MotoGP Jerez: Rossi Rules

Valentino Rossi returned to form with victory at the Jerez round of the MotoGP championship. It was Repsol Honda's miniature matador Dani Pedrosa who led for the first half of the race, while Rossi tangled with Casey Stoner for 2nd place. Once he had dispatched the Aussie, The Doctor hunted down his tiny rival and won the race convincingly.

It was all smiles on the podium, which is incredible when you consider that Pedrosa (2nd) and Stoner (3rd) were up there. However, Dani was relieved to be going so damn quickly with his still-healing injuries, and Stoner was just amazed that he managed to wrestle his Ducati round the track and take a podium. The Bologna Bullet is ill-suited to Jerez, as it doesn't go around corners very well and prefers long straights.

Rossi even celebrated the win with a replay of one of his classic victory gags: parking his bike against a barrier and nipping into a trackside toilet.

The fourth of the usual suspects, Jorge Lorenzo, had taken a blistering pole position, but was left muttering excuses after racing slowly and falling off while challenging Stoner for 3rd. It was a severely bad day for the only rider who would make you write to Roget's and demand that their thesaurus be updated with more synonyms for "cocky".

Promoted to 4th by Jorge's hop-off was, incredibly, Randy de Puniet. The Frenchman, who is best known for leaving piles of gravel when he takes his boots off in the pit garage, was brilliant as he took the coveted "next Honda home after Pedrosa" spot on his reasonably awful privateer bike. Maybe the Playboy bunnies provided by his Playboy LCR Honda sponsors helped.

Next home was another incredible ride from Marco Melandri on the Hayate Kawasaki. Two of the worst bikes on the grid finishing 4th and 5th, with only one person crashing in front of them. Marco lived up to his nickname, "Macho", by battling all race long with Capirossi and Edwards.

Compared to the heroics of the Randy and Marco show, everyone behind them looked pretty rubbish. Worst of all was Nicky Hayden, who has confirmed that the second factory Ducati bike is cursed by finishing about a year behind his team-mate. Only Stoner can ride that bike. Mika Kallio's pretty good on the privateer version, though.

It was a crushing display of dominance from Rossi to win the race, with Pedrosa and Stoner punching well above their weight (presumably flyweight or bantamweight or something), having no right to lap as quickly as they did. A half-decent race for MotoGP, with some heroics thrown in. Here's hoping this season keeps going in the right direction.

Stoner Hero at GP Zero

Casey Stoner ignored his still-crocked wrist to demolish the field in the mock qualifying session at the Jerez MotoGP test, dubbed "GP Zero", and strolled off with the prize: a ludicrously quick baby BMW.

The Aussie is still having trouble with that wrist, which is taking a long, long time to heal fully after an off-season operation. This didn't stop him wrestling the new carbon-framed Ducati round to a stunning "pole position" though. He still hasn't completed a race distance for ages, but it seems very sensible to hold off that kind of punishment for as long as he possibly can. They don't give out points for race distances in testing. An incredible lap from Stoner to win the Beemer, so don't bet against him taking his second world championship.

Valentino Rossi had to settle for second place on his FIAT Yamaha, but the (arguably) Greatest Of All Time is still looking good for another title challenge. I wouldn't bet against him either.

Loris Capirossi was the surprise 3rd place finisher. Maybe the Suzuki's pre season testing pace will hold up in the season this time. The second Rizla Suzuki bike was Chris Vermeulen in 5th, so this might be Suzuki's year. Maybe.

In between the two powder blue bikes was Rossi's young team-mate, Jorge Lorenzo. 4th was a decent result for the Spaniard as he continues his adaptation to Bridgestone tyres.

Finland's Mika Kallio finished an excellent 6th on the satellite Pramac Ducati. He's the rookie that everyone is talking about this year, and is already on the pace. Definitely one to watch.

New factory Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso won't be too chuffed with 7th place. However, he's still better off than his team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who didn't show up at all, still crocked after various injuries and operations. Dovi might well out-pace his teeny team leader this season. It'll be very interesting to find out.

Thankfully free from the evil sponsorship of Equatorial Guinea's dictator, Sete Gibernau took his satellite Dodgy Builder Ducati to a very respectable 8th place. He was still complaining about his dodgy shoulder, which has been dodgy for ever and ever and ever. A lot of head-shaking for Sete, then. After retiring, why on earth would he return and throw himself to the MotoGP wolves again? Who knows, but he seems to be doing alright so far.

Little hang-off-the-bike nutcase Toni Elias brought his satellite-but-factory Gresini Honda to a half-decent 9th place. Not bad going, but Toni is so unpredictable it's impossible to tell if he'll have a great season or a terrible one.

Colin "Excuses" Edwards finished 10th on the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha. Not all that brilliant considering that the Tech 3 machines are thought to be very close to factory spec. Still, the Texan ex-WSBK champ was upbeat. Will he have yet another season to forget? Hmmm, I dunno.

Nicky Hayden had a mediocre session, finishing just 11th on the second factory Ducati, outpaced by two satellite machines. I seriously doubt that Nicky can adapt to the insane Bologna Bullet. That bike can only be ridden quickly by a certain little Aussie who doesn't know what all the fuss is about. The only way I can see for the Kentucky Kid to get back to the sharp end of the grid is if Dorna bring back the 990's, which is what every single MotoGP fan and most riders want. But that will only happen after aliens land on the White House lawn and persuade Mr Obama to invade Spain and force Dorna to see sense. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Marco Melandri amazingly finished faster than several people, taking 12th on the Kawasaki. Uh, no, the uh, Hayate. Yeah. An extremely impressive showing from Marco, since the "Hayate" is such an awful formerly-green machine. So maybe riding the Hayate won't be Hari-Kiri for Melandri after all. Hopefully the likeable Italian can return to his old form and snag a great ride for next year. Simply getting into the top ten on that bike would impress the hell out of everyone.

Randy de Puniet took 13th on the Playboy LCR Honda.  (Yes, Playboy. Presumably they got the bunny sponsorship because Randy de Puniet spends so much time admiring rabbit burrows in gravel traps.) He was joined by fellow Honda satellite riders Yuki Takahashi and Alex de Angelis in 14th and 15th. Those satellite Hondas look like being rubbish this year, but keep an eye out for those guys in the wet and in their home races. You never know.

James Toseland took 16th fastest on the second Tech 3 Yamaha. Recovering from a massive highside earlier on in pre-season testing at Malaysia, he suffered a massive highside during the GP Zero session. The Englishman was briefly knocked out in the nasty high-speed crash, suffering a concussion and causing the session to be red-flagged. It doesn't look like being Toseland's year.

Niccolo Canepa was the last of the regular riders, finishing 18th on the second Pramac Ducati. As a former Ducati test-rider, Canepa was supposed to be good on the bike. Well, that's looking pretty dubious. He has an Italian passport though, so he'll be OK.

So overall, what do we take away from GP Zero? Well, It looks like another Stoner versus Rossi battle for the championship, and it's impossible to tell which one of them will come out on top.

MotoGP Jerez: Pedrosa Perfect, Stoner Sinks

The Jerez round of the 2008 MotoGP Championship brought us a breathtaking display of miniature dominance by Dani Pedrosa. (That says dominance, not dominatrix. We don't talk about Max Mosley round here.) However, all those idiots who claimed Stoner would find a way to finish on the podium (me for example) were proved to be as bird-brained as the kind of ageing motorsports dictator who gets filmed by a scumbag tabloid visiting a dominatrix. (Oops.)

Pole position had been taken by big-headed rookie Jorge Lorenzo. When I say "taken", I'm talking "Berlin was taken by the Red Army", not "King's pawn was taken by rook". The cocky Spaniard destroyed such nobodies as Rossi and Pedrosa to the tune of six tenths of a second! I think this kid might just have what it takes to be a MotoGP rider, you know? The other hero of qualifying was Colin Edwards, who produced one of the best saves I've ever seen. He lost the front, lowsided and was sliding off the track when he somehow picked the bike up with his knee and elbow, plonked the bike back on its tyres and rode off. After that, he even had the chutzpah to turn to the crowd and wave to accept their cheers. Brilliant stuff from the Texas Tornado, but unfortunately it used up 8 of his 9 lives for the weekend.

In the race, Dani Pedrosa basically got out in front and disappeared into the distance, showing that he's a genius, even if he gives boring interviews and bitches about his team-mate too much. I love watching Dani on the ragged edge, hanging off the bike, his left foot coming off the peg. You can see that the little impresario is wringing the bike's neck. For some reason it wasn't as boring as when Stoner does the same, even though the director didn't cut to Adriana in the pits so often. Nobody got anywhere near the teeniest bloke in the paddock until he parked the bike in parc ferme.

Valentino Rossi reminded us that he's one of the greatest riders of all time by taking second place on Bridgestone tyres. Apparently Vale doesn't even have custom tyres yet, as he and Jeremy Burgess are still working out how to set up a bike on Bridgestone rubber. I think that might change next time out. The other Bridgestone runners should be afraid. OK, this is one of Rossi's best tracks, but he still finished nearly 25 seconds ahead of the next Bridgestone-shod bike. The only problem Valentino had was an inability to count to 27, as he thought the race was over on lap 26. I know how he feels. Even if I take my shoes and socks off I can only count to 24...

Lorenzo couldn't quite replicate his qually peformance, but hung onto Rossi to take an excellent 3rd place. He even managed a great save when he had a simultaneous tank slapper and wheelie that shook his right foot off the peg. 2 races in MotoGP, 2 pole positions, 2 podiums. Yamaha can't half pick 'em, eh? Spain's excellent King Juan Carlos proved once again that he's a cut above Prince Harry by forcing arch enemies Pedrosa and Lorenzo to shake hands on the way to the podium. His Majesty then indulged in animated conversation with Valentino. Top bloke.

Nicky Hayden had a decent run in 4th. He looked like he might just grab 3rd, or 2nd at a push, but then he did an Edwards in turn 1. Nearly falling off the lowside, he lifted the bike back up on his knee, maybe using a bit of elbow too, and continued on his way. That's how they do it in the South, y'all.

Loris Capirossi showed that he's still a little psycho to take 5th on the last corner, fractions in front of James Toseland, John Hopkins and Andrea Dovizioso. I'm a big Capirossi fan, so it was great to see him back on form, never afraid to bang fairings with the other guys. Last year looked like a disaster for Little Loris, but with hindsight he was a hell of a lot closer to Stoner than any of this year's Ducati guys. I mean, can you see Melandri winning a race this year?

James Toseland was half-dead from bronchitis, looking and sounding truly atrocious. The Englishman had used a few of his trademark WSBK moves to get up the field, seriously pissing off Dovi. The youngster lunged in the last corner, Toseland was pushed wide but cut inside to beat Dovizioso, and during all the excitement Capirex chucked it down the inside of everyone, taking 2 places in one corner. By the time Dovi returned from the car park, Hopper had flung the Kwaka through the gap too. Excellent, dude.

Casey Stoner? Who? Oh right, the guy in 11th. The reigning World Champ was much closer to the front. Twice. However, the Ducati was completely unrideable. Yeah, I know it's always completely unrideable, but this time even Casey couldn't keep it on the black stuff. Early on he was doing brilliantly when it nearly fired him off, losing him places. Then he fought his way up only for it to run off into the gravel. Once more, he fought back and looked like he might finish as high as 5th when the bike once more lost the front and he ended up ploughing through the kitty litter for a second time. Can't fault him for lack of effort, but it was his worst ever race on the Bologna Bullet.

Marco Melandri finished just 2.2 seconds behind Stoner. Normally that would be great but this time was rubbish, considering that Casey had been off twice and the only way the Aussie would know what the racing line looked like would be if Pedrosa had sent him a postcard. Alas poor Marco! I knew him, Horatio. The Italian should probably call in the forensics experts from CSI Miami to find out who murdered his career. (Hint, he's short, cocky and has a number 1 on the front of his motorcycle.)

What ever happened to Colin Edwards, with his qualifying on the front row and his great save? He fell off. For some reason, he's nailed qualifying at last, but can't race to save himself. Ah well, you can't win 'em all. Or any of 'em, in Colin's case.

All in all, a great race. This year's championship looks like a corker. Pedrosa, Rossi, Lorenzo and Stoner are turning this into a golden era, the likes of which we haven't seen since the early 1990's. Dani is as brilliant as ever, Rossi is still a genius, Lorenzo is stunningly quick. Toseland's a brilliant addition to the series with his ability to slam opponents out of the way without actually endangering them. He'll be one to watch when he gets the air-sprung engine soon. Casey Stoner had a horrible day that he'll want to forget. Well, at least it wasn't him who got caught spanking prostitutes dressed as concentration camp prisoners by the "News of the Screws".

MotoGP: Jerez Round Zero Snoozefest

The final pre-season test at Jerez, dubbed Round Zero, turned out to be a damb squib as the riders splashed around in damp conditions.

The dummy qualifying session, which theoretically spices up the test, was dull, dull, dull. In tricky conditions, Stoner went out at the start and set the BMW-winning time after a mere handful of laps. Valentino Rossi was 2nd, well over a second slower than the reigning World Champion, with Nicky Hayden continuing his decent run of testing with 3rd.

John Hopkins didn't ride, still suffering from a dislocated crotch he sustained in the Phillip Island test. Neither did Dani Pedrosa, who hurt his hand throwing his toys out of the pram a couple of weeks ago.

The progress shown by some in the dry conditions yesterday was wiped out as riders struggled to find a tyre or a setup for the drying track, and didn't want to fall off and hurt themselves. People such as de Puniet and Toseland had been highly impressive on slick tyres, but were mediocre on the horrible soggy surface.

If you didn't see footage of "Round Zero", don't worry. You didn't miss anything.

MotoGP: Jerez Testing Roundup

The Jerez test has finished, and the MotoGP circus has packed up its big top until next year. Let's have a quick look at what happened.

Casey Stoner was ludicrously fast, as always, but fell off on day 1 and hurt his shoulder. Then fell off again on day 2 and hurt his other shoulder. I'm not sure whether he's turning into the old Casey Stoner or the new Sete Gibernau...

Valentino Rossi was ludicrously fast almost from the get-go on his new Bridgestone tyres, which bodes well for the next season. However on day 3 his still-broken hand was giving him so much gyp that he gave up and went home.

Dani Pedrosa was ludicrously fast, especially on day 3, but he was on the 2007-spec Honda so it doesn't really matter. Nicky Hayden was very quick on the new 2008 Honda when he used qualifying tyres, but then Nicky is always very quick on qualifiers. It's race pace and tyre life that he'll be demanding from his new machine.

Marco Melandri wasn't very quick on the Ducati, but it's hard to draw any conclusions as it's still very early days for him on the Bologna Bullet. I'm sure he would've liked to be quick on it, though.

Surprise rookie superstar was Andrea "Dovi" Dovizioso. The Italian impressed everyone this year in the 250cc class, riding a Honda which was an utter dog compared to Jorge Lorenzo's Aprilia. Dovi jumped on the 800cc Honda 4-stroke, complained about the excessive electrickery, then wiped the floor with the other rookies for the majority of the test. Extremely impressive.

James Toseland edged ever closer to the pace using his distinctive brand of sheer bloody mindedness. The double WSBK champ was never too far away from fellow Yamaha/Michelin runner Jorge Lorenzo, who you would expect to be quick after winning the 250 championship again this year. The cocky little Spanish git will be fuming that rival Dovizioso has had such a great start, although Lorenzo did manage to beat the Italian on qualifiers at the end of the test.

Randy de Puniet was, as always, both staggeringly fast and as mad as a bucket of frogs. He set good times on the Honda when he wasn't falling off it.

The Kwaka boys had a kwiet time of it, plugging away on their green machines, which will evolve rather than being replaced by a new model for next year. Hopper was comfortably the kwicker Kwacker, beating Ant West, but of course conditions didn't suit the Aussie (i.e. no torrential rain, standing water or generally unrideable weather).

Who else? Uh... Colin Edwards was there or thereabouts. As usual. He's a great bloke and a hell of a Superbike rider, but in MotoGP he's always "there or thereabouts". At least he'll be a goldmine of info for Toseland. Alex De Angelis has been the Colin Edwards of 250GP for the last while, managing to be quick always and winner hardly ever. The Italian kept up that kind of performance by being there or thereabouts on the Honda. Shinya Nakano? Close to De Angelis most of the time.

Meanwhile, Rizla Suzuki tested alone at Philip Island, where they are always rubbish. You could say this was because they wanted to improve on their terrible performances at The Island. Or that they didn't want to be embarrassed by people finding how slow they still are there. Of course, it could just be an excuse for a nice trip to Oz. Chris Vermeulen would be able to visit his old drinking grounds, and known Australia-fan Loris Capirossi could disappear into the outback for a while (by standing 3 feet from the nearest observer). Anyway, they revealed no times but claimed to have done well.

That's it for testing for a while. More next year.

MotoGP: Normal Stoner Service Resumed?

We're still in pre-season testing, but there is an inkling that Casey Stoner might be reverting to type, regressing to the mean, or something like that. He has been ruled out of day 3 of the Jerez test after destroying his bike on day 2, having also trashed a bike on day 1.

In his first year of MotoGP, Stoner was blisteringly quick on a 4th-rate Honda, even snatching a pole position, but had a nasty habit of chucking his bike at the scenery. However, a move to Ducati and Bridgestone resulted in a total lack of race crashery. He barely even fell off in testing, having just a couple of low-speed lowsides. It's a bit early to be drawing conclusions, but Casey the cocky convict's constant cartwheel crashing could conceivably be back with us for 2008. That would certainly make things interesting, especially since a certain Valentino Rossi topped the timesheets on day 2 of the test, having adapted to Bridgestone tyres in about 5 minutes...

MotoGP:Jerez 250cc and 125cc Races

I haven't reviewed the baby GP classes before, but in this case, they were too exciting to ignore. The 250cc race in particular was stunning.
250GP
This race was incredible. One of those races that has you falling off the edge of your seat in amazement. For the last couple of years, the two-fiddy class hasn't produced much in the way of great racing, but that all came to an end at Jerez.
The early stages had all the typical craziness that you expect from a bunch of young lunatics on 2-strokes, but the race really took off a few laps in.
A group of 4 racers had broken away at the front. Hector Barbera fell off, and then there were three.
Dovizioso, Bautista and Lorenzo proceeded to turn the race into an outright classic, beating each other up all the way round the track, lap after lap. The reigning champion Lorenzo had excellent straight line speed, Bautista was hurling his bike around like a lunatic, and Dovi was down on power, but able to brake as late as he liked and take any line he wanted. This all added up to some scintillating racing.
More than once, the three young hooligans went into corners 3 abreast. You expect that into turn 1 on lap 1, but they were doing it right up until the last couple of laps. Lorenzo leading, Bautista making a crazy block pass, pushing them both slightly wide, then Dovizioso sailing up the inside of both, and holding an impossibly tight line to keep in front.
When the dust settled, Jorge Lorenzo had taken the win, from Bautista 2nd and Dovizioso 3rd.
Lorenzo, who after his Qatar victory parked his bike and danced a ludicrous jig next to it, went right over the top with his celebrations again. A supporter handed him a flag. He seized it, and strode arrogantly into the gravel trap, looking around like an English lord surveying his estate. Finally he planted the flag in the gravel in front of thousands of his fans. It carried the slogan, "Lorenzo's land". It made Valentino Rossi's bowling celebration look tame.
125GP
The 125cc Grand Prix earlier wasn't as insane as the 250's, but it was dramatic nonetheless. Pole sitter Pasini's bike died half way to the grid, forcing him to push it with his feet a la Fred Flintstone. He started from the pitlane, making up a huge number of positions before ramming Britain's great hope for the future, Bradley Smith. Unusually for somebody with flaming ginger hair, Smith kept his temper and rejoined, finishing last but showing a lot of character. Pasini trundled round to the pits, where he chucked his toys out of the pram.
The race was a photo-finish. Lukas Pesek led into the last corner, but Gabor Talmasci somehow managed to take a later apex, sit the bike up a little and get an excellent drive out of the corner (which isn't supposed to work on a 125!) Talmasci managed to slipstream past Pesek right on the line, winning by a ludicrously small 0.014 seconds.

With the MotoGP race being a bit of a procession up front (though the antics of Toni Elias livened up the midfield), the feeder classes supplied much of the entertainment. The 250 race was a stunner, but the 125's produced a respectable level of testosterone-driven lunacy too. Let's hope they can keep it up!

MotoGP: Rossi Unbeatable at Jerez

It wasn't a classic race, but it showed us another side to Valentino Rossi.
Usually, The Doctor likes to play with his victims before finally disappearing with a blistering last lap. After having some of his own medicine forced down his throat by Stoner at Qatar, Rossi decided to change his tactics.
Starting from 2nd position on a ludicrously tight grid (1 second covering the top 15, with OJ trundling along in 16th place 0.003 seconds outside that), Rossi was beaten to the first corner by Dani Pedrosa. The teeny Spaniard, still stinging from being called "El Niño" by Rossi in an interview, Pedrosa was determined to turn his pole position into a victory.
Half way round the first lap, Rossi moved past his miniature rival. The Italian started putting in qualifying laps, gradually pulling out a tenth here and a few hundredths there. Pedrosa fought back gamely, but slowly slipped backwards, the gap growing greater as the tyres wore down.
By the last lap, Rossi was 3 seconds in front, dropping to 1 second as he wheelied over the line. To celebrate his first win for many months, The Doctor bowled over some of his fans, who were dressed as ninepins. Luckily for them, he used an imaginary bowling ball instead of chucking his crash helmet.
Behind the two stars, Edwards put in an impressive performance in 3rd place. If the only people in front of you are called Rossi and Pedrosa, you're not doing too badly. It was a lonely race for the Texan, but his first podium in the best part of a year. The 2007 Yamaha suits him a lot better than the chattering 2006 machine.
Spanish Psycho Toni Elias was an amazing 4th. Taking up his usual mid-pack position off the start, Toni suddenly lit the blue touchpaper halfway through the race, overtaking 2 people in about 30 seconds. They say these 800cc bikes need a 250 riding style. Nobody ever rode a 250 the way Toni was riding that Gresini Honda and lived to tell the tale. Sideways into all the heavy braking zones, Toni was the most entertaining thing in the race.
Stoner was 5th for Ducati, producing excellent times as the race went on. Incredibly, in a post-race interview with the BBC, the young Aussie berated the other riders for making dangerous overtaking moves early on! Casey destroyed his team-mate Capirossi, who has looked awful so far this year. We know that Capirex craziness is in there somewhere, but he had better produce it quickly if he wants to stay in MotoGP. Another good race from Stoner though, who showed that he can stay calm and fight for maximum points rather than chucking it down the road in a shower of sparks. We'll see another couple of wins from him this year.
John Hopkins will be furious with himself after hopping off in 4th place, with a chance of a podium. It robbed Suzuki of the decent result they deserved, but they will surely find the podium later in the year.
Overall, it was a decent race rather than a classic. It was impressive to see Rossi putting in about 25 qualifying laps one after the other to break Pedrosa, and showed that The Doctor has rediscovered his addiction to winning. It also showed that Dani isn't quite ready to fight wheel-to-wheel with his main rival, but he's getting closer. This season is fascinating as it unfolds. With some long straights in the next couple of races, will the newly-mature Stoner take more wins, or can Vale and Dani beat him on the twisty bits? I can't wait to find out.

MotoGP: Jerez Preview

The big question for the forthcoming Jerez GP is: are Ducati going to be quick or what?
The Italian team stunned everybody with Casey Stoner's debut victory at Qatar, but Jerez is a very different racetrack, much more twisty and without such a long straight. Ducati didn't look too great there at the IRTA pre-season test, while Rossi and Pedrosa looked awesome for Yamaha and Honda.
Will this be a replay of qualifying session zero? If so, expect Rossi to win, pursued by little Dani. However, if Stoner and Capirossi can detonate the explosive straight line speed of the Dukes, along with the high corner speed that the Bridgestones give them, then we could be seeing the 2nd Ducati victory of the season.
But the potential of the Ducati can't be judged by one race, where Stoner was pretty quick around the twisty bits, especially on the last lap, but largely relied on lighting the burners and screaming down the front straight 15K's faster than the Yamaha. If Ducati are going to be quick at Jerez, then why weren't they that quick at the test?
Stoner didn't particularly need good corner exit speed at Qatar, he could just wait for a few seconds and arrow past the opposition. On a shorter straight, the Yamaha's higher corner speed and earlier throttle application could give just enough advantage to get over the finish line first, which is all that matters on the last lap.
I'm backing The Doctor to win. He was incredibly strong on the brakes at Qatar, sailing past Pedrosa easily into turn one. This should suit the Jerez track down to the ground. It has been a long time since Rossi's last victory, and he will be extremely determined to stand on the top step this weekend. With the Yamaha's awesome cornering, Rossi will be able to stick with anybody around the lap. Should there be a Ducati in front of him going into the final corner, I wouldn't bet against a strong move from the Doctor, barging past his opponent and unsettling him for long enough to make a bolt for the chequered flag.
Who knows? Maybe the Dukes will pull something out of the bag again, maybe Pedrosa will show the same pace he did at the IRTA test, or maybe normal #46 service will be resumed. It's going to be fascinating.

MotoGP: McWilliams Hurt at Jerez Test

Jeremy McWilliams was rushed to hospital on the final day of the MotoGP testing session at Jerez yesterday. The veteran Ulsterman had crashed his bike at turn 4, a 100+mph left-hander, suffering serious leg, shoulder and hand injuries. It has been reported that he would undergo an operation to insert a steel pin in his thighbone, and that he might lose a finger on his left hand. It was a very high-speed crash, with the bike being catapulted over the safety barriers. He was reported to be almost guaranteed a race seat at Ilmor in 2007, which must now be in serious doubt. McWilliams had been the faster of the two Ilmors, lapping 3 tenths faster than Andrew Pitt. I'm sure everybody joins me in wishing him a speedy recovery.
Dani Pedrosa was the fastest rider, using a qualifying tyre, with a stunning lap of 1:39.910, with Valentino Rossi and Marco Melandri, also on qualifiers, setting 1:40.123 and 1:40.524 respectively.
Suzuki are still looking good, lapping the fastest of anyone on race tyres with Vermeulen putting in a 1:40.766, and Hopkins a 1:41.049.
Next were Nakano (Honda), Edwards (Yamaha) and Barros, who lapped faster on his d'Antin customer Ducati than Capirossi and Stoner did on the factory bikes.

MotoGP Jerez Day 2: Rossi Tops Timesheet

Day two of the MotoGP test at Jerez was more successful than day one, with all teams completing dozens of laps.
Valentino Rossi topped the timesheets with a 1:40.688, which is stunningly fast, just hundredths off the circuit's race lap record. Dani Pedrosa was a tenth behind Rossi, with Colin Edwards 4 tenths further back in 3rd. John Hopkins on the Suzuki was just a fraction behind Edwards, and Vermeulen was 4 tenths behind that.
This meant that Suzuki were the fastest Bridgestone runners, ahead of the Ducatis of Stoner then Capirossi, then Marco Melandri on his Bridgestone-clad Honda.
It seems that losing the title has just made Rossi more determined, but Pedrosa is very fast on the new Honda 800. Why was Pedrosa so much faster than the other Hondas? Well, the theories on the net range from Kropotkin thinking that Pedrosa is being given new HRC parts before everybody else, to Matthew Birt being just plain baffled.
I think that it's pretty reasonable to assume Pedrosa would get new parts before everybody else, and also that the new 800cc Honda was quite simply built to his exact measurements and preferences. After building him championship winning 250cc bikes, Honda know what the little guy is looking for. Couple that with an upgraded engine and his stunning 250cc talent, and fast laps are sure to follow.
Britain's Chaz Davies didn't get to ride the Ilmor yesterday. He should get his chance today. Andrew Pitt chucked his Ilmor X3 down the road yesterday, and the team had all kinds of electrical issues. Their 2007 lineup is still a mystery.
So far, Rossi is still Rossi, Pedrosa is looking great, the Suzuki still looks like a serious contender for wins. Today is the last day of MotoGP running before the winter testing ban. Let's see if they can throw up a bit more intrigue to keep us going.

MotoGP Jerez Test: Rain Ruins Running

Day one of the big test at Jerez didn't see much running. The morning was too cold and the afternoon was wet, meaning that most riders didn't venture out of their garages for very long. There have been lap times posted, with Rossi fastest from Hopkins, but we can't really draw any conclusions.
At least there's a good blog report from Matthew Birt, who was the only international journalist there.
It turns out that young British rider Chaz Davies will be testing for Ilmor. This is a bit of a surprise. He had a few fairly successful outings in the 250cc class on privateer bikes, but had announced on the British Eurosport TV channel that he was leaving 250's as he wasn't having enough success, and being a tall lad, was fed up with struggling to physically fit on the bike. He then agreed a move to an American team competing in an AMA series.
In some ways, hiring Chaz would be a shrewd move due to his skill on a 250, and though the Ilmor is a small machine, I'm sure he would find a way to wrap his lanky frame around it for a chance to impress in MotoGP.
Ilmor had announced that they would confirm their riders after the Jerez test, and rumours were that it would be Northern Irish veteran Jeremy McWilliams partnering Aussie Andrew Pitt, with Garry McCoy being forced to step down even though he is clearly popular with the team and management. The fact that young Chaz will be testing for them is a real joker in the pack. It is well known that the BBC lean heavily on Dorna to ensure there is a British rider to cheer on, which has helped riders such as Hodgson, Byrne and certainly Ellison.
Are the BBC demanding a youngster? McWilliams is 42, but still youthful and a real character. Will he be gazumped by young Davies? Alternatively, we could be looking at an all-British team. There are already two very quick young Aussies in the series. Vermeulen and Stoner both took hugely impressive pole positions in 2006. With the UK's population being something like 3 times that of Australia, Dorna might feel that they can demand two Brits. Jezza and Chaz are both quick riders, so this wouldn't be a repeat of the Ellison debacle.
We should find out in a couple of days. Let's hope there is good weather to let the 4 Ilmor riders show us what they've got.

MotoGP: More Testing On The Way

The MotoGP test at Jerez starts on November the 28th, and it should give us a better idea of where the teams stand relative to each other.
At Valencia, Suzuki were the main surprise, but that could be put down to the twisty track suiting the Suzy's sweet chassis. The Sepang test was an even bigger Suzuki surprise, as they were the fastest bike, not only in terms of lap time but also of top speed. However, there were a few big names missing. Rossi was rallying, Melandri and Pedrosa were both recovering from surgery, Ducati stayed at home to work on their bikes. HRC brought world champion Nicky Hayden, proudly bearing the number 1 plate. Not only did he struggle to adapt to the 800cc riding style, but to everyone's amazement, the new Honda V4 was seriously down on power.
The last time Honda made an engine that lacked power was probably when they were running a crazy oval-pistoned 500cc 4-stroke (that they probably found in a flying saucer) against the 2-strokes in the early 80's. The Japanese engineers will have been working round the clock to catch up.
Nicky Hayden will miss the Jerez test as he takes his turn on the operating table, but we will see 2006 race winning stars Rossi, Pedrosa, Melandri and Capirossi. It will be crunch time for Suzuki's ambitions, as they must keep up their early pace of development. This time, they will be up against all the big boys on a track that isn't ridiculously twisty (Valencia) or a major Bridgestone hunting ground (Sepang). The 800cc Ducati is a missile in a straight line, but can it beat the revitalized Suzuki around the full lap? Honda will be as dangerous as a wounded bear, but how quickly can they turn their fortunes around? We'll know in a couple of days.