MotoGP: Hopper Turns Into Green Monster

As has been reported just about everywhere, John Hopkins will ditch Rizla Suzuki at the end of the year and ride for Kawasaki in 2008. MCN reports that Hopper's wage demands were around the $5 million mark, which Suzuki were not prepared to pay, preferring to draft in another rider.
Rumour has it that the Kawasaki deal is being financed by Hopkins' personal sponsor, Monster Energy. This is an energy drink similar to Red Bull, with tons of caffeine, vitamins and other hocus-pocus energy ingredients, and it is being aggressively marketed in the US to extreme sports fans in much the same way as its rival. Monster currently sponsors American sportsmen throughout motorsport, from Motocross to Champcar, along with heavy metal festival Ozzfest and even skateboarder Jason Acuna, better known as Wee Man from Jackass. The Kawasaki linkup has been rumoured for a while, since Monster Energy sponsors the Kawasaki team in AMA Superbike and SuperSport.
Ironically, the Suzuki team is sponsored by Rizla in both MotoGP and British Superbike. The difference is that Rizla is a small manufacturer of cigarette papers, whereas Monster Energy is a subdivision of Hansen Natural Corporation, with is the up and coming beverage company in the United States, with a turnover of $600 million last year, and growing fast.
Hansen Natural Corp can afford to throw large amounts of money at their Monster Energy brand in an effort to catch up with Red Bull, also helped by the fact that Red Bull sells in stupid teeny-tiny cans at high cost, whereas Monster is cheaper and sells in various sizes up to a huge, resealable can of more than 700ml. (I don't know about you, but I wouldn't sleep for a year if I drank that much caffeine in one go!)
This makes it likely that Monster Energy will be the title sponsor for Kawasaki in 2008. The green team currently don't have a title sponsor, meaning that rider wages must effectively be paid from the marketing budget of the parent company. It is probable that Monster will pay Hopper's entire monstrous wage bill, along with some of the team's racing budget.
This makes it more likely that Kawasaki may run a 3rd bike next year as has been rumoured. With Hopper bringing his Monster Energy sponsorship, Kwaka would effectively be getting the Californian's services for free. This means that if they capture Loris Capirossi's signature as seems likely, they should still have enough funds to pay for a 3rd bike for the much cheaper Randy de Puniet. (Cheaper wages, that is. The accident repair costs must be scary!)
Of course, this is just speculation. The only thing that has been confirmed is that John Hopkins will ride for Kawasaki next year. The MotoGP Kawasaki is said to be a winning machine looking for a winning rider, and the prospect of having three of them on track next year is pretty tasty.

MotoGP: Stoner Interview By Noyes

Casey Stoner has been interviewed by Dennis Noyes for Speed TV's website.
It's a good read. Stoner, as with most of our Aussie friends, is certainly a plain speaker. Interestingly, he claims that his incessant hop-offs from the 990cc Honda last year were down to a certain frogs'-leg-chomping tyre company supplying him with rubbish tyres, and that a certain raw-fish-chomping motorcycle manufacturer told him a load of porkie pies about the quality of the electronics on his bike.
This pretty much tallies with my feelings about his debut year. Clearly, Honda don't supply their best equipment to the LCR Honda satellite team, and Michelin don't knock themselves out to supply them with great tyres either. It has already been stated that Stoner didn't once benefit from Michelin's ability to fly in new tyres specially for the Sunday of a race weekend (now banned under the new 2007 rules).
To be honest, I always thought that Stoner chucked his bike at the scenery because he just didn't get on with Michelins in general (the lower GP classes running Dunlops), and that he would do better on Bridgestones, since Japanese riders like Tamada and Nakano who have switched the other way have found no confidence in the French rubber. In the Noyes interview, Stoner says he was usually baffled as to why he had suddenly lost grip and flown into a gravel trap last year, suggesting that he was on worse tyres than he had been in practise, and saying that it was down to politics.
Stoner says he has no sympathy with the Michelin runners who claim that the garlicky snail eaters should be allowed to fly in special tyres mid-meeting again. Bridgestone, being based about 20 hours flying time away from the European circuits, couldn't possibly fly in tyres mid-meeting. I have to say, I agree with the MotoGP championship leader on this one. If Michelin can't produce tyres as good as Bridgestone then they should shut up, not demand an unfair advantage.
Anyway, it's good to hear a good interview from the kid who's giving The Doctor a run for his money this year.

MotoGP Assen: Rossi Rampant

Valentino Rossi reminded us that he is The Doctor when he slaughtered half the field to win from 11th on the grid at Assen.
The starting positions had been scrambled up by a wet qualifying session. Chris Vermeulen had started from pole position, or jinx position as it should now be known, since nobody has won a MotoGP race from pole for as long as anyone can remember. (Contrast this with Formula 1, where confused fans panic if the polesitter doesn't lead the entire race from lights to flag.) Casey Stoner had started from 2nd, while Randy de Puniet bagged an impressive front row slot, only to remind us he's still an idiot when he threw his bike at Vermeulen while they were battling in the midfield after both made atrocious starts. Unlike de Puniet, Vermeulen managed to plough back through the gravel onto the track but finished pointless as his bike didn't handle well with bits hanging off (bits of Kawasaki, probably).
Up front, Stoner had made an excellent start and was doing a disappearing act, with only Suzuki's John Hopkins able to stay anywhere near him. Valentino Rossi's start had been reasonable, but after a few laps he was still barely inside the top 10. It looked like a disaster for The Doctor.
World Champion Nicky Hayden had an outstanding start from 13th place, sailing around the outside of the pack at the first corner. He overtook his teeny tiny team-mate Pedrosa and was running in a strong 4th. It was the old Kentucky Kid back again, sliding the bike around in the way that only Toni Elias was supposed to. (Elias is now reckoned to be out for 3 months with his broken femur, after Doctor Costa asked him whether he wanted to recover in 3 months like a lunatic or 12 months like anyone with a scrap of sanity would).
All of a sudden, Valentino Rossi decided that he liked the bike and tyres, and it was a good day to win. He started slamming in fastest laps and destroying everybody around him with his sheer pace. After his now traditional battle with John Hopkins, Rossi had come from nowhere to 2nd place, but Stoner was still leading by over 2 seconds.
In the next few laps, Rossi ate up Stoner's lead, and ended up on the Aussie's tail. We then saw the same old story playing out as the Italian tried to get alongside the Australian, only to make a mistake and drop back. It looked like Stoner was simply going to stay on line and hold off Rossi yet again, even though the Ducati was starting to slide its Bridgestone tyres around a lot.
Then Rossi decided that was enough messing around, and stuck the Yamaha down the inside of the Ducati in a good, clean move at the last chicane. Stoner was considering how to re-pass Rossi when the Italian pulled off one of his trademark manoeuvres: sodding off into the wide blue yonder. Lapping several tenths quicker than his opponent, Rossi had checked out, not wanting Stoner's Ducati anywhere near him. To be fair, Stoner probably didn't want Rossi's Yamaha anywhere near him with its hideous paint scheme. It has been suggested that the Yamaha's one-off Fiat 500 paint scheme was signed off by bosses after their 4th bottle of wine. I'd say it was created by an artist throwing up his 4th bottle of wine and his multi-coloured dinner onto the fairing.
Behind them, Hopper's Bridgestone tyres were also suffering and he lost out to the two Repsol Hondas, with Nicky Hayden beating his team-mate and taking the final podium position. The Kentucky Kid celebrated by stealing an idiotic hat, or crash helmet, or something, from a podium girl. It made him look like a Lego man, but he was too happy to care after finishing 10 places better than he started.
Ant West, the Australian who earned a reputation for being gobby after his plain speaking got him fired by KTM in 250GP, impressed his new Kawasaki overlords with a battling 9th place finish. It was impressive as he was in a real dogfight with Hofmann, Melandri and Checa, eventually losing out to The Hoff, but beating the other two. Not bad for Westy's first dry race in MotoGP.
Stoner still leads the championship, with his 2nd place minimizing the damage and meaning Rossi is still at arm's length. The rest of the year is hard to call, with Stoner having won at Yamaha circuits and Rossi having won at Mugello, which should really be a Ducati circuit. It's going to be close, but the Aussie still has the advantage.

BSB Knockhill: Johnny Rea Reigns In Rain

It took a while for Johnny Rea to take his first race win, but now the floodgates have opened, which is a pretty good description of the track conditions at Knockhill. With the weather unable to decide what it was doing from minute to minute, the 20 year old Ulsterman took a double victory at the Scottish circuit. If we include the Suzuka 300km endurance race where he shared the honours with his HM Plant Honda team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari, Rea has won 4 of his last 5 races. In BSB, he has taken 95 points from a possible 100 in the last fortnight and launched himself to just 11 points off the championship lead. Honda's decision to withdraw him from the Team KR MotoGP ride at Donington now looks sensible, as he is on a roll.
Race 1 started off wet, then dried up, and finally ended up wet again. Johnny Rea got a great start from pole position, followed by his team-mate and reigning BSB champion Kiyonari. Leon Camier's Bike Animal Honda and Leon Haslam's Airwaves Ducati were fighting it out for 3rd place when Camier slid off the bike at low speed and was unable to continue.
Veterans Chris "Stalker" Walker (Rizla Suzuki) and Shane "Shakey" Byrne (Stobart Honda) were now battling for 4th. Stalker's early pace was fading as the rain returned heavier than ever, and Shakey managed to nip past and grab 4th place. Behind them, rookie Tom Sykes took 6th place on his Stobart Honda, in front of Airwaves Ducati's Spanish star, Greg Lavilla, who had struggled through the pack after being caught out by a downpour in qualifying.
Rea eventually took the win by almost 7 seconds, and was joined on the podium by Kiyonari and Haslam, both relative codgers at 24 years old.
Race 2 saw a repeat of Johnny Rea's first race performance, more impressive if anything. He has turned from the stereotypical rookie who is wickedly fast but crashes constantly into a calm and calculating racewinner. The transformation of the last few weeks has been incredible. As with so many young superstar sportsmen, he has visibly crossed the line from thinking he can win, to knowing he can win. These sportsmen would claim they knew they were winners all along, but with that weight off their shoulders they suddenly have an almost serene air of confidence. This victory looked simply effortless, leading by almost 10 seconds at one point.
The faces on the podium were the same, but the order was different, as Leon Haslam overtook Kiyonari for an excellent 2nd place. Knockhill is a real bogey track for Haslam's team-mate Lavilla, and this time was no different. Struggling with visibility, the Spaniard touched a white line and was thrown into a gravel trap at the chicane. Admittedly, it isn't the easiest of chicanes, in fact I can't think of another chicane situated on the blind crest of a hill. Speaking of hills, Virgin Media Yamaha rider Tommy Hill also hit the eject button at the exact same place. Rizla Suzuki's youngster Cal Crutchlow had a scary crash on the exit of Clark's, sailing across the track and hitting the tyre wall hard, but was luckily unhurt.
Stobart Honda rookie Tom Sykes had an excellent race, scything through backmarkers and finishing in 4th place, less than a tenth behind Kiyonari after taking around half a second per lap off the Japanese in the closing stages. Sykes was visibly annoyed, as he would probably have been on the podium if the race had been a lap longer (ironically, the races were shortened due to the weather.) It has been an extremely impressive debut year for Sykes, as he is quick but very, very rarely makes a mistake. He has banked a lot of top 6 finishes, while most rookies spend their early Superbike races exploring gravel traps and straw bales. He is certainly one to watch.
Shakey Byrne came in 5th behind his young team-mate, again beating Chris Walker. Leon Camier, who is around 6 feet 4 inches tall, or 7 feet if you count his hair, finished 7th.
Overall, it was a great day for the youngsters. Johnny Rea was an outside bet for the title at the start of the year, but now it looks to be a fight between him, Kiyo and Greg Lavilla, with Haslam in with a shout. Rea looks like he has been winning road races all his life, though he hadn't won one before last month. Kiyonari kept up his usual visits to the podium to stay in the championship lead. Haslam has been having a much better time than he was at the start of the year. The big loser has been Lavilla, but he never scores many points at Knockhill anyway. Can Johnny Rea build on this dominant double victory and snatch the BSB title? Time will tell.