for it.
I will always defend Nicky Hayden's right to the number 1 plate, but I don't kid myself that he's one of the all-time greats: riders who combine consistency with raw speed and aggression, and grab the public's imagination. In the last couple of decades, this means the likes of Rossi, Doohan, Rainey and Schwantz.
When I was a little kid, there was a poster of Barry Sheene on my bedroom wall. I'll bet that sales of Casey Stoner posters are starting to take off.
Ducati have built a very fast bike, but it seems difficult to set up and ride quickly, making Stoner's performance all the more impressive. The fact that the Italian marque won on a twisty, slippy, wet track with a longest straight of barely 500 metres proves that all the chatter about the Duke being a rocketship that doesn't go round corners was just hot air.
Colin Edwards was impressive in 2nd place, probably losing out on the win due to his rear Michelin's total lack of dry grip. Chris Vermeulen took an excellent podium, despite spending several laps frightening the living daylights out of himself because he could barely see out of his misted visor.
Valentino Rossi's race was a nightmare. Not a great start, and an atrocious finish in 4th place with his rear Michelin visibly ragged and falling to bits. To add insult to injury, his title rival Stoner took the win, extending the lead to a full 26 points. Rossi had never quite nailed the setup on his Yamaha as his Texan team-mate had, and even The Doctor couldn't save that tyre from a slow, miserable death as the track dried.
People who impressed but crashed included new Kawasaki rider Anthony West, who made up a dozen places to run in 5th before flying off the track, still managing to finish well into the points. Capirossi was also doing well before chucking the Ducati down the track and walking home. Nicky Hayden looked like his old self, before locking the front and flying into a gravel trap. He too remounted, but finished dead last.
Dani Pedrosa seemed to have forgotten that he is rubbish in the rain, leading the race brilliantly until getting spooked and plummeting down the field. Even Kurtis Roberts was in a decent 11th before dropping back to 13th. This is still his best ever MotoGP finish. (In fact it's the only time I can remember him finishing at all!)
The list of losers is long and varied.
Michelin were incredibly lucky that Edwards had been so fast in the early stages that he could survive the disastrous Michelin drop-off and still grab 2nd place. They were given a sound spanking by Bridgestone when a dry line started to appear on the track.
Dunlop did even worse, with their wet tyres being simply embarrassing.
Rossi was hammered by his team-mate all weekend.
Honda haven't won a race for ever, and barring miracles, don't look like winning any time soon. The HRC bikes ate their tyres for breakfast, while the Gresini boys found it completely impossible to make their Honda machines work around Donington on Bridgestones. Shinya Nakano must cry himself to sleep at night, cursing the French tyre company with every sob.
The next GP is at Assen on Saturday, with early forecasts predicting rain. Let's see if the losers can redeem themselves, and if that cocky little Aussie can take a step closer to a place in history.

MotoGP: Team Roberts On The Ropes

The crisis at Team KR is showing no signs of abating.
First, it was revealed that Johnny Rea will no longer be riding the KR212V at Donington due to his heavy schedule. Of course, his schedule is no heavier than it was when it was announced that he would ride the second KR bike. What has changed is that he has won two races. He took the chequered flag in the Suzuka 300km along with his BSB team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari, then he won race two of the Mondello round of the BSB.
Honda have high hopes for the kid, especially for their favourite race, the Suzuka 8 hour. Putting Rea on Team KR's pile of scrap might have dented his confidence, a bad idea considering that he is currently on a roll.
More surprising was Team KR's revelation that Kenny Roberts Junior will not ride at Donington either, and his little brother Kurtis will be the sole KR rider at the British GP.
Kenny Junior has said that there is nothing much else to find out about the current chassis. Basically, it's rubbish, and the team have pretty much worked out why it's rubbish. The team is fabricating a new chassis that should be a lot better, but that takes time. Kurtis will have to use the old machine.
It is surprising that Team KR, the last of the real independent chassis builders, have produced such a lemon, but then again, so did Honda, and the KR bike was specially designed and constructed around the Honda V4 engine.
Of course, Honda are still supplying King Kenny with the worst of their engines, as shown by the failures early this year. Hopefully when the new chassis is ready, it will be quick and Honda will supply decent motors to the grumpy triple world champion.

WSBK Misano: Bayliss On Title Charge

Aussie Troy Bayliss is back on the title trail after snatching a double victory at the new back-to-front Misano circuit. He is now just 21 points behind James Toseland, with both equal on 5 wins this season.
Nori Haga is 5 points behind the Ducati rider, but would have been ahead if it hadn't been for a crash with Max Biaggi in race one. The Roman Emperor was in 3rd and looking to take 2nd from his Japanese opponent. Unfortunately, Max was a little ambitious, and was probably caught out by the unique racing lines that Haga tends to invent for himself. Nori was livid, kicking gravel at the Italian as they picked themselves up and later claiming that what made him really angry was the lack of an apology.
Nori is no stranger to taking out other riders with ill-judged moves, but being Japanese he is of course scrupulously polite. Max, on the other hand, retreated back into the paranoid shell that he inhabited in his MotoGP years, saying that he was sorry for himself and sorry for Haga. That's about as close as you'll get to an admission of guilt from the Roman. Haga would probably know this if he had been racing with Max during his brief stint in Grands Prix rather than destroying a record number of terrifyingly expensive bikes while Max battled for wins. Best to let the incident slide and get on with it.
In race two, Haga made a very forceful pass to get by Max as if to prove a point. The two finished 2nd and 3rd, as they probably should have done in race one.
Toseland had a miserable weekend, complaining of chatter from his Honda. The Englishman will have to get back to his winning ways if he wants a second championship title, because Bayliss is on the move, and looking unstoppable.

BSB Mondello: Young Guns Lead The Way

The youngsters showed the old hands how to win at Mondello Park, Ireland, with victories for Leon Haslam and Johnny Rea.
In race 1, Haslam's Ducati led from lights to flag, beating off a challenge from Shakey Byrne. The last podium spot was taken by Haslam's team-mate Greg Lavilla, who had fought through from a lowly 3rd row start. Tyre troubles dropped pole-sitter Johnny Rea to 4th place.
Race 2 was won by Johnny Rea. It was the young Ulsterman's first British Superbike win, and comes shortly after the first victory of his road race career at the Suzuka 300km, a warm up event for the Suzuka 8 hour race. This is the perfect way to prepare for Rea's first shot at MotoGP. He will ride at Donington for grumpy legend Kenny Roberts Senior's team.
Shakey Byrne took another 2nd place, again in front of Gregorio Lavilla, with Haslam relegated to 4th.
There was a grim reminder of the danger that our heroes subject themselves to when British Supersport rider Guy Sanders was hurt, and later died of his injuries. I can only offer my sympathy to his friends and family.

WSBK: High Drama, Hijacking

There are many tales of motorcycle racing in the old days, involving teams run by crazy men with money from dubious sources. Those days have been gone for a long time.
Now they're back.
The relationship between World Superbike team Alto Evolution and its team boss Sergio Bertocchi has been strained for some time. First, his duties were reduced, then the team split with him altogether. Allegedly, Bertocchi was seen around the WSBK paddock still wearing an Alto Evolution team shirt, causing the team to issue a press release making clear that they had parted company with him.
In the latest ridiculous, "couldn't make it up" instalment of the saga, Alto Evolution had their bike transporter truck hijacked and the driver taken prisoner as it was being driven back towards Italy from the Silverstone round of World Superbike. The driver managed to escape and contact the Belgian police, who quickly found the truck as it was fitted with an electronic tracking device (no surprise, considering that the bikes alone must be worth a couple of hundred grand in any currency).
Incredibly, the same gang also attempted to hijack a van carrying parts from the team's warehouse, but were foiled after a joint Belgian-Italian police operation.
It doesn't come as much of a shock to learn that the increasingly erratic Bertocchi has been questioned in connection with the hijacking.
The tragedy of this is that the bikes and equipment are now official evidence in a criminal investigation, and will be held under lock and key by the authorities for at least a couple of weeks. Their two Aussie riders, Karl Muggeridge and Josh Brookes, will be forced to sit out this weekend's races at Misano. It's a cruel blow for the Italian team to miss a home event, but hopefully as time passes they will be able to calm down and smile at the sheer ludicrousness of it all.

125GP / 250GP Barcelona: Those Crazy Kids!

Another of my infrequent reviews of the 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix races, this time from Barcelona, where there was another dose of lunacy from the kids in the junior classes.
The 125cc race saw Japanese KTM rider Tommy Koyama win his first ever Grand Prix in nearly 8 years of trying. If you thought Dani Pedrosa was tiny, you should see little "Koyamax", he is tiny! Seriously, he'd pass for an 8 year old, not a 24 year old. Tommy is always there or thereabouts in races, but it has always seemed that the only way he would win is by some freak result where all the really quick guys end up in a tangled heap in a gravel trap. That was not what happened.
Koyama rode a great race, staying on the back of the lead pack at first and then carving his way through the Aspar Aprilia riders to take the victory. His Swiss team-mate Randy Krummenacher proved that KTM had produced excellent bikes for this race by snatching 3rd, a full 10 places better than his previous best.
Splitting the two was Hungarian Gabor Talmasci, who would pass for a 40 year old. Ironically, Talmasci used to ride for KTM, but his contract was not renewed when he overtook his championship-chasing team-mate for a win, despite being ordered not to. He was the highest finishing of the dominant Aspar Aprilia team, with his team-mates Sergio Gadea finishing 5th and Hector Faubel being punted off by Lukas Pesek on the last lap.
The other big news from the 125GP class was the outrageous bad luck of Mattia Pasini, which is now beyond a joke. Last year Sete Gibernau seemed to be the unluckiest man on the planet. His Ducati broke down when he looked like winning. He crashed at Barcelona and broke a collar bone, then his ambulance crashed on the way to hospital, then Casey Stoner took him down, landing on his collar bone again.
Sete's travails are nothing compared to those of Pasini this year. One of the stars of 125GP, he has taken pole positions aplenty, but his Aprilia breaks down constantly, giving him 5 DNF's from 7 starts. (One of those DNF's was when he hit Bradley Smith as he charged through the field, having started from the back of the pack when his Aprilia broke down on the way to the grid!)
This time out, it was another mechanical failure that threw him off in the braking zone for turn 1. Pasini delighted the crowd by losing it altogether. He kicked the bike repeatedly, stopped seemingly to scream inside his helmet, then returned to kicking and stamping on the bike for a while longer. Nobody deserves that kind of luck, especially not somebody who has taken several pole positions and led dozens of laps this year.
In the 250cc class, it was the usual Jorge Lorenzo walkover, a return to form from the Mugello race where he visited the gravel due to a 50-50 racing incident. Lorenzo previously entertained us with his victory celebrations of arrogantly planting a Lorenzo's Land flag in the gravel, and of having a doppelganger dressed in identical leathers and helmet meeting him on the slowdown lap to congratulate him.
This time Lorenzo outdid himself with a truly surreal celebration. Not satisfied with the usual Lorenzo's Land flag-planting, he was met in the gravel trap by a pair of doppelgangers. While the real Jorge grabbed a fake microphone and mimed into it like a rock star, his two clones produced electric guitars and vigorously pretended to play them in the background. It was utterly ridiculous, and funnier than anything that Valentino Rossi has done for quite a while.
The junior classes rarely fail to entertain, and they also show the stars of the future. Great stuff.

MotoGP Barcelona: Battle Royale

Last year's Barcelona MotoGP had a horrific start as local boy Sete Gibernau clipped his team-mate and caused a horrific pile-up that sent himself, Capirossi and Melandri to hospital. This year we were spared the collarbone-crunching antics of the retired Gibernau, as Diminutive Dani Pedrosa took the lead into turn one, followed by Stoner, Hopkins and Rossi, who had started from pole.
Stoner's Ducati soon passed the Repsol Honda of Pedrosa to take the lead, but he couldn't break away from the following riders. Rossi and Hopper had another of their battles in the early laps before The Doctor managed to pass and sneak away. Hopper stayed with the front three for a while before gradually starting to slip backwards, holding 4th place until the flag. Behind them, the Kawasaki of Randy de Puniet was an excellent 5th after his incredible qualifying lap put him 2nd on the grid, just hundredths behind Rossi. The crash-happy young Frenchman stayed on board for once, despite one of his knees doing an impression of a beach ball due to a previous crash, and finished 5th, a career best.
Stoner was now leading from Pedrosa and Rossi. The Ducati is still the fastest bike in a straight line, but the Honda and Yamaha could keep up so long as they stayed in the slipstream. Rossi managed to pass Pedrosa, who was even worse on the brakes than usual (and his usual ain't good, just ask Hayden...) while Rossi reigned supreme in the braking zones. The teeny Spaniard had the overall pace to stick with Casey and Vale, but just didn't have enough confidence in the Honda to brake late and force a way past. He was relegated to watching the race that unfolded in front of him.
Up till now, Rossi and Stoner have had a couple of battles in Qatar and China, where the Ducati's straight line speed advantage let the young Aussie keep his Italian rival at bay like a boxer would use his extra reach to keep an opponent at arm's length.
At Barcelona, the Marquis of Queensberry rules were torn up, and it turned into a full-on streetfight with bare knuckles, iron bars and broken bottles flying.
Rossi passed his young rival for the lead with a brilliant move. It was highly aggressive, but they did not collide and nobody ended up in the gravel. Even so, Stoner later told the press that he was "disappointed" by the brutal pass. The Aussie was using his typical understatement, as his body language showed that he was utterly incandescent. For the next minute or so, Stoner's usual smooth style was gone and he was furiously hurling the bike into corners and jamming on the throttle with such violence that it looked exactly like Troy Bayliss on the Ducati.
What followed was by far the best racing of the season so far, and this race will be remembered for years to come.
In Rossi's slipstream, Stoner was much faster and could overtake. With Casey in the lead, Rossi could slipstream the Ducati down the straight then brake impossibly late to re-take the lead. At one point, Rossi even threw his bike down the inside and overtook on the way onto the main straight, a move that would seem impossible if anybody else tried it.
Stoner led into the last lap, and for the next minute and three quarters, rode to perfection. Rossi had shown that there were two or three places where he could pass, but Stoner shrugged off the enormous pressure and kept in front, never straying more than an inch from an apex. There was nothing that The Doctor could do. All the time, Pedrosa was close behind Rossi, sometimes pulling alongside on the straights but unable to brake late enough to pass. If the pair in front had run wide, Dani would have taken the win, but there was no such opportunity.
Stoner had fought toe to toe with the greatest off all time, and won fair and square.
If there was ever a race that dispelled doubts about a championship contender, this was it. The Ducati and Yamaha were evenly matched on this track, with the Duke's speed cancelled out by the Yam's incredible braking and turn-in. Nor was there any great difference between the Bridgestone and Michelin tyres. This was a straight fight between Rossi and Stoner, and Stoner won.
Valentino Rossi has a real rival at last. Hayden had the consistency and sheer guts, but lacked the speed to beat Rossi fair and square. Biaggi and Gibernau were both unbeatable on their day, but too emotional to challenge The Doctor over a full season. Stoner also has the raw speed, but his bulletproof self-confidence will not be scratched by mind games and gypsy curses. Let's hope Rossi decides not to retire at the end of 2008 after all, because I for one would like to see this kind of battle carry on for a few more years to come.

MotoGP: Johnny Rea To Ride For King Kenny

It's official, Northern Irishman Johnny Rea (pronounced Ray) will be riding the second Team KR Honda bike in the MotoGP round at Donington.
Rea partners current British Superbike Champion Ryuichi Kiyonari in the factory HM Plant Honda team in the BSB championship, and followed the Japanese rider home for a pair of 2nd place finishes last time out at Snetterton. He is currently in Japan testing for the prestigious Suzuka 8-hour race, which is arguably the single most important meeting of the year for the Japanese manufacturers. One of the reasons why Rea was chosen seems to be that he races Michelin tyres in BSB, so he was chosen over the other Honda-backed rising star, Englishman Leon Camier, who races in BSB on Dunlops.
At just 20 years old, Rea is already an established star in British Superbikes, having being extremely quick, if a little erratic, when he arrived in the championship in 2005, and maturing enough to be selected for the factory Honda team this year. He has only been road racing since 2003, having started out in Motocross.
What will Team KR and HRC be expecting from the young Ulsterman?
We will hope to hear Kenny Roberts Senior and his engineers praising Johnny's feedback and maturity. As the first time out on a MotoGP bike that the team admit doesn't handle, we can't really expect an amazing result. A successful weekend would involve not falling off, and gradually getting closer to Kenny Junior's lap times.
It will be an excellent opportunity for Rea to meet important HRC and Michelin people, and show his face on the world stage. His cocky but charming personality should take him a long way if he relaxes and rides the Team KR machine as best he can.

MotoGP Mugello Masterclass

Lately it has been easy to forget that Valentino Rossi is peerless in the modern era, his real peers being the likes of Agostini and Hailwood.
At Mugello, he gave us all a good slap to wake us up.
The Yamaha wasn't the quickest bike in a straight line, although it is now on a level with the Honda and Suzuki. In the morning warm-up, Rossi had been dicing with Stoner and Barros, the Ducatis easily overtaking the Yamaha before the start line. That seemed to be it, Stoner would win, Barros would have a good race and Rossi would be lucky to get a podium.
What we hadn't banked on was the Yamaha's ability to scream around the corners and hurl itself down the straights. The Yamaha in Rossi's hands, anyway. Edwards would trundle round on an identical bike to finish 12th, just 2 places in front of Guintolli's Dunlop Yamaha.
The Doctor got off to a mediocre start, and was swamped down to 8th place. Stoner and Capirossi were off into the lead. There we go, Ducati winning at Mugello, but which one? Little Capirex took the lead from his young whippersnapper team-mate and off they went. But they were not pulling away from the pack. Capirossi was passed by Stoner, and a few more people followed to put the little Italian back about 4 places in 2 corners.
Dani Pedrosa managed to sneak past Stoner for the lead. Having finally conquered John Hopkins after a titanic struggle, Rossi was charging through the field and was soon right behind the miniature Spaniard. Everybody else was gradually losing touch.
Unsurprisingly, Dani's Honda was very quick in a straight line, but Rossi is amazing on the brakes and Dani isn't. (Just ask Nicky Hayden...)
Rossi took the lead, and although Dani could get alongside on the main straight, he couldn't outbrake the Italian.
Behind them, two Ducatis were doing battle. 90 year old Alex Barros and 12 year old Casey Stoner were fighting for the final podium spot. It seemed for a while that the Brazilian would stay behind the factory Ducati on his d'Antin satellite bike, but Barros finally made his move and overtook Stoner for 3rd. There was nothing much the little Australian could do about it. Let's not forget that Barros is seriously quick around Mugello, being the last person to win it before Rossi decided to dominate every single year.
Up front, it was a repeat of Jerez, with Rossi eking out a tenth here and there while Dani slowly slipped back. Rossi was victorious, while Dani was very impressive but still doesn't have the beating of The Doctor.
Rossi and Pedrosa were the only two Michelin runners at the front, with Bridgestones from 3rd to 9th place. The French tyre manufacturer must still be reeling from their Le Mans GP defeat, and they seem to have produced something special for the two top Michelin runners. Although it has been claimed by some that the Mugello result shows the Ducati doesn't go round corners after all, Stoner did take pole position in the wet. I believe that Michelin should take some of the credit for beating Ducati.
Even so, it's a quick track and the Yamaha shouldn't have won. It wouldn't have with anybody else on board, but The Doctor makes the difference.
There was fun in the British Eurosport TV commentary box, when commentator and respected MotoGP writer Julian Ryder rubbed his F1-loving colleague Toby Moody's nose in it by pointing out that in Boremula One, a satellite team would never be allowed to overtake their factory team, and a top driver can never make up for a mediocre car. With d'Antin on the podium and Rossi winning, MotoGP showed that it is still the pinnacle of motorsport.
Rossi is now just 9 points behind Stoner in the championship, and his fading title challenge has been given a fresh coat of luminous yellow paint. Next up is Barcelona, which is a quick track but has been given a new, slightly silly slow section for safety. (Heh heh.) This might just give Rossi enough of a chance to outbrake people and lead over the line, but the awesome straight-line speed of the Ducatis will still play into Casey Stoner's hands. We will find out next week.